Today’s paranormal fiction is filled with various vampires, romantic leads to nasty bloodsuckers, and from Bram Stoker’s evil incarnate Dracula, to the modern sparkly blood-suckers of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, the vampire has remained popular in books, plays, movies and TV shows for nearly two centuries. There’s no denying in all of monsterland the Vampire reigns supreme. Vampires will soon be coming to New Salem in my paranormal horror series The Chloe Files and my western vampire novel The Dark Riders deals with a particularly vicious gang of vampire outlaws. You’d think readers would be tired of them by now but their appetite for neck-munchers seems as voracious as the undead’s need for O positive.

In its earliest form, the vampire was indeed a monster, no tragic figure cursed like the poor werewolf. Dracula was bad to the last drop and for the time period startlingly erotic. That eroticism plays a much bigger part nowadays, thanks to an explosion of vampire romance (I’m thinking getting two fangs jammed into your jugular looks a whole lot more sexy on screen than it would be in reality), but certainly has its roots in Stoker’s creation.

Over the decades, the vampire has changed back and forth, becoming more civilized, returning to its monstrous roots, then resurfacing as a enchanting dark figure, who, aside from that nasty little blood-drinking addiction, has become a sort of dark hero.

In literature and on film Dracula himself has gone from monster to romantic figure, even, pardon the usage, a sucky comedy figure thanks to George Hamilton. He’s even made it into a Saturday morning cartoon comedy in the Groovy Ghoulies.

Vampires and vampirism, of course, go back much farther than Dracula, who himself was based on Vlad (Tepes) the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia (1431-1436). It was merely Stoker’s novel that mainstreamed the vampire. The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of “The Vampyre” by John Polidori. But vampire lore goes back even farther. The first appearance of the word “vampire” in English comes from 1734, in a travelogue titled “Travels of Three English Gentlemen” and had seen discussion in German literature. The English term originates from the German “Vampir” (possibly via the French “Vampyre”). But the concept existed in cultures such as the Mesopotaimians, Hebrews, ancient Greeks and Romans, with tales of demons that were the predecessors of the modern vampire. The folklore we know today originates from the South-Eastern European verbal traditions, a time when the belief in vampires became so prevalent executions of folks thought to be the undead occurred in public (much like the Salem Witch hysteria in early America).

No definitive description of the folkloric vampire exists but several elements became commonplace in European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and purplish or dark in color. Those characteristics were usually attributed to the recent drinking of blood and blood was often seen snaking from the mouth and nose of the vampire in its coffin. The vampire was normally dressed in its burial linen shroud and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown, though normally fangs were not a feature.

Many of the trappings we know today come from literature and film, with new traits being added over the past 30 years or so that allowed the vampire to walk in daylight, either through an amulet or piece of blessed jewelry of some kind, or some were simply able to walk about comfortably on cloudy days, ala Moonlight or Twilight. In modern vampire lore the undead have been even able to integrate themselves into society and become detectives or bar owners.

It’s clear that the vampire legend, while enduring, is also quite flexible and malleable. But it’s also certain that as long as we have horror stories we will have the vampire, good, bad, or sparkling…

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Welcome to New Salem...The Dead are waiting...
THE CHLOE FILES #1: Ashes to Ashes by Howard Hopkins
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WLCRYK
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