Real Vampires, Nightstalkers and Creatures from the Darkside, Brad Stieger
Book
Real Vampires, Night Stalkers and Creatures from the Darkside, 2010, Visible Inc Press
Author
Brad Steiger, American, 1936-2018
This is a rather negative Wikipedia of Brad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Steiger
Sections
About the author
The gist:
• Gary Morgan has called him the Number One Paranormal Expert in the World according to this intro.
• He’s called that in many other places as well. But he has authored 170 plus books. So, there may be truth there.
Interest:
Nope
Read it?
Nope
Contributing artists
The gist:
• Artists involved in this book are:
• Ricardo Pustanio, from New Orleans and prize winning artist
• Dan “Wolfman” Allen, comic book artists, owner of Ronin Studio
• Bill Oliver, paranormal enthusiast, and artist from Canada
Interest:
Not really
Read it?
As you’re passing by and want to look at their work in more detail at some point.
Other contributors
The gist:
The folks who have contributed with their own tales of monstrosities:
• Chris Holly, paranormal writer, and experiencer
• Sharon McCabe, president of HPI, seeker of hard evidence of the paranormal, so hats off.
• Nick Redfern, well known English paranormal writer who is trying to bear Brad’s record of books.
• Paul Roberts. Another president of something and he’s shown with a real vampire. With her eyes blacked out.
• Tim R Swartz, wide of interest, prolific writer, his website is included here.
• Robin Swope, Christian minister, but fan of the paranormal. Considering he is a pastor, he should be.
Interest:
Minor, more for further reading.
Read it?
Only if you want to.
Acknowledgements
The gist:
People mentioned in this section:
• Angela Thomas, of P.O.R.T.A.L., Paranormal talk show.
• The artists again.
• There’s a Vampire Community Resource Directory, which I fully recommend you look at.
• There is a list of books here! Hurray. Some of them are quite old, so you may be able to find them for free online.
Interest:
For the resources.
Read it?
Same.
Introduction
The gist:
Creatures/people mentioned in this chapter:
Lilith, fallen angel.
Jinn, Islamic nasties.
Cacodemons, an evil spirit, shapeshifter, horrible person
Raskshasas, earth dwelling Hindu goblins. Eat people.
Nephilim, giants from the Hebrew bible.
• Brad sets out his statement of belief here. Vampires and assorted creatures are real. They are a supernatural virus, or vermin. They are not pretty, so don’t believe the media.
• Real vampires/disease can’t die. We can fight them, though.
• Everything wants our blood.
• First mention of the Black Eyed Kids. Let’s face it, we all love hearing about those loons.
• Brad wants to expand the definition of vampire. This includes harmless human vampires to rather malevolent human vampires, and the supernatural.
Interest:
Some. For me it introduces Cacodemons and Rasksharas, but that’s it.
Read it?
If you want. It’s mercifully short.
Chapter 1 The Sons and Daughters of Lilith
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Lilith, who has a plural. Lilim.
Azazel/Semjaza/Serpent in Eden and his 200 horny watchers
Nephilim, product of the 201 horny watchers
Quetzacoatl, feathered serpent of Aztecs
Ciuacoatle, Mother of Mexican Gods
Aido Hwendo, Rainbow Serpent of many African tribes
Berossus, Babylonian priest-historian
Oannes, fishman who taught humans to behave.
Manabozho, Native American hero
Zosimus of Panapolis, Greek-Egyptian alchemist.
Tertullian, church father of very early Christian times.
Jinns, eternal bastards of Muslim tradition
King Soloman
Rakshasas, Hindu Nephilim.
Kali, a vampire goddess
Kami, Shinto nature entities that can go either way on the how-fucked-are-we-humans scale.
Cacodaemons, Persian fallen angels
Books/articles in this chapter:
The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, 1458, trans. MacGregor Mathers
Book of Enoch (this is apocryphal, so you know the good stuff is in there).
Book of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Old Testament. Look, just read the OT. It’s very exciting.
The gist:
• Brief and illuminating history of Lilith as the first wife of Adam. They bred incubi and succubi.
• Humans are somewhere between angel angels, intelligence wise. I’m ok with that.
• Nephilim mean the fallen ones, as opposed to giants, which was interesting to find out. The watchers and the Nephilim were the first real vampires. They needed our blood and spirit to become corporeal.
• Azazel taught women lore of plants, and men the manufacture of weapons. So, thanks for that.
• There is a legend in many cultures of a serpent people who ruled the earth and had come from the skies. Conflated in more contemporary times as Aliens. Various incarnations of the snake in various creation myths from around the world. Western eastern, and several first nations.
• Elementals – sylphs, gnomes, salamanders, nymphs. Until the fall from grace, Adam had control of these creatures. Even after, he could still bind them with spells and incantations. Isn’t it fascinating how these myths evolve? Either it’s men trying to assume some control over the uncontrollable. They name and bind things that many or may not be real. Or! it’s real. Or! It’s something in between. Elemental souls are not immortal like humans, so they marry humans. Because that makes sense.
• Early thought on parallel worlds via the presence of Jinn in the world.
• Rakshasas, Hindu Nephilim: shape shifting, multi-coloured blood drinkers and eaters of human flesh. Their influence on humans is like that of a possessed person in Christian tradition. They also make zombies.
• Ahrimanes and his band of merry Cacodaemons leads to more talk of parallel worlds.
• This is also where demonic possession is coming from. The possession leading weak willed humans to seek the blood of other humans. Not sure why they did this, other than for shits and giggles.
• What is interesting to note, when Brad puts it all together like this, is the great war in heaven myth. So many cultures have it. The fallen angels as a result. The consequent changes wrought on humans.
• Blood becomes important in rituals at some point. We humans may have decided that the gods enjoyed it, or the gods decided. Chicken and egg, but it happened. And at some point, we humans began drinking human blood, believing that it would makes us godlike. Which is the most important point here. Which is why it’s forbidden by many ancient religious texts. Not just because it's gross.
Interest:
There’s a lot going on here, and Brad does a great job of setting us up for the rest of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this brief yet informative trip through history. Loads for the researcher to look up in their own time
Read it?
It would be silly not to.
Chapter 2 Mythic Vampires
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Cjiang-Shih, Chinese vampire, covered in green hair. I once saw a depiction of this in a book when I was a child, and it scared the shit out of me. Couldn’t sleep for ages.
Bhunta, Indian, eats rotting corpses, spreads disease with it’s bite.
Brahmaparush, Indian, skull fucks with its tongue. This guy is terrifying.
https://www.vampires.com/brahmaparusha-brain-eating-vampire-of-india/
Churel, ugly saggy but horny vampire, thirsting for young fellas.
Yara-Ma-Yha-Who, Aussie Aboriginal vampire, uses suckers.
Asasabonsam, Ghana, hook legs. Dear god. Hook legs.
Obayifo, Gold Coast, astral travelling dangerous ball of light
Books/articles in this chapter:
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The gist:
• We begin with acknowledging that nearly every culture in every time has a vampire myth.
• The European one used to be an ugly SOB:
That’s a pretty pretty
• 1922 Nosferatu is a depiction of the traditional European vampire. Before we decided he should be all sexy.
• List of attributes of the Medieval vampire: transmutation, hypnosis, turning into a puff of smoke.
• Accompanying list of repulsions: crucifix, garlic, heading, stake through the heart.
• Now we talk about the loads of folkloric vampires. There is a wide variety of them. See creatures/people section above.
• Bela Lugosi as Dracula is to blame from bringing the sexy to the vampire myth.
• Anne Rice upped the ante, though. She made them erotic, romantic, tragic.
• Western culture has been making the vampire a much more sympathetic character.
• Brad is now about to step lively into a more controversial area: possession vs mental health.
• Parapsychologists and other researchers are investigating spiritual parasites. Creating pattern profiles about when this may be happening.
• It’s like a demonic possession as we know it from popular culture, but without any theatrics. Which is scarier because it’s harder to write off.
• Alcohol and drugs leave us vulnerable to this sort of intrusion.
• Brad ends this chapter by saying they don’t find us sexy.
Interest:
Another historical and cultural tour of vampires. Again, very enjoyable.
Read it?
Yep. Because it’s god fun. Yet, I’m noticing that there is no references for anything scientific. This is the first chapter he is explicitly talking about research, but no refs. The myths, the lore, yep, no problem. This may appear further on in the book. If not, that’s a problem.
Chapter 3 A Gallery of Classic Vampires
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Vlad Tepes. Yes. Him.
Erzsebet Bathory. Yes. Her.
Istvan Magyari, Lutheran pastor
Juraj Thurzo, Palatine of Hungary and Erzsebet’s cousin
Janos Ujvary, Erzsebet’s chief torturer
Dorka and Darvula, a lesbian witches
Iloona Joo, loyal toady of Our Lady Of Blood
Vincent Verzini, blood sucking vampire rapist serial killer in Italy, active 1867-1871
Maria Previtali, cousin and potential victim of VV
Johanna Motta, victim of VV
Mrs. Frigeni, another victim of VV
Vera Renczi, Romanian rich weirdo.
Fritz Haarmann, another serial killer did drink of the blood.
Albert Fish, a man who needs no introduction. If you’re reading this book and don’t know who this lad is already, I think you’re in the wrong place.
John Haigh, another serial killer
William Donald McSwan, victim of JH
Count de Saint-Germain, who may be a vampire in the classical sense…
Cagliostro, magician and pupil of the Count
Books/articles in this chapter:
Forensic Approach to an Archaeological Casework of ‘‘Vampire’’ Skeletal Remains in Venice: Odontological and Anthropological Prospectus, Emilio Nuzzolese, DDS, PhD and Matteo Borrini, MS, J Forensic Sci, November 2010, Vol. 55, No. 6
Perverse Crimes in History, REL Master and Eduard Lea
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, wrote a series of fictional books using the Count as the protagonist, and she made him a vampire.
The gist:
• First science mention via Matteo Biorrini. I looked up the article, and Brad is not giving an accurate retelling of this very small paper.
• I recommend reading this article for the pictures alone. I downloaded my copy from academia.edu. It’ll take you a few minutes to read it.
• Vlad the Impaler, and his possible inspiration for Dracula.
• Some history on who Vlad was, his father, how he got the name Dracul.
• While Vlad was a brutal despot of a man, he was never actually seen drinking blood. Yet, a hundred years after, Erzsebet Bathory would do more than drink it.
• I mean, she was a very interesting woman. Who married someone as depraved as her. Which wouldn’t bode well for several reasons. There were lesbian witches involved. And her castle had a chief torturer. Who oversaw the lesser torturers.
Here she is, in the bath. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory.png
• To be fair, she was, according to legend, still a beautiful woman at 50. Which in 1614 years was like 135.
• Vincent Verzini, awful mutilating creep of a creature. Maria saved herself by kicking him in the stomach. Which turned out to be as effective as a crucifix. His confession, of which only a small excerpt here, is disturbing.
• Vera was a bit of a hoe and killed the men she wanted to keep. She hoed with a lower class, and when she aimed for the same class, well, they fucking noticed when he was gone. I’m not at all sure how she qualifies to be a vampire. A serial killer, but that’s it. It’s enough, but that’s it.
• Fritz Haarmann – Cannibal and cannibalism enabler.
• Brad outright calls Albert Fish a vampire.
• John Haigh became a vampire by tasting his own blood. He was 34. I find it hard to believe he only tasted his own blood at 34 in a car crash. He never nicked his finger? He had blood dreams a s a child. He melted his victims in baths of sulphuric acid.
• Count de Saint-Germain claimed to be 2,000 years old. He claimed to have an undisclosed elixir which was suspected to be human blood. He was a polyglot, artist and musician, alchemist amongst other things. Did he have the time to become other things? Was he a spy? Or a person who had fallen victim to a spirit parasite in ancient times? Brad does not answer this. No one can. There is an italicised addendum to this chapter. Serious minded people have related stories about the Count. Brad wrote about him in the 50s. Since then, Brad's been hearing that people are still meeting this guy.
Interest:
Again, plenty in it. This time, there is one scientific reference. But we are not blinded by science. I know this sounds a bit picky, but I am expecting a bit more on the references. I’m looking for a bit of proof.
Read it?
In here is a list of quite well known horrific serial killers. If you know anything about them, you will learn nothing new here. The paper from Burrini was interesting, so I’m glad to have found that. But that’s it. You could skip it.
Chapter 4 Vampires and Werewolves
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Lon Chaney Jr, The Wolf Man
Evelyn Ankers, The Wolf Man
Claude Raines, The Wolf Man
Gilles Garnier, French werewolf
Peter Stubbe, German werewolf
Gandillon Family of Werewolves
Pricilla Garduno Wolf Apache Medicine Woman
Angela Thomas, PORTAL talk show
Paul Dale Roberts, MG and writer for Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International
Books/articles in this chapter:
Discours des Sociers, Henri Boguet
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The gist:
• Begins with The Wolf Man film of 1941.
• Brad is complaining here that this film made a vicious blood-thirsty monster into a tortured soul, worthy of sympathy.
• All the repulsions and protections against werewolves was made up by the screenwriter. Though, some of the vampire ones will work. Which I’m sure, like me, you have uttered a profound sigh of relief over that.
• Humans have always wanted to become wolves. Because they’re cool. So magic rituals and incantations are common.
• Were is not limited to wolves: bears, foxes, several creatures.
Werebear romance is a thing in Scotland.
• Brad here refers to several ancient magical texts, but he doesn’t name any.
• He does provide some of the steps for a werewolf transformation. Blood drinking, of course.
• We move on to how real the werewolf was to medieval Europe. There were trials and executions.
• Gilles admitted to killing with his bear (wolf) hands and eating human flesh. But he was tortured into giving that confession. It’s hard to trust anything from the MA because of the sheer amount of torture involved. He would have confessed to anything.
• Peter Stubbe had a magic belt and a clear mental illness.
• Henri Boguet, a French Judge, investigated a whole family of werewolves.
• Brad ends this section by reminding us that these spiritual parasites exist today. Soul stealing is more common than blood drinking and flesh eating, though .
• Native Americans know weremenageries as Skin Walkers.
• Pricilla Garduno Wolf tells an encounter story to Brad of meeting a skin walker that may have been part cow. Scared the heck out of her, and the trauma is fresh in the story.
• Angela Thomas tells Brad a story of her encounter of a black dog spectre. Of which there is a lot of lore if you’re interested. This involves a house of the witnesses’ grandparents. Her grandfather was ill, and she saw a black dog that no one owned moving around the house. And at one point, it was vomiting. Turned out to be a demon, and she drove it off and saved her grandfather.
• Paul Dale Roberts claims to have had a conversation with Werewolf Girl “Diana”. A girl possibly possessed.
• Her story: bitten by a mountain lion while volunteering in San Diego Zoo. This triggered the emergence of her spirit animal, which is a wolf. She leads a boringly ordinary life.
Interest:
The most anecdotal of the chapters thus far. Which is fine and entertaining. Even quite informative. Brad is trying to say they are all the same things. Werewolves, vampires, werecows, they are all the same spiritual parasites. And due to the changes in the media’s perception of them, they are being seen as a bit friendly. Or rather, sympathetic.
Read it?
Yes, this is reasonably good chapter. I learned some new things. Still lacking in any real references. I’m missing those.
Chapter 5 The Blood Cults
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Terry Wilson, District Officer who investigated the Leopard Men killings.Nagogo, a local chief who was directing this.
Sheikh Abu Abd Allah Sidi Muhammed ben Isa as-Sofiani al Mukhteari aka Ibn Isa, leader of the Muslim sect Isawiyya, a beast sect?
Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, high priest of his own drug addled version of Santeria. There were human bodies involved. Those are hard to pass off as chickens. Sara Maria Aldrete, a High Priestess with Adolfo.
Magdalena Solis, Mexican sex worker turned goddess.Eleazor Solis, her brother, and due to the description of him, I think Brad hates him. Cayetano and Santos Hernandez, running a scam in a small village in Mexico that lost its mind.
Books/articles in this chapter:
The Old Testament raises its ugly head again.
At-Taiya, Ibn Isa
Omni magazine, the explorations section, February 1990
The gist:
• Shiite ritual of Ashura: the cutting of youngfellas heads.
• Not a universally accepted practice for Shiites, it still proves popular.
• This chapter is all about sacrifice and using human blood/flesh as bargaining tools for power and fun and devotion.
• Jesus is the supreme sacrifice so that the Laws of Moses no longer applied.
• A list of holy books and people are mentioned, saying that it’s a spiritual sacrifice required, not a physical one.
• The leopard cult of Nigeria and Sierra Leone – wereleopards, who drank blood, ate flesh. Human of course.
Here are some of them. https://intothedarkthirty.com/the-west-african-leopard-society/
• They believed that boiling their victim’s intestines and drinking their blood gave them superhuman strength. Might also give you the runs. This was not long ago. We’re talking after WWI up until the late 40s. Listen, they were killing women primarily. There was more motivating this. How the police dealt with these Leopard men needs to be a Netflix series. Someone get on that.
• Ibn Isa, Beastmaster, controller of animals, people, and Jinn. Sacrifice bovines dressed as women. For fuck’s sake.
• African slaves in Cuba, Santeria, a mixture of African gods and Catholicism. They sacrifice chickens and dance. On the scale of things, harmless.
• Macumba, Brazilian slaves this time with the same roots as Santeria. Involves drumming, possession and more unfortunate chickens.
• The Mau Mau of the 40s and 50s Kenya, a highly specific secret society of one certain tribe. They ate and drank of the long pig.
• They were more focused in their attacks than say the Leopard Men. Police and white farmers. These were a rebellion group rather than just a blood cult. Their rituals may not even have been real, they may have been propaganda. Reading a little outside of the book, this period is often called the Mau Mau Uprising. We call them insurgents rather than vampires.
• https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12997138
• I did find somethings about the oathing rituals here, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160427
• The author Maia Green says there is no evidence of the rituals described in this book. Listen, I’m going to say this again: be careful about what you read in these books. Brad is stating their cannibalistic and brutal rituals as fact. There is nothing to back this up, and he’s not providing anything to back this up. I went looking for it. To be fair, I spent half an hour looking. But I turned up evidence to the contrary in that half hour. Enjoy these books for what they are, but unless there is proof, be sceptical. Critical thinking is vital for our understanding and exploration of the paranormal. Also, he’s talking about a big cultural shift in Kenyan history here. Treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Rather than “they eat dead people brains”. I’m not going to do this with every cult or whatever in the book. I’m using this as an example.
• The oath may not have involved human consumption. According to above paper, it was still pretty gross.
• Next to Mexico of 1963, with blood drinking and human sacrifice. This cult is worth the price of the book. It’s gross and exciting.
• The chapter ends on a retelling of an article in a magazine purportedly from a man still practising human sacrifice. He might be. He might be a 1990 version of a troll.
Interest:
Plenty! I found this an exciting chapter. I know in parts, I am sceptical, even critical. But! That’s a good thing. Brad is not saying that possessed people are forming the cults. From the proceeding chapters, we can infer that's what he means. They are either under compulsion to sacrifice to the old gods or they are horrible people. The last line in this chapter puts it back on the people. Their decisions rather than the spiritual slavery that he has been talking about. But, like a lot of this book, don’t look too closely.
Read it?
Definitely.
Chapter 6 The Demon-riddled Hysteria of the Middle Ages
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Pope Innocent III, 1198-1216
Robert the Pious, King of France
Simon de Montfort, Count of Toulouse
Pedro of Aragon, aristo burning heretics
Gervais of Tilbury, English canon lawyer and cleric
Caesarius of Hesiterbach, Cistercian monk and author
The Templars, killed for money.
King Philip the Fair, it was him.
Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars.
King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I, who persuaded the pope to give them permission to have their own special inquisition..which had nothing to do with money…at all.
Toma de Torquemada, chief Spanish Inquisitor and an awful prick
Judge Pierre de Lancre, absolute believer in all things supernatural and you were a heretic for saying otherwise.
Prince-Bishop Johann George II Fuchs von Dornhem, Hexenbischof, Witch Bishop and let’s face it lads, he was a serial killer.
Magot Adler, Wiccan scholar and author
Jenny Gibbons scholar and author
So many demons it’s not even funny.
Books/articles in this chapter:
Chronicles, William of Newburgh, 1196, and if you’re looking for it: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/williamofnewburgh-one.asp
The History of Magic, Kurt Seligmann, 1948
Malleus Maleficarum, Sprenger and Kramer, 1486
Here it is in Latin: https://content.library.pdx.edu/files/PDXScholar/Malleus-Maleficarum/
You can buy a translation from Amazon.
Witchcraft, Charles Williams, 1960
A Treatise on Vampires, Ludovico Fatinelli, 1530
De praestigus daemonum, Johann Weyer (Weir), 1563, Google books has the Latin https://books.google.ie/books?id=4XBTAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
But will have to track down a reasonably priced version of an English Translation.
Del la demonomania des sorciers, Jean Bodin, 1581
Tableau de l’Inconstance de mauvais anges, Judge Pierre De Lancre, 1613
L’Incredulité et Mescréance du sortilege, Judge Pierre de Lancre, 1622
De Graecorum hodie quirumdam opinationabus, Leo Allatius, 1645
De Masticatone Mortuorum, Philip Rohr, 1679
PanGaia Magazine, Jenny Gibbons article unnamed here, 1999
The gist:
• We start out strong as Brad takes on the Catholic Church of the MA. He is talking about the blood soaked demon baiting - the Inquisition.
• Interesting: 1047 a Russian prince is called a wicked vampire. I would like to know which one, and what the document was.
• Innocent III brings about the first European crusade against the Cathars. Cathers were French 'heretics'. Having studied the crusades at length in college, this is a fascinating time in history. Also, Innocent III completely lost control of this crusade. It became a huge land grab. The principal actors stopped consulting Innocent from the start. The Crusade was a papal instrument, and only a pope could order one. But once the kings, princes, dukes, counts whatever, got involved, a pope had limited control. Being aristocracy himself, usually, a pope was a politician first. He needed to be mindful of this. But anyway, on with the story.
• Gervaise of Tilbury reports to the Emperor Otto IV that there are men in France who turn into wolves of a full moon.
• Caesarius of Hesiterbach saw witches flying and shapeshifters.
• The inquisition was a whole industry. There have been so many books and articles written about this period. The most famous is the Spanish Inquisition. If you want to more information, there is an embarrassment of riches. Unfortunately.
• The Templars. Oh, the Templars.
• The Black Death, which was truly an apocalyptic event, increased paranoia in Europe. Which did not bode well for woman, other religions, or cats.
• People were accused of being everything, from witches to werewolves. Or general satanic lackies, or having an unfortunate evil eye. A mole in the wring place.
• The most notorious of all the inquisitions, as mentioned above: the Spanish one.
• Witch hunting gets its own handbook: the Malleus Maleficarum. Charles Williams, historian, acknowledges it’s one of the most appalling books ever written. It was a genocide of women.
Here’s what they though ‘she’ was doing. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/eight-witchcraft-myths/
Here’s what they did to ‘her’. In fairness, she had red hair. Highly suspect. Except in Scotland. Where nearly everyone has red hair. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2019/10/royal-obsession-black-magic-started-europes-most-brutal-witch
Here’s what ‘she’ was actually doing: working and minding her own business. WITCH! https://yvonneseale.org/blog/2016/05/31/womens-work/
• I’m triggered reading this. Not because of Brad, but the madness of the situation. Read it and see why.
• Ludovico Fatinelli and his Treatise on Vampires got him in so much trouble. I bet he wished he never saw a microscope or an animalcule.
• At the same time-ish, Weyer wrote a book pleading for a more reasonable approach to witch hunting. He suggested that murdering people mental illness was uncalled for.
• Jean Bodin weighed in saying, no, it’s all true. Kill them all. So spake the Aristotle of the 16th century.
• Judge De Lancre sentenced to death over 600 people. While as a lay person, he believed that the witches et al wanted to overthrow social order. He believed more than that, but he wasn’t a cleric, so there was only so much he could comment on that.
• Also, the Jews. The Jews were always blamed on everything.
• Brad is saying with this chapter that the Church and its leaders were being influenced by the demonic. They were feeding humans to these entities. Sacrificing them.
Interest:
Plenty going on here as well. Lots more references included, a good few of which I could look up. I included some links. I didn’t look up everything. Some of it is not translated as of 2023 that I could find. If your Latin in on point, I wish you well. I like that there was more of Brad’s scholarship on show here.
Read it?
Yes, do. It’s a very brief overview of one aspect of medieval thinking. It’s an important one, though. It’s hard, sitting in the 21st century wondering how this could have happened. One needs to understand the mind set of our forebears. Their world was a different place.
Chapter 7 Satanic Sacrifice
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Juan Rivera Aponte, raised on what looks to be a toxic blend of religions.
Roger Carletto, sacrificed for love.
Florence Nancy Brown, another victim for Satan
Steven Hurd, a devil worshipper
Anton LaVey, Church of Satan
Michael Aquino, Temple of Set
Richard Ramirez, twat
Gerald Brosseau Gardner, father of contemporary Wicca
Dorothy Clutterbuck, member of New Forrest Coven
Raymond Buckland, introduced Wicca to the modern world, founder of Seax-Wicca
Margaret Murray, Wiccan practitioner
Lady Olwen, a high priestess
Gavin and Yvonne Frost, formed the first Wiccan church
Gilles de Rais, famous murderer from the high middle ages. Incredibly rich. Epic mourner.
Joan of Arc, betrayed by God as far as Gilles was concerned
Pralati, a sorcerer who got Gilles into asking Satan for help
Catherine Montvoisin, jackess of all trades, from fortune telling to abortions.
Madame de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV
Books/articles in this chapter:
Witchcraft Today, Gerald Brosseau Gardner, 1954
Sex Crimes in History, REL Masters and Eduard Lea, 1966
The gist:
• We start with Juan, who is trying to make a love potion to make a schoolgirl fall in love with him. He will have to sacrifice a child to Satan.
• A housewife dismembered for Satan.
• Now we move on to a potted history of Satanism, tracing its origins from the Garden of Eden.
• Satanic Panic!
• A lot of so called Satanism is for show. From rebellious young ‘uns, born of restlessness, to bands looking for publicity. Brad is not giving the Satanic Panic era any real credence.
• Then he spends quality time discussing the differences between Satanism, witchcraft, and Wicca.
• States that the church created the Satanism it was afraid of by being so brutal.
• Gilles de Rais, who was France’s darling at the time of Joan of Arc (was in her special guard, actually). Well, he lost his goddamned mind when Joan was burned at the stake by the English. He started killing children for Satan. For gold. For fun.
When he was still sane, Gilles de Rais. Well, as sane as knights were. Who were brutalised boys who became brutal men. So, when I say sane, I say that with a pinch of salt. Or a bucket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais#/media/File:F%C3%A9ron_-_Gilles_de_Rais_(1405-1440)_-_MV_962.jpg
• This leads us on to Satanism for giggles and orgasms. For blackmail material as well, I speculate. Brad uses France of Louis XIV to talk about this development.
• Catherine Montvoisin was a grifter of the highest order. Truly gifted. She defeated what remained of the inquisition in France. They felt the fault lay with her customers, who were clearly stupid.
• When an elderly client left her all his legacy in his will, she transformed from Catherine Montvoisin to La Voisin. A high priestess of a Satanic cult. Why she chose this particular path, Brad doesn’t say. It tickled the fancy of the Parisienne aristocracy who started flocking to her house. Because she had one of those now. And no longer in the slums.
• They were sacrificing babies.
Brad said she was pretty. This must have been a bad day. https://partylike1660.com/catherine-monvoisin-fortune-teller-sorceress-and-poisoner/
• All of this would be covered up because of the level of the people involved. La Voisin did not survive this.
Like Madame De Montespan, who was the mistress of the king. https://headstuff.org/culture/history/terrible-people-from-history/catherine-monvoisin-affair-poisons/
Whose black mass was so legendary, that they were still making woodcuts in 1895. https://headstuff.org/culture/history/terrible-people-from-history/catherine-monvoisin-affair-poisons/
• We now tackle Satanism in the contemporary world of us. Where the belief system is a lot more clinical and harmless. No sacrificing at all. Boring
• But! As my disappointment was cresting, Brad reveals that there are still small secret cults up to no good. Still being utter pricks for their dark gods.
• Thus ensues the story of Robert. Which I struggled to believe.
• Thus endeth the chapter.
Interest:
Plenty. Another historical chapter. Lots of names to explore. Then that weird story at the end which I think someone should investigate. It also feels very familiar. Might be an urban legend.
Read it?
Do.
Chapter 8 Chupacabras: A Bizarre Vampiric Monster
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Chupacabras!
Jorge Luis Talavera, had his sheep sucked
Scott Corrales, institute of Hispanic Ufology
Paul Dale Roberts, Paranormal investigator
Nick Redfern, runs the US office of Centre for Fortean Zoology, and is a prolific author on all sorts of paranormal subjects. Look forward to a review of one of his books soon.
Jonathan Downes, runs British office of Centre for Fortean Zoology.
Paul Kimball, Canadian researcher and filmmaker
Books/articles in this chapter:
Folha de Londrina, newspaper of Parana State, Brazil, 1997
The gist:
I love Chupacabras, so was very excited about this chapter. So recognised in culture, that Word recognises it.
1995 was when people outside of Puerto Rico found out about it, but it’s gone on forever.
It’s very ugly. May be the product of a science going wrong.
There are so many renditions of this creature, ranging from cute https://www.jentoledo.com/product/chupacabra
To this bird like creature
https://mysteriousworldx.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/the-illusive-el-chupacabra/
To whatever the fuck this thing is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra#/media/File:Chupacabra_(artist's_rendition).jpg
• It either powerfully catapults itself into the sky, or it can fly.
• Once they came out in 1995, for whatever reason, they were everywhere in the Americas.
• Given many descriptions here of the various incarnations of Chuppie. A bit like three blind men describing an elephant whilst positioned at different aspects of the elephant.
• Conjectured to be demons, wrong science, aliens, vampires. Well, they do suck goats, so.
• Paul Dale Roberts met a lad who said he was a chupacabras. According to him he is an alien hybrid via bad scientific choices.
• Nick Redfern recounts his hunt for Chuppie on Blood Island, which is in Puerto Rico.
• According to Nick, and farmers, Chuppie’s not just a goat sucker. Doesn’t mind a taste of all sorts of animals.
• Nick tells us that during his time investigating in PR, the PR Civil Defence were quite interested in the goings on of Chuppie. Especially when it was draining the blood from chickens and peacocks. This is official interest. Which is eye catching.
Interest:
I thought more time would be spent on this creature, as it is fascinating. Most of the chapter was by Nick Redfern. I can understand using someone who had boots on the ground investigating. I thought there was too much of that. A quote maybe. This chapter struck me as something knocked out in an afternoon.
Read it?
But of course. If you don’t know anything about the Chupacabras, then this is a lovely short introduction. And to Nick Redfern, who is an English investigator into all sorts of things.
Chapter 9 Vampiric and Cannibalistic Murderers
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Santiago Meza Lopez, a ‘Stewmaker’ for a Mexican druglord.
Sondra London, author.
Jack the Ripper, needs no introduction.
Elifasi Msomi, serial killing witchdoctor.
Tokoloshe, South African demon.
Zodiac, dangerous weirdo.
Stanley Dean Baker, cannibal Jesus.
Detective Dempsey Bailey, dealt with Stanley
James Schlosser, eaten by Stanley
Daniel Rakowitz, religious cannibal, founder of the Church if the 966
Monica Beerle, a girlfriend of Daniel
Chris Karma, friend of Daniel. Mentioned here mostly because of his name.
Deputy Chief Ronald Fenrich, commander of detectives in Manhattan
Jefferey Dahmer, well, he’s a bit of everything.
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
True Vampires, Sondra London, 2004.
The gist:
• We start this chapter with yes, some human stew making. But also a more philosophical approach to vampirism.
• Talking about a drug cartel in the sense that it is an attack on all humans by demon people. Who can and will sap us of our life force via drugs. Among other things, I would imagine.
• Brad and Sondra call it the ‘vampiric dynamic’.
• Jack the Ripper has finally come into the book. I wondered when he would show up. Brad is telling us now that this is a perfect example of a man taken over by parasitical vampiric sprits.
• Msomi wanted to be an all powerful witchdoctor, so summoned a common SA demon. Who, of course, needed flesh and blood of humans to make Msomi superpowered. Msomi interpreted this as rape and murder of young girls. In front of his girlfriend. Who was not impressed. She was fucking terrified. Lending credence to his claim of supernatural abilities. He did keep escaping from police stations.
• Zodiac has now entered the picture. Somehow Brad thinks the Zodiac was well versed in the dark arts. He also calls him a diabolical genius. I hate giving compliments to serial killers. And he would love that. He probably has a small penis. The Zodiac. I won’t speculate on Brad.
• Stanley Dean Baker, quite insane/infested.
• Daniel Rakowitz fed his girlfriend to the homeless via a hearty stew. He was a drug dealer with a pet rooster who acted as his sidekick. Monica grew tired of Daniel, kicking him and his rooster out of her apartment. He then punched her in the throat. Daniel. Not the rooster. Whose name is not mentioned. Detectives had heard rumours of a dismembered body. Ok, I’ve gone to a place in my head of New York in 1970. A place where police hear rumours of dismembered bodies and who may have done it.
• And of course, Jefferey Dahmer. Exorcist III was his favourite film. I mean, that tells us something. Brad calls him a contemporary example of a vampire, werewolf, and cannibal. Dahmer seemed to not understand what was wrong with him. It didn’t stop him from being sly, though.
Interest:
Some. I did learn about some new cannibal killers. So I appreciated that. But to me it was another list of killers. We know nothing more about them than they were killers. Brad will stick in a line saying they are vampires. Or werewolves. Or enslaved in some way by spiritual parasites. All we have is a list of people who did unbelievably sadistic things for breathtakingly weird reasons. We can sit and say, god yeah, those fuckers are sick. Were they possessed? Were they infested? Did they have a spiritual parasite? I’m not reading proof other than their acts.
Read it?
Yeah, it’s awful and what you want to read. Gory and terrible. If you already know the people in this chapter, then you could skip it, because you won’t learn anything new. Except that Brad’s take on this is that they are vampires. Or enslaved by demons serving the old gods. Which they may well be. I’m not arguing with it. I don’t know any better.
Chapter 10 Real Vampires Entre the Contemporary Era
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Richard Trenton Chase, vampire of Sacramento
David Berkowitz, this guy.
Ted Bundy, that guy
James P Riva II, killed his Gran
Annette Hall, lover to vampire Susi Hampton
Sean Sellers, devil child. No caps for you.
Azrhan and Annie, friends of Brad
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• This is going to be a series of anecdotes. It comes with an italicised paragraph telling us that vampires are not sexy. That we need to stop thinking of them that way. Good luck with that.
• Richard Trenton suffered from a paranoid delusion from a very young age. He would start making himself a potion out of animals and soft drinks. Then it would be people.
• Brad mentions some serial killers. That they claimed they were feeling quite vampiritic at times. This is a bit weak, to be honest.
• We are now on to a section about Sean Sellers, who I never heard of before. And it begs the question, are you a vampire if you drink your own blood? Or are you just strange? I looked it up. Because that’s what I seem to be doing a lot of this time. Hemomania. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33682634/#:~:text=We%20propose%20the%20term%20%22hemomania,tasting%2Fdrinking%20one’s%20own%20blood.
• Also called autovapirism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autovampirism
• Interesting stuff. Anyway.
• Awful, for all involved, Sean was only 15 when he killed a stranger. Then his parents. All under the influence of real or imagined demons. Which is awful no matter what you believe was the cause of it.
• Now we are on the anecdotal part of the chapter. These stories I’m not sure of at all. They sound too wild to be anything but urban myths. Of course, they are hard to check. For the anonymity and safety of the teller and, let’s be honest, to the benefit of Brad.
• We begin with Kyle, who admits he was high, but insists this was all real. I read a boy having some genuine adjustment issues. Drugs, drink and stress. Being away from home for the first time.
• Now, friends of Brad are out clubbing, and they met a real vampire. Azrahn, the male of the friends, was out dressed a bit like a vampire. We hear from him first, as they go clubbing in what sounds like an awesome place. Azrahn stalks what he considers a weird dude trough the club, who seems to have all the powers of a film vampire. He has quite the encounter. We move on to Annie’s recollection of the evening. She had clocked the vampire before Azrahn. The Castle attracts the weird and wonderful. Yet there was something about this fella that stood out. They sensed danger from him. They followed him. Which seems counterintuitive. But they are friends of Brad for a reason.
Interest:
Again, reading this chapter I went to several places in my mind, and I had questions. I left some links about where I went. One of the reasons why I like these books is that I’m able to go looking for the references. Especially if they don’t put them in. Every chapter does present excellent starting points for the avid hobbyist researcher.
Read it?
You can’t not. It’s quite gross and has some new names to add to your pantheon of true crime.
Chapter 11 Clinical Vampirism
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Diana Semenuha, lured children to her home and drank their blood.
Matthew Hardman, desperately wanted to be a vampire
David Dolphin, PhD of UBC
Books/articles in this chapter:
Bizarre Disease of the Mind, Richard Noll
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Vampires, Werewolves & Demons: Twentieth Century Reports in Psychiatric Literature, Richard Noll
Living Vampires, Forensic Nurse Magazine, Bobbie Jo O’Neal RB, BSN, F-ABMDI, October 15, 2005
True Vampires, Sandra London
A Case of Lycanthropy, American Journal of Psychiatry, Harvey Rosenstock and Kenneth Vincent, 1977
The gist:
• We are now looking at several quick fire sections about vampires from the 2000s.
• We have come to Renfield’s Syndrome, which I accidentally touched on in the last chapter.
• I learned Renfield’s Syndrome is a collection of mental illnesses. Leading one to believe that one must have human blood to exist and is not in the DSM.
• I learned that zoophagia, eating live things, makes me nauseous.
• Noll tells us that the final stage of vampirism is drinking human blood.
• O’Neal gives us some gruesome examples of what blood drinking can do to the human body.
• Porphyria, or the vampire disease – a rare condition that drinking blood seems to help alleviate the symptoms of.
• Dolphin, who suggested this, has not been popular. There is no proof that blood helps anything.
• We come to werewolves again, and this time a lady wolf.
Interest:
Papers and books to track down, but I felt this chapter was too short.
Read it?
I think this might be worth more exploring. There are so many papers written on clinical vampirism and lycanthropy that it would take you a while to run out of research.
Chapter 12 The Vampire Community
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Stephen Kaplan, parapsychologist
Kahlil and Emily, vampire and friend
Merticus, admin f the Voices for the Vampire Community
Sanguinarius, vampire leadership
Sphynx-CatVP, vampire leadership
Lady CG, vampire leadership
Chris Holly, paranormal investigator
Vempypup and Redforce, vampires
Books/articles in this chapter:
Vampires in Their Own Words, Michelle Belanger, 2007
Sacred Hunger, Michelle Belanger, 2007
Vampires: Painting the Town Red, New York Times, Margaret Mittelback and Michale Crewdson, November 24, 2000
The gist:
• We start with an anecdote. I may be coming across as negative about these. I enjoy them and they are worth the read. I don’t believe them. Unless I wake up at 3am, wondering what that noise is.
• We start in the Philippines, with Kahlil’s story of his new friend Emily who was a vampire. I want this story to be true. It’s sweet.
• Stephen Kaplan, in 1972, said there were 21 real vampires in north America and Canada. They live in Massachusetts.
• In 1982 there was the Vampire Research Centre in Elmhurst, New York. Here’s a Washington Post article from 1986 talking to Kaplan. who had a sense of humour about the whole thing, but believed in what he was doing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/10/31/fangs-for-the-memories/83d07e38-000c-467e-9d9d-26e30b640c4e/
• Kaplan gave us 3 types of vampires.
• Michelle Belanger expands modern definitions of what it means to be a vampire. It does not involve being dead, and you can have psychic food.
• This chapter has the Vampire and Energy Workers Research Survey in it. Conducted by real vampires. This reveals that there is no functioning definition of a vampire because it’s so individual.
• Vampires in pop culture, our favourite kind.
• Brad's concern is the vulnerable in our society will fall under the influence of these dark entities. Romanticising of vampires etc. This is like giving them permission to climb on board.
• Chris Holly, paranormal investigator, and writer tells us a story from her friend’s experience in an Ivy League university. This takes up a fair few pages.
• There was a rumour that a family of immortal vampires were attending his school. Who hated humans aping them.
• Another description of the types of vampires in existence. The most common are the psychic kind.
• Some pointers from Redforce, a vampire, about shielding oneself from psychic vampires. Not a bad shout.
• With the real vampires, come real vampire hunters.
• Merticus tells us that real vampires don’t define vampires. He leads us out of the chapter. That some understanding of a diverse yet connected community of people would be welcome.
Interest:
There is because it’s the real vampires we want to hear about. These are, for the most part, the harmless, subset of BDSM type. Or they have conditions or are narcissists. Also known as psychic vampires. There seems to be more excuses made for these ones. Brad is not saying that these people are possessed by ancient demons wanting them to sacrifice to the old gods. I find that interesting.
Read it?
There is plenty to dig into here. Lots of websites to look up, communities to explore. So I would say yes.
Chapter 13 Paranormal Researchers Meet the Vampires of San Francisco
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Paul Dale Roberts, he of Haunted and Paranormal Investigations of Northern California
Shannon McCabe, President of HPI
Ricardo Pustanio, Haunted America Tours and artist
Chris Grissom, paranormal investigator
Kitty Burns, vampire, playwright, tour guide
Butch Patrick, Eddie Munster
Cole and Rhiannon, psychic and sanguine vampires
Richard Trenton Chase, The Vampire of Sacramento
Charles Crocker, he of the wall of spite
Joshua Norton, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico
Jack the Ripper/Choker Barnes
James Flood, controlled silver mines, under vampire protection
Mae West, ghost in this case
Lee Stat, possible actor, possible real vampire
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We begin with PDR’s story of an investigation to meet some real vampires.
• He brought a team. Just in case.
• Kitty is playing at being a vampire. She shuns the darker side of it (murder, rape etc). Which is good to hear. She also claims to have met a real vampire.
• The Vampire Safari take a tour. And the rest of this is about the tour that Kitty Burns, playing Mina Harker takes them on.
• Jack the ripper was a vampire. Brad also thinks this.
Interest:
Some, not particularly informative.
Read it?
You could skip it.
Chapter 14 The Vampire Ghost of Guadalajara
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Pastor Robin Swope, wrote this whole chapter, and is a Christian minister
Maria, and inquisitive child and I imagine star of the show
Rev. Guivez, Pentecostal minister
Books/articles in this chapter:
The gist:
• Sunny Mexico for this one.
• When someone says a child is inquisitive, they usually mean this one gets in trouble.
• And this one was fascinated with the vampire’s grave in a local cemetery.
• This based on the local legend that there was a vampire stalking the countryside in the late 19th century. ,Dispatched in the usual way, was then buried in El Panteon de Belen. Then there was a threat they he would come back if a tree grew and pushed him out of his grave. The usual stuff.
• At 11 year old, our preteen creep absconded from the house in the middle of the night. To have a good poke around the El Vampiro’s grave.
• She actually went into the tomb. This kid!
• I fell a set up happening: the thought something touched her leg. She bumped her head and bled quite profusely but was ok. Goes home, undetected. But!
• Spectres at the end of the bed, a wound that will not heal. Honestly, this sounds like sepsis.
• Except! The mother sees something in the room. A man figure with glowing red eyes.
• Rev. Guivez comes in and performs an exorcism essentially. With all the attendant drama.
• The family cat was sacrificed. Not happy with that ending.
Interest:
A bit. It’s a fun story, but nothing much here.
Read it?
You can skip it if you want.
Chapter 15 Ghosts that Bite
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Janice, experiencer
Linda, Ouija board user
Vanessa Hughes, sad child who grew into a sad adult
George Peterson, attacked Vanessa
The Coopers, relations of Vanessa
Dr. Myron Mitchell, physician, witness
Dr. Allen Clark, parapsychologist
Kelly Brooks, another of Vanessa’s sisters
Clarita Villanueva, chased by a biting monster
Arsenio Lacson, mayor of Manilla 1951
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• It’s uncheckable story time!
• We kick off with an interesting experience from Janice. She was visited by a something she couldn’t see that began biting her. Invoking the name of god made it go.
• Linda then has an obscene experience with a Ouija board. Also bitey.
• Vanessa has a close call with a young man of bad character, and sort of loses her mind. Her distress is such that it leads to a possession style situation. Which is energetic in nature and witnessed by people outside of the family. Dr. Allen Clark got Vanessa to talk about her trauma.
• We now go to the Philippines of 1951 with another biting ghost. She was arrested, more for her own safety as she ran through the streets of Manila screaming about a biting monster. Bites were appearing on her body, and this had police witnesses.
• The ME, Mayor and Chief of Police were all involved in this.
Mayor Arsenio Lacson. This guy was no joke, and not easily fooled. He also drove Clarita to hospital after she pitched a fit in the court.
It doesn’t say, but the Chief of Police at this time was Eduardo Rodriguez Quintos Sr. https://www.geni.com/people/Eduardo-R-Quintos-Sr/6000000002416843365
• For some reason, they still brough this girl to court for a charge of vagrancy. Why? 1951, that’s why.
Interest:
Yes, actually. There’s a lot of cross over with haunting and possessions, so thinking of them as possible vampire attacks is interesting.
Read it?
Oh yeah.
Chapter 16 Vampire Gangs
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Heather ‘Zoey’ Wendorf
Richard Wendorf, one of the victims
Scott Anderson, a vampire
Charity Keesee, vampire
Dana Cooper, vampire
Richard and
Dr. Marian Lara, medical examiner
Rod Ferrell, a would be vampire cult leader and all around twat.
Sondra Gibson, Rod’s mum, and she was a pretend vampire and possible paedophile.
Terry Belcher, weirdo
Robert McIntyre, fellow weirdo
Malisa Earnest, weirdette
Sargent Bill Landry
Major Phil Miller
Sherriff Earl Lee
Theresa Simmons, sacrificed for nothing.
Linda Sutton, victim in Chicago
Rose Davis, another victim
Lorraine A Borowski, another victim
Shui Mak, another victim
Sandra Delaware, another victim
Carole Pappas, another victim
Beverly Washington, another victim
Tom and Andrew Kokoraleis, two of the so called Ripper Crew
Robin Gecht, another member who had once worked for John Wayne Gacy and had unfortunately survived him.
Edward Spreizer, another member
First assistant state attorney Michael Higgins
Raphael Torado, whom the rippers killed in a random drive by
Books/articles in this chapter:
True Vampires, Sondra London, 2004
The Satanic Bible. Not sure which one. I’m assuming Le Vey.
The gist:
• And now for vampire gangs.
• The bold Rod Ferrell and his band of fuckheads Kentucky/Tennessee area.
Would you ever look at this yoke. He did not age well either. https://horrorobsessive.com/2021/10/19/the-vampire-murders-tale-of-twisted-teen-rod-ferrell/
• Double murderer and dog killer. You can read all the details here, so I’m not going into it. It’s another story of child abuse and mental illness in a toxic combination.
• To Louisiana of 1988! Where a collection of weirdos murdered a girl under the influence of heavy metal, weed, and a free floating amorphous maliciousness. The weirdette was indeed one scary girl. She pushed the human sacrifice, and she got away with it, really, with the lightest sentence.
• Chicago, 1981, a series of murders involving women and mutilation. They were from all over Chicago, of all backgrounds and ethnicities. The cannibalistic Ripper Crew had horrific ceremonies they performed, giving these women awful deaths.
Interest:
It is, of course, because it’s grisly. However, I’m not entirely sure where we’re going with this. It’s yet another list of murderesses with no sense of direction.
Read it?
No reason not to. But it is upsetting.
Chapter 17 Be Cautious If You Boast You Are a Vampire
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Sgt. Brian Kroft
Det. Tom Parks
Marty Hughes, vampire (porphyria sufferer), pile of body parts
Lt. Donald Hagen
Dean Bolen, a surprising murderer.
Brian Gains, attorney to Dean
Elizabeth Page Alucard, vampire fan and murder victim (Alucard is Dracula backwards)
David Bingham, her boyfriend.
Jonathan “The Impaler” Sharkey, King of the Vampyre Nation
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We open which chunks of human flesh and pools of blood in an apartment. Which is Marty Hughes. Murdered by his friend who believed he was a vampire.
• Elizabeth, a recovered addict, ran a rehabilitation centre. Her BF was stealing money from the safe and forging her signature. He killed her.
I’m not voting for him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sharkey.JPG
• Sharkey was involved with a 15 year old girl online, who got fed up with him quickly. Her dad got involved. He threatened to behead her parents. He did some time for being a complete arse.
Interest:
A little. Not much. This chapter needed more to it.
Read it?
You could skip it.
Chapter 18 Killing a Vampire in the 21st Century
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Petre Toma, former schoolteacher, now vampire
Gheorghe Marinescu, Romanian vampire hunter
Mitrica Mircea, Romanian vampire hunter
Popa Stelica, Romanian vampire hunter
Constantin Florea, Romanian vampire hunter
Ionescu Ion. Romanian vampire hunter
Pascu Opera, Romanian vampire hunter
Floarea Cotoran, daughter of Petre
Monica Petrescu, journalist from Bucharest
Maria Tedescu, law student in Bucharest.
Higues, a Guyana vampiric creature.
Mohammed Bijeh, murderer
Ali Baghi, an accomplice.
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• This chapter is about how we kill vampires now, and how it’s not different from then.
• 2004, Romania, 6 vampire hunters dug up Petre Toma and pitchforked, staked, deheaterted, and garliced him. Then, with the aid of his remaining family, they burned his heart at a crossroads. Made it into a soup and the family drank it. Floarea Cotoran, daughter of Petre, not convinced and reported them to the police. Romania still has its beliefs in vampires, and that they are a very real threat to the health of a community.
• 2007, Guyana, an elderly woman believed to be a Higues, an old hag type of creature. They drink baby blood according to legend. No particular ritual, just beat them to death.
• 2005, Iran, the Tehran Desert Vampire case, and a public execution. Mohammed accused of killing and raping many children. The vampire was strangled to death on a crane in this case.
Interest:
The last case is a serial killing rather than a vampire being killed. Unlike the case in Romania, which was fascinating that the belief is still so strong. I mean, it is the home of Dracula, after all.
Read it?
Yes, especially for the Romanian story. I don’t think the last one counts.
Chapter 19 Bizarre Strangers in the Night
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Gladys Worthington, victim of an unseen attacker
Martin Garcia, lady vampire
Carol, lifelong vampire friend
Ian, saw a mothman, and I’m like, wrong book, dude.
Tim R Swartz, tv producer
Marilyn D, victim of a possibly incubus.
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We start with Gladys from England, attacked in her sleep. She had bruises on her throat from an invisible attacker.
• Martin from New Mexico had a visitor who did a ‘Salem’s Lot outside his window.
• Carol with another ‘Salem’s Lot style vampire floating outside her window. Seen several times throughout the course of her life.
‘Salem’s Lot style shit right here. http://www.fthismovie.net/2018/10/my-first-scare-salems-lot.html I also love this article because my first proper scare too!
• Ian, according to the picture saw a dinosaur, not a mothman or a vampire. And again, I’m like, wrong book dude.
• Tim Swartz with his 1982 case of a friend’s girlfriend, haunted by what sounds like an incubus. She was showing the signs of wear and tear from its bullshit.
Interest:
This chapter is on point with its content and is not just a list of serial killers. I enjoyed this chapter, even though it was short.
Read it?
I did. You should.
hapter 20 The Mysterious Lady in Black
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Kevin Stewart, ensnared by a Lady in black
Charles, frenemy of Kevin
John and Madeline Stewart, Kevin’s parents
Teddy, Kevin’s minder.
Madeline, medium who lived near Dallas.
Paul Dale Roberts, investigator.
Carol Gillis, vampire.
Shannon McCabe, present at the interview.
Timothy, experiencer of an LIB that was not so vicious. Worked in Pizza Plus in Baden Baden.
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We start with a story of Kevin Stewart, which takes place in the 50s? I’m not sure, going by the language. Religious young man from a religious Baptist background and Dallas. Possessed by a proper spiritual parasite? Or had a nervous breakdown because his father was a prick? A medium came and was able to drive the spirit out.
• This part is a question an answer dialogue with a woman who claims to be a 3,000 year old vampire. It’s very straight forward and reveals precisely fuck all of any use.
• Onto Germany in the early 90s with Timothy, a Canadian living there. His time as a young man in Germany, haunted by a very real Woman in Black, and to this day he misses her. This is a melancholy story.
Interest:
This is interesting. Mostly we hear about Women in White, who are creatures of guilt. A Woman in Black is made of different stuff. I found the last story from Timothy quite effecting. He felt as though he had left a part of himself in Germany. Which makes me think she was more fitting in the ‘vampire’ mould.
Read it?
I recommend.
Chapter 21 A Vampiric Demon Conjured by the Occult Stole His Wife
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Ryan Harris, his wife was stolen/possessed
Elena Sanchez, the wife in question
Robert Harris, first son
Emily Harris, daughter
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We are in 1998 when Ryan Harris relates the story of how his wife was taken over by a vampire demon. When he met her in 1981, she was involved in some, at the time and to him, rather esoteric practices: yoga.
• But to be fair, she was dabbling in some more serious shit as well. Her answer his proposal was a bit of a red flag, I’ll be honest.
• During her pregnancy, things really kicked off. And then he came across her strangling a neighbour’s cat…
• Eventually, her personality split into Elana and Alyssa, and they were quite opposite.
• Ryan never saw anything of a demon, and went with the ‘my wife is nuts, but I won’t abandon her’. He got his kids out of the situation and tried his best for a long time.
• Until one night…he did see it and it was terrifying. His wife was battling this creature.
• There was an incident with a rifle. Which was finally the breaking point.
• We finish this story with Elena declared insane and he and the children visit her.
• Ryan is definite that he saw something. That there was more to this that his wife’s mental illness. The ending is sad.
Interest:
Yes, because this story can be seen in many lights. That it’s included in this book means that Brad sees it as a vampire possession, though I see no evidence of vampirism. But he has also not commented on it.
Read it?
This case is 25 years old now at the time of writing. If it was possible, it would be ripe for a sensitive investigation. So yes.
Chapter 22 Haunted by the Dybbuk
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Shlomo Moussaieff, rabbi and collector of strange things
Rabbi Gershon Winkler.
Jeff Belanger, he of Ghost Village. Which seems to have disappeared.
Teri Vruche-Golderberg, possessed by her uncle
Uncle Sandor, the possessing uncle
Rabbi Solomon Friedlander, an admore
Books/articles in this chapter:
Biblical Archaeology Review. Jan/Feb 2007, Hershel Shanks
Biblical Archaeology Review. Mar/Apr 2009, Dan Levene
The gist:
• We go into Jewish mysticism here in this chapter.
• We learn about the Moussaieff incantation skulls which sent me off looking for pictures and articles.
He of the skulls, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/renowned-collector-shlomo-moussaieff-dies-at-92/
The incantation skulls. http://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/11/use-of-human-skulls-for-ritual-and.html
• There are only 4 in existence of these incantation skulls according to the chapter. In an article I found by Dan Levene in 2006, he mentions 5. Calvariae Magicae: The Berlin, Philadelphia and Moussaieff Skulls, Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, Vo. 75, No (2006), pp. 359-379. This is a 34 page examination of the skulls that Dan had access to and is well worth even a quick skim. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43124455. One is in Philadelphia, four in Berlin, a couple of them being fragments.
• A Dybbuk is a spirit of a deceased human that possesses a living human.
• While there is no belief in demons as there is in Christianity: separate evil beings, there are Sheydim. These were, according to this chapter, produced just as humans were being finished. They are neither good nor evil. Not of this world or another. They just are. They can be useful.
• We go to a story of Teri Vurcher-Golderberg. Possessed by her uncle Sandor who needed her good deeds to pass into an Eternal Rest. He’d been a bot of a Jack the Lad in life. So very unfairly, he becomes a dybbuk on his niece. From 1931 to 1961, ffs. He never actually got to possess her, as Teri steadily told him to fuck off. For 30 years this went on.
• A Hasid rabbi who has mastered the Kabbalah can perform an exorcism.
• Such a rabbi was Solomon Friedlander. Who is a bit of a controversial character in the Bronx. I found this article. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/14/archives/bronx-rabbi-and-3-indicted-in-faith-healing-case-bronx-prosecutor.html
• He’s an interesting man with an interesting family to read up on.
• Some detail of a Jewish exorcism.
Interest:
Loads. This is quite different from what’s gone before. The rest of the book is based on a Christian interpretation of good and evil, so it’s very interesting to read about it from another point of view.
Read it?
Yes.
Chapter 23 The Secondhand Sofa Came with the Spirit of a Vampire
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Brooke Robinson, encounters with a vampire ghost
Ethen Robinson, husband of Brooke
Hailey and Nathan, their children
Dr. Epstein, a dentist that Brooke works for
Patricia, Ethan’s sister
Dr. Mason, the paediatrician they take Nathan to for his night terrors.
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• This is an anecdotal story of Brook and Ethan and their haunted couch.
• A series of innocuous enough hauntings that Brooke only sort of believes is real. She called it Barnabas anyway and interacted with it. Until she offended him. Pointy teeth are mentioned by a child.
• The ghost seems to be particularly focussed on Nathan. Though eventually Brooke will start hearing its voice.
• Ethan is completely unconvinced of any kind of supernatural influence.
• Patricia blames Brooke for being a working mum. Fuck Patricia anyway. Ethan sort of agrees with this, but thinks the kid needs to see a psychiatrist.
• While in the throws of real desolation over her son, Brooke sees Barnabas.
• Ethan finally gets an experience when his son is acting out the possession.
• Eventually, the couple are united in their belief and deal with accordingly.
Interest:
Some. It’s a scary story to be sure. It did make me think, for all the killers we know about, there is all the killers we don’t.
Read it?
If you want to. You will miss nothing much if you skipped with chapter.
Chapter 24 Vampires from UFOs
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Trevor James Constable, aviation historian
Ahrimanes, fallen angels
Charles, an abductee
Gretchen, another abductee
Deb, a psychic experiencer
Group of scientists, led by ‘Benjamin’, alien-hybrid trackers
Aliens from the Lyra system
Lois and Gina, on a roadtrip in 1978
Hitchhiker, who in 1978 may be the following: alien, cult leader, serial killer, duelling banjoer
Books/articles in this chapter:
Cosmic Pulse of Life, Trevor James Constable
The gist:
We start with Trevor Constable telling us that aliens are fallen angles.
Trevor does make a valid point. Are humans brought low by forces they cannot accept the existence of? Thus, rendering us vulnerable to their influences.
Ahrimanes are Cacodaemons. Is this is about the demonic theory of UFOs? Are these vampires?
This is what I can find, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacodemon#/media/File:Ill_dict_infernal_p0144-128_cacodemon.jpg
• We get an abductee story from Charles who believes he is becoming what abducted him. Maybe.
• Gretchen has a similar experience to Charles, but no report on her actual feelings.
• Deb wrote down her impression of a brief encounter with five ‘female’ vampires/aliens.
• Group of scientists who track hybrids etc, detail an encounter in a soup place off an American Midwestern highway. They had a telepathic conversation.
• Lois and Gina disappeared for 5 days to be examined by aliens because they were hybrids themselves. Lois tells the story because Gina will not speak of it. There are associated poltergeist phenomena with this one.
• Brad relates some of his own investigations here about how he did regression hypnosis on experiences over the course of 20 years. His discoveries lead him to the idea of good and evil again, playing out the eternal game via the guise of aliens. There’s a bit of the John Keel going on in this chapter, I think.
Interest:
Some. There are no real conclusions made except for the good v evil tacked on to the end of it. If we are being visited by ETs, then it would make sense that some are more sensitive to their subjects than others. John Keel believed that there were no aliens. He posited that there was some sort of intelligence. In another dimension? That was influencing humans and that we saw what we wanted to see of its manifestations. Whatever makes sense to us at the time. In this chapter there is a demonic theory of UFOs floated around. But then all the narratives get mixed in together and I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be about.
Read it?
You can, but you won’t learn anything. I would have like a longer discussion from Brad. There are several intriguing ideas here.
Chapter 25 Black-eyed Beings
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Carter and Suzanne, Greg and Karen, run in with BIKs
Several BIKs, with all the swagger of Kiefer Sutherland in the Lost Boys.
Maya and Michael Rodriquez, their daughter Maria.
Tommy, a vampire who had knocked on the door one day
Bowser, unfortunate puppy
Alexandra, a woman who exercises ghosts.
Books/articles in this chapter:
Are Black-Eyed Beings Walking Among Us?, www.rense.com, Ted Twietmeyer, 5 May, 2008. Are Black-Eyed Beings Walking Among Us? (rense.com)
The gist:
• A double date that gatecrashed by BIKs. Carter and Suzanne were even followed home.
• Then there is a list of what the BIKs do then confronting people in their home begging for admittance. Brad has received a lot of correspondence on this, and these are the commonalities.
• Ted Tweitmeyer’s list of commonalities.
• When a BIK gets in: The Rodriquezes start with straight up poltergeist shenanigans, which takes a turn when their daughter Maria in in contact with something. Interestingly, at one point Maria was stuffed in a pillowcase. Tommy was biting Maria, which is what makes this even more interesting. And the puppy fucking hated Tommy. Then the dog was murdered. They called in Alexandra, who managed to cast out whatever Tommy was.
Interest:
Yes, plenty. The whole BIK thing. It's definitely grown arms and legs over the years, is still some spooky shit that we all enjoy. The last story with Maria shows what may happen if we let them in.
Read it?
I enjoyed this chapter. So, I would say yes. But! Not much for the serious researcher.
Chapter 26 The Shadow People
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Erica, Ouija victim
Lee, experienced in dealing with shadow people
Kari, dealing with Gray Men
Books/articles in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• We are introduced to the phenomena of shadow people as being a lot older than we first think.
• Then we launch into the anecdotes.
• Erica and her sister accidentally inviting a cast of shadow people into their lives via a Ouija board. Brad and Sherry sent her some techniques to help her with this situation, so there is a continuation piece.
• The continuation piece is by Lee. Whoever Lee is. But they seem learned in the ways of shadow people. They say the light must be in your soul to combat evil. No amount of incantations can help you if you don’t.
• Then we go to Kari and her Gray Men. Kari has some psychic talents. Kari has happily grown up in a family that accepts and practices the paranormal.
Interest:
Some, I wasn’t particularly engaged by this paragraph. Not much to grab me.
Read it?
If you want. If you don’t, you’re not missing much.
Chapter 27 Multidimensional Mimics
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Whitney, paranormal researcher
A person who is quite psychic, but unnamed
Gary, experiencer of oddness
Books/articles in this chapter:
Shadow World, Brad Steiger, 2007
Adventures with Phantoms, Thurston Hopkins, 1946
The gist:
• Creatures that pretend to be us, but sometimes, the masks slip. No one seems to be able to pin them down regarding agenda or origin.
• Whitney describes an uncanny valley type encounter.
• Unnamed person sees vey stylish couple having dinner and is psychically blocked by them. They go with ET. I go with rich folk. But then, why would they be eating in the same place? This person has seen a lot of mimics.
• Gary walked into another Uncanny Valley situation. A gas station that seems designed as a trap for these mimics to learn about humans. Except, they are doing a shit job of it. Pardner.
• We are getting to the summing up part of the book as this is the last proper chapter.
• Brad’s commentary on this: that real vampires, night stalkers and creatures from the Darkside want to enslave us. They might do this by impersonating us. Only if we choose to serve the light are we safe from them. To choose the darkness is to be a slave to these forces who have no love for us.
Interest:
Gary’s experience is fun. Brad uses it and other stories in this chapter to illustrate that real vampires are trying to mimic us to enslave us. I found this ending to the book quite jarring as it makes no sense. Brad briefly reels off a few names of creatures that were mentioned at the beginning of the book. But the summing up doesn’t do justice to the book.
Read it?
Yes, the stories, especially Whitney and Gary’s are interesting.
Chapter 28 Vampires: A Chronology
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Lilitu/Lilith
Pope Gregory IX, founder of the Inquisition
Pope Clement V, unfounder of the Templars
Vlad Tepes, you know who
Gilles de Rais, that yoke
Elisabeth Bathory, well
Catherine Montvoisin, apparently killed many, many babies
Aleister Crowley, big swing in the Golden Dawn
Fritz Harrmaann, serial killer, possible vampire
Vincenzo Verzeni, we have said enough about him.
Jack the Ripper, way more than enough said here.
Peter Kurten, German serial killer
Gordon Cummins, English serial killer during WWII. Used a tin opener, is not what Brad tells us, but he should have.
Elisfasi Msomi, we dealt with him already
Ed Gein, nipple belt
Charles Manson, glad he’s dead.
Jean Youngson, founder of the Count Dracula Fan Club
Stanley Dean Baker, cannibal
Sean Manchester, founder of the Vampire Research Society
Richard Speck, awful creature
Donald Reed, founder of the Count Dracula Society
Stephen Kaplan, founder of the Vampire Research Center
Martin V Riccardo, founder of the Vampire Studies Society
Eric Held, founder of the Vampire Information Exchange
Dorothy Nixon, fouder of the Vampire Information Exchange
Richard Temple Chase, serial killer
James P Riva II, drink his grandmother’s blood
The Chicago Rippers, devastating fuckheads
Richard Ramirez, cunt
Sean Sellers, the Devl Child
Terry Belcher, human sacrificer
Robert McIntyre, human sacrificer
Malisa Earnest, human sacrificer
Nikolai Ceaucescu. Yes, he is mentioned in here. He was overthrown and Transylvania was now open for Dracula business. Not sure what Brad is getting at here.
Daniel Rokowitz, made a soup out of his girlfriend and was feeding her to the homeless, remember him?
Annette Hill, very co-dependent
Susi Hampton, her vampire girlfriend
Charles Hampton, got in the way of that particular fucked up car crash.
Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer, we all know him
Rod Ferrell, can’t say more than I already have.
Jon C Bush, paedophile.
Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh, paedophile.
Matthew Hardman, thought he could become a vampire.
Micah White, kills mother an aunt with stakes
Mohammed Bijeh, paedophile
Tiffany Sutton, attacked boyfriend, thought she was a vampire
Santiago Meza Lopez, made people stew
Jonathan Albert Sharkey, utter nutter
Books/articles in this chapter:
The Vampire Book: the Complete Encyclopaedia of the Undead, J Gordon Melton
Ecclesiastical History of England, Venerable Bede
The Chronicles of Denys of Tell-Mahre (I had to go looking for this. The Syriac was translated into French ‘the Chronique de Denys de Tel-Mahre, or it’s the Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mare:Chronicle of Zuqnin. You can get a copy of the French in paper back on Amazon https://www.Amazon.co.uk/Chronique-Denys-Tell-Mahre-Part-4/dp/1160983380/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JWIFJW6KCL69&keywords=Chronique+de+Denys+de+Tell-Mahre&qid=1701689954&s=digital-text&sprefix=chronique+de+denys+de+tell-mahre%2Cdigital-text%2C189&sr=1-1.
From other sources, I learned that it is a world chronicle in 4 parts https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2009/11/04/the-chronicle-of-zuqnin-ps-dionysius-of-tell-mahre/
De Nagis Curialium, Walter Map, can also be acquired on Amazon, but an older translation is available here:
https://archive.org/details/denugiscurialiummrjames/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater
You can find the vampire references after the Rage of the Welsh. Which I found funny for some unaccountable reason. Anyway, in the version above, which is the only edition I have looked at to be fair, has an extended footnote from the historian and editor involved in this translation. I enjoyed this book so much; I kept reading it. It’s a load of fun.
Chronicles, William of Newburgh. Same deal. Awesome read. Hot tip: prodigies is what you’re looking for. William lists a number. Including green children. Book 5 is where the action is at.
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/williamofnewburgh-five.asp
The Book of Sacred magic of Abramelin the Mage, 1458,
you can buy it on Amazon for very little, or read it here https://sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/index.htm
Malleus Malificarum, Heinrich Institoris and Jacob Sprenger, 1486, also can be purchased for very little.
De Graecorum hodi quirundam opinationabus, Leo Allatios, 1645. I can only find the latin https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_1IWEI8JQoTAC/page/n15/mode/2up?view=theater
and an interesting treatise on him and his works. It explains what the De Graecorum hodi quirundam opinationabus is and what it means
https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/28206
Relation de ce qui s’est passe a Sant-Erini Isle de l’Archipel, Father Francoise Richard, 1657. I can’t find an English translation, but there are French editions available on Amazon. A bit pricy.
De Mastications Morutorum (the chewing dead, ffs), Philip Rohr, 1679, I found this translation http://www.dailydoofus.com/chewingenglish.html
Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri, Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati
An original https://www.academia.edu/40002679/Giuseppe_Davanzati_Dissertazione_sopra_i_vampiri_1789
Couldn’t find an English translation of this, but I did find this paper:
Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges, des Demons, et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, et de Silesie, Dom Augustin Calmet, 1746. Can’t find a translation.
Der Vampir, a poem by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. Knock yourself out:
https://www.firbolgpublishing.com/der-vampir-heinrich-august-ossenfelder/
Bride of Corinth, Johann Wolfgang von Goeth, 1797
https://poets.org/poem/bride-corinth-my-grave-wander
Christabel, Damuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798ish
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43971/christabel
I Vampiri, and opera by Silvestro de Palma, 1800, there was only one YouTube video of this, and its gone
Thalaba the Destroyer, Robert Southey, a po-em, 1801
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39804/39804-h/39804-h.htm
The Vampyre, John Stagg, another po-em, 1810
https://poets.org/poem/vampyre
The Giaour, Lord Byron, 1813. I have always found Byron a pain in the hoop, so you’re welcome to him.
https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/TheGiaour_10033131.pdf
The Vampyre, John Polidori 1819
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6087/pg6087-images.html
The Lamia, John Keats, 1819, another miserable bastard:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2490/2490-h/2490-h.htm
Lord Ruthwen, Cyprien Berard, 1820, that can be acquired quite easily and cheaply on Amazon.
Le Vampire, a play by Charles Nodier.
Someone has collected it up in Plaine text and in French here:
https://dorisvsutherland.com/2022/03/06/le-vampire-by-charles-nodier-prologue-and-act-1/
I cannot track down a translation at this time. However, in the same year, James R Planche did a translation for the London stage, The vampire; or, the Bride of the Isles.
LibraVox did a thing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DlhY6QSAY
Also based on Nodier’s play is a German opera, Der Vampire by Heinrich Marschner, 1829
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8JqUDEta8c
I’m going to listen to this for the rest of my time writing this. It’s dramatic.
Upyr, Alexey Tolstoy, 1841, there’s a load of these books from him. I’m sure one of them on Amazon is the one we want. I’m distracted now by German opera.
Varney the Vampyre/Feast of Blood, Prest and Rymer, 1847
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14833/pg14833-images.html
Le Vampire, Alexandre Dumas, totally and opening ripping off Nodier, 1851
http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/stories/vampire.php. I think this is the right one. It says 1865 in this link.
Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu, 1972, lesbian classic. Completely out of the blue for Ireland. When I first read this, I couldn’t compute what I was reading. I was like, why am I so turned on? It’s because they were lesbians and we were not using the word. It’s like when not long after I read Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, I was like, sisters my hole! Anyway, here is Camilla.
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10007/pg10007-images.html
Land Beyond the Forest, Emily Gerard, 1888
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/57168/pg57168-images.html
The Flowering of the strange Orchid, HG Wells, 1894, sci fi vampires
https://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/2865/
Dracula, Bram Stoker, 1987, the daddy of them all, also from Ireland. What’s going on in Ireland, because it all very homoerotic. Bowchicka.
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/345/pg345-images.html
The Vampire, Rudyard Kipling, 1897, Christ everyone was getting in on the action. Here’s the poem with some explanation, which I appreciated. I’ve turned off the opera.
https://www.eliteskills.com/c/1038
The secrets of House No. 5, a film. Brad says it’s produced in GB, but appears to be Russian. 1912
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2wPOoRvGXE
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-secret-of-house-no-5/
Dracula’s Guest, Bram Stoker, 1913, a little known short from himself.
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10150/pg10150-images.html
Dracula, Russian version, film, 1920, no copies survive, but there is a really good fake on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk8imiYs_OQ
Dracula, Hungarian version, film, 1921, also a missing film but there are some photos. I think this is it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMynPDr7Yzs
Nosferatu, German version, film, absolute fucking classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs
Dracula, Hamilton Deane, play, 1924.This is what would inspire every film, from Lugosi to Coppola. It’s on Amazon
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, Arthur Conan Doyle, 1924. Sherlock in on the Case! This could have been well sexy, but. No. Doyle was of Irish decent, so of course there was some homoeroticism between Sherlock and Watson. But this could have been spectacular. Someone! Rewrite this immediately! It even has a Mincing Lane…
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/69700/pg69700-images.html#chap05
Hamilton Deane brings his Dracula and Van Helsing homoeroticism to London’s Little Theatre. Deane is Irish.
Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, he of the evil foreign influence on impressionable young women.
Here is a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoaMw91MC9k
And London after Midnight, a missing classic from Tod Browning and Lon Chaney. What’s left of it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hryoztQjqOs
The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Montague Summers, 1928, available on Amazon
Dracula, Spanish, film, 1931, here is a brief explanation about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Ac6sNrD94
Vampyr, German, film, 1932
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QV96_is9eQ
Dracula’s Daughter, American, film, 1936, definitely a lesbian film. Here’s the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa0jV3wsgZs
Asylum, AE Van Vogt,1942 alien vampires. We’re really starting to get into it now, aren’t we.
https://www.prosperosisle.org/spip.php?article331#Asylum
Son of Dracula, American, film, 1973, Dracula got around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rPaeTHJmY
The House of Frankenstein, American, film, 1944
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90bPakb1zs
Drakula Istanbul’da, Turkey, film, 1953
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7tAWcm3EX0
Eerie Comic No. 8 has the first comic book adaption of Dracula, but it’s just Mexican vampires. It’s called the Song of the Undead. Also gives the publication date as 1952.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=40282
I am Legend, Richard Matheson, 1954, available on Amazon
Matinee Theatre from NBC 1956, can’t find a link for that, but it was John Carradine playing Dracula
Kyuketsuki Ga, Japan, film, 1957, this unfortunately has no subs. But it’s fun to watch all the same. It’s very cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHbr45w5Xw
I, Vampiri. Italy, film, 1957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioatOBUuAfw
Not of this Earth, American, film, 1957. You know how you flip me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CqAszIdbcQ
El Vampiro, Mexico, film, 1957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD75ts4bFkQ
The Horror of Dracula, British, film, 1958. I love Hammer horror. All of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTbY0BgIRMk
The Flower of Evil, Korea, film, 1961, Dracula again. No trailer for this one though.
Parque de Juelos, Spain, film, 1964, no trailer
The Munsters, The Addams Family, both doing the business in 1964. Here is a gratuitous picture of Jenna Ortega.
Dark Shadows, American, TV series, 1966, Here’s a playlist, where I’m sure you’ll find Barnabas Collins, the vampire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgm8whsYlJU&list=PLb6FwrPUfo77GVxZED4O_5zLH5W89LZoH
Vampirella, comic book, 1969 debuts. She’s available lots of places.
Dracula, British mini series, 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FXGYrmkl2g
Does Dracula Really Suck?/Dracula and the Boys, American gay porn, 1969, no trailer oddly enough.
El Conde Dracula, Spanish, film, 1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFAeq2JYrhs
The Night Stalker, America, TV series, 1972. Here’s a play list. I used to love this as a kid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_eL8Ip2VhM&list=PLrOCs9UJq2PEkZL_8ixfKF69m0-XXMgrQ
In Search of Dracula, Raymond T McNally and Radu Florescu, 1972, available on Amazon
A Dream of Dracula, Leonard Wolf, 1972, available on Amazon
True Vampires of History, Donald Glut, 1972, available on Amazon
Vampire King-Fu, Hong Kong, film, 1972, no trailer for this that I can find
Dracula, American, Made for TV film, 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6jEUmHZfv0
Vampires, Nancy Garden, 1974, available on Amazon
The Dracula Tape, Fred Saberhagen, 1975, available on Amazon
World of Dark Shadows, American fan magazine, 1975
Famous Monsters of Filmland, 1958 Faze upon them!
https://archive.org/details/famousmonstersmagazine
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice, 1976, and look, if you’re reading this and you haven’t read this, I don’t know what to say.
Salem’s Lot, Stephen King, 1976, my favourite thing.
Dracula, American, play 1977. I thought the playbill was quite fetching.
Dracula, British, Mini series, 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh5OrEU-zVw
The Tomb of Dracula, Marvel comics, 1972
https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/11831/tomb_of_dracula_1972_1
Hotel Transylvania, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, 1978, available on Amazon
Dracula, America, film, 1979, with Frank from the above play. My mother fancied him in this film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIF2_m6TmQE
Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi’s Dead, single. 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq7xyjU-jsU
The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice, 1985
Sunglasses after Dark, Nancy Collins, 1989, the great Sonja Blue, probably the first urban fantasy novels. Can get them all on amazon.
Vampire: the Masquerade, an RPG that is most likely responsible for modern sexy vampires. That and Sonja Blue.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, American, film, 1992, and this is the obsessive mess that made Twilight ok. Seriously. I have issues with both of these films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgFPIh5mvNc
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American, film, 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-daIHTY4NQ
Interview with the Vampire, American, film, 1994. Just be gay already. Tom would have been well up for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCmYN6TLd8A
Forever Knight, American, TV series. I also really liked this show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_mHL43ZnmQ&list=PLzovi87vDfzIIcI4-Rx5s0YqiOaT3uF0-
The Hunger, American, film, 1983. And what a film. An hour and a half perfume ad. But Catherine Deneuve. For some reason, Brad has this in as 1997.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhfsr0_QNFw
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American, TV series, 1997, and this is awesome. I’ll till watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfl3WQPI9e8
Blade, American, film, 1998, wrong year entry here. Love this film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmuUmk85sYY
Angel, American, TV series, 1999, spinoff from Buffy, rather excellent. More morally gray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgxne3tzZw
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris, 2001, would lead us to True Blood eventually, which in my opinion, is much better than the novels. You can buy them all on Amazon
Underworld, American, film, 2003, making vampires heroines all sexy and super practical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_IoL7g5Ub8
Twighlight, ffs, American, film, 2008, an extraordinarily problematic film with the endlessly untalented cast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDRLSqm_WVg
Moonlight, American, TV series, 2007, I liked it personally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odR0IUH3c38
The gist:
Just what it says, a chronology of vampires written by another author and updated by Brad. I’ve put everything you need to know above.
Interest:
It sums up almost everything in the book. Some of the links I found before. But it also gave me an opportunity to look up a lot more, especially in pop culture through the ages. I had fabulous time researching this. Yet not sure what a lot of it has to do with real Vampires. It’s about film, tv, novels and serial killers after a point. Also, some of the years are wrong. That might not be a big deal to others, but it is to me. It’s also a choosy list. Takes us up to 2003. I’m not going to add to it, but there are plenty of websites who have.
Read it?
Yes, do. There’s still lots of information in here.
From Real Ghosts
The gist:
You can read this yourself. I may review this at another point, so I’m not going to.
Interest:
Yes, but sure, you may as well buy that book.
Read it?
If you want.
Index
Conclusion
In many ways, I enjoyed this book. It led to research in a way I haven’t done in quite a while. I rediscovered some MS. Discovered a load more. For that, I will always value this book. In a less favourable light, there is not enough referencing. A lot of this book is anecdotal and hard to credit because of it. There were a few items that prove problematic. African blood cults for instance. Even on a cursory check, were not entirely factual. I found that difficult to leave alone. Hinted at is a wonderfully rich history of the vampire. If you have the patience and the time, which I did this time, you can discover that for yourself. One of my favourite parts was the chronology. That was revealing and educational. There are several subjects I’ll cover later in other reviews, like the BIKs, for instance. But I have had a blast going through this, even if I have been critical at times. In some ways, this is a comprehensive and broad overview. A serious attempt to tie a lot of different aspects of the paranormal together. Brad is well educated and well read, but it’s a shame there was not more of him in this book. His interviews about this book were phenomenal. I always got excited when I heard Brad was going to be the guest on anything. I mourned him on his passing. His contribution to the field has been enormous. Yet, this book, put together in his latter years, does not feel like a complete work. I'm a bit disappointed.
Buy it?
Yes, but be cautious about the information and how it’s presented. Either back this up with other more in-depth books or do your own research. I have provided some links throughout to help, hopefully.
.jpg){kind=link}
