Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and today we’re looking into the history of
vampires, some folklore that involved them, and how they’ve appeared in various media.
Throughout history, we’ve seen many myths about vampires, going back as far as ancient Mesopotamia.
They had stories of demons that would drink blood, before the term vampire ever existed.
In Ancient Greece, we had a character named Lamia who became a child-eating demon, known
for drinking blood.
For some reason, this terrifying image was used across many different and disconnected
cultures to represent absolute evil.
The term vampire was often synonymous with the devil, hence why vampires often have weaknesses
to religious symbols and holy water, seen as demonic in nature.
The term vampire itself came from eastern Europe, from countries like Serbia and Austria.
In these countries, being a vampire wasn’t always about being dead, but you can do things
like drink blood while you’re alive and meet the criteria.
In Croatia, we have a relatively popular story in 1672 about a man who supposedly died but
villagers claimed he rose from the dead, drinking the blood of the living.
At this early time, there wasn’t a common agreement on how people became vampires.
There were many superstitions that didn’t last long, including burying a body upside
down, being buried with an open wound, and even if an animal jumped over the corpse,
that might signal it would rise from the dead.
Bats flying over graves at night is believed to be the origin of the
“vampires turning into bats” attribute.
While the term vampire was mostly used in Eastern Europe, other areas of Europe were
using the term revenant and draugr, both forms of undead who shared similarities with what we call vampires.
Throughout the 1700s, there was an actual crusade to find and kill vampires throughout Europe.
There were many "vampire" cases but science was so limited in those times
that any findings were just anecdotal and usually only a few witnesses to any incidents.
In small towns throughout Europe, there are still many superstitions about vampires and
even recent sightings, though nothing has been well-documented.
Other myths about the vampire are relatively recent.
No one can really prove the origin of the garlic weakness or the inability to appear in mirrors.
They may been invented as vampires started to appear in fiction.
In 1819, we got The Vampyre featuring an anti-hero named Lord Ruthven.
Because he was somewhat a good guy in this story, he did appear charismatic and alluring,
a trait not usually found in actual folklore.
What’s considered the authorative fictional story of vampires came in 1897…
Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
As he studied to write this book, Bram Stoker based most of his writing on superstitions
from the real region of Transylvania.
Because of using Transylvania in his book, it has since become a major tourist attraction
and always tied to vampire folklore.
Dracula was invented as fiction as well, though has become a mainstay in vampire mythology.
Stoker’s work is highly regarded now but he died poor, before his book saw much success.
Since then, vampires have remained in our pop culture.
It began with the silent film Nosferatu, intended to feature Dracula but they couldn’t get
the rights to say so.
The actual Dracula film followed, starring Bela Lugosi and kicking off Universal’s
series of monster films.
We have Anne Rice’s books, and the movies based on them, such as Interview with the Vampire.
We have the television show Dark Shadows.
Vampires even found their way into comic books, such as the vampire hero known as Blade.
Things escalated with films like Underworld that pitched a world where vampires and werewolves
fought, or Van Helsing, which reimagined the hero from the Dracula novel as a badass vampire
killer instead of a scholarly doctor.
Then came Twilight in 2005, which propelled a whole new generation into the vampire genre
and even moreso romanticized them, taking the form of glittery teenage heartthrobs.
On the heels of this came the darker version True Blood on HBO and the more cheesy version
on the CW, Vampire Diaries.
For a few years, vampires were everywhere but it’s seemed to slow down.
Their dangerous nature paired with everlasting youth is a combination ripe for storytelling.
Vampires have also seeped into other mediums, such as the playable Vampire Counts in the
game Warhammer or the roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquerade that allows you to actually
play the part of a vampire yourself.
Videogames such as Castlevania have been quite popular, even launching a Netflix-exclusive
cartoon recently.
So how do you feel about vampires?
Do you think there’s truth to the age-old rumors, or do you think it’s all just smalltown
panic due to not understanding science?
Let me know in the comments about your favorite vampires and thanks for watching!
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