Sutherland Rick - The everything vampire book: from Vlad the Impaler to the vampire Lestat: a history of vampires in literature, film, and legend

THE
EVERYTHING
VAMPIRE
BOOK

Dear Reader,

As the three of us can attest, theres nothing better than settling into awell-worn couch on a dark, stormy night eating popcorn and watchingChristopher Lee sink his teeth into the jugular of his mesmerized conquest.No matter how much one chooses to deny it, the fact remains that vampiresare among the most erotic and exotic creatures on the planet. Notonly do they entice our inner sensuality, they also prey on our fears and theintense debate of what you would do if you could live forever. Now if thatisnt a subject worth sinking your teeth into, then we dont know what is.

If youre a vampire aficionado, then youll no doubt appreciate theirdecadent history, from the revenants of ancient folklore to their amazingevolution through literature and cinema. Our study took us back to, well,the dawn of man, in search of legends, blood symbolism, undead creatures,mythological deities, and a seemingly never-ending cr ypt bulgingat the seams with historical vampiric accounts, literature, and an astonishingbody of cinematic works. What we learned is that vampires arent justanother Saturday afternoon creature feature. Indeed not. Vampires are anamalgam of dreams and nightmares, of life and death, and of emotionand philosophy, punctuated by raw predatory capacity. For our parts, likeany vampire worth its fangs, we stalked, we obsessed, we attacked, andwe hope to leave a lasting impression.

Welcome to the EVERYTHING Series!

These handy, accessible books give you all you need to tackle a difficult project, gain a new hobby, comprehend a fascinating topic, prepare for an exam, or even brush up on something you learned back in school but have since forgotten.

You can choose to read an Everything book from cover to cover or just pick out the information you want from our three useful boxes: Fangtastic Folklore, Vampire Bites, and Screen Screams. We give you everything you need to know on the subject, but throw in a lot of fun stuff along the way, too.

We now have more than 400 Everything books in print, spanning such wide-ranging categories as weddings, pregnancy, cooking, music instruction, foreign language, crafts, pets, New Age, and so much more. When youre done reading them all, you can finally say you know Everything!

Vampire legends, lore, and literature

Vampire terminology

Vampires in film and television

PUBLISHER Karen Cooper

DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS AND INNOVATION Paula Munier

MANAGING EDITOR, EVERYTHING SERIES Lisa Laing

COPY CHIEF Casey Ebert

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR Lisa Laing

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Hillary Thompson

Visit the entire Everything series at www.everything.com

THE
EVERYTHING
VAMPIRE
BOOK

From Vlad the Impaler
to the vampire Lestata history of
vampires in literature, film, and legend

Barb Karg, Arjean Spaite, and Rick Sutherland

Copyright 2009 by F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions
are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Media, Inc.

Published by Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-60550-631-1
ISBN 13: 978-1-60550-631-9
eISBN: 978-1-4405-0169-2

Printed in the United States of America.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
available from the publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.

Interior illustration credits: Movie camera iStockphoto / Mmin Durmaz, Gothic Background iStockphoto / Danny Chung, Gothic cross iStockphoto / Danny Chung

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

For Piper Maru. Our life. Our love. Our eternal light.

And for Anne Rice. For her eloquence, her incredible lifes work, and
her belief that in the darkness and light of life there remain shadows
that call to us, beckoning that we may better understand that within
the preternatural unknown there is much worth knowing.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Let it be said, that with all publications that require intense historical study and research, it is most definitely not a singular pursuit. When the subject is one that requires delving into a creature built more of legend than in reality, that pursuit becomes that much trickier. To that end, there are many individuals wed like to thank for their gracious aid in pursuing a bitingly dark subject with a light-heartedness for which we are eternally grateful.

For starters, wed like to thank Adams Media for their support and encouragement, especially editor extraordinaire Lisa Laing, whose wit and exceptional professionalism weve greatly admired for all the years weve worked together, and director of innovation and epitome of class, Paula Munier, whom we love more than Cabernet and chocolate. Wed also like to thank copy chief Casey Ebert, layout artist and designer Denise Wallace, and proofer Jeffrey Litton, for their swift and smart handling of The EverythingVampire Book.

Above all, were indebted to our friends and families. George and Trudi Karg, Chris, Glen, Ethan and Brady, Dale Sutherland, Kathy, Anne Terry, Jim Spaite, Dan, Matt, and Adam Spaite, Jean Collins, and guardian angels Rebecca Sutherland, Arnold Collins, and Rosalia Fisch. We also send our love to Ellen and Jim, Jim V., the Scribe Tribe, Becca, J.R., Gorgeous Sue, Doc Bauman, Mary, Jamie, Michele and the gang for taking such great care of us and our kids, Richard Fox and his merry gang, and the Blonde Bombshell. A special shout goes out to Antje Harrod for the amazing and diligent research she did for the book. Heart and soul, medear, youre the absolute best! And lest we forget, the lights of our lives, Sasha, Harley, Mog, Jinks, Maya, Scout, Bug, and especially Jazz and Piper. We thank you all. We adore you all. We love you with all our hearts. We thank you all. We adore you all. We love you with all our hearts.