The Almost Daily

It was on this day in 1897 that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published.  And that makes today World Dracula Day!  Though it was definitely Stoker who made vampires popular (and Dracula in particular), the idea of vampires has been around for a long time, all the way back to the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Babylonians.  Modern day vampires, though, evolved in the Slavic countries, Bulgaria and Hungary in particular (nope, not Transylvania).  Vampires, which translates from the Hungarian more or less as “ghost monsters,” didn’t drink blood, and they didn’t turn others into vampires with their bites.  They pretty much just spread disease. 

The vampire legend spread west after the conquest of Hungary (among other places) by soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither holy, Roman, nor an Empire – they were pretty much Germans).  The ghost stories spread throughout Europe and finally found their way to the Americas.  The first use of the word “upir” – Russian for “vampire” – was in 1047.  The first time the word appears in English was in 1732. 

And, no, Transylvania, which is part of Romania, is not a Slavic country, it’s close, and it has been influenced by the Slavs.  And Romania was home to Vlad the Impaler.  And that brings us back to Bram Stoker.  His modern day Dracula who rises out of his coffin after dark and feeds on the living, was based on real life awful guy Vlad the Impaler.  Vlad was born in Transylvania in 1431.  He died in 1476, and not a moment too soon.  Vlad’s father was known as Dracul, from the Romanian word “Drac,” which means “dragon.”  Vlad, quite naturally, was called Draculea, or “son of the dragon.”  Vlad, or Draculea, if you prefer, was a military governor, which meant he was in charge of law and order.  He added on cruelty for style.  It is estimated that Good ‘Ol Vlad killed over 100,000 people, impaling their bodies on a forest of spikes.  Vlad wasn’t really a vampire (or was he?).  But he was the perfect character for Stoker’s villain.  And what could be more frightening than the blood-sucking undead, a creature who is not stopped by death, and cannot be escaped from even when you die?

Stoker’s book was not a huge success when it was first published, but it’s made up for it since then.  There are over 200 movies that feature Dracula.  The first is the 1921 Hungarian silent movie Death of Dracula, from which very little has survived.  That was followed in 1922 by the classic German silent movie Nosferatu – still perhaps one of the best.  One of the more recent is the critically panned The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) and fun, but silly, Renfield (2023).  Two of our favourites here at the Press are Interview with a Vampire and The Lost Boys.  So whether it’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dead… and Loving It, or From Dust ‘Till Dawn, put on your favourite Dracula movie and celebrate National Dracula Day in style.

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