Vampire Lady of the Carpathians", Countess Elizabeth Bathory, was born in 1560 and is famous for bathing in the blood of young peasant girls.
Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in 1897. Mr. Stoker was born in Ireland in November of 1847.
Dr. John Polidori wrote the first English vampire story. It was published in the New Monthly magazine (April 1819) and was called The Vampyre.
Vampire -- In Greek is vrykolakes, in German is Blutsauger, in Chinese is giang shi and in Russian it is upiry.
Bela Lugosis last name came from the name of his home town, Lugos.
Dracula is the most filmed story of all times. Followed by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Fritz Haarman was a murderous sociopath who was known as the "Vampire of Hanover". Together with his 20-year-old lover Hans Grans, he proceeded to
murder countless boys and sell their clothes and meat on the German black market
during the early 1900's. Despite the fact that numerous boys that he was seen with
disappeared and that he had a long history of petty crime, the police did not conduct an in-depth investigation of Haarman because he was a trusted informant with abundant charm. The mysterious disappearances continued for years and the public grew ever more fearful until the spring of 1924 when several skulls were found on the banks of the Leine. A few weeks later Haarman was caught attempting to abduct a young man. This time under questioning he broke down and confessed, though he blamed Grans for instigating the horror. He revealed his murder method in gruesome detail. After luring a victim back to the apartment for a meal, he would rip the boy's throat out with his teeth. He cut up the bodies and sold the meat. The bones were thrown in the river. During the grisly spree, Haarman himself subsisted primarily on the flesh of his victims. Word of Haarman's horrors spread and thousands of people turned out to watch as the police dredged the river. They recovered hundreds of human bones. Haarman and Grans were both convicted of multiple murders. Grans got life in prison (later commuted after 12 years). Haarman was sentenced to death. He chose decapitation by the sword, saying: "Deliver me from this life, which is torment. I will curse my father and go to my execution as if it were a wedding." Haarman claimed not to remember how many young boys he had killed but police estimated the number for the previous year alone at over 100.
This amazing but truly morbid fact was pulled from The Big Book Of Bad.
Vampire of 1894 London
The following case of a living vampire was published in an 1894 issue of the London police news.
"Defandant admitted he had bitten the child because he loved it.'
The defendant cited was a thirty year-old man, accused of maltreating his wife's illegitime daughter for several months. The child's eyes, lips, and hands had been bitten and sucked of blood by the man. Even the girl's pinafore was smeared with blood.
from: True Vampires of History by Donald F. Glu