Was a werewolf really loping around Hull’s Barmston Drain in 2016? Folklorist Deborah Hyde investigates this modern manbeast mystery
In 2016, a peculiar story hit local headlines – a werewolf was loping around Barmston drain, an eighteenth century canal in Hull. Such tabloid gold couldn’t stay local for long and national newspapers amplified the reports to the point that international publications like the Huffington Post repeated them. Rock start Alice Cooper even commented on social media. But what lay behind the sensational spin? How many eye-witnesses were there and what did they really say? The Hull Werewolf’s context – both folkloric and contemporary – is rewarding to examine, to illuminate the content and transmission of this popular twenty-first century cryptid tale.
Bio
Deborah Hyde writes and broadcasts about religion and dark folklore. She regularly appears as a contributing expert on the top BBC podcast Uncanny and she edited The Skeptic magazine for ten years.
The illustration is of the Beast of Gevaudan, a comparatively late (1764-1767) werewolf case from France.
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