Supernatural creatures thought to be humans who return from their graves to victimize
the living. American vampires have widow’s peaks and pale skin. Sensuous entities, they
dress in black or tuxedos with black capes, sleep by day, and prowl by night seeking
victims to suck their blood. They attack by sinking their fangs into the necks of their
prey—often beautiful maidens. Once bitten, victims become vampires, but garlic, a
crucifix, or daylight can prevent an attack. Staking the vampire through the heart will kill
it and allow the vampire to rest in peace.
Contemporary American vampires differ sharply from European vampires. Movies
have influenced popular ideas about vampires, particularly the 1931 portrayal of Count
Dracula by Bela Lugosi, based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 book Dracula. Although Stoker’s
creation was fictional, it was based in part on exploits of a real 15th-century Wallachian
tyrant, VladTepes, whose acts of cruelty included mass impalements of enemies,
inspiring the nickname Vlad, the Impaler. Stoker’s creation also drew upon widespread
and ancient beliefs that undead spirits caused life’s tragedies: barren fields, plague,
milkless cows, malformed babies. Some Transylvanian villagers still believe that
vampires prey upon unwed dead men or women. Dead single persons of marriageable age
receive symbolic weddings at their funerals.
In New England, 19th-century newspaper accounts tell of bodies of tuberculosis
victims being exhumed and hearts burned to prevent their taking the lives of other family
members. That idea no longer prevails in America. Instead, the media version of
vampires has become the standard—highly commercialized and trivialized. The vampire
logo occurs on Count Chocula cereal boxes, hot-sauce bottles, and wine bottles.
Advertisers use it for snail killer, pizza, batteries, light beer, and security systems. Adults
as well as children popularize vampire costumes at Halloween, and youngsters learn to
count by watching “The Count,” a vampire on TV’s Sesame Street.
Vampires inspire the creation of a continuous stream of books, short stories, films,
television shows, plays, fan clubs, fan magazines, and conventions. Sexuality and power
may account for their mass appeal. Some people identify themselves as vampires by
wearing black and avoiding the light. Others go to the extreme imitation by drinking
human blood. A 1989 survey of college and high school students found that 27 percent
believed it possible for vampires to exist as real entities. Media bombardment of the
symbol feeds this belief.
According to one explanation for its origin, need for a scapegoat for the plague fueled
the creation of the vampire. The first victim who died became the most likely suspect.
When survivors exhumed the body, they misunderstood and misinterpreted the stages of
putrification. Expecting to find a dried up body, instead they found blood on the lips of a
bloated corpse, a natural phenomenon of the decomposition process. Erroneously, they
assumed that it fed upon the living. When the gaseous cadaver moaned or cried after
being staked, this reinforced the idea that the body was still alive, thus a vampire.
Norine Dresser
References
Barber, Paul. 1988. Vampires, Burial, and Death. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Dresser, Norine. 1989. American Vampires: Fans, Victims, and Practitioners. New York:
W.W.Norton.
Kligman, Gail. 1988. The Wedding of the Dead. Berkeley: University of California Press.
McNally, Raymond T., and Radu Florescu. 1972. In Search of Dracula. Greenwich, CT: New York
Graphic Society.