Jiangshi - The Hopping Vampires of China.

The Jiangshi, or hopping vampire, is a creature of Chinese folklore. It dates from the Qing Dynasty which ruled from 1636 to 1912. 

The hopping motion apparently derives from the custom of returning dead bodies to their home for burial in the family plot. The corpse would be tied upright between two bamboo poles and transported at night by two "corpse drivers", one at each end, this gave the corpse the appearance of hopping. Ji Xiaolan, writing at the end of the eighteenth century, wrote of two classifications of the reanimated corpse, one that does not decompose in the grave and the recently deceased person that has returned to life.

Corpse Drivers

How the creature manages to do these things is complicated and varied, being risen by some form of enchantment or possession can work. The Chinese thought that a body was made up of the hun and the po, there are three huns and seven pos. The hun is good and the po is of a baser nature, when someone dies and the po takes over, then they can become a Jiangshi.

Another way is that if someone has had their funeral first but not yet buried, then they are susceptible, especially if a black cat jumps over their coffin or they are struck by lightning. Also if the person was evil in life or died angry and wanted to be nasty, then they can become one of the undead.

But, what do they look like? Well, pretty much as you would expect, an animated corpse. If recently dead then quite fresh, but a bit worse for wear and ragged if it has taken them a while to get going. Unlike the western vampire the Jiangshi has succumbed to rigor mortis and is stiff in their movements, their skin is of a greenish hue due to fungus, moss ect, their hair has continued to grow so can be quite long, and they are extremely violent. They have been known to run fast, although with rigor mortis that might be difficult, and they have also been known to fly.

In some tales the vampire is blind and in others they are afraid of their own reflections, so mirrors are not popular. There is a list of things the Jiangshi dislike or are harmful to them, for instance a black donkey's hooves, vinegar, the cock crow, fire, peach wood, handbells. Various tools such as axes, awls, brooms, are also unpleasant to it, and scattering coins will delay an attack as they will have to count them. The Jiangshi are said to dress in traditional mandarin uniform.

Traditionally the western vampire has a fear of the cross, so the Jiangshi can be immobilized by a Taoist talismanic script stuck to their foreheads.

Taoist talismanic script, or, Fulu

The Transformed Corpse by Pu Songling

(17th Century)

Dramatis Personae;

An old innkeeper and his sons

His long unburied deceased wife

Four tired travellers

A temple full of frightened Buddhist priests

A Taoist priest living nearby

A pragmatic magistrate

***************************************************

1. A certain old man of Yangxin (northern Shandong province)

lived in Caidian, a place in that district. His village lay five or 

six miles from the walls of the district city. He and his sons 

kept a roadside inn to lodge travelling traders, and several 

carters and itinerant peddlers used to put up under their roof.

2. One day as it was getting dark, four men appeared.

Perceiving the house, they went thither with the intention 

of staying, but the sleeping rooms destined for visitors

were all occupied.

3. Considering that there was no other place to put up, 

the four men urgently entreated the landlord to take them 

in somehow, on which he took pity, and said he thought

 a place might be found for them, though it would not suit 

their taste. The strangers replied that all they desired was a

single mat to sleep on, and a shelter, and that they could not 

be at all particular.

4. The fact was, that a daughter in law of the old man had

just died, her body still lay uncoffined in her house, and

the son had gone to fetch a coffin and had not yet returned.

5. The old man took the strangers down the street into the

lonely house where the corpse lay. They entered the apartment,

where a lamp shed a dim light over the table; behind this a curtain 

hung, and the deceased woman lay there under paper shrouds.

6. They also saw a sleeping place in a screened off section,

with four beds placed against each other in a row.

Fatigued by their journey, the strangers had no sooner

thrown themselves on their pillows than they were 

snoring loudly.

7. One of them was not quite asleep, when suddenly he heard a

creaking sound on the couch where the corpse lay. Immediately

he opened his eyes, and saw distinctly by the light of the lamp

standing before the corpse, that it had raised the shroud and risen.

8. In a moment it was on the floor, and slowly entered the 

sleeping room. Her face had a wet gold hue, and she 

wiped her forehead with a coarse gauze cloth.

9. In a stooping attitude she approached the beds and blew 

thrice on the three sleeping travellers; the fourth, terror struck, 

fearing that he too might be hit, gently drew the blanket over 

his face and held his breath to listen.

10. Forthwith she breathed on him as she had done on the 

others; then he perceived that she left the room, and hearing 

the rustling sound of the paper shrouds, he put out his head to 

take a peep, and saw her lying rigid as before.

11. The traveller, extremely frightened, lacked courage to 

raise the alarm. Stealthily stretching forth his foot, he kicked

his comrades, but they did not stir in the least, and thus he

conceived there was no other alternative for him but to put

on his clothes and slink away.

12. No sooner, however, did he rise and move his coat than again

there was that creaking noise, which caused him to hide

himself anew, terror stricken, with his head under the blanket.

He perceived that the woman came again and breathed over

him repeatedly, doing this over and over again before she retired.

13. After a short pause, he knew by the noise on the death bed

that she had lain down as before. Now he put his hand very 

slowly out of the blanket, seized his trousers, quickly got into

them, and ran out of the house, bare footed.

14. The corpse too jumped up as if to give him chase;

but by the time it came forth from behind the curtain the

traveller had drawn the bolt and was off.

15. With the corpse at his heels he rushed forth with

loud shrieks, which alarmed everybody in the hamlet.

16. He would have thumped the door of the inn but for his fear

that it would make him lose time and bring him within reach

of the demon; so, seeing the road to the district city before him, 

he ran up it with all his might, till he reached the eastern suburb.

17. Here he saw a Buddhist convent, and hearing the wooden

fish*, he nervously beat on the outer gate. But the monks,

astonished at such an unusual tumult, hesitated to let him in; 

and as he turned round, he saw the corpse quite near him, 

hardly one foot off.

*A hollow, fish shaped block beaten with a clapper 

while reciting sacred books and liturgies.

18. In these straits he sought shelter behind a white willow four or

five feet thick, standing outside the convent gate. As the 

corpse dodged to the right, he dodged to the left and so on,

which enraged the corpse more, and more, and exhausted 

them both.

19. All of a sudden the corpse stood still. The traveller,

soaked with perspiration and with panting chest,

sheltered himself behind the tree; the corpse raised

itself fiercely and threw both arms around it to grab him.

At that moment he sank to the ground in fright, and the 

corpse missing its victim, remained rigid embracing the tree.

20. For a good while longer the monks stood listening,

and hearing nothing more, they came forth circumspectly,

to find the traveller flat on the ground.

21. By the light of their torches they perceived, that though

he was apparently dead, there was still a slight

palpitation under his heart. They bore him into the convent,

but the night passed away before he came round.

22. Having refreshed him with some broth, they interrogated him,

and he related to them the whole story. By that time the morning

bell sounded, and in the early dawn, still dimmed by mist and fog, 

the monks examined the tree discovered the woman upon it in a 

rigid condition.

23. In great consternation they reported the incident to the 

magistrate of the district. This grandee appeared in person on the 

spot to hold an inquest, and ordered his men to pull off the arms 

of the woman; but so firmly were they fixed in the tree that it was 

impossible to unclasp them.

24. They found, in fact, on a closer inspection, that the four

fingers of either hand were bent like hooks, and sunk into the 

wood so deeply that the nails were buried in it. A fresh batch of 

men was set to work to pull with all their might; and as they 

tore her off, the holes made by the fingers were found to 

look as if made with a chisel or auger.

25. Now the mandarin dispatched a messenger to the old man, 

who gave him a confused mixture of truth and untruth about

 the disappearance of the corpse and the death of the travellers.

The matter being explained to him, he followed the 

messenger and took the corpse home.

26. The traveller, bursting into tears, said to the magistrate:

"I left my home with three men, and now I must return alone;

what shall I do to make my fellow villagers believe my words?"

So the mandarin gave him a certificate, and sent him home

with some presents.

I have taken sources from;

Wikipedia

University of California San Diego.

Dracula (Mystery and Imagination, 1968)

The 1968 television adaptation of Dracula, which was part of the British anthology series Mystery and Imagination (Season 4, Episode 3)—represents a fascinating case in how classic horror literature has been adapted for small screen albeit under constrained resources. Starring Denholm Elliott as Count Dracula, the film is neither the most famous nor the most lavish version of Bram Stoker’s novel, shot in black and white it remains both curious and eerie.

Produced by Thames Television for ITV, this adaptation was written by Charles Graham and directed by Patrick Dromgoole. It was all shot rather quickly, some sources say in as little as three days! The constraints of time, budget, and the television format strongly shape the film’s structure and style. There is little room for elaborate sets, extensive location shooting, or protracted action sequences. Instead, the production leans into atmosphere, dialogue, suggestion, and creative uses of flashbacks and theatricality.

The cast is solid: Denholm Elliott as Dracula; Susan George as Lucy Weston; Bernard Archard as Van Helsing; Corin Redgrave as Jonathan Harker; Suzanne Neve as Mina Harker; James Maxwell as Dr. Seward; and Joan Hickson as Mrs Weston.

The 1968 Dracula adapts Bram Stoker’s novel with a number of changes, some structural, others in character or in what events are included or omitted. The story begins in Whitby, in an asylum, with a mysterious patient (later revealed to be Jonathan Harker) escaping his cell and accosting a dinner party being held by Dr. Seward. He calls the guest of honour “Master,” referring to Dracula.

Van Helsing is brought in to consult, and through a process of hypnosis, the narrative shifts to flashbacks of what happened in Transylvania, including Harker’s ordeal and attacks by Dracula’s brides, a scene that always makes me jump! Meanwhile in England, Count Dracula is presented as a somewhat suave, aristocratic foreigner, recently arrived, with certain peculiarities (sensitivity to sunlight, etc.), who fascinates Lucy Weston, and she becomes one of his primary targets.

Lucy becomes one of the undead despite the attentions of Dr Seward and Van Helsing, Mina is accosted by Lucy and she begins to express vampiric traits.

Finally Mina and Jonathan are united, but Mina seems to be under Dracula’s influence, the film concludes with her staring at Dr. Seward’s throat and clutching Dracula’s ring, with implications that she may have become a vampire. There’s no final long pursuit back to Transylvania.

These changes are mainly due to the lack of time and budget, but it also reflects shifting emphases, less on epic horror and more on psychological dread and seduction.

The reviews were mixed but mainly good, The Daily Record observed “the horrors were laid on so thick that they barely raised a shudder.” The Daily Mirror quipped “if there had been owls in it, you could have called it a hoot.”

The Shropshire Star was far more impressed, “Thames’s production of Dracula was far superior to the Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee cinema versions.” On the consideration of the low budget The Aberdeen Evening Express observed, “the scope for such a programme is fairly large, but the way the production team went about the task of presenting Dracula in a way which had most viewers on the edge of their seats deserves the highest praise.”

There was an extra surprise for viewers in Hartlepool, The Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, “Television viewers shivering at the adventures of Dracula received an added shock when their living rooms were plunged into darkness just as the plot had reached a particularly gruesome moment. But they were unable to discover the outcome for their television sets were also affected.”

In conclusion the 1968 Dracula is not perfect: constrained by time, budget, and the demands of British television of the era, sacrifices were made. But in those constraints lie much of its interest and charm. It offers a version of Dracula that balances reverence for the source material with smart adaptation choices: emphasis on psychological horror, seduction, character over spectacle; an ending that refuses closure; a Dracula who is both aristocratic and ominous.

For many viewers or scholars interested in how Dracula has been reinterpreted over time, and how horror works in low-budget, small-scale productions, this version is well worth attention. Its flaws are part of its character, and its strengths show that horror does not always require lavish effects or big budgets to be effective.

This is the link if you wish to view Dracula 1968 (Mystery & Imagination)

TV Times - Thursday 10th April 1969

W.E Holloway - An Australian Count Dracula.

Background.

William Edwyn Crowther Holloway was born in Adelaide, South Australia on the 18th September 1885. 

W.E Holloway.

His parents were famous thespians W. J Holloway and Emily Jennings (stage name Kate Arden).

His father had emigrated from England to Australia with his family in 1856, he became a boilermaker by trade, but in 1862 he began to pursue an acting career. He married Maria McKewen in 1863, they would have three children, but she would sadly die in 1876. 

He married Emily Jennings in 1877, Emily was the widow of a Dr Jennings, she had a daughter from this marriage who would also become a famous actor, Essie Jenyns. Her first professional appearance would be at the Academy Of Music in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1886.

They would also have a son, William Edwyn.

Returning to England with his family in the autumn of 1888, his father joined the ranks of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry at the Lyceum Theatre, his father was so well thought of and talented that he was chosen to be one of Irving's understudies. Through this posting he would also become an acquaintance of Bram Stoker, the famous author mentions him in his book Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906).

By 1910 W.E Holloway was an actor manager with the actor Matheson Lang, with their troupe they toured the provinces extensively, and took Shakespeare to South Africa, India, Burmah and the Philippines.

On the 7th April 1913 his father, W. J, died.

Dracula.

Hamilton Deane

In 1923 actor and playwright Hamilton Deane was granted permission from Bram Stoker's widow Florence, to rewrite the famous novel into a stage production. The play opened on the 15th May 1924 at the Grand Theatre in Derby, and so successful was this play that it toured around the world. It toured the USA in October 1927 with a rewrite by John L. Balderston, and with Bela Lugosi as the Count, that version would be filmed by Universal Studios and released in 1931.

Bela Lugosi as Dracula, 1927.

Talking about the international performances of Dracula, Holloway told a reporter of the Leicester Chronicle; 

"I was taken round the Chinese theatres in Shanghai, and a delightful moment occurred when a very courteous gentleman spoke to my Chinese guide. 'Do you know who that was?' my guide asked me afterwards, to which I replied 'no,' 'That is the chief of the Pickpockets Guild,' I was told."

Holloway began performing the part of Count Dracula in 1927 opposite Hamilton Deane as Professor Van Helsing. Holloway would also direct the play on this 1927 - 1928 season.

As a marketing ploy, a ploy which would extend for decades, a nurse was alleged to be in attendance at performances to tend the patrons of a nervous disposition, as the Oxford Journal humorously put it;

"The power of suggestion knows no limitation. Stories were told of theatre goers who fainted during performances of 'Dracula' in London, and of hospital nurses in attendance. Such stories were repeated at the New Theatre on Monday night, but having sat through the show the audience came to the conclusion that the terrors of the play had been overestimated."

The supernatural strain, while giving it interest, does prevent it from being too nerve wracking, since vampires do not exist, but the fight against such evil powers is full of interest."

As the months and years passed by the cast changed bit by bit, Van Helsing was now played by Serge de Kazarine to great reviews, the Perthshire Advertiser Sept 1929;

Serge de Kazarine.

".....a drama of this kind with a plot and incidents, which are already familiar to the majority of playgoers, depends wholly for its success on the 'persuasiveness' of it's actors....

The heaviest work of all falls to M. Serge de Kazarine as the Dutch scientist, Professor Van Helsing. He throws himself wholly into the part, and the combined force and lucidity with which he expounds his theories temporarily convinces even the most sceptical that they are more than merely plausible.

M. de Kazarine's command of English is perfect, and his accent adds greatly to the artistic distinction of his personation.

Mr W.E Holloway is an admirably sinister and repellent Count Dracula; and Mr A. Edward Spronston shows decided power as the lunatic Renfield. Miss Nan Braunton skillfully differentiates the various stages in the illness of the vampire's victim, Mrs Harker, and impresses by her strong acting in the principle and most thrilling of scenes.

A. Edward Spronston as Renfield.

The Hull Daily Mail;

"Throughout the performance the audience were kept up to a high pitch, and so tense was the atmosphere set up that one felt that it was a pity that there had to be any change in the scenery.

As it always the case with such plays there are scenes which are left entirely to the imagination of the audience, and these are presented in such a vivid fashion as to lend an eerie, and very near terrifying atmosphere to the whole thing.

W.E Holloway, as the vampire Dracula played a remarkably real part. Mr A. Edward Spronston, the lunatic Renfield in the power of the Count, displayed wonderful aptitude and we saw only too little of him.

W.E Holloway as Count Dracula.

The Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal;

"Dracula, with all its horror and superstition, is a very good play, which stands high and alone on the pedestal of sensationalism. Mr Deane himself was as satisfactory as ever in the role of Van Helsing, whilst Dora Mary Patrick retained her part of the pale and listless victim of the vampire. 

The Count Dracula of W.E Holloway secured the acme of effect, and A. Edward Spronston gave a powerful study of the supposed madman, Renfield."

A Press Photo of Holloway as Dracula.

There were many actors that played Count Dracula in the Hamilton Deane Company over the years, Holloway was but one. While Bela Lugosi was treading the boards in the American version of the play, Holloway was doing the same in Britain, by the time the Universal Dracula was released in 1931 Holloway had already hung up his cloak. He would go on to appear in 29 movies and TV movies in his long career, sadly for posterity, none of them was Dracula.

W.E Holloway died at the age of 66 on 30th June 1952.

The Vampire by Sydney Horler - from "John Bull" 20th April 1929.

 

Sydney Horler was born in Leytonstone, London, on the 18th July 1888. He was a prolific author of crime and mystery, he amassed a back catalogue of some 158 novels. This story, which is not to be confused with his 1935 novel The Vampire, was published in the magazine John Bull on the 20th April 1929.

At this point stories about Vampires were quite popular, actor and playwright Hamilton Deane had adapted Dracula for the stage in 1924 and was still touring the play in 1929 to rave reviews. Deane's stage version of Dracula would eventually tour America, rewritten by John L. Balderston and with Bela Lugosi as the Count, this is the version that would be made into the hollywood movie of 1931.

In John Bull it is stated;

"We contacted with Sydney Horler to write us a 'Truth is Stranger than Fiction' story. He believes that every word of Father Harrigan's eerie thriller is absolutely true. We make no comment. We leave it to our readers to decide whether they, too, believe in vampires."

"The Vampire by Sydney Horler;

Until his death, quite recently, I used to visit at least once a week a Roman Catholic priest. The fact that I am a Protestant did nothing to shake our friendship.

Father Harrigan was one of the finest characters I have ever known; he was capable of the finest sympathies, and was, in the best sense of that frequently abused term, 'a man of the world.'

The story I am about to relate occured about eighteen months ago - ten months before his fatal illness. I was then writing my novel, 'The Curse of Doone.' In this story I made the villain take advantage of a ghastly legend attached to an old manor house in Devonshire, and use it for his own ends.

Father Harrigan listened while I outlined the plot I had in mind, and then said, to my great surprise: 'Certain people may scoff because they will not allow themselves to believe that there is any credence in the vampire tradition.'

'Yes, that is so,' I parried; 'but all the same, Bram Stoker caught the public imagination with his Dracula - one of the most horrible and yet fascinating books ever written - and I am hoping that my public will extend to me the customary 'author's license.'

My friend nodded.

'Quite,' he replied; 'as a matter of fact,' he went on to say, 'I myself believe in vampires.'

'You do?' I felt the hair on the back of my neck commence to irritate. It is one thing to write about a horror, but quite another to begin to see it assume definite shape.

'Yes,' he went on. 'I am forced to believe in vampires for the very good but terrible reason that I have met one!'

I half rose from my chair. There could be no questioning Harrigan's word, and yet - 

'That, no doubt, my dear fellow, may appear as an extraordinary statement to have made, and yet I assure you it is the truth. It happened many years ago and in another part of the country - exactly where I do not think I had better tell you.'

'But this is amazing - you say you actually met a vampire face to face?'

'And I talked to him. Until now I have never mentioned the matter to a living soul apart from a brother priest and the medical man who shared my horrible secret at the time.'

It was clearly an invitation to listen; I crammed tobacco into my pipe and leaned back in the chair on the opposite side of the crackling fire.

I heard that truth was said to be stranger than fiction - but here I was about to have, it seemed, the strange experience of listening to my own most sensational imagining being hopelessly outdone by FACT!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The small town which I will call Lulsgate is in the West of England (said Father Harrigan), and was inhabited by a good many people of superior means.There was a large city seventy five miles away and business men, when they retired, often came to Lulsgate to wind up their lives. I was young and very happy there in my work until - . But I am a little previous.

I was on very friendly terms with a local doctor; he often used to come in and have a chat when he could spare the time. We used to try to thresh out many problems which later experience has convinced me are insoluble - in this world at least.

One night, he looked at me rather curiously, I thought. 'What do you think of that man Farington?' he asked.

Now, it was a curious fact that he should have made that enquiry at that exact moment, for by some subconscious means I happened to be thinking of this very person myself.

The man who called himself Joseph Farington was a stranger who had recently come to settle in Lulsgate.

That circumstance alone would have caused some comment, but when I say that he had bought the largest house on the hill overlooking the town on the south side (representing the best residential quarter) and had had it furnished apparently regardless of cost by one of the famous London houses, interest in the man went much deeper.

Yet, although he sought to entertain a great deal, no one seemed anxious to go twice to 'The Gables.' There was 'something funny' about Farington, it was whispered.

I knew this, of course - the smallest fragment of gossip comes to a priest's ears - and so I hesitated before replying to the doctors direct question.

'Confess now, Father,' said my companion, 'you are like all the rest of us - you don't like the man! He has made me his medical attendant , but I wish to goodness he had chosen someone else. There's 'something funny' about him.'

'Something funny' - there it was again. As the doctor's words sounded in my ears I remembered Farington as I had last seen him walking up the main street with every other eye half turned in his direction. He was a big framed man, the essence of masculinity.

He looked so robust that the amazing thought came instinctively; This man will never die! He had a florid complexion; he walked with the elasticity of youth and his hair was jet black. Yet from remarks he had made, the impression in Lulsgate was that Farington must be at least sixty years of age.

'Well, there's one thing, Sanders,' I replied; 'if appearances are anything to go by, Farington will not be giving you much trouble. The fellow looks as strong as an ox.'

'You haven't answered my question,' persisted the doctor; 'forget your cloth, Father, and tell me exactly what you think of Joseph Farington. Don't you agree that he is a man to give you the shudders?'

'You - a doctor - talking about getting the shudders!' I gently scoffed because I did not want to give my real opinion of Joseph Farington.

'I can't help it - I have an instinctive horror of the fellow. This afternoon I was called up to The Gables. Farington, like so many of his ox like kind, is really a bit of a hypochondriac. He thought there was something wrong with his heart,'

'And was there?'

'The man ought to live to a hundred! But, I tell you, Father, I hated having to be so near to the fellow; there's something uncanny about him. I felt frightened - yes, frightened - all the time I was in the house. I had to talk to someone about it, and as you are the safest person in Lulsgate I dropped in......You haven't said anything yourself, I notice.'

'I prefer to wait,' I replied. It seemed the safest answer.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two months after that conversation with Sanders, not only Lulsgate, but the whole of the country, was startled and horrified by a terrible crime.

A girl of eighteen, the belle of the district, was found dead in a field. Her face, in life so beautiful, was revolting in death because of the expression of dreadful horror it held. The poor girl had been murdered - but in a manner which sent shudders of fear racing up and down people's spines......There was a great hole in the throat, as though a beast of the jungle had attacked her.....

It is not difficult to say how suspicion for this fiendish crime first started to fasten itself on Joseph Farington, preposterous as the statement may seem. Although he had gone out of his way to become sociable, the man had made no real friends.

Sanders, although a clever doctor, was not the most tactful of men, and there is no doubt that his refusal to visit Farington professionally - he had hinted as much on the night of his visit to me, you will remember - got noised about.

In any case, public opinion was strongly roused; without a shred of direct evidence to go upon, people began to talk of Farington as being the actual murderer. There was some talk among the wild young spirits of setting fire to The Gables one night, and burning Farington in his bed.

It was while this feeling was at its height that, very unwillingly, as you may imagine. I was brought into the affair. I received a note from Farington asking me to dine with him one night.

'I have something on my mind which I wish to talk over with you, so please do not fail me.'

These were the concluding words of the letter. Such an appeal could not be ignored by a man of religion, and so I replied, accepting.

Farington was a good host; the food was excellent; on the surface there was nothing wrong. But - and here is the curious part - from the moment I faced the man I knew there was something wrong.

I had the same feeling as Sanders, the doctor; I felt afraid. The man had an aura of evil; he was possessed of some devilish force or quality which chilled me to the marrow.

I did my best to hide my discomfiture, but when, after dinner, Farington began to speak about the murder of that poor, innocent girl this feeling increased. And at once the terrible truth leaped into my mind; I knew it was Farington who had done this crime; the man was a monster!

'You wished to see me tonight for the purpose of easing your soul of a terrible burden,' I said; 'you cannot deny that it was you who killed that unfortunate girl.'

'Yes,' he replied slowly, 'that is the truth. I killed the girl. The demon which possesses me forced me to do it. But you, as a priest, must hold this confession sacred - you must preserve it as a secret. Give me a few hours; then I will decide myself what to do.'

I left shortly afterwards. The man would not admit anything more.

'Give me a few hours,' he repeated.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That night I had a horrible dream. I felt I was suffocating. Scarcely able to breathe, I rushed to the window, pulled it open - and then fell senseless to the floor. The next thing I remember was Dr Sanders - who had been summoned by my faithful housekeeper - bending over me.

'What happened?' he asked, 'you had a look on your face as though you had been staring into hell.'

'So I had,' I replied.

'Had it anything to do with Farington?' he asked bluntly.

'Sanders,' and I clutched him by the arm in the intensity of my feeling, 'does such a monstrosity as a vampire exist nowadays? Tell me, I implore you!'

He forced me to take another nip of brandy before he would reply. Then he put a question himself.

'Why do you think that?' he said.

'It sounds incredible - and I hope I really dreamed it - but I fainted tonight because I saw - or imagined I saw - the man Farington flying past the window that I had just opened.'

'I am not surprised,' he nodded; 'ever since I examined the mutilated body of that poor girl I came to the conclusion that she had come to her death through some terrible abnormality.

Although we hear practically nothing about vampirism nowadays,' he continued, 'that is not to say that ghoulish spirits do not still take up their abode in a living man or woman, thus conferring upon them supernatural powers. What form was the shape you thought you saw?'

'It was like a huge bat,' I replied shuddering.

'Tomorrow,' said Sanders determinedly, 'I'm going to London to see Scotland Yard. They may laugh at me at first, but ---.'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Scotland Yard did not laugh. But criminals with supernatural powers were rather out of their loine, and, besides, as they told Sanders, they had to have proof before they could convict Farington.

Even my testimony - had I dared to break my priestly pledge, which, of course, I couldn't in any circumstances do - would not have been sufficient.

Farington solved the terrible problem by committing suicide. He was found in bed with a bullet wound in his head. But, according to Sanders, only the body is dead - the vile spirit is roaming free, looking for another human habitation.

God help its luckless victim!"

Sydney Horler

The Vampire was included in this 2010 anthology.

The Vampire Epidemic - An Explanation, 1737.

The Vampire epidemic of the early to mid eighteenth century made news all over Europe, I have taken this report and explanation of this curious outbreak verbatim from the wonderfully named Fog's Weekly Journal - Saturday, 30th April 1737.

We have lately seen published in several of our papers an article of foreign news from Moldavia, relating to some strolling Ghosts which do great mischief in that country, but as this story is more particularly told us in the Mercure Historique & Politique of October last, we shall give our readers a faithful extract of it, tho' it seems to dumbfound all philosophical speculation and human reasoning; however we shall not pass over these marvellous facts without offering our sentiments on the subject. 

This account comes from Gradisch in Slavonia;

We have in these quarters, not many days since, a new scene of Vampirism, which is formally attested by two officers of the Tribunal of Belgrade, who went purposely to the very spot, and by a noted Commander in the Imperial Garrison at Gradisch, who was present at the whole proceeding.

Kisiljevo Cemetary 

Early last September, at a village named Kisilova (Kisiljevo, Serbia), three leagues from Gradisch, a man died aged sixty two years. On the third night after his burial, he appeared to his son, and asked him for something to eat. The young man sat before him what was at hand, when the father  ate, and then vanished.

Next morning the son acquainted his neighbours with what happened. That night the father came not; but the next he returned, and again asked for victuals. It is not known whether his son gave him any, ot no; but on the morrow he was found dead in bed. 

That very day, five or six of the village were suddenly taken ill, and in a short space of time they all died, one after another. The bailiff of that place sent thereupon a particular account of all this to the magistrates of Belgrade, who forthwith dispatched away to this village two of their officers, together with the executioner, to examine into the affair.

One of the Imperial Commanders at Gradisch, and from whom came this intelligence, is repaired likewise thither, in order to be eye witness of a fact whereof he had before heard so much discourse.

They caused the graves of all those who had been buried within six weeks, to be opened, when the said old fellow had been dug up, they found him with his eyes wide open, his countenance fresh and ruddy, with a natural respiration tho' dead and utterly motionless; from whence they absolutely concluded, that he was a notorious Vampire. The executioner then drove a stake thro' his heart, which done, a great fire was kindled, and the carcase reduced to ashes. No token of Vampirism was found on the body of the son, nor on those of any of the others.

God be praised we are not any way inclined to be over credulous. We withal avow, that none of all the physical lights, we can make use of with regard to this fact, do not discover to us any one of its causes. Nevertheless, we are not in a capacity of absolutely disbelieving a fact juridically attested, and confirmed by persons of credit and probity; besides its not being the only one of the kind. 

We shall here copy out what did occur in the year 1732, and which we then inserted in the Glaneur, Number XVIII:

In a certain Canton of Hungary, the Latin name whereof is Oppida Heidonum, beyond the river Tibiscus, vulgarly called the Teysse, (that is to say, between the said river, which waters the fine and happy territory of Turkey, and the Principality of Transylvania) the people, commonly known by the appellation of Heyduques, do firmly believe, that dead bodies of persons, by them stiled Vampires, sucked out the blood of living persons; insomuch that many who undergo it waist away visibly.

Whereas the carcases of those Vampires, like unto leeches do fill up with blood in such abundance, that is seen distilling out from all the natural conduits, and even thro' the very pores. This opinion of theirs has lately been confirmed by divers facts, the truth whereof seems to be beyond all dispute, considering the quality of those eye witnesses by whom they are certified. We shall here relate some of the most considerable.

It is now about five years since a certain Heyduque, of Medreiga, whose name was Arnold Paulo, was accidentally crushed to death under a waggon loaded with hay which fell upon him.

Just thirty days after his decease, four persons of the neighbourhood died suddenly, and in the very same manner with such as, according to that country's tradition, are molested by the Vampire. It was thereupon recollected, that this Arnold Paulo had often been heard to say, that while he lived near Cassova, and on the frontiers of the Turkish Servia, he had been tormented by a Vampire.

They also believe, that they who, in their lifetime, have been passive Vampires, do become active ones after their demise; which is to say, that such as have been sucked, do themselves, in their turn suck others.

But he had found a cure, by eating earth taken out of the Vampire's grave, and anointing himself with some of the blood of his carcase; a precaution which did not, however, prevent his coming abroad after his burial, since, on the fortieth day, he was dug up again, and found with all the marks of a consummate Vampire.

His flesh was of a lively hue; the hair of his head and beard were considerably grown, as were likewise his nails; and he was withal very full of fluid blood, which ran a pace from every part of his body all over the shroud wherein he was wrapped.

The Hadnagy, or Bailiff of the place, in whose presence the examination was made, and who was an expert on matters of Vampirism, did, as is customary, cause to be driven thro' the defunct Arnold Paulo's heart and body a sharp stake, which made him, as they affirm, give a loud cry, as if he had been alive. This done, they cut off his head, and burned that with the corpse of him, the ashes whereof were cast into the river Save.

The like course was taken with the other four bodies of those who died suddenly, tho' fear lest they, in their turn, should be the death of others. However, all this could not prevent, that, towards the close of last year, that is, at the end of five years, these fatal prodigies recommenced, and that several of the same village died miserably.

Within the space of three months, seventeen persons, of both sexes and different ages, are actually dead of Vampirism, some without any sickness, others after two or three days languishment. They report, among others, that one Stanoska (daughter of a certain Heyduque named Jovitza) who went to bed in perfect health, waked about midnight trembling every joint of her, shrieking very frightfully, and saying, that the deceased son of Millo, the Heyduque, wanted little of strangling her while she was asleep.

From that moment she did nothing but languish, and at the end of three days she died. What this girl reported, concerning the said Heyduque's son, immediately gave people to understand, that he was a Vampire. His grave was thereupon opened, and he found to be such; he was buried nine weeks before.

The chiefs of those quarters with several physicians and surgeons, set themselves on examining, how and by what means Vampirism could have revived after the precautions which had, some years ago, been taken. At length, after many diligent researches, they discovered, that the defunct Arnold Paulo had not only sucked the above mentioned four persons, but also divers cattle, whereof the new Vampires had eaten afterwards, and among them this Millo's son.

Upon these tokens and discoveries, it was resolved, that they should dig up all such as had died within a certain distance of time; and, amidst about forty, no fewer than seventeen were found with all the most evident signs of Vampirism, and accordingly, stakes were driven thro' their hearts, their heads cut off, after which they were all consumed by fire, and the ashes thrown into the river.

All these informations and executions were taken and performed juridically, in due form, and attested by several officers quartered thereabouts, by Head Surgeons of Regiments, and by the principal inhabitants of the country. The verbal process of all was, towards the end of last January, remitted to the Imperial Council of War at Vienna, whence a Military Commission had been issued, purposely to examine into the truth of all these matters. 

This was the Declaration made by Barriabar the Hadnagy, with the oldest Heyduques, and signed by Battuer; first Lieutenant of Alexander Wirtemberg's Regiment, by Flickenger Surgeon Major of Furstembusch's Regiment, with three other Surgeons of Companie's, and by Captain Gubsebitz, quartered at Stallath.

I judged proper thus to collect what I find published relating to Vampirism, the better to enable you to pass a judgment on this matter, by the number of facts; and, 'till I can have your sentiments thereupon, I will venture to give you my own.

There are two different ways to destroy all opinions of the existence of those pretended returners from below ground, and to show the impossibility of such effects as these carcases, utterly void of all sensibility, are affirmed to produce. The first is, to explain the prodigies of the Vampirism by physical causes,. The second is, totally to deny the verity of these facts; and this latter method is, undoubtedly, the most certain, and also the wisest.

But, as there are in the world people to whom the authority of a certificate given and signed by men in offices seems a manifest demonstration of reality of the absurdest stories, I will (before I demonstrate how little we ought to build on the formalities of justice in matters which only regard philosophy) for a while admit that a number of persons do really die of a distemper called Vampirism.

I first lay down this principal, that it actually may be, that there are certain dead bodies which, tho' they have been several days inhumed, put forth, from their several conduits, a quantity of fluid blood. I farther allow, that it is early enough for certain people to imagine that they are sucked by Vampires, and also that the fear, wherewith this fancy inspires them, causes in them a revolution sufficiently violent to deprive them even of life itself.

Being all day taken up with the dread of these imaginary strollers from the grave, is it any extraordinary thing that, in their sleep, the ideas of these phantoms should present themselves to their imagination, and cause in them a terror so violent, as to kill some instantly, and some others in a short time after? How many have been known to die on the spot with a sudden fright? And has not excess of joy frequently produced effects equally fatal?

In examining this recital of the death of these pretended martyrs of Vampirism, I discover all the symptoms of a mere epidemical fanaticism, and very plainly perceive, that the impression which fear makes on them is the sole cause of their loss. They report among others, (say they) that one Stanoska, ect.

Whoever has the least notion of philosophy, this sole passage is sufficient to convince him, that Vampirism is nothing but pure imagination. Here is a girl, waking in a fright, who says that such a one buried nine weeks before was about to strangle her, yet was not sucked, because her cries prevented the Vampire from taking his repast. 

Nor was she, according to appearance, ever so served afterwards, since doubtless she was not left alone during any part of the other nights she survived, or at least had the Vampire attempted it, on any such occasion, her crying out again would have alarmed those within call, already apprised of his former visit.

However, on the third day from her fright, she dies; and her dispiritedness, her melancholy and her languishment, most evidently denote how deeply her imagination was wounded.

They who have lived in towns afflicted with the pestilence, know by experience how frequently people have lost their lives purely thro' fear. When a person is seized with the least ailing, he immediately fancies himself stricken with the epidemical disease, and that causes in him such a revolution, that it is in a manner impossible for him to surmount the disorder.

At Paris, a friend of mine assured me, that, being at Marseilles when the plaque raged there, he saw a gentlewoman actually die of the fear she conceived at a slight indisposition of her maid's, which she thought to be the pestilence.

This woman's daughter was also at death's door, on the same account. Two other persons, living in the same house, took likewise to their beds, sent for a physician, and affirmed to him, that they were seized by the plaque. He presently made a visitation of the maid, and all the other patients, and found that not one of them had the least tincture of contagion, and thereupon strove to calm their minds, ordering them to get up and live just as they used to do before; but all his care had no effect upon the Mistress of the house, who died in two days after having frightened herself.

Now consider, in the other passage, touching the death of a passive Vampire, wherein are most evident proofs of the terrible effects of dread and prepossession - on the third night after his burial, he appeared to his son, ect. - Who can be so blind as not to perceive in those words, the most evident marks of fear and prejudice? The first time the imagination of this pretended martyr of Vampirism was attacked, the attack wrought not it's whole effect, but only disposed his mind to be more susceptible of a stronger shock.

Accordingly that did not fail to happen, or to produce the very effect which might therefrom be naturally expected. Take notice that the walking corpse did not return that night which succeeded the day whereon the son had related the vision, or dream, to his neighbours, because, very seemingly, they watched with him, and kept him from giving way to his fear.

I come next to those dead bodies found full of fluid blood, with their hair, beards and nails growing. We may, I believe, abate at least a third of these prodigies, and yet it will be a compliance to abate only so small a portion.

All men of any discernment know how greatly common report, and even several historians, do stretch and enlarge things which seem ever so little supernatural, however, it is no impossibility to explain the causes thereof physically.

Experience teaches us, that there are certain earths proper to receive human bodies in their whole freshness. The reasons thereof have often enough been explained, without my being at the needless trouble of making recitals. At Toulouse, in a church, is a vault, wherein bodies remain so perfectly entire, that there are some of more than two centuries standing which feel actually alive.

They are ranged upright along the wall, and dressed in their usual apparel. But what is the most peculiar, is, that the bodies which are placed on the contrary side of this vault, do, in two or three days, become full of worms.

As to the growth of hair and nails, the very same is observed frequently in dead bodies. While a carcase has any quantity of moisture remaining in it, there can be nothing surprising in the case, if we see, for some time, a visible augmentation in such parts as require not vital spirits.

The fluid blood, flowing thro' the natural conduits, do indeed seem to advance a greater difficulty; yet we may be able to produce some physical reasons for such flowings. It may very well happen, that the heat of the sun, affording a strong degree of warmth to the nitrous and sulphurous parts of the earth, which is proper to keep fleshy bodies from consuming, these parts, being incorporated with the newly interred bodies, occasion their fermenting; and so, uncoagulating and unfixing the curdled or clotted blood, render it liquid, enabling it to distil gradually thro' the canals.

This is the more probable, as it is confirmed by a known experiment. If we boil in a vessel of glass, or earth, one portion of chyle, or of milk, mixed with two portions of oil of tartar, made by decantation, the liquor, from white as it was, will become red; because the salt of the tartar will have entirely rarified and dissolved the most oily part of the milk, and have converted it into a sort of blood.

That which is formed in the corporeal vessel is somewhat redder, but not at all thicker. It is not therefore impossible, that heat causes fermentation which produces near a like effect with this experiment; and this will be found the more feasible when we consider, that the juices of the flesh and of bones bear a great resemblance with chyle, and that fat and marrow are the most oily parts of the chyle.

Now all these parts, being in a ferment, must, by the rules of experience, be changed into a sort of blood; so, besides that which is uncoagulated and unfixed, the pretended Vampires will also void that which is formed from the melting of the fat and marrow.

This is what may be advanced by such as are disposed not absolutely to give the lie to those formal certificates which are given concerning false prodigies. Indeed, it would be more than absurd to imagine that there can be in them any tincture of reality.

For, the bodies of these imaginary Vampires either do quit their graves to come and suck people, or they do not. If they do suck, they ought to be visible. Now they are not seen; for, whenever the complainants call out for assistance, they who run in at the out cry never see any such matter. They therefore do not come abroad.

If the bodies come not out, it must then be the soul, and spirit. Now, can the soul, or spirit, composed of so subtle a matter, can it, I say, gather up and contain, as in a vessel, a quantity of such a liquid as blood is, and convey it into the body?

Really this spirit is sent on a very pleasant errand. But it would make me blush to employ any more time or pains about proving the impossibility of Vampirism.