The video version — Lord Byron has been party crashing the vampire genre from the beginning. Let’s look at a few high-profile examples of the literature paying it backwards. Also: did we almost have a vampiric Thanos? Then why the bad photoshop? Guess you’ll have to click to find out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7LgLDDMiI Toothpickings has a Patreon page. If you find these diversions are worth your time and you’d like to indulge in extra content and help me write more, please peruse https://www.patreon.com/toothpickings

Dream, Blacula, Dream — This is a continuation of the previous blog, where the 1972 film Blacula and it’s sequel were reappraised as forward-leapers in horror and vampire genre; along with the many ways that the character Blacula can be viewed. You can read that previous blog here. Or just ignore it. I get…

Is this the most underrated vampire film of all time? — How do you analyze a film like Blacula? It’s a movie that continually undermines every examination undertaken of it : Call it a horror and it comes back with bargain-bin laughs. Call it cheap and it comes back with a leading man whose gravitas would make Ian McKellan pee shy…

A band that never existed made a corporeal record — and it’s great! — “His engine’s heart is cold but it’s always in tune His mechanic is the Creature From The Black Lagoon He pumps his bat shoes when it’s time for braking His every race is a great undertaking” Ever come across a song that infected your little cinder heart so viciously that…

Before the Frankenstein we all know, there was an earlier, short version made with Bela Lugosi. And it’s vanished! — In 1930, Bela Lugosi was a hot ticket after filming Dracula. He was offered role after role, and one of those was in the story Universal had recently acquired the rights to: Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece.

The importance of the theater to our notions — The theater is an institution replete with horrid creatures that will suck innocent life, corrupt the unsuspecting, and cower at the site of a crucifix. It also has vampires. Theater has played a crucial role in how vampires have come to be represented in popular media, from the French theater…

More vampire archaeology in New England You want more vampire archaeology? You got it! Dr. Nick Bellantoni discusses the folklore and actions surrounding the Jewett City Vampire 🧛🏻‍♂️ Click below to watch: Toothpickings has a Patreon page. If you find these diversions are worth your time and you’d like to indulge in extra content and help me write more, please peruse https://www.patreon.com/toothpickings

Strange graves in New England Indiana Bones! Emeritus State Archaeologist Dr. Nick Bellantoni discusses the surprise discovery of a strange grave in Connecticut, and how that led him down a path into the New England Vampire Scare of the 1800s. Along the way we talk disease, grave robbing, and forgotten tombs in the backwoods. Click the link below to see one of my favorite Toothpickings interviews so far:

The biggest name in 19th century vampires wore a kilt — For almost a century before Dracula became the dominant force in vampire fiction, there was one granddaddy bloodsucker who you could find lording it over books, poetry, and theater. And that was Lord Ruthven. Pardon, Who? Ruthven was the dawn of the aristocratic vampire — not a shambling corpse or a reanimated…