The Book: Darkness Crawls Apace
A new book published by BookLocker containing 17 tales of the supernatural from vampires to werewolves to magicians. Some of these stories feature creatures never encountered before. The tales describe the adventures of a Reverend Montague Wynnter and his trusted companion Sir Charles Berwick.
Reverend Montague Wynnter and his bemused sidekick, Sir Charles Berwick, have got to be amongst the best characters to come along since Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. These are detectives of the supernatural and get involved in all manner of mysteries. Montague Wynnter is a striking character. Page turning stuff. I highly recommend anyone interested in supernatural stories to read this book.
- Ulrike Ochs
Montague Wynnter: the Character
Montague Wynnter is actually based on an English eccentric from the first
part of the twentieth century - Reverend Montague Summers. Summers wrote a
number of books about vampires, werewolves and witches. He translated the Malleus
Malleficarum into English and is actually on record as saying that the'Hammer
of the Witches' 
was one of the most important
books ever written. He sincerely believed what he wrote and was convinced vampires
were real. He was considered a great wit and extremely good company, those
that met him stated that he was the best person they ever made the acquaintance
of. One of the reasons I renamed the character to Montague Wynnter was because
of his great wit which I could not write so I would have made a pale image
of the man in the written word. Still Montague Wynnter is only based on Summers
and is now his own character with his own life in words and his own way of
behaving, and of course in Wynnter's world the monsters are real.
Montague Summers was the youngest of the seven children of Augustus William
Summers, an affluent banker and justice of the peace in Clifton, Bristol. Summers
was educated at Clifton College before studying theology at Trinity College,
Oxford with the intention of becoming a curate in the Church of England. He
continued his religious training at Lichfield Theological College and became
a deacon in 1908, but he apparently never proceeded to higher orders, probably
because of accusations of sexual impropriety with young boys. Summers was for
a while part of the circle of the so-called "Uranian poets," who
celebrated ancient Greco-Roman pederasty. His first book, Antinous and Other
Poems appeared in 1907 and was dedicated to this subject matter.
Summers worked for several years as an English and Latin teacher at various
schools including Brockley County School in S E London, before adopting writing
as his full-time employment. He was interested in the theater of the seventeenth
century, particularly that of the English Restoration, and edited the plays
of Aphra Behn, John Dryden, William Congreve, among others. He was one of the
founder members of The Phoenix, a society that performed those neglected works,
and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1916.
Summers also joined the growing ranks of English men of letters interested
in medievalism, Catholicism, and the occult. In 1909 he converted to Catholicism
and shortly thereafter he began passing himself off as a Catholic priest and
styling himself the "Reverend Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague
Summers", even though he was never a member of any Catholic order or diocese.
It is possible that Summers may have been secretly ordained by a bishop of
the Old Catholic Church, though there is no evidence to support this. His biographer
Father Brocard Sewell asserts that he was ordained a deacon in the Church of
England in 1908, and thus was properly addressed as "Reverend" in
any case.
Summers wrote hagiography (on Saint Catherine of Siena) and lives of writers
such as Jane Austen before turning to the occult, for which he is best remembered.
In 1928 he published the first English translation of Heinrich Kramer's and
James Sprenger's Malleus Maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"), a
fifteenth century Latin text on the hunting of witches. This work followed
his History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1927) and The Geography of Witchcraft
(1928). He then turned to vampires, producing The Vampire: His Kith and Kin
(1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929), and later to werewolves with The Werewolf
(1933). Summers's work on the occult is notorious for his unusual and old-fashioned
writing style, his display of erudition, and his purported belief in the reality
of the subjects he treats. Of lasting value were his seminal works on Gothic
literature: The Gothic Quest: a History of the Gothic Novel (1938), A Gothic
Bibliography (1940) and his collection of Gothic Horror stories in The Supernatural
Omnibus (1931) and Victorian Ghost Stories (1936). Summers also edited an incomplete
edition of two of the seven obscure Gothic novels, known as the Northanger
Horrid Novels, mentioned by Jane Austen in her Gothic parody Northanger Abbey.
Summers was instrumental in rediscovering these lost books, which some had
supposed were an invention of Jane Austen herself.
Summers cultivated his reputation for eccentricity. The Times of London wrote
he was "in every way a 'character' and in some sort a throwback to the
Middle Ages." His biographer, Brocard Sewell, paints the following portrait
of Summers: "During the year 1927, the striking and somber figure of the
Reverend Montague Sommers in black soutane and cloak, with buckled shoes--a
la Louis Quatorze--and shovel hat could often have been seen entering or leaving
the reading room of the British Museum, carrying a large black portfolio bearing
on its side a white label, showing in blood-red capitals, the legend 'VAMPIRES'."
While his friend Aleister Crowley adopted the persona of a modern-day witch,
Summers played the part of the learned Catholic witch-hunter. His introduction
to the Malleus Maleficarum declares it an admirable and correct account of
witchcraft and of the methods necessary to combat it. In the introduction to
his book on The History of Witchcraft and Demonology he writes: "In the
following pages I have endeavored to show the witch as she really was – an
evil liver: a social pest and parasite: the devotee of a loathly and obscene
creed: an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes: a member
of a powerful secret organization inimical to Church and State: a blasphemer
in word and deed, swaying the villagers by terror and superstition: a charlatan
and a quack sometimes: a bawd: an abortionist: the dark counselor of lewd court
ladies and adulterous gallants: a minister to vice and inconceivable corruption,
battening upon the filth and foulest passions of the age".
Summers was a member of the Order of Chaeronea, a secret society for homosexuals
founded in 1897 by George Ives, which was named after the location of the battle
where the Sacred Band of Thebes was finally annihilated in 338 BC. Other members
included Charles Kains Jackson, Samuel Elsworth Cottam, and John Gambril Nicholson.
He died at his home in Richmond, Surrey. An autobiography The Galanty Show
was published posthumously in 1980, though much is left unrevealed about his
somewhat mysterious life.
Go to top.
Sir Charles Berwick
Charlie Berwick is a completely fictional character. He was going to appear in only the first tale - Gaunty House - but then I liked him so much I thought he would be a great foil to Montague Wynnter. Unlike Wynnter he doesn't believe in all the things they encounetr but trusts his friend enough to go along with his solutions. He plays Scully to Wynnter's Mulder. Berwick is a member of the British aristocracy and has the same sense of being obeyed that is usually portrayed in novels featuring such people of the time. He is an homosexual like Montague but has desires to marry in the future to continue the family name, he sometimes gets into trouble because of it. Go to top.
Vampires
Vampires are encountered on a number of occasions in the stories. The first is in Gaunty House,
a typical vampire story actually based on a Lancashire GHost story from the nineteenth century.
Things that one should keep inmind about vampires. Unlike in films and in these stories, they usually
suck blood from the chest, just above the heart, they make their way out of the grave in spirit form
not by digging up through the soil and there will often be some signs in the form of small holes at the top
of the grave. A crooked or partially tumblked gravestone is also a sign of there being a restless dead
in the grave. A black horse will not walk over the grave of a vampire when written by a virgin, but the horse
must not have been mated and it must be a stallion. Throwing millet on the floor distracts vampires who are
obviously anal retentive about picking up such things. Also when striking the head off a vampire it should
be done with a sexton's shovel. Vampire's can be held in the grave by placing a holy object on the grave top. Stakes, usually hawthorn
are used to kill a vampire or to pin it to the ground, it should be noted that when a stake is struck in it must penetrate
the heart with one blow to destroy the creature.
The folklore on vampires fills books so we can't go into it all here but if you
are interested in further reading seek out a book written by Reverend Montague Summers called - The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, 1928.Go to top.
Werewolves
Reverend Montague Summers wrote a book about werewolves called • The Werewolf, 1933 (reprinted with alternate title: The Werewolf in Lore and Legend ISBN 0-486-43090-1)
It should be noted that the folklore on werewolves is almost as extensive as that of vampires. 
It should also be remembered that the modern
take on werewolves, that it is a communicable diseasee an dthat only solver kills the beast were basically made up by Hollywood.
It is possible that the idea of silver being needed may have come from rumours of how the Beast of Gevaudan met its end but in fact
reading the history of that beast does not support this fact. In the legends most people who became werewolves did so using a wolf belt -
a sort of garment that turned the wearer intot a wolf, it could be taken off at a moments notice. Sorcerers were also said to
possess the ability to shapechange. Someone who was cursed could also become a werewolf and there were cures that stopped before death.
Like most folklore traditions the cure was quite preposterous - being tapped on the forehead three times with a knife, having a limb severed when in wolf form.
Considering the preposterous idea that werewolves could exist there is no reason why the cure should not be equally preposterous, sometimes
folklore smacks of two drunks talking rubbish in a pub. Go to top.
Vampires in the Far Eastern tradition
Vampires from Malaysia and China are another form of creature. The penanggallan of Malaysia according to the folklore of that region, the Penanggalan is a detached female head that is capable of flying about on its own. As it flies, the stomach and entrails dangle below it, and these organs twinkle like fireflies as the Penanggalan moves through the night. In Malaysian folklore, a Penanggal may either be a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means which is most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature. Another cause where one becomes a Penanggal in Malaysian folklore is due the result of a powerful curse or the actions of a demonic force although this method is less common than the active use of black magic abovementioned. he Penanggalan is usually a female midwife who has made a pact with the devil to gain supernatural powers. It is said that the midwife has broken a stipulation in the pact not to eat meat for 40 days; having broken the pact she has been forever cursed to become a bloodsucking vampire/demon. The midwife keeps a vat of vinegar in her house. After detaching her head and flying around in the night looking for blood the Penanggalan will come home and immerse her entrails in the vat of vinegar in order to shrink them for easy entry back into her body. One version of the tale states that the Penanggal was once a beautiful woman or priestess, who was taking a ritual bath in a tub that once held vinegar. While bathing herself and in a state of concentration or meditation, a man entered the room without warning and startled her. The woman was so shocked that she jerked her head up to look, moving so quickly as to sever her head from her body, her organs and entrails pulling out of the neck opening. Enraged by what the man had done, she flew after him, a vicious head trailing organs and dripping venom. Her empty body was left behind in the vat. The Penanggal, thus, is said to carry an odor of vinegar with her wherever she flies, and returns to her body during the daytime, often posing as an ordinary mortal woman. However, a Penanggal can always be told from an ordinary woman by that odor of vinegar. The Penanggalan's victims are traditionally pregnant women and young children. It is also said that when the creature is out of the body she must immerse the body left behind in vinegar to stop it drying up and withering away.
The most notable things about chinese vampires is that they hop around rather than walking or running.Go to top.
Energy Vampires
An energy vampire or psychic vampire is a being said to have the ability to feed off the "life force" of other living creatures. Alternative terms for these persons are pranic vampire, empathic vampire, energy predator, psy/psi-vamp, energy parasite, psionic vampire. The legends and spiritual teachings of some cultures refer to people, often given priestly attributes, who manipulate or remove (feed from) the energy of others. The tiger-women spoken of across Asia (as well as the fox-women of Japan) and the Jiang Shi of China may be noted, as can the incubus and succubus of Judaeo-Christian mythology. This concept is purported to be represented in the myths of a number of cultures, just as blood-drinking vampires are. In the oral tradition of the Hopi, a powaqa is a sorcerer who comes to a victim pretending to help and then feeds off the victim's life force.Go to top.
Ghouls
A ghoul is a monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: ghul, which literally means "demon". The ghul is a devilish type of jinn believed to be sired by Iblis. The female form is given as "ghouleh" in Muhawi and Kanaana . The plural is "ghilan". Ghul is also the name for a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary travellers into the desert wastes to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, robs graves, and eats the dead. Because of the latter habit, the word ghoul is sometimes used to refer to an ordinary human such as a grave robber, or to anyone who delights in the macabre. The word "ghoul" has also been used to describe cannibals such as Jeffrey Dahmer. The star Algol takes its name from this creature.Go to top.
Golems
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter.
The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be but a shadow of one created by God.
Early on, the notion developed that the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. In Sanhedrin 65b, is the description of Raba creating a golem using the Sefer Yetzirah. He sent the golem to Rav Zeira; Rav Zeira spoke to the golem, but he did not answer. Said Rav Zeira, "I see that you were created by one of our colleagues; return to your dust." It is said that if a golem were made able to speak, that would give it a soul, and — because a golem cannot be made perfectly — that ability could make it very dangerous.
Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages.
Other attributes of the golem were gradually added over time. In many tales the Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing one of the names of God on its forehead, a slip of paper in its mouth, or enscribed on its body, or writing the word Emet ( "truth" in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter aleph in Emet to form Met ( "dead" in Hebrew) the golem could be deactivated. Another way is by writing a specific incantation in the owner's blood on calfskin parchment, and placing it in the mouth. Removing the parchment will deactivate the golem. It is likely that this is the same incantation that the Rabbi recites in the classic narrative.Go to top.
Sorcerers
Historically, many writers who have written about fictional magicians, and many readers of such works, have believed that such magic is possible; in William Shakespeare's time, witches like the Weird Sisters in Macbeth and wizards like Prospero in The Tempest were widely considered to be real. Many figures now understood to be largely fictional, such as Merlin, were considered historical. Many historical figures, such as Virgil and Doctor Faustus, acquired legends of being wizards.
Some figures, termed by Katharine Briggs as supernatural wizards were wizards whose abilities were innate; such wizards, such as Gwydion in Welsh legends, may once have been regarded as gods. Indeed, in many medieval tales, the wizard or witch is not distinguishable from the ogre or the giant as a foe of the hero. The fairy tale Esben and the Witch features a witch. Characters that are not human can also be wizards or similar; in fairy tales, The Twelve Wild Ducks includes a troll witch, and The Wounded Lion a giant who can transform the hero.
Others, even in medieval romances, learned their abilities by study. Still others did not have consistent stories told of them; Morgan Le Fay clearly shows her origins as an innately magical being in her name, but in Le Morte d'Arthur, it is said that "she was put to school in a nunnery and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk of necromancy".
Sometimes it is not clear whether a character has innate abilities or has studied. For instance, a hag can be either a witch or a kind of fairy.
Modern writers, and readers, deal with magic as imaginary, as part of the imaginary worlds in which they work, whether fantasy worlds or imaginary portions of reality. Still, such historical figures and beliefs have played a large role in the development of the fantasy figure. The historical figures themselves can appear in fantasy works, such as Prospero, Merlin, and Faust.
The Magi (singular Magus, from Latin ; Old English: Mage; from Old Persian maguš and Proto-Kurdish mâgî) were a tribe from ancient Media, who — prior to the conquest of the Medes by the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC — were responsible for religious and funerary practices. Later they accepted the Zoroastrian religion, not without changing the original message of its founder, Zarathustra (Zoroaster), to what is today known as Zurvanism, which would become the predominant form of Zoroastrianism during the Sassanid era (AD 226–650). No traces of Zurvanism exist beyond the 10th century. The best known Magi are the "Wise Men from the East" in the Bible, whose graves Marco Polo claimed to have seen in what is today the district of Saveh, near Tehran, Iran. In English, the term may refer to a shaman, sorcerer or wizard; it is the origin of the words magic and magician.Go to top.
Information resource: Wikipedia.