The idea of vampires, these undead creatures subsisting off of the life force of others, has been around for centuries. Though the image of the bloodsucking creature of the night has changed considerably over the years and continues to change, for horror’s sake, that change may be for the better.

The Legend of Vampires

Dating from the probable first historical example of a vampire to the advent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the truth may be scarier than fiction.

History’s First Vampire

The person believed to be the first historical reference of a vampire is Jure Grando Alilović in the late 1500’s/early 1600s in Croatia.

For the 16 years following his death, he is rumored to have terrorized the village where he used to live. At night, his ghoulish form would wander the town streets, knocking on doors as he walked. Apparently, those who had their door knocked upon meant that death was soon to come for them.

The story goes that the wife also suffered horribly, as she claimed her husband’s decaying, ghoulish figure would force himself into her room at night to torment her. Referred to by villagers as Strigon (fans of FX’s The Strain will recognize this as an ancient term for vampire), after sixteen years of terror, the mayor reportedly ordered a group of young men to the grave of Jure Grando. He was exhumed and allegedly beheaded.

Though the story is horrifying, there is little evidence to back it up. Moreover, the Middle Ages were notorious for jumping to conclusions.

The Madness of the Medieval Times

Just as the Salem Witch Trials notoriously saw people being unfairly accused as witches, the Middle Ages and beyond saw that same ignorance-fueled paranoia led to people being called vampires.

In this period where diseases ran rampant, those afflicted were often believed to be vampires, thus explaining the cause of disease being spread. Moreover, the blood disorder porphyria (skin that blisters when in contact with sunlight) is believed to be the origin of vampires’ aversion to sunlight.

Since medical advances were nowhere near what they are now, people didn’t understand that illness spread through germs, so when close contact would spread disease, they assumed it must have been because of ill intent. Though this was the reality of the Middle Ages, the most recent infamous example occurred in Rhode Island in the 1800s.

The Tale of Mercy Brown

When tuberculosis was raging through the population, there was a rumor swirling. The story indicated that if all of the members of the same family began to die of consumption, it was because one of the previously deceased family members was siphoning the family’s life force from beyond the grave. A family with the surname Brown is a legendary example of this.

The mother was the first to die of tuberculosis. Then came the death of the oldest daughter. Another daughter, Mercy Brown, and son followed behind not long later. Then the father became ill as well.

The town, fueled by the rumor, exhumed the bodies of the dead family to find the life-sucking culprit. Three bodies were exhumed, the mother, Mercy, and her sister. While her family members were dug from their graves as skeletons, Mercy was perfectly preserved. While she had not been dead as long as her familial counterparts, that did not matter to the town: they found their vampire. They burned Mercy’s heart and liver and fed the ashes to the father to cure him. Spoiler alert: it did not cure him, and he joined the rest of his family in death not long later.

While a lack of knowledge fueled rumors that would become vampire legends back then, this still happens today, but differently than before.

The Myths Circulating Dracula

As an article in Time magazine extensively covered, Bram Stoker allegedly sought inspiration from true stories when writing Dracula. Of course, those familiar with Vlad Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler, tend to correlate his existence with the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. After all, Vlad Dracul was renowned for the violent, impaling way he killed and is even rumored to have dipped bread in the blood of his enemies, devouring it. That, coupled with the Dracul surname, surely must refer to Dracula. However, some Stoker experts urge that this was not the case whatsoever.

While the history behind the Vlad the Impaler inspiration remains muddled, according to research conducted by Dacre Stoker (the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker) and his writing partner J.D. Barker original copies of the Dracula manuscript allegedly urged that everything within the pages was true.

According to Time Magazine, caskets filled with earth were brought aground, with a mysterious black dog who immediately ran to a nearby cemetery. Over one hundred pages were cut from Dracula, heavily believed to be the text portion where Bram Stoker insisted that what followed were actual events.

While the previous makes for fantastic story-telling, it would not be the first or last time rumors about the novel were created. In fact, new stories are still appearing today.

Vampire Bats and Other Blood Suckers

According to Tumblr legend, the connection between vampires and bats comes from Vlad the Impaler’s war history. Legend says that during battle, Vlad led the enemy into a valley where facing Vlad’s army meant staring directly into the setting sun. Then, Vlad’s men released rabid bats, which fled the sunlight and attacked the unsuspecting enemy. The loss of a visual on the men plus the bat attack caused the attacked to believe that Vlad and his men had turned into bats.

The true story, however, is not as glamorous. The truth is that bats of that caliber are not native to Romania and were frankly impossible. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the first-time vampires were associated with bats, and experts believe he was inspired by the nocturnal nature of the winged mammals and the blood-drinking vampire bat.

Speaking of bloodsuckers, did you know that it was a long-held belief that the smell of garlic repels mosquitos? This form of mosquito repellent is strongly believed to be the reason that vampires would also be deterred by garlic. Essentially, what’s bad for one bloodsucker is bad for the gander. (Though, according to this study, garlic turns out not to repel even the tiniest of bloodsuckers.)

Notwithstanding the rumors, the fate of Bram Stoker’s novel was sealed and would see a resurgence of popularity in the following century.

Twentieth Century Vampires

Armed with Bram Stoker’s legendary novel for inspiration, the film Nosferatu brought the horrific creature to audiences of the 1920s. The 1930s saw the Universal Monster treatment of the classic Dracula emerge in 1931, with Bela Lugosi acting in the titular role. Lugosi would star in other vampire films, such as Mark of the Vampire in 1935, followed by House of Dracula and The Devil Bat in the 1940s.

 From there, the characteristic image of the vampire was set. The words vampire and Dracula became synonymous with one another. The pale-faced, intricately dressed undead creature who bites the neck of his victims was revamped (pun intended) with hundreds of Dracula-inspired productions, spanning the entire 20^thcentury

It was not just horror films that saw the presentation of Dracula. Numerous comedies (such as the 1990s Dracula: Dead and Loving It) and children’s cartoons such as Pink Panther in 1975’s “Pink Plasma” and Looney Tunes’ 1963 short “Transylvania 6-5000” would go on to depict the legendary vampire. This dilution of the once repulsive creature picked up steam into the 21^st century, creating a much different depiction than the monster who haunted the dreams of generations before.

Modern Vampires

The modern treatment of vampires is typically wealthy, attractive-looking creatures with fangs. Whether its True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Underworld, Twilight, Daybreakers, Queen of the Damned, American Horror Story: Hotel, Night Teeth, What We Do in the Shadows, etc., the modern look of vampires is tirelessly overdone. While the decades before lent a hand in creating this version of vampires, dating back to Bela Lugosi, the era after 2000 ran this trend into the ground.

Although the vampire image tends to be bastardized into the personification of tween fantasy (which, for the record is perfectly fine in small doses), I know that horror is not done with these undead creatures of the night just yet. Morbius was at least bestial, and with films like Salem’s Lot on the horizon, there is still hope that the upcoming generation will view vampires as the nightmarish ghouls they were from the beginning.