31. Walter Map made one of the first mentions of a vampiric creature in England in the 12th century
Vampire graves in England, like those from Wharram Percy, have corroboration from the 12th-century writer Walter Map. In De nugis curialium (‘of courtiers’ trifles’, ie. court gossip), Map records several very early English vampire stories. One story concerns a knight whose newborn children always died with their throats cut. One day, a stranger offers to stay in the fourth baby’s room and captures a woman in the act. The knight brands her with a church key, and she flies off wailing. It turns out that this ‘woman’ was actually a demon in the form of a respected local woman.
