Summary
Summary of Human Animals
Key ideas
Key idea 1
One spirit takes many shapes
Hamel begins with the belief that humans and animals share a single spirit, divided only by outward form. From that starting point, changing into a beast can seem natural rather than impossible. Some changes are chosen, others imposed by sorcery or punishment.
A Cherokee hunter acts like an animal to protect himself against winter cold, while other traditions imagine a soul roaming as a beast while its human body stays behind. These beliefs establish the connection Hamel follows: the boundary between person and animal is never entirely secure.
Key idea 2
Changing back carries its own dangers
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Illness and wonder share the wolf
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Animal lives can carry human souls
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Disguise becomes a way of becoming
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Courts begin to question the change
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Different beasts repeat familiar patterns
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Animal garments bind love and freedom
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Repeated patterns leave an open question
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who love folklore, werewolf and witch lore, ghost stories and strange old trial records, and who enjoy comparing legends from Japan, Africa, Europe and the Americas in one collection.
What this book is
Human Animals is a wide-ranging collection of beliefs, trial records, legends and ghost stories about people who turn into beasts and beasts that act like people. Its author, Frank Hamel, writes as a collector and a student of the occult. He gathers material from tribal customs, medieval courtrooms, fairy tales, saints' lives, travellers' reports and the writings of occultists.
The book begins from a simple idea. If every living thing is made of one spirit, then the line between a man and a wolf is only a matter of outward shape. From that starting point Hamel walks you through the many ways people have believed this. He covers werewolves, tiger-men, fox-wives, witches and their imps, serpent bridegrooms, swan maidens, haunted dogs and family omens.
He does not claim to settle the matter. He sets the accounts side by side, notes where doctors and judges saw madness, and suggests that thought, will and suggestion may hold the key. You will meet a farmer's wife who loses a hand and a priest who hears a wolf speak. First, though, comes the ancient belief that the animal and the human soul are one.
In this summary
- 1People everywhere believe in changing shapeFree
- 2Skins, ointments and cures for the change
- 3Lycanthropy as sickness and as wonder tale
- 4Totems, bush-souls and souls in animals
- 5Animal dances, masks and the wish to become
- 6Faces, scapegoats and saints among the beasts
- 7Werewolf trials and what the judges concluded
- 8Lion men, fox wives, witches and familiars
- 9Fairy tales, monsters and serpent brides
- 10Cats, omens, ghosts and the search for an explanation
Key point 1 of 10
People everywhere believe in changing shape
Hamel starts with the ancient idea that all beings share a single spirit that takes on different outward forms. He quotes Leland, who says that in the beginning men were animals and animals were men. Tribal peoples, he argues, give animals feelings like their own and see only a thin wall between the two worlds. Folklore is full of stories that rest on this idea.
He then sorts the ways of changing. Some changes are chosen and some are forced. A sorcerer, a witch or the devil may act as the agent. A person may also change on purpose, and the motives often look suspicious. Medieval courts charged such people with greed, cruelty and the wish to eat human flesh.
But not every change is evil. The Cherokee hunter setting out on a winter journey chants that he becomes a wolf, a fox or an opossum, then howls and scratches the ground. He believes the animal's feet cannot freeze, and his confidence does the rest. Hamel treats this as the power of suggestion at work.
In many tribes a change of shape is a punishment from the gods. Sin in one life brings rebirth in a lower body in the next. Bats shelter the dead, and a cat that leaps over a corpse may take the soul. A Solomon Islander on his deathbed tells his family which animal he will become.
Hamel adds the idea of the animal double. In this view a person's soul roams in beast form while the body stays in its usual shape. The Toradjas of Celebes say only the inner organs take animal form, and they call this condition lamboyo. Many werewolf and vampire stories, he says, grow from this root.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
What belief connects the many kinds of transformation Hamel collects?
Right. “Hamel starts with the ancient idea that all beings share a single spirit that takes on different outward forms.”Not quite. “Hamel starts with the ancient idea that all beings share a single spirit that takes on different outward forms.”
Why does Jean Grenier's case mark a turn in the werewolf trials?
Right. “The court declared lycanthropy a form of hallucination and not a crime in itself, and sent him to a monastery in Bordeaux.”Not quite. “The court declared lycanthropy a form of hallucination and not a crime in itself, and sent him to a monastery in Bordeaux.”
What explanation does Hamel suggest without claiming a final answer?
Right. “Hamel suggests that thought, will and suggestion shape what people see, and that a layer of truth may lie under the wildest superstition.”Not quite. “Hamel suggests that thought, will and suggestion shape what people see, and that a layer of truth may lie under the wildest superstition.”
Questions about Human Animals
What is Human Animals by Frank Hamel about?
It collects beliefs and tales about people who become animals and animals who act like people. Werewolves, witches' familiars, fox wives, serpent brides, bird maidens and animal ghosts all appear, along with the theories that try to explain them.
Is Human Animals a true story or folklore?
It is a survey of folklore, trial records and occult writing, not a novel. Hamel reports what peoples and writers have believed, quotes court records such as those of Jean Grenier, and then discusses possible explanations.
What is lycanthropy in this book?
Lycanthropy means the belief that a person has turned into a wolf or another beast. Hamel treats it both as a folk belief and as an illness described by early doctors, who spoke of melancholy and hallucination.
What is a bush-soul or nagual?
It is an animal double said to share a person's life. In West Africa, Melanesia and the Americas, people believe that if the animal is hurt or killed, its human partner suffers or dies. Hamel gives several vivid examples.
Is Human Animals easy to read?
The book is arranged in short chapters, each with its own theme, and it is packed with brief stories. You can read it straight through or dip into the werewolf trials, the fairy tales or the ghost chapters.
