They Thought She Was a Vampire - So They Ate Her Remains (Mostly Fictional Vampire History)
- hannah.m.kubiak
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
What follows is a mostly-made-up history of vampirism through the ages, from Carmilla to Nosferatu. No, not that one. The other one. The other other one. Sheesh, how many times can you drag the same story out of its grave?
A "Hungary" Woman:
Let's sink our teeth in right away and begin with Carmilla (1872), by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, which introduces the prototype of the lesbian vampire. Carmilla was possibly based off of real-life blood-drinker Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noblewoman in the 1500's who has been called "the most prolific female murderer" by the Guiness Book of World Records.
High praise indeed, and not a record that can be broken in a single afternoon. At her trial, 650 deaths were attributed to Elizabeth Bathory. She had a thing for young women, many of whom went to work as servants in her castle and were never heard from again. These girls came from poor families, so no one in power really cared about the disappearances until young noblewomen started disappearing, too. When the locals finally went to investigate, Bathory's castle contained evidence of terrible torture and mutilation. Ever since then, Bathory has been the subject of many wild speculations, which may or may not be true. My favorite is the rumor that Bathory drank and bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. Kinky.
*Illustration for Carmilla in The Dark Blue serial. Looks like a typical love triangle to me. You can tell it's legit because he has a machete.
Image Source: Chapman, Jeff. "Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla." On Jeff Chapman's Writing. 3 June, 2010. http://jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com/2010/06/sheridan-le-fanus-carmilla.html
The Bloody Heart of Mercy Brown:
Rhode Island. 1892. The New England Vampire Panic. George Brown lost several family members to tuberculosis, which was known as "consumption" at the time. His son Edwin also fell ill, and the locals got suspicious, as nosy neighbors do. Multiple deaths in one family was commonly associated with undead activity, so to add to their bereavement, the remaining members of the Brown family were informed that one of them was a vampire. The only way to save poor Edwin was to find the undead menace and destroy it once and for all.
Doctors and reporters convinced George Brown to exhume his three dead relatives so that they could inspect the bodies for undead qualities. Mary Eliza and Mary Olive had decomposed satisfactorily, but Mercy Brown had been dead for two months and showed no signs of decomposition. Never mind that she had died in winter and was being stored in an aboveground crypt (a.k.a. nature's freezer). The clincher was that when they cut Mercy open, she still had blood in her heart. They burned Mercy's heart and liver, mixed the ashes into water, and gave the concoction to Edwin to drink. It probably tasted like a used match, and Edwin still died.
A Timeline of Vampire History:
1897- Just five years after the Mercy Brown incident, Bram Stoker's Dracula is published. In the book, Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to England in order to spread his bloodthirsty ways. This mostly means climbing in through the windows of sleeping women for a little bit of passionate necking.
1918- The flu pandemic really brought to light people's fear of disease, particularly disease that spread by human contact. Polio was also on the rise. There was a 50/50 survival rate for polio, and survivors often had to live with partial paralysis that led to stiff movements. This might be why vampires in old movies move so slowly.
1922- Nosferatu. Basically a ripped-off Dracula movie. Because of the similarities to Dracula, Bram Stoker's widow sued the makers of Nosferatu, and the court ruled that all copies of the movie should be destroyed. However, like the undead creature that inspired it, Nosferatu survives thanks to the dark rituals of a few die-hard fans.
1931- Universal Pictures' Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. Unlike the makers of Nosferatu, the producers of Dracula made sure to get the rights to Stoker's material before they made the movie. How considerate of them. The design of the character and the portrayal by Lugosi greatly influenced the vampire archetype we know today.
2005-2008- The Twilight series by Stefenie Meyer romanticizes vampirism, voyeurism, and some other -isms involving really creepy behavior. Attending high school repeatedly for the rest of eternity? Just put a stake through my heart.
2020- Dracula, a miniseries created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, follows Count Dracula from his origin story to his activities in present-day London. Women are a lot more willing to let Dracula suck their blood in modern times. They were basically asking for it. I wonder if Twilight had anything to do with that...
2024- Nosferatu, the gothic horror movie directed by Robert Eggers, the warped genius behind The Witch (2015), The Lighthouse (2019), and The Northman (2022). Some fun facts:
The film utilized approximately 5,000 live rats, some of whom crawled around on actors. Astonishingly, no rats were harmed or lost during the filming, and according to Eggers, "they were well-trained." The rats. Not the actors. This certainly beats the last time someone tried to use live rats in a movie: Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), or, as I like to call it, "Werner Herzog's Sad Beige Castles for Sad Beige Rats."
Mythical Creatures Similar to the Vampire:
While they don't share the vampire's fangs and sex appeal, these undead creatures from across the globe bear other striking resemblances to our carnivorous undead friends:
In Norse mythology, a walking corpse with incredible strength. They live in graves, jealously guard the treasure buried with them. If you fear your dead relative will become a draugr, simply tie their big toes together. While that won't exactly stop them from rising, they'll look pretty silly and might crawl back into their grave out of embarrassment.
Revenant
In Celtic/ Norse mythology, a revenant is a restless undead being with unfinished business here in this mortal coil (a.k.a. Leonardo DiCaprio limping across a frozen wasteland for 2.5 hours).
Did We Whet Your Appetite for Vampire History?
Check out these tributes to vampirism that may or may not be based in fact:
Lore Ep. 1- "They Made a Tonic." The very first episode of this myths and legends podcast tells the story of Mercy Brown. You know, the woman whose family member drank her heart and liver.
Interview With a Vampire- Tom Cruise as a vampire. Need I say more?
What We Do In The Shadows- an irreverent mockumentary about vampires living in Staten Island. They turn into bats by shouting "bat!", struggle to keep their servants alive for longer than a few days, and harvest delectable virgin blood from local LARPers.
Castlevania- first a video game, now a TV series. Tells the story of the rise and fall of Vlad Dracula and the vampire hunters who pursue him.
Sources
"How 'Nosferatu' Got 5,000 Live Rats on Set and Built Count Orlock's Castle." Variety.
"Yes, 'Nosferatu' Really Did Use 5,000 Live Rats on Set." syfy.com
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