Vampires

A survey of the myth of the undead, its continuing power to fascinate and to frighten throughout the world and throughout history.

In Britain a law requiring suicides to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart was only repealed around 1824.

In Book XI of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus summons the spirits of the dead from the underworld by offering them ram’s blood, and hence a temporary renewal of life.

Dracul in Romanian means both dragon and devil. It was a titles bestowed on Dracula’s father as an honour for his services to the Holy Roman Empire in its sense of ‘dragon’. The word’s double meaning was a linguistic coincidence that just happened to fit his infamous son very appropriately.


A beautifully produced, well researched and entertaining pocket history of vampires. Included in this handy reference book is everything anyone wants to know about vampires - the myths, the legends, ancient lore and present day beliefs. Includes tales that fed the superstition; vampires throughout history; recorded incidents from the Middle Ages; vampires in fiction; and movies from the modern age.