Bite This!

I've been intermittently reading Kevin Jackson's Bite: A Vampire Handbook (2009). Bought it at a local book stall for $5 on the 10th. 

Anyway, there's a passage which caught my attention: "The word 'vampire' entered the English language in printed form in May 1732, in an article in the Gentleman's Magazine entitled 'Political Vampyres'" (p. 33).

No, it didn't. The article Jackson's referring to is actually an extract from another periodical. Indeed, if the author had actually consulted the Gentleman's Magazine issue, he would've seen its source writ large:

Google Books

Though the article in question is popularly titled "Political Vampyres", that wasn't its original name. It was the title Gentleman's Magazine bestowed upon it. It must've been for convenience, because the original article was untitled:

Eighteenth Century Collections Online

But most importantly, both sources point to an earlier source for the word: the London Journal's 11 March 1732 issue. This is the relevant portion of "Extract of a Private Letter from Vienna":

 

The issue incorporated a report from "Medreyga in Hungary [sic]" dated "Jan. 7, 1732", detailing a vampiric outbreak in the Serbian village of Medvedja, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. Savvy readers will recognise this as the famous Arnod Paole case.

So, to correct Jackson's assertion, The London Journal 's 11 March 1732 issue was actually responsible for the word's introduction to "the English language in printed form".

Who Is Peter Stan?

Al Giovine, a fellow Count Dracula Facebook member, posted a particularly impressive image on the group recently:

Facebook

Fans of the Stephen King miniseries, Salem's Lot (1979), will immediately recognise the riff on Kurt Barlow's Graf Orlok-like head, hovering over the Marsten House.

I was so impressed by the pic, I decided to do a search for the source. The "Peter Stan 2010" signature was the obvious starting point.

It turned out "Peter Stan" is actually Bulgarian artist, Peter Stanimirov. He's also famous for illustrating Stephen King's works. His illustrations appear Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King (2009) and Черно-бели илюстрации, вдъхновени от Стивън Кинг (2011). You can view his other artworks here.

I'm a What?

While googling about, I came across an article on Smashing Lists, titled "Top 10 Real-life Vampire Hunters." Let's say I was quite surprised by the fifth entry:

Smashing Lists

Certain readers may recall my former blog, Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist. I stopped writing it in 2011. As far as I know, I never gave the impression that I hunted vampires. I don't. Never have. Hell, I don't even believe they exist—sorry to disappoint.

I'll admit though, I used to fantasise about being one. When I was younger, I used to collect crucifixes. I once bought a special bottle from a $2 store, with the intent of putting holy water in it. One Hallowe'en—2006, I think it was—I  dressed as vampire hunter and walked the streets of Melbourne... but no, I've never tried to hunt them.

When I started this particular blog, I wasn't upgrading to Van Helsing expert-level. I just wanted to shrug off the "amateur" label: "The 'amateur' tag was a self-imposed albatross 'round my neck, which left me wanting to branch out into something a little more...professional." I didn't mean professional vampire hunting.

For the record, vampirologists study vampires. Not necessarily the real deal, but vampires as a subject. You don't have to believe in elves, pixies or fairies to be a folklorist—same deal for vampirologists.

I did find the article amusing. I've got no real beef with it—unless people take it seriously. I hope they don't! But as to wondering whether I've "indulged in a bit of vampire killing", it would've been nice if the author asked first!

I'm in a book!

Bite Me Really Hard

In the previous entry, I wrote: "I contributed a short essay to the upcoming edition of Vampire News . . . If it sees publication, it'll be the first thing I've ever had published in book form."

And lo, it's come to pass. Vampire News: The (Not So) End Times Edition!, vol. 2, is now available for download (9.20 MB pdf). It's free! A print version will be available soon. My contibution, "A Vampiric Proposal", appears on pages 56—59. 

Other essays include The Vampire Observer's "Giving Back the Vampire to Mythology", Angie Harp's "Vampires in Supernatural" and Matthew Banks' "The Road to Dracula" (props, buddy!).

As an added bonus, a Facebook group conversation between me, Kyle Germann, Stavros Cockrell, James Lyon, Andy Boylan, David Baymiller and Andy Parciorek features on pages 109—120. It was taken from the group I co-admin, Vampire Lore and Legends. 

There's a lot of goodies inside this thing, including a vampire retrospective for 2012 (I wrote a few entries for that, too). There's something for vamplovers everywhere. Download your copy today!

Update 3

From time to time, I like to write little updates (previous instalment)—when I neglect my blog too long. Sorry to leave you hanging. I've just been distracted with a bunch of things lately.

To make up for that, I'll share a few vampire-related things that've been going on. Thoughts, doings, events and whatnot.

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On February 14, Trystan Swale interviewed me for his podcast show, Fortean Radio. Give it a listen. It goes about half an hour or so—and it also happens to be the first podcast I've ever done! Be gentle. It was released on March 2. The episode's topic? The Highgate Vampire case. 

Readers may be familiar with my work on the case, via my other blog, Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate?. I gave an overview of the case and briefly discussed my thoughts on vampires. The episode was reviewed by Nigel St. Whitehall.

Note: when the podcast was conducted, I was co-admin of The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society. I'm no longer a member of the group, however—I was booted off on February 28.

I have my own Highgate Vampire Facebook group, which you can join here. Its banner (above) was lovingly crafted by David MacDowell Blue, who edited The Annotated Carmilla (2011) and wrote Your Vampire Story (And How to Write It) (2012).

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I contributed a short essay to the upcoming edition of Vampire News (previous edition). If it sees publication, it'll be the first thing I've ever had published in book form. Prior that, I've had an article published in the Transylvanian Society of Dracula's newsletter, The Borgo Post. 

So, what's my essay about? A topic I've previously discussed on this blog—but expanded. I'll let you know more if it sees print. If not, I'll probably post it here.

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Speaking of contributions, when I get some free time, I'll be writing a guest entry Kyle Germann's blog, The Demon Hunter's Compendium. You'll see his blog in the "Reading List" on the right side of the page. It'll be a profile on the Highgate Vampire. 

Stay tuned for that, too! In the meantime, you can find Kyle and I discussing vampy things on the Vampire Lore and Legends Facebook group. I'm its co-admin. Drop by, say hi!

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I was at a local library on Monday and I came across a vampire book I'd never heard of: Megan Norris' True True Blood (2012). I'd probably never heard of it, because it's a local publication—those don't get much prominence on Amazon. Also, it's not my usual forte: it was in the true crime section. Yep, it's about vampire killings.

On Plogojowitz

If you're interested in the perfect companion piece to James Lyon's guest blog, pop over to Magia Posthuma and read Lyon's 'In search of Peter Plogojowitz’s grave'.

Plogojowitz—or Plogojovitz (or Petar Blagojević)—occupies a very special place in vampire lore: some contest (including me), that he was the first 'true vampire'. I'll clarify that position: the first 'true vampire' mentioned by name. After all, it's clear from reading the Plogojowitz account—recorded by the Imperial Provisor of the Gradisk District—that Peter was far from the first vampire:

And since with such people (which they call vampires) various signs are to be seen—that is, the body undecomposed, the skin, hair, beard and nails growing—the subjects moved unanimously to open the grave of Peter Plogojowitz and to see if such above-mentioned signs were really to be found on him.

. . . 

I could do what I wanted, but if I did not accord them the viewing and the legal recognition to deal with the body according to their custom, they would have to leave house and home, because by the time a gracious resolution was received from Belgrade, perhaps the entire village—and this was already supposed to have happened in Turkish times—could be destroyed by such an evil spirit, and they did not want to wait for this.¹

The report also marks the first time the explicit use of the word 'vampire' ('Vampyri') was used in context with the folkloric attributes described above: an undead, bloodsucking corpse. However, that also isn't to say that there weren't precedents or parallels. 

For instance, certain issues of the Mercure Galant gave coverage to the upior and stryges in the late 17th century. Both terms have an etymological relationship with vampire—and both described bloodsuckers closely aligned with Plogojowitz's characteristics

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^{1. Qtd. in P Barber, Vampires, burial, and death: folklore and reality, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1988, p. 6.↩}

Calmet on eBay: update

On 23 January, I mentioned that a copy of Augustin Calmet's Traité sur les apparitions des esprits, et sur les vampires, ou les revenants de Hongrie, de Moravie, & c. (2 vols., 1751) was available on eBay. At the time, it had 5 bids at £34.33.

It wound up attracting 26 bids and sold for £511.50 (+ £13.65 Royal Mail Airmail) on 27 January.

Click to embiggen

I've got no idea if any of my readers caught the listing - or, better yet, actually bid on it - but if you did, let me know in the comments section. Congrats to the winner, all the same.