The Meta-Encyclopedia

Werewolf

2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Werewolf. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) wer'wulf, in Anglo-Saxon superstition, a person turned into a wolf, yet retaining human intelligence. It was a widespread belief among the peasantry that certain persons, through infernal aid, were able to turn themselves into wolves at will. There was a belief also that other persons, having infernal power or witchcraft, were able to vent their spite by turning their enemies into wolves. It is thought that the belief may have grown out of the savage, wolfish aspect acquired by people who became insane and were lost in the forests or fled to the woods. At all events, a were-wolf was regarded as the most dangerous of all creatures, although there are traditions of werewolves who took an interest in helpless people and guarded them through dangerous forests to a place of safety. Witches were executed not infrequently on the charge of having made werewolves. One feature of this superstition was a belief that the werewolf who became such at his own wish could resume the human form. There are records, dating as late as the seventeenth century, of persons tried for crimes said to have been committed while they were werewolves. The popular nursery tale of the wolf that talked and ate up the grandmother of Little Red Riding Hood bears traces of the old superstition of the werewolf. See Transmigration ; Magic

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

or MAN-WOLF, the same as the French loup-garou, an imaginary being believed in during the Middle Ages.