“You think bats can’t see!
Well they do have eyes like you and me!
But they know that it’s better to hear!
What you see can give you more fear!”
Do you know who is Bram Stoker?
Am sure you have heard of him but still!
What is more interesting is that the character he created or recreated were actually inspired by three major diseases prevalent at the time! Still are!
read on!
In most of the horror movies we have seen how the entity or the demon is either scared of some holy symbol or a sign. The constant common thing is that they are all scared of the one thing which is constant more or less in all the tales which was actually not the part of the first one!
So in recent times with the advent of so many series and movies, Vampires have actually become a good entity and sometimes even the leading super heroes!
But the first ever vampire or the grand daddy in sorts of all these characters was actually introduced by Bram Stoker in his novel called the Count Dracula!
Bram was actually a good friend of Oscar Wilde and after his imprisonment wrote this novel! He has inspirations from local folklores and old stories he would have heard.
The original novel had a Count Dracula who was scary and did feed on blood but there was a big difference!
In almost all subsequent depictions of Vampires or Draculas, one important thing which actually started with the first film on Vampire and Dracula called the Nosferatu. There was an actual movie called the Drakula which was the official adaptation though but Nosferatu though an unofficial adaptation is more famous since it was the first!
The main things Vampires and Dracula are scared of is the sun! In the novel the sun simply makes him uncomfortable but in the movie, it literally burns them! This has been used in most subsequent movies featuring them!
In most narrations they are shown to be scared of sun and prefer to move around in the night or in the shades! They also do not caste an image on the mirror! That is another classical way to spot a Vampire!
The classical super hero who saves everyone from vampire called Van Helsing was also introduced by Bram Stoker! Later on Van has got his own series and movies and he actually became a very popular character!
Now you may feel these are stories but the inspirations of Vampires are actually three medical conditions!
The first one is rabies which used to make the bats which are usually associated with vampires, aggressive and trying to bite humans!
The second was this disease which used to be prevalent in Rhode Island so much so that it used to be called the Vampire capital of the world! It used to be said that this disease is caused by a vampire who has sucked the life essence out of your body! The disease is still prevalent and is called Tuberculosis!
Finally the disease which used to cause the affected person to be like a Vampire! It was actually a serious condition but in the olden days it was difficult to diagnose! The affected person’s urine used to turn bloody red or black which people thought was due to them drinking blood! Most importantly they had this severe sensitivity to sunlight like a vampire! Sun used to cause severe reactions and they used to prefer going out in the night! With a side effect of some fluorescence the get up and fear was complete!
Add to the fact that these poor folks had receded gums and due to its high sulphur content dislike garlic! The fangs and garlic!
No, they were not actually vampires but suffering from a disease called Porphyria!
The conditions causes discoloration and all the above symptoms and also extreme sensitivity to sun!
So before you classify someone as a Vampire, please investigate properly! He or she may be just a Gen Z who likes to stay online in the night away from the sun and all the colors! Another one who was away from limelight and attention when he was alive was birthday celebrity Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone! Now of course he and his movies are classics and materials for teaching every student of art! You may know him by his screen name of Guru Dutt!
Now turn off those lights and sleep in the night!
Shubh Ratri!
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