Vampire Culture
From Vlad to Twilight—how the vampire legend refuses to die
The vampire is the most durable monster in Western culture. From medieval Slavic folklore to Bram Stoker's novel to a billion-dollar film industry, the legend has been reinvented for every generation. The connections between Stoker's Dracula and the historical Vlad III are more metaphorical than literal—a name, a region, a reputation for cruelty—but the mythology they spawned is very real.
9 articles in this collection
Articles
Dracula: The Novel That Invented Modern Horror
Bram Stoker published Dracula on May 26, 1897, through a London publisher without fanfare.
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Interview with the Vampire: Anne Rice's New Orleans
Anne Rice did not invent the romantic vampire, but she gave him an address. Interview with the Vampire relocated the undead from Transylvanian castles to.
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The New Nosferatu Film: Locations and History Behind the
Robert Eggers spent the better part of a decade trying to remake Nosferatu. The director, who built his reputation on the period-accurate horror of The.
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Nosferatu: The Unauthorized Dracula That Refused to Die
F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu premiered in Berlin on March 4, 1922, and it was illegal from the moment it flickered across the screen.
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Real Vampire Legends Throughout History
Vampire-like creatures haunt the mythologies of nearly every civilization that practiced burial.
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Transylvania's Dracula Tourism Industry
Bran Castle sits on a rocky outcrop near Brasov in central Romania, surrounded by souvenir shops selling plastic fangs and Dracula wine.
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Twilight and the Vampire Renaissance in Pop Culture
Stephenie Meyer was a stay-at-home mother with no publishing credits when she dreamed of a sparkling vampire in a meadow on June 2, 2003.
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Vampire Folklore of Eastern Europe: Where the Legends Began
Vampire belief in Eastern Europe did not emerge from fiction. It grew from the dirt — literally, from disturbed graves and the unsettling realities of...
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Real Vampire Hunters Throughout History
In Balkan folklore, the dhampir occupied a unique position in the supernatural ecosystem — the offspring of a vampire father and a human mother, born with.
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