Meet the Vampires, a Week and a Half Until Halloween (Courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine)

We may recall meeting Mercy Brown, the last of the recorded American Vampires, on these pages only last month on September 23.  But as Halloween slowly approaches, as trees turn the color of blood and fire, as the wind blows chill and nights turn dank, can it be surprising if other vampires crowd into the light of a wan moon as well?

Or, actually, I was perusing the Horror Writers Association’s “Halloween Haunts” blog, one they present with a post every day from HWA members during the month of October (for which, in the spirit of full disclosure, I may not have an entry myself this year, but I was there in 2013 with a review of the Québecoise film DRACULA:  ENTRE L’AMOUR ET LA MORTE on October 13, for which one may press here), and which on this October 15 had a piece by writer Michael J. McCann on “The Enduring Popularity of Vampires” — and

Musidora in LES VAMPIRES, a fictional vampire from 1915

for which, one may press here.  But the thing is, while these blog spots are necessarily short, Michael included links as well to two articles by Abigail Tucker in SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, the first on “real-life” vampires and the second, which goes into some depth, on what was believed to be vampirism in 19th century New England.

So for those who wish, herewith an introduction to “Meet the Real-Life Vampires of New England and Abroad” by pressing here, and for those who would like a further chat with our American cousins of the blood-drinking persuasion, for “The Great New England Vampire Panic” press here.

Then of course Mercy Brown gets her turn in the darkness in the latter piece, but one can also check the one I cited in September by pressing here, while for the whole sequence of HWA “Halloween Haunts” entries for 2014 (though most of these more into recollections of Halloweens past than monsters per se.) one need but press here.