One of the enduring and most feared monstrous creatures was the werewolf. First appearing in literature around 2000BC the werewolf has growled its way across the human psyche ever since. In the twenty-first century, however, the werewolf no longer occupies a central standing as a monstrous reality. That position has been filled by ape-like monsters — the Yeti, Sasquatch, and Bigfoot — who lurk and skulk and peep about the darker corners of the human imagination.

Brian Regal teaches the history of science, technology and medicine at Kean University, New Jersey, USA. He is the author of Human Evolution: a Guide to the Debates and the recent Annals of Science article, “Entering Dubious Realms: Grover Krantz, Science and Sasquatch.”