Vampire myths originated with a real blood disorder

The concept of a vampire predates Bram Stoker's tales of Count Dracula—probably by several centuries. But did vampires ever really exist?

In 1819, 80 years before the publication of Dracula, John Polidori, an Anglo-Italian physician, published a novel called The Vampire. Stoker's novel, however, became the benchmark for our descriptions of vampires. But how and where did this concept develop? It appears that the folklore surrounding the vampire phenomenon originated in that Balkan area where Stoker located his tale of Count Dracula.

Vampires

No creature haunting Western society's collective imagination has proven more enduring, more compelling, or more alluring than the vampire. But it was only with the his transformation from emaciated, plague-carrying "nosferatu" (literally, "not dead") to suave, sexually appealing anti-hero that the vampire's status as pop cultural icon was assured.

Vampire Evolution

The modern idea of the vampire is open to many different possibilities. What defines a vampire? And where did these traits come from?

Certain ideas about the vampire are now fixed. Sie almost always survives by drinking blood. Sie has died, and come back to life. Almost always, sie is unable to be active during the daylight hours. Often, sie fears holy objects such as crucifixes and blessed wafers, and is also allergic to garlic. Sie can be killed by means of a stake through the heart, or, sometimes, by burning.

Werewolf and Vampire!

FRIGHTENING!

If you haven’t been clawed, drained, ripped, bitten or sucked yet, don’t go off guard. I interviewed vampire buffs, visited graveyards, consulted skeptics, and searched the literature.

The truth that I dug up is as frightening as the fiction. Savage attacks by putrid vampires and howling werewolves still occur.

Introduction to Cinematic Vampires

For almost ninety-five years, from THE DEVIL'S CASTLE (1896) to BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992), the vampire has freely stalked movie theatres and preyed upon the willing patrons of over three hundred films. Though his origins may have been lost in the cave etchings of primeval mythology, obscured by the superstitions of folklore, or exploited by the "penny-dreadfuls" of Victorian melodrama, the vampire has remained a popular subject for motion pictures and television.

Vampires and Evil

Greetings and salutations. My name is Craig, and I'll be your professor this evening. Bear in mind, that I'm only referring to myself as "professor" because I only 'profess' to know something about the subject which I'm about to teach. Whether I actually DO know anything about it, well, that's another story.

My subject is vampires, as you may well have guessed. Those evil, malignant creatures of darkness who crawl forth from their tombs to drain the blood of the living. Hmmmm? What's that? You say that vampires aren't really evil? That vampires are really just misunderstood monsters who heroically fight to save their humanity against the forces of darkness seeking to claim their souls? How interesting. Well then, let's explore this further. Are vampires evil creatures, or tragic heroes? Where and when did vampires become the good guys? Tonight I'll try to answer this question, and maybe even come up with some good, solid questions of my own for others to ponder. (Oh, and if any of you happen to actually BE vampires, feel free to jump in at any time)

Vampires: Eternal Bloodlust

Everybody knows vampires, those immortal creatures that drink the blood of their victims. Hollywood is especially fond of them -- there are probably as many vampire pictures as there are gangster movies. In fact, it's mostly through this medium that they've gained their popularity.

With the new vampire flick Eternal coming out soon, interest in the genre is expected to shoot up again. Let's get prepped by exploring the mythical world of vampires from a scientific, historical and sociological standpoint.

Some info:

Let's start with what most of us know of the vampire myth.

Notes on a Strange World - In Search of Dracula

I recently had the opportunity to travel through Europe in search of the reality behind some famous ancient legends. I was part of a team of investigators for a TV show called "Legend Detectives," which subsequently aired in December 2005 by Discovery Channel Europe.

I was particularly interested in the legend that was scheduled for May: Count Dracula, the world's most famous vampire. Such is the enduring power of Bram Stoker's classic horror story, first published in 1897 and never out of print, that modern-day Transylvania in Northern Romania has become a tourist Mecca.

Essence of a Vampyre

First, I think it best to define the essence of the vampire (fictional) before attempting to define the Essence of the Vampyre (magical). In this way, I hope to invite discussion and/or debate on the topic, and to hear from other magicians' experience with this type of magic.

The word "essence," as defined by my Random House Dictionary, is "the basic intrinsic constituent or quality of a thing." It also means "the substance obtained from a plant or drug, by distillation or infusion, and containing its characteristic properties in concentrated form."

Dracula and Frankenstein: A Tale of Two Monsters

[This article is a slightly revised chapter from Reflections on Dracula, published by Transylvania Press in 1997. Sections of the chapter were previously published by Greenwood Press in Visions of the Fantastic (1996).]



“I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror - my own vampire.” (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 73)

The Compulsion of Real/Reel Serial Killers and Vampires: Toward a Gothic Criminology

ABSTRACT

The most gripping and recurrent visualizations of the "monstrous" in the media and film lay bare the tensions that underlie the contemporary construction of the "monstrous," which ranges in the twilit realm where divisions separating fact, fiction, and myth are porous—a gothic mode. There appear to be two monstrous figures in contemporary popular culture whose constructions blur into each other, and who most powerfully evoke not only our deepest fears and taboos, but also our most repressed fantasies and desires: the serial killer and the vampire.

A Romanian Experience

Introduction.

In August 1994, I spent two weeks in Romania. Though I am an experienced traveller (having visited over 20 countries in the past 30-plus years), this was my first trip to Romania. That is probably because up until recently, I have never had a particular reason to undertake such a trip. But that changed, as a direct result of my scholarly interest in Dracula. Now before you dismiss me as frivolous, please bear with me while I explain this interest!

Vampires: Origins of the Myth

The Blood is the Life

"My Friend -- Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At three tomorrow the diligence [traveling party] will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo Pass my carriage will await you and bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land."

The Vampyre

As the story goes, Byron (english poet, 1788-1824) has written some sort of vampyre story which he never completed. But he would reveal the plot to Polidori who was, at that time, his secretary and doctor. Eventually Polidori, who never liked his employer that much, left Byron. Polidori "inspired" himself from Byron's story and changed the names. The story was first published in the New Monthly Magazine in April 1819. Polidori's Vampyre created the vampyre fashion in Europe.

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It happened that in the midst of the dissipations attendant upon London winter, there appeared at the various parties of the leaders of the ton a nobleman more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein.

Montague Summers’ Guide to Vampires

INTRODUCTION

Anyone curious about the legendary background of vampires is soon bound to stumble across Montague Summers, whose writings in the 1920s established him as the foremost authority of the time and, as it happens, ever since. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929) investigated the subject and all its ramifications in fantastic detail, presenting a record of folk beliefs about death and vampires that is unlikely to be equalled for sheer scope and depth.