[Part 1](https://steemit.com/writing/@michelle.gent/the-last-vampire)
[Part 2](https://steemit.com/writing/@michelle.gent/the-last-vampire-part-2)
[Part 3](https://steemit.com/writing/@michelle.gent/the-last-vampire-part-3)

![Dracula_1958_c.jpg](https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmRrGNMVsTpgHNHVb5Du6Xo5rksMdZN2XSB1vZMTvX8FDh)

Oh dear. It appears I was correct in my initial assessment. The email screamed ‘ATTENTION SEEKER!’ but still, my article, his email and the next article, all of which will be submitted for publication without Clive the Count’s prior approval, may actually have the effect that Clive was hoping for. It may just bring me recognition and credibility - if only to highlight the poor state of Mental Health Care and lack of facilities in this country.

Surely it cannot be acceptable for a sad and deluded man to be loose in society with the notion that he has supernatural powers and the right to suck blood from humans as and when he pleases? Even if he says he doesn’t want to for much of the time.

Still, I shall make an appointment and I’ll see what he has to say. Just how far will he go with this, I wonder?

The few days before the appointment, I spent some time on the internet, browsing search engines and articles for vampire lore.

I discovered quite a surprising amount of data on vampires and how they came into existence. It would seem that vampires are not the belief of only one culture, but the legends spread world-wide.

Some cultures believe decapitation is the best method of dispatching a potential vampire; scythes and sickles the preferred implements of separating the fanged head from the undead body. Others go further and believe that after decapitation, the head must then be buried either away from the body or between the feet or beneath the buttocks (bizarrely specific) in order to ensure the creature shall not return. Who thought this up and how did they come to the conclusion?

![image.png](https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmNc9PpJNH7uqytSy88MaUh2PCJGMjtWP3Jst4hzxAXVjS)

Then, some believe staking the vampire was the best way - not only through the heart, per Hollywood’s M.O. - but as an alternative, through the mouth or stomach. 

Hawthorn wood is the best against a vampire. 

Reburying a suspected vampire face-down is one method of ensuring they can never return – I suppose it makes sense, of sorts. 

Also, filling a suspected vampire’s casket with dried peas will delay his emergence. The vampire is compelled to count every pea before disinterring – that could possibly be why most of them use the title ‘Count’.

Nailing a vampire’s limbs and clothing to the earth could also prevent them walking abroad and terrorising their loved ones and neighbours.

There were many and varied methods of finding a vampire which re-interred itself before dawn. Some used a white horse with a virgin girl, the girl should be naked of course. She was supposed to ride the horse over every grave to see where the vampire lay. What would happen when the horse encountered a tomb is anyone’s guess. 

Others used a virgin boy astride a virgin stallion - the stallion in this case had to be black - and when the animal balked at a grave, therein lay their vampire. I wonder if, once a vampire had been discovered, the boy and his horse continued on their challenge, or would the villagers believe one vampire would be enough to serve a whole village and leave it at that?

I reminded myself that back in those days, there was no such thing as the internet or even a Local News Service and knowledge that we take for granted as being available at the click of a computer mouse would be centuries away.

Today we can check facts online and find that decomposition of an unwounded body would make the cadaver swell and therefore look well-fed. The gasses building up in said cadaver force blood from orifices such as the mouth, where blood vessels are close to the surface, to make it look as though the body had recently fed on some innocent’s blood. The nails, teeth and hair can appear to be still growing because tissues in the skin and gums lose moisture and recede.

Of course, with all the mythos and superstition surrounding death and disease, the people in charge of making sure the bodies were prepared for burial would have to be sensible, pragmatic sorts, not the flighty, nervous types or scared of shadows. Only when ‘Joe Public’ got roped in would hysteria become another contagion and spread fast.

![image.png](https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmdA1GH43MZx3sAQq9vqL21Wwny5bpeeqkywRREne5EDa4)

Now we can find all these facts out easily, but back then, if there was a contagion of - for example - Tuberculosis, people who lived their daily lives in close proximity to death would seek to find a cause. 

Myth and legend are difficult to shake when medical facts are not known even by Medical Practitioners. 

A Tuberculosis victim that preceded more deaths in the same family would be suspected to be caused by a vampire which had gone visiting its surviving relatives in order to still be with them in death as they were in life. The surviving family would become ill and linger on to an untimely death - the same way as their recently deceased had departed, giving rise to the fear that a visit from a vampire was the cause. 

When the locals suspected this and disinterred the first body in order to make certain, they would be horrified to find the ‘well fed’ and swollen body and would take steps to ensure the ‘vampire’ did not return to claim further victims. Staking the diseased corpse would of course, help to release and spread further contagion via blood and lack of hygiene. 

They would be vindicated in their beliefs as the accumulated gasses passed the vocal chords, producing a moan of despair as they disturbed the corpse.

The most unfortunate consequence of digging up the Tuberculosis victim was of course, further outbreaks amongst families who may otherwise have been spared the disease.

That’s not to mention the panic as the ‘vampire’, staked and finally, permanently dispatched proves not to be the originator of the plague. After all, who or what made that first victim into a vampire? More horses, more virgins and more graves disturbed – for what end? More contagion and many more deaths. Little wonder that our ancestors lived such short lives.

Satisfied with my preparation, I closed down my computer.
The following evening would be very interesting, I thought.