by Norman A. Rubin

Created on: January 31, 2009

On a cold and windy night with the widow rattling and the woodwork creaking, the movie of the night on the television screen was the showing of an old Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi, and I assure you it was still quite frightening. Now let us not delve on the film and to prepare ourselves for a trip to the dark world of vampires and read of their history and background. Don't be frightened..

Vampires according to legends and folklore were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. The word "vampire" comes from the Slavic word obyri or obiri, which evolved into the Bulgarian word "vampir". In our culture, the words "vampire" and "nosferatu" are interchanged often.

The fictitious vampire Dracula was and still is a major character in more movies and television than any other series and that includes Sherlock Holmes. Many early films on vampires were either based on the novel of Dracula by Bram Stocker or closely derived from it; and the first was the landmark 1922 German silent film 'Nosferatu' directed by F.W. Murnau and featuring the first film portrayal of Dracula. In addition to this film was Universals Studio's Dracula series beginning in 1931 to 1936 until a real life vampire arose in Germany; it starred Bela Lugosi as the count in what was the first talking film to portray Dracula. Bela Lugosi will always be remembered as the first Count Dracula on the silver screen, and he is primarily responsible for the popular wealthy aristocrat appearance, black cape, fangs, widows peak, and Transylvanian accent that is so characteristic of the vampire stereotype.

The legend of the vampire was cemented in the film industry when Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation with the celebrated Hammer Horror series of films beginning in 1958 (seven in all), starring Christopher Lee as the Count. Today television brought to its audience its version of Dracula series 'The Night Stalker', 'Buffy the Vampire Killer', 'Angel', etc..
Now we ask ourselves who is the creature called Dracula a vampire in legends, folktales and myths is a vicious creature in the guise of a human being who overcomes death to it victim by sucking its blood. The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819

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