The 15th century prince who inspired the literary vampire Dracula may have had medical issues that caused him to cry tears of blood, according to researchers unearthing this ancient mystery.
An online vampire research portal, with resources and information, terminology, folklore and historical writings, and otherkin related materials. All topics covered here deal with vampires and similar cryptids.
Cinema's obsession with Dracula
Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has been adapted on screen hundreds of times. Bram Stoker's novel, which tells the story of the villainous blood-sucking Count's journey to Victoria Britain, has an enduring appeal that shows no sign of waning.
The latest Dracula film, Renfield, which stars Nicolas Cage as the vampire, comes more than 100 years after the first, albeit unofficial, depiction of the Count on screen.
Cutting his teeth: how Bram Stoker found his inner Dracula in Scotland
Author’s method acting approach to writing terrified local people in Aberdeenshire as he perched on the rocks like a bat.
In August 1894, at the end of a month-long stay to research his embryonic novel, Bram Stoker wrote in the visitors’ book at the Kilmarnock Arms on the Aberdeenshire coast that he had been “delighted with everything and everybody” and hoped to return soon.
According to new research, though, the feeling was not entirely mutual. Stoker, a genial Irishman usually known for his cheeriness, was experimenting with what would become known as “method acting” to get under the skin of his new character, one Count Dracula. Local historian Mike Shepherd, who has spent seven years researching Stoker, says the author’s links with the London theatre inspired Stoker to try inhabiting his character in a different way.
Video submission: Vampires Make it Into Academia
A group of academics met at the University of Hertfordshire in England to discuss the "Americanization" of the vampire genre. WSJ's Javier Espinoza reports.
The Legend Of Jure Grando, The First Person Described As A Vampire
Jure Grando was a peasant who lived in the small village of Kringa, just outside of Tinjan, Croatia. He died in 1656, leaving behind a widow and a wake of terror that haunted Kringa for the next 16 years.
Every night for those 16 years, the good people of Kringa would hear knocks throughout the city in the middle of the night. The knocks were warnings, a promise that someone who lived in a house that had its door knocked had little time left on this world.
Why we are living in 'Gothic times'?
There is a surge in goth-lit that channels our fears and anxieties. Hephzibah Anderson explores how the genre's past and new stories delve deep into disorder and darkness.
"We live in Gothic times," declared Angela Carter back in 1974. It's a theme Carlos Ruiz Zafón took up several decades later: "Ours is a time with a dark heart, ripe for the noir, the gothic and the baroque", he wrote in 2010. Both authors had good reason. The Gothic has always been about far more than heroines in Victorian nightgowns, trapped in labyrinthine ancestral homes, and along with the supernatural, its imaginings probe power dynamics and boundaries, delving deep into disorder and duality.
Monsters of Gothic Fiction
During the 1700s, as the world became better known through exploration and scientific experimentation, mythical monsters disappeared from studies of nature and medicine. But they became increasingly popular in the Gothic fiction that arose in the late 1700s and persisted as an important genre through the 1800s. Monsters of this literature personified the fears of society: fear of what happens when science is allowed to go too far; fear of the encroachment of contagious disease; and fear of the demons within ourselves.
Vampire Stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Distinguished vampire literature bibliographer Robert Eighteen-Bisang edited this collection, titled simply VAMPIRE STORIES (2009). Sherlock Holmes fans unfamiliar with Doyle's many other works of fiction may enjoy exploring the lesser-known stories in this volume, which does include a few Holmes adventures as well. Eighteen-Bisang provides a short introduction about Doyle, focusing mainly on his friendship with Bram Stoker and occasional annoyance at being famed solely as the creator of the Great Detective. Each tale is followed by a few paragraphs of background and commentary about the story.
America's Restless Vampires
Is it bad to drink blood?
We humans, we're all just flesh and blood. And as we've already covered the costs of consuming flesh, let's have some banter about imbibing blood.
Inside your vessels (blood vessels that is, not drinking vessels), blood carries just about everything your body needs. It picks up oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the gut and hand delivers them to your cells.
Vampire myths originated with a real blood disorder
Video submission: The Strange Origin Of Vampires
Fact or Fiction: Are Vampires Real?
Raise the stakes with this all encompassing guide on all things vampires.
Author: Leah Hall, for Country Living
It's not your imagination: Vampires are everywhere. They're in vampire movies (hello, Interview with the Vampire) and all over television (we see you, The Vampire Diaries). They're the subject of countless books. (Twilight may have spawned a million vampiric copy cats, but if you want to get good and scared, try a classic: Stephen King's Salem's Lot.)
The Icelandic Translation of ‘Dracula’ Is Actually a Different Book
The Icelandic version of Dracula is called Powers of Darkness, and it’s actually a different—some say better—version of the classic Bram Stoker tale.
Makt Myrkranna (the book’s name in Icelandic) was "translated" from the English only a few years after Dracula was published on May 26, 1897, skyrocketing to almost-instant fame. Next Friday is still celebrated as World Dracula Day by fans of the book, which has been continuously in print since its first publication, according to Dutch author and historian Hans Corneel de Roos for Lithub. But the Icelandic text became, in the hands of translator Valdimar Ásmundsson, a different version of the story.
The Wild Evolution of Vampires, From Bram Stoker to Dracula Untold
The vampire in particular has had quite a colorful tenure. Vampiric creatures and spirits date at least as far back as Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece, but the vampire as we know it emerged in the early 1700s, when natives and foreigners alike began recording the folklore and superstitions of the Balkans, that cluster of eastern European countries that would become home to the most famous vampire of all time: Count Dracula.
Was a Hungarian "vampire" countess the world's most prolific serial killer?
But these men, and others like them who've issued wholesale execution orders, did not directly murder the people who died under their authority. And to be considered a serial killer, one must have personally murdered three or more people.
Vampires and Biochemistry
The Words on Nelly's Tombstone
The villagers of Exeter, Rhode Island, knew that farmer George Brown had a problem. First, in 1883 his wife, Mary, succumbed to a mysterious illness. Six months later, his 20-year-old daughter, Mary Olive, also fell ill and died. Within the next several years, his 19-year-old daughter, Mercy, was also dead, and George's teenage son, Edwin, a healthy lad who worked as a store clerk, became suddenly frail and sick. The village doctor informed George that "consumption" was taking his family. But the country folk of Exeter had another explanation.
Vampires in Myth and History
However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.
Count Dracula and the Folkloric Vampire: Thirteen Comparisons
Western European words such as vampire (English and French) and vampiros (Spanish) derive from vampir which occurs in the Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian languages. The term entered the mainstream press of Western Europe during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century along with sensational reports of “vampire plagues” from Eastern Europe. The original vampir of Slavic folklore was indeed a revenant who left his grave in corporeal form (at least in appearance -- there are cases where the revenant was considered to be the spirit of the dead person), brought death to the living, and returned to his grave periodically. There were other Slavic names for such revenants such as vorkudlak (Serbo-Croatian), obour (Bulgarian), upir (Russian, Ukranian, and Polish). But the name vampire became so fixated in western Europe that it has come to be applied to all the corporeal revenants bringing death to the living which occur in the folk beliefs of Eastern Europe.
Vampires
Staking Claims: The Vampires of Folklore and Fiction
The Bloody Gospel
Christ of the Vampires is a Bible study that concerns parallels and differences between Vampirism and Christianity. It is my intention to prove that Jesus is the real Christ of the Vampires. The Bible study will probably shock both Christians and non-Christians alike. So read with an open mind.
Was Dracula Irish?
It has always been assumed that the original Dracula story, written by the Irishman Abraham (Bram) Stoker in 1897, was based on the Transylvanian folk hero Vlad Dracul, known as "the impaler" because of his favourite method of punishment.
However, an intriguing alternative inspiration for the Dublin civil servant's story has been put forward by Bob Curran, lecturer in Celtic History and Folklore at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, in the summer edition of History Ireland, a sober academic journal edited by historians from the Univeristy College, Cork.
Where did the word "Vampire" come from?
Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, contends that vampir is originally Serbian and that the Hungarian word traces a path from Serbia, through Germany, to Hungary. The word entered English through German as well.
English usage dates to at least 1734. Bram Stoker wrote the novel Dracula in 1897.
Source: WordOrigins.com
Garlic against Vampires
Vampire Evolution
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!
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.
Vampires, Vindication and Vendetta
McNally (1983) traced the beginning of this legend to 1720 when it first appeared in a history (in Latin) of Hungary written over a century after the death of the Blood Countess. From there it found its way into a German collection of articles on "philosophical anthropology" published in the late eighteenth century and thence into Western folklore.
Introduction to Cinematic Vampires
What's That in the Mirror?
Part I
Why Dracula Hates Mirrors -- Bram Stoker
"The now popular idea that vampires cast no reflection in a mirror (and often have an intense aversion to them) seems to have been first been put forward in Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. Soon after his arrival at Castle Dracula, Jonathan Harker observed the building was devoid of mirrors. When Dracula silently came into Harker's room while he was shaving, Harker noticed that Dracula, who was standing behind him, did not appear in the shaving mirror as he should have. Dracula complained that mirrors were the objects of human vanity, and, seizing the mirror, he broke it.
Vampires and Evil
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)
Vampire Killers and the First Vampire
The First Vampire
Lady of Blood: Countess Bathory
During the Christmas season in 1609 (or 1610), King Mathias II of Hungary sent a party of men to the massive Castle Csejthe. He had heard rumors that several young women from the area were being held in the castle against their will, if not actually killed. In haste, he sent the team to investigate.
Valentine Penrose described what happened in Erzsébet Báthory, La Comtesse Sanglante, translated in English as The Bloody Countess, and a fictionalized account can be found in The Blood Countess, by Andrei Codrescu, which provides a good sense of the setting. Yet the earliest accounts derive from an 18th Century history of Hungary, by Father Laslo Turáczi with a monograph published in 1744, and a 1796 German publication, which is translated and quoted in Sabine Baring-Gould's 1865 account of werewolf legends around the world.
Vlad the Impaler: Man More Than Myth
"The water flows, the rocks remain."
-- Old Romanian Proverb
Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, continues to send shivers down the spine of anyone who reads it. It is dark Gothic at its best, a brilliant, imaginative and can't-put-down work of art. The atmosphere it creates is, in this writer's opinion, spookier than any Stephen King novel.
The History of the Family Dracul
The name Dracula conjures up a myriad of dark images in our mind; late night horror movies of vampires and vampire hunters, dark forests in Romania, and tyranical leaders capable of all sorts of evil acts. Here is some background information on the Dracula from which Bram Stoker -- and Jeanne Kalogridis -- were inspired: Prince Vlad Tepes, born 1431, died 1476, ruler of the lands now known as Romania.
Vampires: Eternal Bloodlust
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:
Notes on a Strange World - In Search of Dracula
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.
Is There A True "American Vampire" Myth?
From Fear to Fascination: A study of the transformation of social roles of the Slavic and American vampire.
In America today, we are surrounded by borrowed images. People from all over the world flock here, and bring with them a background of cultures and beliefs, filled with imagery reflecting those ideas. Often times, these elements take on a life of their own in the cauldron known as the American "melting pot," and through interaction with their new surroundings, evolve into something quite different from their original form, becoming an integral part of our culture. Perhaps one of the most fascinating figures to undergo this process is that of the vampire. With its original association with evil, disease, and death, it is surprising that this creature of the dark has garnered the appeal it has in American culture today. Indeed, our fascination with something that was once feared seems to indicate that the vampire's function in today's society is fundamentally different from that which it was originally.
In The Blood: A serious look at vampire-myth origins
For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. (Leviticus 17:11)
Any broad exploration of pre-Industrial European society cannot help but touch upon the plethora of peasant tales that both served to entertain the populace and teach morality to the children of Europe. On surface examination, at least, this function of folklore seems apparent enough. It is a perfectly valid assessment of the function of common fable--but in many respects, it is inadequate. Peasant tales served, in many cases, as more than simple fables. The fact that the vast bulk of European humanity remained illiterate in pre-Industrial Europe should stimulate questions about the more complex and subliminal purposes of this entirely oral form of literature.
Vampire Bats
Indigenous to Central and South America, vampire bats live in a very strong social culture. The develop bonds with other bats in the colony, and learn to recognize each other through sound and scent. Vampire bats tend to live in caves, trees, or buildings. Their colonies can reach numbers of up to 2000 bats, but most colonies tend to house approximately 100 bats.
Vampire Physiology
Blood has been a symbol of life since very ancient times. The blood in our veins has always been iconic of our continuing life. To lose too much blood is to lose consciousness, breath, and eventually, our very lives. If a person or animal is already dead and is cut open, blood does not flow. Only the living have blood that flows. Blood has been used throughout the ages as a ceremonial sacrifice. In pagan times our forefathers worshipped their gods with blood sacrifice. And today, indeed, we are not so different. Even in modern times, in our churches, there are those taking communion or the Eucharist, and drinking of the wine that symbolizes Christ's blood.
It seems appropriate, then, that this creature who is an antithesis of both death and life should gain his strength from feeding from the life's blood of humans. For the vampire, the drinking of blood is its life, its sustenance, and the single thing that makes it identifiable all around the world, regardless of the culture in which you were raised or the language you speak.
Vampire Hunter's Guide
Coffins
Early mythological vampires did not sleep in coffins. Up until the 19th century, only the very rich could afford coffins, and so much of the history of vampires did not include a 'secured' burial - indeed, it was the very precarious nature of medieval burial that fostered the fear that vampires could very easily rise from their final resting place in the earth.
Famous Vampire Places
Every childhood lover of vampire movies will remember the chilling line, "I come from...Transylvania!" No other place is so easily identified with vampires as Transylvania. Bram Stoker made this area famous by making it the homeland of his fictional character Dracula. Vlad Tepes, a historical figure upon whom Dracula was loosely based, was from Transylvania.
Transylvania is territory in central Romania; in fact, it's the largest territory in the country. It's surrounded on three sides by the Carpathian mountains. Romania has strong Hungarian and German influences as well. One of the more famous cities in Transylvania is Sighisoara, a beautiful medieval town. Of particular interest in the town in the house where Prince Vlad Dracul, father of Vlad Tepes, was born.
Essence of a Vampyre
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."
Women in the Vampire World
Dracula and Frankenstein: A Tale of Two Monsters
“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)
Beware of the Vampires in the Human Mind
But don't beware of the pointed bicuspids or flashy capes, rather heed your own relationships.
The vampires may already be there.
That's according to Julia McAfee, a practicing Jungian analyst from Florida, who will lecture tonight at Old Dominion University.
Vampires Never Die: No one's been able to drive a stake through the heart of vampire legend, professor says
Marginalization and Eroticization in Vampire Fiction
I now hypothesize that it is not homoeroticism which is important to vampirism, but bieroticism, or sexual tension between two vampires, regardless of their genders. For example, in The Hunger, the female vampire character is "married" to David Bowie's character, also a vampire, but upon his death, she takes a female lover, played by Susan Sarandon. Later in the movie, the viewer discovers that this female vampire has taken a multitude of lovers over the centuries, without showing a preference for either gender. It is not gender that is important, but some other dynamic. I began to explore what this other dynamic might be.
The Compulsion of Real/Reel Serial Killers and Vampires: Toward a Gothic Criminology
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.
Vampires, Anxieties, and Dreams: Race and Sex in the Contemporary United States
There is a recurring dream in the unconscious of these white United States. It is a dream of passion, of violence, of transgression and invasion and all the titillation that these bring. It is also a dream of power, of violation, of purity, of strict and rigid and obsessive fascination with boundaries. Some would say it is a nightmare. I insist it is a dream, with all the mixing of hopes and anxieties that only our sleeping consciousness, our fantasy life, can entertain. It is a dream rarely mentioned but always circulating, rarely noticed but always present.
A Freudian interpretation of the vampire myth
The vampire is a monster that has both thrilled and terrified people for hundreds of years, from sophisticated Parisian theatre-goers to quaking Eastern European peasants. Elements of the vampire legend are found in North and South America, Europe, and Asia are older than Christianity. Although the modus operandi and physical appearance may differ from culture to culture, one thing remains constant: The vampire is an animated corpse, un-dead and kicking through the intervention of Satan and the warm blood of his living victims.
Few folkloric creations have survived for so long in such diverse cultural and geographic situations, and therefore, there must be something common to human nature to create such universality and endurance. A Freudian interpretation of the myth can uncover such a bond.
Mortal Blood Drinkers of the Past
Bloodlines: A Brief on the life and death of Hungary's infamous Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory-Nadasdy
The infamous "Blood Countess" of Transylvania, who was purported to be a witch, vampire, werewolf, and supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins in order to maintain her beautiful and youthful appearance, has been the subject of many legends some of which have affected even the American culture half a world away. Dracula, created by the Irish author Bram Stoker, was based, albeit loosely, on the Romanian Prince, Vlad Dracula, the Impaler. Raymond T. McNally, who has written four books on the figure of Dracula in history, literature, and vampirism, in his fifth book, "Dracula was a Woman," presents insights into the fact that Stoker's Count Dracula was also strongly influenced by the legends of Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary. Why, for example, make a Romanian Prince into a Hungarian Count? Why, if there are no accounts of Vlad Dracula drinking human blood, does blood drinking consume the Dracula of Stoker's novel, who, contrary to established vampire myth, seems to appear younger after doing so? The answers, of course, lie in examining the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
Bram Stoker, Elizabeth Bathory and Dracula
[The following is a revised excerpt from Elizabeth Miller, Dracula: Sense & Nonsense (2000). Further details about this book can be found at http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/SNinfo.htm]
"[Bathory's] legend certainly played a major role in the creation of the character of Count Dracula." (Raymond McNally, Dracula was a Woman, 99)
Rubbish!
Feeding Habits of Vampires
There are many interpretations of the vampire myth both in folklore and legend. The nature of the vampire varies greatly from culture to culture and often from region to region with a general cultural area. There are documents available in nonfiction archives that will demonstrate some of the diversity of the legend just within the narrow geographic region of southern and central Europe. In the pages of fiction, each author has his or her own unique interpretation of the vampire. The same can be said about films concerning the vampire. The precise answer to many of the questions discussed below and on the list in general will depend on your definition of the vampire. What is written here is an attempt to distill a consensus of opinion from discussions that have taken place on the list. (VAMPYRES list ~ July 1991)
The Butlerian Vampire
A Romanian Experience
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!
Deconstructing the Myths of Vampire Folklore and Examining the Truths of Modern Day Vampires
The Real Prince Dracula
Jewish Vampirology
"The blood is the life", states the Torah, and also declares "the life-force of all creatures resides in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11). Eating blood is strictly forbidden by the Torah. Yet if one were to do so, he would acquire some measure of the semi-spiritual nature of the demons. They are not truly spiritual, since they must eat blood to live; yet they are not strictly bound to physical matter, insofar as they possess the power of invisibility, and the ability to travel great distances quickly. These are precisely the attributes ascribed to vampires! As the Sforno explains (Leviticus 17:7):
Creatures of the Night
The Discreet Charm of the Vampire
These sentences are taken from a singular (and most interesting) novel, The Dracula's Diary by Marin Mincu. The Dracula in question, I must specify, is Vlad III of Valacchia, better known as "Vlad the Impaler", who inherited from his father the surname of "Dracula", i.e. "Demon"; the historical character chosen by Bram Stoker to create, in 1897, the everlasting masterpiece that is Dracula.
Vampyric Myths and Christian Symbolism: The Love Story of Bram Stoker's "Dracula"
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror we are still just able to bear
Rainer Maria Rilke: "The Duino Elegies"
In this paper, I will present my reflections and thoughts on the myth of Dracula in particular, and the vampyre in general, as a love story and show the deeply rooted links between the two myths and Christianity, as refracted through the prism of Francis Ford Coppola's film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).
The History of Vampires
The Vampire persona has evolved from many true and untrue facts, legends and myths. At various times vampires, real and imagined, have been considered fiends, supernatural beings, shape-shifters, mentally disturbed deviants, satanic servants and fetish followers. However, it all began and still revolves around a taste for blood!
Contrary to the popular belief that Vampire history, stories and legends began with Vlad the Impaler, they go back much further than that. Many ancient societies worshipped blood thirty gods. This caused people to begin to associate blood with divinity, leading to the development of the early vampire cults. Regardless of the spiritual value, some people have always had a desire to drink blood and the reasons are as varied as the practitioners. In some societies the practice was accepted, as in ancient Egypt. But in others, vampirism was considered deviant behavior and condemned.
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
[Rumor has it that this story was apparently written by Sir Doyle as a tribute for his friend Bram Stoker.]
Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him. Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearest approach to a laugh, he tossed it over to me.
"For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, of the practical and of the wildly fanciful, I think this is surely the limit," said he. "What do you make of it, Watson?"
Dracula's Guest
When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich and the air was full of the joyousness of early summer.
Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the maitre d'hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying) came down, bareheaded, to the carriage and, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand on the handle of the carriage door: "Remember you are back by nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is a shiver in the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But I am sure you will not be late." Here he smiled and added, "for you know what night it is."
The Judge's House
Montague Summers’ Guide to Vampires
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.