“Vampires aren’t rational, but they’re reasonable”

A folklorist explores the grisliest of the ‘old medicines’

“Let’s not break our arms patting ourselves on the back for how much smarter we are (than those who believed in vampires)” says Dr. Michael Bell re: the long lasting American Vampire Panic. Grave exhumations followed by rituals ranging from bone rearrangement to cannibalism were the “medicines” to disease that just couldn’t be cured.

Funny that Bell would utter such words in the midst of a pandemic where batshit solutions are floated from the sketchiest chat rooms and from the highest halls of power.

Join in for another long Toothpickings web interview with the guiding light on the topic of the New England vampire scare and author of “Food For The Dead” and the upcoming “Vampire’s Grasp”: Michael Bell!

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