Halloweek: The Vampire James Brown

Just in time for Halloween, an Ohio historian might have discovered the secret origin of the president’s vampire.

I recently got an interesting email from Mark Butler, who works for the Ohio Historical Society. He ran across some new information about James Brown, the real-life prisoner who was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, and the inspiration for the story behind my fictional vampire, Nathaniel Cade.

Brown, according to some sensationalistic headlines at the time, killed two of his crewmates on a whaling vessel and drank their blood. He was pardoned by Johnson for reasons unknown. (You can get a more complete account from Robert Damon Schneck’s The President’s Vampire: Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America. )

However, Butler has discovered something new in the story. He was researching Brown as part of a presentation he did called “Infamous Ohio” and found what might be the original source of the story that Brown was a killer who drank his victims’ blood: a warden seeking to boost tourism revenues.

And of course, there’s a new presidential angle, as well.

Butler writes:

…In addition to the fact that other papers covered this story, the reality is that James Brown was mentioned as being a “human vampire” months before the Brooklyn Eagle published its article. The Stark County (Canton, Ohio) Democrat included this in its August 25, 1892 article on Brown’s impending transfer. The article jokes that had Brown committed his vampirism in 1890, he might have been asked to co-lead the Republican Party alongside William McKinley. (This article is available online at the Chronicling America project.) The Democrat cites the Chicago Herald for its information on Brown.

 Therefore it is unlikely that a writer for the Brooklyn Eagle created the myth of James Brown’s vampirism. In addition to challenging the notion that the Brooklyn Eagle created this myth, a review of an additional source debunks the notion that the myth creator (whoever they were) developed this myth by merging it with the sad story of Mercy Brown, who died in 1892, the year of James Brown’s transfer.

 In his book, “The Ohio Penitentiary Annex and Noted Convicts”, Warden B.F. Dyer writes that Brown was known to have “killed a shipmate and drank his victim’s blood.” Dyer’s book was written in 1891. This means that the story of James Brown being a vampire pre-dates not only the Brooklyn Eagle article, but also pre-dates the death of Mercy Brown. In other words, James Brown was an alleged “vampire” during Mercy Brown’s lifetime. Dyer’s book is available at the archives/library of the Ohio Historical Society.

 If a Brooklyn Eagle reporter did not create this myth and the myth was not connected to that of Mercy Brown, who is responsible?

I think it is more likely that Dyer himself created this myth. He also writes that Brown stabbed a fellow prisoner with a fork (an eating utensil) while in the Ohio Penitentiary. What was Dyer’s motivation? Just as a vampire can sell newspapers, a vampire could also help sell his book. The Ohio Penitentiary had quite a tourism industry, including tours and even postcards, during its heyday. Imagine if potential visitors heard that they might catch a glimpse of a real vampire!

I love history. Thanks very much, Mark.