Anyway, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of malevolent spirits who feed on humans in some fashion, but not all of these are vampiric. I try to limit my examples to creatures who exhibit several of the following similarities to European vampires: is a risen corpse rather than merely an evil spirit, feeds on blood or “life force” specifically rather than just on humans in general, is associated with graveyards or the underworld, is vulnerable to religious practices/symbols or other weaknesses of vampires, is associated with an animal humans generally consider malevolent, has the ability to transform itself, has superior mental faculties/powers, is at home at night and vulnerable to daylight, and has underlying sexual implications in its feeding. Of course, requiring all of these would be rather limiting, so I try and keep the list to creatures that exhibit at least a few of these traits.
Vetala: A spiritual vampire-like being from Hindu mythology. A vetala, a creature trapped between the realms of life and the afterlife, is a spirit that inhabits and animates corpses, controlling them. Due to the vetala’s power, the corpse will not decay while “possessed” and will be used as a tool for the demonic creature. The vetala is also able leave the corpse at any time. Other than its undead nature, a number of similarities exist between the vetala and western vampires: they are known to inhabit graveyards; they hang upside down and are associated with bats; because of their supernatural nature, they possess greater-than-normal incite on human nature and human behavior; and they are vulnerable to religious ceremonies and symbols, though the legend obviously refers to Hindu mantras, rather than the Christian crucifix.
A vetala:
Lamia (Bulgarian mythology): A creature with several heads (which, of cut off, will grow back again and again) that usually feeds on the blood of young women. In some cases, the beast is said to have wings and is usually thought to live in caves or underground. Though the Lamia is traditionally seen as genderless, it is usually represented as female. The lamia is basically a hodgepodge of other, more well-established mythological creatures, continuing the ancient Bulgarian tradition of contributing nothing to society (except, of course, excellent Quidditch players). Not to be confused with the Basque “species” of nymph, the lamiak (singular – lamia).
Lamia (Greek Mythology): Although universally feminine, Lamia is a Greek version of the bogeyman; a woman with a human torso and a serpent below the waist who feeds on children. She may also have an erotic interest in feeding on men. In more recent folk traditions, changing from the singular Lamia to simply the name of the type of beast (“a lamia”), she has become known to be slovenly and stupid, driven by the need to feed on human blood. Like the lamia of Bulgaria, they are associated with damp, underground places. Due to the close proximity of the two countries, the Greek version is probably the origin of the Bulgarian. Modern lamia are sometimes blamed for crib death; children are said to have been “strangled by the lamia.” In folktales, the lamia resembles an ogress who feeds on human flesh and is often presented as an obstacle to the tale’s hero, who must steal something from her or obtain some information.
Lamia (singular), in the titular painting by Herbert Draper:
The Lilin (singular - “lili”): Female demons of Babylonian mythology similar to a succubus in that they are female spirits who drain the life force from their victims. They hunt at night to prey on men and pregnant women. Later, the creatures were adapted to Judaism as Lilith, the mythological first wife of Adam, became the progenitor of the lilin after mating with Samael, the Talmudic precursor to Lucifer. From this point onward, all European legends associated with vampirism were closely linked with the Devil, even the sexual nature of the vampire can be found here.
Lilith, represented here with subtle symbolism by John Collier, deriving sexual pleasure from wrapping herself in a giant serpent:
Akhkharu: A Sumerian precursor to the lilin. The akhkharu, like the lilin, is a malevolent female spirit who hunted at night, but the Sumerian version feasted on actual blood rather than “life force.”
Shtriga – A witch from Albanian folklore that sucks the life force or blood out of children, the younger the better (high five), during the night, then moves on to another child the next night. Once all a family's children have been fed upon, the shtriga moves to a neighboring family and begins to feed on them. The only way to stop the shtriga’s curse or to cure its victims is to kill the creature itself. In order to do so, one would have to lure a shtriga into a church on Easter Sunday, then hang a cross of bone could be hung on the church’s entrance, trapping the vampiric witch inside. The creature could then be seized and destroyed as it attempts to exit the church. Also, after a shtriga feeds, it generally goes into the forest to vomit up its victim’s blood (as to why, I have not idea). A silver coin dipped in the regurgitated blood, then wrapped in a cloth would become an amulet that would permanently protect its bearer. The shtriga is closely related to the Romanian strigoi and the Roman Strix, both etymologically and in behavior.
Strigoi: Synonymous with moroi; usage usually depends on the region, with “moroi” being more common in rural eras. The strigoi, creatures from Romanian mythology, are the evil souls of the dead who have risen from the grave to haunt the living. They are closely related to Romanian werewolves, the pricolici and vârcolaci, who exhibit similar behaviors, but the strigoi maintain a phantasm-like version of their former physical bodies rather than of a large wolf or dog. Basically vampiric witches, they come in living (Strigoi viu) and undead (Strigoi mort) varieties. Proving that ginger people really do have no souls, the strigoi are said to have ginger hair, blue eyes, and two hearts. The term is mostly likely derived from the Latin “strix,” a shrieking vampiric bird.
Strix: As mentioned before, the strix is a bird-like monster of ancient Roman mythology. It feeds on human flesh and blood like a traditional vampire, but rather than being creatures of the dead, they are the product of metamorphosis. The first recorded story involving the strix is found in the myth of Polyphonte, whose sons were turned into wild beasts as a punishment for cannibalism. Polyphonte herself became a beast that "cries by night, without food or drink, with head below and tips of feet above, a harbinger of war and civil strife to men." Consistent physical descriptions are hard to come by, however, with Roman scientist/philosopher Pliny the Elder admitting he has little knowledge of them. Other writers, from Ovid to Saint Isidore, 7th Century Archbishop of Seville, have written about the strix; Ovid creating his own myth about the creature attacking a legendary king in his cradle, and Isidore documenting the monster as a part of his efforts to preserve classical culture. The creature’s namesake and behaviors were probably disseminated throughout the Roman Empire and gave rise to the previously mentioned strigoi and shtriga, as well as others, I’m sure. Whether this is the origin of the traditional European vampire, that is difficult to determine. The origin of the strix, however, is thought to be the unearthly, screeching sound of the European Scops Owl, which is said to be more akin to a “spooky horse whinny” than a hooting owl. As you can see, it’s a terrifying creature:
“I shall feast upon your flesh. Ya, rly.”
Vrykolakas: An animated corpse or, depending on who you ask, a non-corporeal ghost of modern Greek folklore who can leave its grave on any day except Saturday. I guess the undead observe the Sabbath. They are created when a person dies participating in a sacrilegious act (auto-erotic asphyxiation ftw!), is excommunicated, buried in unconsecrated ground, or, especially, eaten the flesh of a sheep that has been wounded by a werewolf. Some versions of the myth state that a werewolf could become a vrykolakas after being killed, though the vrykolakas is very resilient and can only be slain by fire or by a lightning strike. Suspected corpses are to be impaled, beheaded, and incinerated immediately as the creature becomes more and more powerful the longer it remains in living death. Though the vrykolakas lacks to blood-sucking characteristics of a vampire, the two have become intertwined over time to the point where the word “vampire” is sometimes translated into Greek as “vrykolakas” and that a modern Greek might think of Dracula as a vrykolakas. The creature, biting the neck, traditionally kills its victims by sitting on them, which results in the quarry being smothered. Much in the same way as the incubus and succubus of medieval demonology, the vrykolakas was a folkloric explanation for the then-misunderstood phenomenon of sleep paralysis.
Mormo: More Greek nonsense. Mormo is a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology who bit children. Later, she became a bogeyman-like vampire creature who drank the blood of misbehaving children.
Manananggal – In Filipino (ew) folklore, the manananggal is an evil flesh-eating, blood-drinking witch that is repulsed by garlic. It normally takes the form of a beautiful woman, but detaches its upper torso, which sprouts huge bat-like wings and flies away, in order to feed. The detached torso will enter the homes of pregnant woman and use an elongated, tubular tongue to suck out the blood of the mother and child or, in a more gruesome twist, the heart of the unborn fetus. It is in the detached state, however, that the manananggal is at its most vulnerable. If one were to find the lower portion of the creature’s body, garlic, ash, or salt could be rubbed over it, making it impossible for the manananggal to rejoin its lower half, effectively killing it as the beast cannot survive daylight in its separated state. Incidentally, a manananggal can create others by tricking humans into drinking its blood, much like the transformation process of some European vampire myths.
Manananggal, by Christopher Andrew Bennett, courtesy of Google image search (because I’m so creative and resourceful):
Pontianak – In Indonesian folklore, a pontianak is the vengeful spirit of a woman who died in childbirth. The ghost will appear as a beautiful woman accompanied by the scent of flowers, but upon her return from the dead, she sets about terrorizing entire villages and “unwary” men. Note to Indonesians: stop trying to have sex with the undead. To avenge her own death, the pontianak, like the manananggal, mostly feeds on pregnant women and newborn children.
A poster from one of the many films based on the pontianak. Undoubtedly better than King Kong:
Langsuir - A Malaysian twist on the pontianak, the langsuir possesses its victims, sucking blood from inside his or her own body. Like the pontianak, a langsuir is always a woman who died in childbirth, though its appearance, rather than that of a beautiful woman, is far more menacing. The apparitions are usually described as having long fangs and hair, red eyes, sharp claws, a rotten face, and wearing a white robe.
Artist’s rendering:
Hopping Corpse (Chinese: jiangshi, literally “stiff corpse”): A human becomes a hopping corpse when that person’s soul remains in the physical body after death. The hopping corpse, its arms permanently outstretched, is forced to hop rather than walk due to being afflicted with rigor mortis. The myth originated from the folkloric practice of "Traveling a Corpse over a Thousand Li" (Li being a distance of about 500 meters). The legend concerns family members or companions who had died far away from home and did not have enough money to pay for the corpse to be transported home for burial. Those close to the deceased would then pay a Taoist priest to train the corpse to hop its own way back home. Traditionally, the jiangshi feeds on the qi (life force) of its victims but influences from the Western vampire has spurred the adoption of a “blood-sucking jiangshi” as a different variety of hopping corpse. The psychology behind the jiangshi is a reflection of the Chinese revulsion of the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty). The Manchu were from what is today northeastern China (Manchuria), a region that, before the Qing conquest in the first half of the 17th Century, was not associated with mainland China. The Han Chinese, the ethnic majority in China, viewed their Manchu rulers as inhuman monsters, sucking the life out of the “real” China. It is not surprising that the hopping corpse is universally dressed in traditional Manchu attire. The Chinese tradition of keeping a raised wooden block on the floor of an entrance to a household has its roots in warding off the jiangshi. This practice also calls to mind the European belief that vampires cannot enter a household without first being invited inside.
Traditional Manchu dress:
A child-like jiangshi, seen in one of its many depictions in Hong Kong cinema. They appear to be attracted to guys who sport a huge unibrow.
Succubus/Incubus: Although not typically associated with vampires, these medieval demons do share some characteristics with the living dead bloodsuckers. Both varieties of demon are malevolent creatures of the night who prey upon unsuspecting humans while they sleep. Like many of the vampire-like creatures listed here, both incubi and succubi drain the life force of their victims, oftentimes to the point of death. Like vampires, there is a sex-charges fluid exchange, with the succubus taking semen from its male victims and the incubus depositing semen in its female victims. Sometimes both creatures are one in the same, merely different forms. The incubus/succubus has a female form that drains semen from men, then turns into its male form to impregnate women to create children more susceptible to demonic influence. Other times, the succubus transfers the semen to the incubus, while still other versions give the incubus the ability to impregnate women on its own. These stories were inventions, as stated earlier, to explain sleep paralysis. In addition, succubi served as early cautionary tales against casual sexual encounters with strange women. The incubi provided a woman who had been the victim of a real-life sexual assault a way to prevent the humiliation of becoming pregnant out of wedlock. As bizarre as it may seem, it was more socially acceptable to be raped by a demon than by a real human, since rape victims were often looked upon with the same disdain as adulterers.
A succubus-like vampire:
Medieval European vampire-like undead that may or may not be related to vampire legends –
- Revenant: A corpse of medieval legend which has risen from the grave to haunt the living. Not to be confused with a zombie-like mindless cadaver, the revenant is a very personal and goal-oriented ghoul, intent on tormenting specific humans. A revenant is created when a wicked or heretical person dies, especially when they are subjected to improper burial. If this is the case, they will come back to plague those that had wronged them in life, often spreading disease among the living. If a person is a suspected revenant, the corpse should be exhumed and decapitated, burned, and/or its heart removed from its body. This more focused version of a ghost seems like a precursor to vampires, but most medieval scholars dismiss this notion, despite their similarities; revenants originated in Western European folktales rather than the Eastern Slavic regions where vampires first came into being.
-Mullo/Mulo: Literally translated as “one who is dead,” the mullo/mulo is a Gypsy (Roma) apparition that lives in the mountains and haunts/sucks the blood of the living, especially concentrating on relatives who performed an improper burial on the deceased or stole his/her possessions. The ghost lacks bones and has no middle finger on either hand, which I guess is scary to gypsies.
Vampires (actual vampires): Perhaps the only thing ever invented by Slavic peoples, the legend of what we know as the Vampire probably began with Europe’s most conquerable ethnicity. From the middle ages until the re-imagining of the creatures in the 19th century, a vampire was a monstrous creature, as hideous as one would expect a re-animated corpse to be. However, there were stories where, for example, a man would meet and have sex with a strange, beautiful woman, only to wake and find himself sharing a bed with a long-dead cadaver. These stories were perhaps the beginnings of the vampire’s evolution from a bloodsucking, bloated corpse into the [gross oversimplification ahead] high-society sex machines of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice.
The origins of these Slavic tales have their roots in cultures varying from the Ancient Romans to the fruit and vegetable-fearing gypsies. Tracing the beginnings of any legend, particularly one as pervasive as vampires, is destined to be a nebulous undertaking, especially for someone using Wikipedia as a major source for information. For example, the Russian anti-pagan text entitled Word of saint Grigoriy, written sometime between the 11th and 12th centuries, describes polytheistic Russians making sacrifices to vampires. Whether the accounts are accurate or were merely created to serve as anti-pagan propaganda, the presence of these stories demonstrate that vampires were pervasive enough in Slavic culture to be used as propaganda as early as the 11th Century. Gypsy peoples, as stated earlier, have their own beliefs on vampires, but since I do not know their precise migratory patterns (the first written account of gypsies occurred around 800 AD near the then Byzantine-controlled region of Thrace, possibly originating from as far away as India), I cannot state which culture influenced whom. In all likelihood, it is a combination of mutual influence, an expression of common fears, and the assimilation of older legends like the Hindu Vetala, the Roman strix, etc. The commonalities in the various vampiric legends from different parts of the world represent a culmination of humanity’s fear of everything we perceive as unnatural in the natural world. The dead have not only risen from the grave, defying all inherent laws of nature and God, but seek to feed on the living, possibly their loved ones, to either kill them or drag them into the living death. No matter what culture one is from, few things are as terrifying as the prospect of the corpse of a once-cherished relative coming after you in the night to force you into a fluid exchange…but then again, what do I know?
In any case, Slavs believed that vampirism was caused by a variety of circumstances such as being born with a caul (unbroken amniotic sac), teeth, or a tail; suffering an “irregular” death; or being the subject of improper burial rituals. If a body is buried under the suspicion of becoming a vampire (a “high-risk” candidate I suppose), along with the perennial crucifix, a wooden block is placed under the chin to prevent the carcass from eating its own burial shroud. Sawdust, grain, or seeds can also be placed at the grave site. Upon waking, a vampire is compelled to count each grain, seed, etc., which will hopefully take the entire night, killing the abomination at dawn. The ever-present stake to the heart could also be used, but it was traditionally used to keep the vampire nailed to the ground rather than to kill it. Echoing a gag from an Evil Dead film, a scythe was sometimes placed just above the corpse’s neck so it would decapitate itself if it were to sit up. Hilarious! The abhorrence of garlic and the urge to count grain are common traits of many Slavic monsters. In fact, garlic was so prevalent in Slavic culture that it was sometimes distributed at churches in order to determine if a vampire was among them. The congregation was then expected to eat the vegetable and those that did not were considered vampires.
Count Orlak from Nosferatu, probably the closest thing to a traditional vampire ever portrayed in film:
Romanian vampire legends are most likely an outcrop of the Slavic traditions, as Romania is surrounded by Slavic countries and was part of the Ancient Roman Empire’s frontier for many centuries. The ways to become a vampire are similar to the Slavic routes, though more elaborate. These include being born with a caul (I guess mucus-covered membranes are a tool of the devil), with extra hair, with an extra nipple, out of wedlock, or too early; a black cat crossing the mother’s path while she is pregnant; dying before baptism; being the seventh child of the same sex from the same mother; and finally, being born of a mother who does not eat salt during pregnancy. I really can’t figure that one out, but medieval Europeans loved to blame women, along with the Jews, for everything, so I guess it’s just one more thing that will send them and their undead-spewing vaginas to Hell. I’ll go with it. Of course, there is also the ever-present risk of being bitten by a vampire, which is a guaranteed sentence to share the creature’s fate, if one survives.
In Romanian legend, the first sign of a vampire stalking a village is the rampant death of livestock. Along with witches, vampires are likely to be roaming the Earth on Saint George’s Day, April 22nd, a night where all manner of malevolent creatures travel about. On this night especially, one prevents a vampire attack by rubbing the livestock and windows with garlic. More permanent anticipatory measures include placing a thorny rose branch over a grave, taking extra care to bury the deceased, preventing animals from approaching the dead, and burning a baby’s caul before the child has a chance to eat it. In some cases, bodies are routinely disinterred to check for vampirism; a child dug up three years after death, a young person after five years, and an adult after seven years. If a body shows signs of being not quite dead, the usual staking takes place along with decapitation and stuffing the mouth with garlic. In some cases, the body is dismembered and the various parts soaked in water to be given to family members as a cure. I do not know how this “cure” was administered.
The last major culture to contribute to what became Bram Stoker’s version of the vampire was the Roma people. No coincidentally, the attendants who serve Dracula and help transport him to England in Stoker’s novel are gypsies. India, the traditional birthplace of the Roma people, has many blood-sucking supernatural beings ingrained in its myths, folktales, and religion. Besides the already-discussed vetala, the pishacha are flesh-eating demons of Hindu mythology and the bhutas are the ghosts of men who have died violent deaths, wandering the Earth animating corpses. The Hindu and Buddhist (Buddhism was still prominent in India at the time the Roma emigrated) beliefs in reincarnation held that people who had led unholy or violent lives could be karmicly punished by coming back as one of these evil spirits. Supernatural blood-drinking was so ingrained in Hindu belief that Kali, the Hindu goddess of annihilation/deconstruction, is heavily associated with the practice. A version of Kali survives in some gypsy societies as “Sara,” also known as the “Black Goddess” or “Black Kali/Cally.” It should be emphasized that Kali is not an evil deity, but has only earned that reputation through the graphic images associated with here. Still, most metal goddess ever:
As for the beliefs on vampires, people who were disfigured, especially if they were missing a finger or had limbs similar to those of animals are believed to be vampires. If a person died alone or hidden or if a corpse became prematurely bloated, the body is susceptible to vampirism. As curious as it may sound, gypsy vampiric legends were not kept to humans. For example, pumpkins and watermelons (yes, pumpkins and watermelons) that are kept ten tens after Christmas may become vampires. However, even the Roma people find these creatures non-threatening and do not fear them, as melons and squashes have no teeth. There are even some legends concerning vampiric agricultural tools. In case you think I’m making this up, here is an account written by Balkans historian, folklorist, and ethnographer Tatomir P. Vukanović: “The [Gypsies] in [Kosovo] destroy pumpkins and melons which have become vampires … by plunging them into a pot of boiling water, which is then poured away, the vegetables being afterwards scrubbed by a broom and then thrown away, and the broom burned.” Incidentally, this has nothing to do with the tradition of making Jack O’-Lanterns on Halloween, as that custom is Celtic in origin.
A victim of the terrible Pumpkin Scourge:
Roma tales concerning protecting oneself and one’s village are perhaps the most elaborate among all traditional vampire lore. Making the task especially difficult is the fact that most people, or at least most gypsies, cannot see vampires. According to Tatomir P. Vukanović, they could only be seen "by a twin brother and sister born on a Saturday who wear their drawers and shirts inside out." A village could guard itself from an undead attack "by finding a twin brother and sister born on a Saturday and making them wear their shirts and drawers inside out. This pair could see the vampire out of doors at night, but immediately after it saw them it would have to flee, head over heels." Corpses suspected of vampirism are buried with stakes or steel needles through the heart; bits of metal placed over the eyes, ears, and fingers; and a branch of hawthorn (a type of shrub) stuffed into the sock or used as a stake. Boiling water could be poured over the body and it could also be, as is very common, decapitated and burned. Other legends talk of hiring a dhampir, a half-vampire half-human, or a moroi, a ghost sometimes associated with energy vampirism or lycanthropism, to dispose of the greater menace. I do not know how one would go about hiring supernatural beings, nor do I know how the gypsies rid themselves of them. The fact that tradition recommends the use of werewolf-like ghosts and the half-undead to dispose of vampires demonstrates how menacing some cultures find the creatures.
Perhaps the one of the reasons why these folktales and legends became so propagated, and how writers like Bram Stoker came to be fascinated in them, can be traced to the “Vampire Craze” of the first half of the 18th Century. The two most famous cases are that of Peter Plogojovitz and Arnold Paole, Serbian peasants who died and supposedly returned from the dead to kill their fellow villagers. Plogojovitz died in 1725 and was followed in quick succession by nine other peasants who died of a short, virulent disease or diseases. Before dying, the victims would claim to have been “throttled” by Plogojovitz during the night. According to local tradition, the same village had been obliterated by a vampire centuries ago when Serbia was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Overcome by fear, the villagers disinterred Plogojovitz’s body, which was found to be in “vampiric condition,” and promptly drove a stake through its heart and burned it. The whole procedure was observed by an official of the Austrian government, who declared Plogojovitz a genuine vampire and condoned the desecration. Understanding of the decomposition process at the time was very limited, which accounts for Plogojovitz being mistaken for the undead. For a more detailed description of why people thought decomposing corpses were in fact vampires, see my previous blog entry.
Arnold Paole’s circumstances were similar to Plogojovitz in that his alleged vampirism was confirmed by an Austrian official. Before returning to his home village of Medveda, Paole had been an outlaw/bandit/”freedom fighter” (known as a hajduk) operating in Ottoman territory. He stated that while in the Turkish-controlled areas of the Balkans, he came under the plague of a vampire but cured himself by eating soil from the creature’s grave and smearing himself with its blood. Sometime around 1725-1726, Paole broke his neck and perished. Twenty to thirty days later, four people claimed to have been assaulted by the deceased man and died shortly thereafter. The locals consulted another hajduk who supposedly had experience in such matters. He advised them to disinter Paole’s body and drive a stake through his heart, instructions the villagers soon followed, repeating the procedure with Paole’s “victims.” A second and much more prolific epidemic occurred in the same village in 1731 in which seventeen people of various ages and phases of health died after brief and intense maladies, some after only one or two days. Several victims reported having been assaulted by those that had died before them, one going so far as to claim she smeared herself in “vampire” blood to protect herself. The citizens of Medveda surmised that the second plague began because the first victim(s) had eaten beef from cattle that Paole had drank from while he was under the living death. When the Austrian authorities heard of these new deaths, they sent more authorities to investigate. With the help of local gypsies (always a good idea) and town elders, the bodies were unearthed and examined. Twelve were officially declared to be in “vampiric condition.” By the 1740s, many prominent physicians and thinkers (most notably, the usually critical French writer/philosopher Voltaire) were swayed into believing these vampire “outbreaks” were fact. The debate was quite controversial in Europe at the time and was only prolonged by villagers digging up one corpse after another. Fed up with the dispute, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent Gerhard van Swieten, a personal physician to the royal family, to determine the legitimacy of the claims. He promptly found that vampires did not exist, which resulted in laws forbidding the desecration of bodies, for any purpose.
Similar instances occurred in New England as late as the 19th Century, with the most famous case being that of nineteen year old Mercy Brown, who died in 1892. Her father, with the help of the family physician, dug up her body and removed her heart, thinking her to be a vampire (though the term was never officially used). Tuberculosis, then called consumption, commonly took the lives of several members of one family or village due to its highly contagious nature. Many people looked to a supernatural cause as the answer for the tragedy the disease could inflict. Documents concerning the Mercy Brown incident were found among Bram Stoker’s personal effects and probably inspired much of the plot in his novel Dracula.
As Stoker’s novel became one of the most recognized stories in Western fiction, his sexually charged vision of the vampire became one the public began to use to replace the revolting ghoul-like creature of yore. With the portrayal of The Count by this guy…
…the vampire’s future was sealed. Lugosi’s brilliant embodiment of Dracula would become the blueprint and reference point for all vampires to come. In less than half a century Stoker and Lugosi has transformed the vampire from a superstition of infinitely knotted origins (that was used to explain the tragedy of tuberculosis) into a malevolent Transylvanian nobleman whose appetite was matched by his charms. Of course, the “creature of the night” has evolved far beyond Dracula, for better or for worse, but The Count remains one of the most recognizable villains and supernatural beings in the Western world.
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