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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

**8. Varney the Vampire ran for two years in British newspapers and is one of the most influential versions of the vampire legend**

Cover of the original Penny Dreadful version of Varney the Vampire, London, c.1845. Wikimedia Commons

Polidori’s tale proved an instant hit, and soon a market for vampire fiction developed in England. But before Dracula, the most famous vampire in England went by the name of Varney. Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood ran for 2 years as a weekly penny dreadful. Most penny dreadful were soon forgotten by their mostly lower-class audiences. However, people loved Varney so much that it appeared as a lengthy, bestselling book for the genteel classes in 1847. Hugely influential, Varney depicted another aristocratic vampire and established many familiar vampiric tropes, such as long teeth and puncture wounds.

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