Tahlequah residents revisit vampire lore ahead of October

Sep. 27—The end of September has prompted some Tahlequah residents to reflect on the vampire-related lore that has lived on through centuries.

Tahlequah Public Library's Technology Specialist Gerran Walker said she is a horror, sci-fi and fantasy genre enthusiast. While many may first think of the male vampire Dracula, when they first hear the word "vampire," Walker said "Carmilla" was the first popular blood sucker.

Walker said the novel "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu from 1872 was the first popular vampire book that has continued to spur people's fascination with tales of the monster.

"It was also [written] by an Irish author, like Bram Stoker, but it was written before 'Dracula' by 26 years, so it's something Bram Stoker would have read," Walker said.

The gothic novel "Carmilla" depicts a story about a female vampire and a young girl. Walker said the story has taken a life of its own, as there have been several adaptations of the literature from video games to comic books to movies.

"It has a lot of the tropes that we're used to, such as the vampire comes from a very old family, they live in ruins and they're isolated," Walker said.

Other stereotypical vampire characteristics that come form the book "Dracula" includes death by a wooden stake to the heart, climbing up walls and a garlic aversion.

A lot of the famous stories surrounding vampires, Walker said also comes from folklore from Romania and eastern Europe. Some of these myths are that the vampire is a person being punished by God for certain sins that have been committed or a person was not given proper burial rites causing the "vampires" to return to haunt their family.

Walker said when the boom of movies hit in the 1940s, a lot of the myths from "Dracula" were incorporated into such films.

"Folklore is interesting because it is how we describe the world around us," Walker said.

Angel Saweny, an employee at Too Fond Of Books, said she has enjoyed learning about vampires ever since she read the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer.

"I like all sorts of the variations," Saweny said. "I think it's really creative what people can do with them in literature."

Saweny said those in "Twilight" are a lot like the traditional vampires, but the main character does not drink human blood and they show physical warning signs to humans. Even though the first "Twilight" book was published in 2005, Saweny said there has recently been a "Twilight" renaissance.

"I think [vampires] are different in the fact that with other monsters and horror stuff it is very obvious that they are a monster and there is something to be scared of, whereas with vampires the fact they can lure you in and you don't think anything is off at first until it's too late, I think that's very cool," Saweny said.

A more recent piece of folklore Walker described took place in New England in 1882, when the last person was officially prosecuted as being a vampire. Walker said the town believed a woman was slowly killing her family, instead of realizing they were dying from tuberculosis.

"Her body was actually exhumed," Walker said. "She was not buried yet because this was New England in the winter. She was kept above ground since it was frozen. They believed she was a vampire because her cheeks were still red and she still had blood in her heart, as once again, she was pretty much frozen."

Walker said either the girl's heart or body was burned, and the ashes were then used to make a tonic for her family to drink to stop them from dying, which obviously failed.

Jessica Stalls, a Tahlequah resident, said the story of "Dracula" originated from Serbia, where a castle is located that encompasses a chamber used by a real man, known as Vlad Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, to torture people. Stalls, who has visited the castle, said the fact that there was a true "vampire" named Dracula was intriguing.

"Before we were able to prove how many deaths occurred, it gave people almost a sense of closure on some deaths that were unexplained to be able to blame it on something supernatural," Stalls said. "Once a person is intrigued with 'odd' behaviors and sees this almost as supernatural and powerful, it often infatuates with the thought of themselves being immortal. So to be so caught up in being in power and having something so unusual and a bit creepy entertains the minds of so many, giving them a sense of living life forever."

Stalls said seeing the devices — stretch devices, chairs with wooden spikes, and a cauldron that boiled people slowly — used against people at the castle was an unreal and strange experience.

"And likely before and after him, there were and are people who still practice this," Stalls said. "Being in the actual castle and area where Count Dracula and his main followers tortured and killed people and drank their blood was a surreal feeling. Seeing the devices in person that were the weapons against them was very eerie. We always imagine a vampire as someone who dresses up for Halloween with long fangs and though that is what we see it as, to know for a fact the real Count Dracula did this for many years to people was an uneasy yet intriguing feeling in a sense to be in the place where it all happened."