by Nicholas Gray

Created on: January 26, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

Have you ever noticed the correlation between vampires and Christianity? There's a lot of things that happen within vampire movies that seem related to Christianity, but originally, it was really hard for me to put a finger on exactly why. For example, the cross repels the vampires. How come symbols of other religions don't effect vampires? How come the star of David has no effect?

Though we all know that the idea of Dracula and vampires have mysteriously spread throughout the world, I question why. Honestly, I think Bram Stoker attempted to integrate a part of his life into a story line that I believe sinful men have run with in a way that might have been contradictory to his intentions. I could be wrong. Though I can't speak for Bram Stoker, why don't I share with you my thoughts? I hope to shed light on a horror story that may be able to reveal an already illuminated Truth based a potentially common misconception.

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Over one hundred years ago, the idea of the vampire was a very scary thing, commonly seen in folklore and fairy tales in Ireland. I know it's always been a joke in American society about the Irish having a tolerance for drinking too much, and honestly, I think this tale was bred simply out of one of those drunken storylines.

From my observations, creativity and horror were two things that appeared to be far from the mark of what it meant to be human back then. With everyone having a much better understanding and respect for Christ than our current culture does today, there was a chord that had not yet been struck that would later resonate within both the societies in Ireland, and here in the United States.

In 1897, when Bram Stoker published the book Dracula, the culture I've come to know around the world appeared to change dramatically, even though it's really taken over a hundred years. To me, horror stories about vampires have always existed, but back then, the onset of the idea of vampires published worldwide for the first time. The idea of such a monster started to arise rapidly because of its sheer nature to get at the very core of what they all believed to be true. Faith, in this sense, was used as a tool to instill uncontrollable fear in the hearts of the audience, with no sense of rescue.

I feel this vampire phenomenon could have changed the world by enabling a positive element of fear to be instilled in the hearts of man, thus allowing them a better understanding on what they are up against in the reality of how the world

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