Season's greetings

BuzzFeed

I trust everyone had a merry Christmas? Hope so. I've been digging up some vampy stuff to mark the occasion.

The connection between vampires and the season is established through Greek folklore. 'Any child who had the misfortune of being born between Christmas Day (December 25) and the Feast of the Twelfth Night (January 5),' writes Theresa Bane, 'will rise from its grave as a callicantzaro when it eventually dies.'¹

What does this unfortunate creature look like? 'Half human and half animal, it has a black face, red eyes, very long ears, clawed hands, and sharp teeth.'² What makes it vampiric? 'The first time that it returns it will seek out its surviving family members, ripping them apart, limb from limb, with its clawed hands.'³ Yikes. But what about the bloodsucking component usually associated with vampires? 'Although blood drinking is not a requirement for its survival, that is something the callicantzaro most certainly revels in.'⁴

From further readings—and barring regional variants—it seems the account's been filtered down to us from a much older source. 'It would seem, however, from the account of them given by Allatius,' says Thomas Wright, 'that these were but different names for the same thing, callicantzara being the more modern.'⁵ 'Allatius' is a reference to Leo Allatius (1586–1669): 'In 1645 he included the first methodical discussion of vampires, in De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus'.⁶

Wright also notes that the power of these beings 'was greatest during the eight days of Christmas; and it was believed that any one who chanced to be born during that period was so affected, that "he seemed to be born only to be the plague of himself and of every one else."'⁷ What happened next?

As soon as the eight days came, he would rush from his own house, in a state of madness, and wander about during the night . . . He never rested, but with his hair rough and dishevelled, and his face wild, he fell on every one he met, and tore their faces with his long sharp nails; then, jumping heavily upon their shoulders, and grasping them by the throat, when he had nearly choked then, he asked, . . . "Tow or lead?" If the sufferer answered "Tow," his tormentor instantly left him, and hastened in search of somebody else whom he might torment; if the answer was "Lead," then he fell upon him with all his might, tore him miserably with his nails, and left him half dead.⁸

Interestingly, Wright doesn't describe the calllicantzaro as a vampire type, as many modern authors do, but links it with another folkloric being: 'These callicantzari seem to have resembled, in some respects, the changelings of our [English] popular creed; except that, while with us they generally pine away, amongst the Greeks their diabolical natures were only exhibited after they were grown up.'⁹

It's clear he saw a distinction between them, as he goes on to note: 'The Greek burculaca, bulcolacca, or buthrolaca, for the name is differently spelt, was the Teutonic vampyre.'¹⁰ In this case, he clearly outlines the being's undead state, but rather than suck the blood of innocent victims, it 'walked about the streets, and knocked at people's doors, and always called by name some person in the house. If the persona who was named answered, he was sure to die on the following day.'¹¹

---

^{1. T Bane, Encyclopedia of vampire mythology, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., 2010, p. 41.↩}

^{2. ibid.↩}

^{3. ibid.↩}

^{4. ibid., pp. 41–2.↩}

^{5. T Wright, 'On the popular superstitions of modern Greece', Essays on subjects connected with the literature, popular superstitions, and history of England in the Middle Ages, vol. 1, John Russell Smith, London, 1846, p. 296.↩}

^{6. I disagree with that claim. See: 'The Church vs. the undead, pt. 2'.↩}

^{7. Wright, pp. 296–7.↩}

^{8. ibid., pp. 297.↩}

^{9. ibid., pp. 298.↩}

^{10. ibid., pp. 299.↩}

^{11. ibid.↩}

London conference

Playing god with monsters

Speaking of Bell's blogs, he mentioned his recent attendance at the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London, as part of an international conference called 'Vampires: myths of the past and the future' (2–4 November 2011).

His presentation—'American vampires and the ongoing ambiguity of death'—took place on the 2nd. As is usual with English language vampire conferences, the papers primarily focus on novels and film. That said, good to see a fellow Melbournite—Ken Gelder (Reading the vampire, 1994)—among the crowd.

Here's hoping they're published, a la the 2009 Vienna conference. I've already contacted the IGRS to find out. Let's see what they say.

My reading list 3

Been a while since I updated the thing. First, some familiar 'faces'. Michele Hauf's VampChix, Elizabeth Miller's livejournal, Curt Purcell's The groovy age of horror, Brian Solomon's The vault of horror, and bshistorian's The bs historian have been reinstituted. Blog's felt naked without 'em.

Speaking of naked, I should point out that Purcell's blog occasionally contains explicit content, if you catch my drift. Not one for the kiddies or workplace.

Wesleyan University Press

Time for the newcomers; although, this one should've been on the other blog all along. Can't believe I hadn't included Michael E. Bell's online writings in my old blog's 'Reading list'. Readers may recognise him as the author of Food for the dead: on the trail of New England's vampires (2001; 2011)—a book which should be in every vampire scholar's library.

This time round, I've added not one, but—count 'em—two of his blogs here: Food for the dead and Vampires grasp. If the latter's title doesn't sound familiar, strap yourself in: it's a 'teaser' for his next book. His user profile reveals it'll 'be published in 2012 by Wesleyan University Press'. Keep your eyes peeled for that one.

While it doesn't exclusively deal with vampires—indeed, they're barely mentioned—I've added Paul Bibeau's Goblinbooks to the list, as it makes entertaining reading. It does have a vampire connection, though: its author wrote Sundays with Vlad: from Pennsylvania to Transylvania, one man's quest to live in the world of the undead (2007).

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah!

Cracked

Vampire bats, that is. Still, great cover. Stories and flicks centred around mass vampire bat attacks aren't unique. There's Martin Cruz Smith's novel, Nightwing (1977), it's cinematic adaptation (1979) and, of course, Vampire bats (2005).

But their path of destruction's paled—and preceded—by the apocalyptic vampire bats in Alan Hyder's novel, Vampires overhead (1935). Oh, and they're also from outer space.

Dust settles; sequel talk

The Fright night remake's doing the rounds on DVD—already—but Dread central wanted to know whether there'd be any sequels. So, they asked director, Craig Gillespie and writer Marti Noxon. 

Here's what they said: "It was a great time working on Fright Night, and I know I'd love to come back for a sequel," said Noxon. "So far no one has mentioned any plans for a sequel yet- I think it's contingent on what happens with the DVD and Blu-ray sales, but I do think there's more stories to tell here and I hope I get to come back."

They better hope it scores big on DVD and Blu-ray sales, because it didn't exactly set the box office alight: it barely recouped its budget. Take that, remake!

That hasn't deterred its director, though: "In regards to a sequel, I think it's a wait and see situation for DreamWorks right now, but I know I'd be happy to direct a Fright Night sequel- there are a lot of possibilities in this world. Honestly, I'd love to do something like Charley backpacking through Europe and getting mixed up with some vampires there. That could be a lot of fun. Would the sequel be in 3D? Hard to tell, but either way I'd love to come back."

Horror movies forum

Thing is, there's already a Fright night sequel: Fright night, part 2, bitches! You can blame that flick for my interest in the undead.

I still remember watching it on Channel 9 the night before starting Grade 6. Later, I'd go on to borrow it from Majestic Video, a local video library—and was suitably impressed with its coffin-shaped VHS cover.

It'd be a while before I saw part one. Oddly enough, I even read its John Skipp/Craig Spektor novelisation before seeing it. The book was in my high school's library, of all places; it wasn't part of the curriculum. Eventually, I scored a copy of Fright night at Majestic. Unfortunately, it wasn't boxed in a coffin-shaped cover.

To this day, I still rank both flicks amongst the best vampire movies ever. Dated 80s threads to the contrary. They're clever, inventive—yet stick to the Draculean 'rules'. Pretty much. That's how I like it.

I've yet to see the remake. I deliberately avoided doing so at the cinema—as tempted as I admittedly was. But I'll catch it on DVD. Maybe it'll be awesome. Who knows. I've also avoided reading reviews cos, deep-down, I'm interested to see what they'll do with their 'source'.

That said, I hope the flick's meagre box office has helped convince producers to go easy on the remakes. It's turned into a sick joke. There's just so many of them. Seriously, stop. I can understand the whole 'safe bet' thing—what with pirating to compete with and the millions at stake—but rest assured, people are gonna get sick of it. Real soon. How long can an industry that cannibalises itself, survive?

Underneath the radar

Hemlock Books

I 'discovered' this one while on one of my semi-regular Amazon trawls. Can't believe I missed it. Presenting: Bruce G Hallenbeck's British cult cinema: the Hammer vampire (left). It was published 5 May 2010.

Hammer was an English production company, best-known for its horror output during the late 1950s–early 1970s. At one point, the company was so popular, it earned a 'Queen's Award to Industry in recognition of their contribution to the British economy.'

Many horror fans—including me—have a soft spot for their films. Cheesy by today's standards, there's still a sense of class about 'em, despite their low budgets, due to the quality of their actors and (usually) Victorian settings. Christopher 'Count Dooku' Lee got his big break through them. Also, if you're into gory stuff, they basically mainstreamed it. Quite ahead of its time.

Hammer made fifteen vampire flicks. Sixteen if you include Countess Dracula (1971). Most were encased in 'series': Dracula (1958)—its eight sequels—and the Karnstein Trilogy. The remainder were stand-alones: Kiss of the vampire (1962), Vampire circus (1972) and Captain Kronos – vampire hunter (1974).

They also wanted to adapt Richard Matheson's seminal vampire novel, I am legend (1954), but censors nixed that idea.

As you can see, there's ample ground to give Hammer's vampires a whole lotta coverage, which I'm sure will warm the hearts of many fans. It's been getting some good reviews on Amazon.co.uk, too. Plus points.

Off the top of my head, there's only been two other books specifically devoted to Hammer's vampire output, namely, Robert Marrero's Vampires: Hammer style (1982) and John Jewel's Lips of blood: an illustrated guide to Hammer's Dracula movies starring Christopher Lee (2002). Going on page length, alone (I've read none of these books), looks like Hallenbeck's in the lead for most extensive coverage of the subject.

Buyers beware!

Here's Meredith Woerner, author of Vampire taxonomy: identifying and interacting with the modern-day bloodsucker (2009), examining a vampire killing kit in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Times Square, New York:

Woerner's not an antiquarian—she's an entertainment writer, which is why her 'examination' involves naming the box's contents and mucking about with them. However, Ripley's Times Square/Ripley's London's president—Michael Hirsch—also seen in the clip, states: 'This is the real thing. This was, uh, uh, produced in the 1850s, and it was used for travellers if they were heading into Eastern Europe. Uh, a fear of vampires if they were heading there. So, this is, this is the real, actual kit.'

Does he have a professional antiquarian background? No, but he does specialise in 'P&L Analysis/Management, Staff Motivation, Customized Best Practice Sales Techniques, Accelerated Expense Reduction, Internal Labor Analysis, Brand Leveraging/Building, Traditional and Digital Marketing Practices.'

So, how have these kits been authenticated? I asked the '"main" purchaser' of Ripley's vampire killing kits, Edward Meyer, how he determined their 19th century origins. He said: 'One of the key elements in a vampire killing kit is a pistol. Pistols can easily be dated by style, and maker. Some of the guns actually have dates an initials on them..From a study of several kits it is obvious some are older than others, but the guns typically come from the 1840s-50s'.

Fair enough, except an old gun in a box doesn't necessarily confirm the reality of the kit—at least, for its alleged purpose—as The Mercer Museum, Doylestown, Pa., will attest.

How about contemporary evidence? If the kits, were, indeed, sold during the 19th century, there'd likely be some record of their sale. An advertisement, something. Indeed, a Ripley's press release states, 'Most were created in the Boston area and were available by mail order.' I asked Meyer whether or not he'd seen these mail orders. 'No'.

How about a contemporary reference to their use or sale? 'No, we have nothing any earlier than 1990 mentioning their existence.' Skipping ahead, I asked whether it was possible the kits were 'late 20th/early 21st century forgeries'. He said: 'Anything is possible. I know of no hard evidence to confirm where or when any of these items were made. As I stated before the date of the guns is the only thing you can confirm with confidence…..We have found these kits in a number of different states, and three different European countries. Modern guns certainly suggest “forgeries” (your word not mine). The kits exist, they are “real”, and for the most part they are all different, so the debate isn’t really over their existence, but simply how old are they.'

But I say the debate is over their age. After all, they do exist—in the sense that such kits incorporate 19th century parts and are alleged to offer protection against vampires—but their 'existence', as antique vampire killing kits, hinges on the claim they were manufactured and sold during the 19th century. Otherwise, they're modern forgeries; 'forgeries' which are auctioned off for several thousand dollars.

A few days after my interview with Meyers, one of Ripley's bloggers—Big O—posted an entry repeating the 19th century origin of vampire killing kits under 'Weird True Facts', adding they contained 'items considered necessary fir [sic] the protection of persons who traveled [sic] into the countries of Eastern Europe, where the populace was reportedly plagued with a peculiar manifestation of evil known as Vampires.' To that blog entry, I've added my own two cents:

I wouldn't've done it if a commenter's 'This was proven to be a hoax' statement wasn't refuted by the entry's author: 'Not at all … as a matter of fact we are still finding out more information about these kits. Next week we have a “vampire” gentleman from the UK who is a gun expert. He is gong to examine the different guns in a bunch of the kits to ascertain the date when they were made.'