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40 Fang-tastic Facts about the History of Vampires

Tim Flight October 24, 2019 26 min

Wiertz Museum - The Premature Burial — The Premature Burial by Antoine Wiertz, 1854. Wikimedia Commons

19. When the great European witch panic ended, the vampire one soon replaced it in the Habsburg Empire

Victorian illustration from Varney the Vampire, a serial discussed below. Blogspot

Every society needs its scapegoat. During the witchcraft hysteria of early modern Europe, people blamed witches for all manner of ludicrous things. Witches caused livestock deaths, crop failure, child mortality, unfaithful spouses, and epilepsy in their heyday. But after a century or so, people noticed the innate stupidity of witch trials, and prosecutions tailed off. So who could you blame for everything bad? In the Habsburg Empire, another monster quite literally stood knocking at the door: the vampire. Vampire folklore had circulated in Slavic countries for centuries, but in the early 18^th century aristocrats started listening. Vampire mania had arrived.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk