Apr 09 2025 28 mins 1
Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 357 - Pre Dracula
I promise you that after this and the following episode, I will begin a series of episodes about the big one - at least the big one in the field of vampirism - Bram Stoker’s Dracula. You see, before there was the blood-drinking figure in a black cape, there were reanimated corpses (also known as the “undead”) who caused harm to the living. In Slavic and Germanic traditions, these beings were often blamed for disease, crop failure, or nocturnal attacks. For example, 14th-century chronicles from Bohemia describe an undead shepherd named Myslata who rose from the grave to kill villagers until his body was exhumed and burned. Similarly, various communities buried corpses with hawthorn stakes or steel needles to prevent them from returning. In a very real sense, belief in vampires - also called revenants - is strangely intertwined with Christianity.
Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.
