147: Mail Order Brides, Lesbian Romance Novels, and Ancient Zombies? The Dark History of Vampires
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Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. And we did it all live. It was so much fun and it's all thanks to you, my audience. Thank you for joining me. But here's the thing. I know some of you missed it. I didn't see you there, okay? Or maybe you just forgot to get tickets. Maybe you were busy. Maybe you had plans, you know, something. I don't know. Either way, that's okay. I got you. For the next 28 days, you can still buy a ticket and experience the entire event from start to finish as if you were there with us.

If this sounds like something you want to do, head on over to moment.co/mmm to buy tickets to replay the big event. This truly is your last chance to see what Murder Mystery Makeup Live was all about. And if you're thinking, "Hey, why would I buy a ticket to a live event that is no longer alive?" That's a great question and I'm glad you asked.

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That's moment.co slash MMM. Now let's get into today's episode of Dark History. Dark History

It's Halloween, so I've been in the mood for like spooky stuff, you know, naturally. I mean, do you guys remember that show True Blood with the, I think they were like Southern vampires. They were basically vegetarian and drinking the blood equivalent of impossible meat. And there was this one vampire, his name was Bill. He was really hot, which is hard to pull off when your name is Bill. But anyway, I was trying to pull together a last minute Halloween costume for a party and I was like, maybe a sexy vampire.

And then I got to thinking, why do I get so turned on by vampires? I don't know, like I'm just wet all the time for vampires. They're so hot. I mean, if we started with Dracula, how did we get here? How did we get the Edward Cullen and Buffy and vampires basically being the sexiest villains out there?

There's a whole genre of porn that's just vampires. That's where you'll find me. So what is it about death and blood that equals sex? What is it about teeth and shucking of the blood that equals sex?

Well, I got to the bottom of it. Spoiler alert, it involves a toxic relationship between a famous poet and his doctor, French mail-order brides being sent to America, and lesbian vampire erotica. You can tune out. Just told you everything you need to know. Just kidding. Because you want to know more. Buckle up for the thrilling, bizarre, and steamy history of vampires. ♪

Hi friends, how are you? I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here, we believe history does not have to be boring, might be tragic, might be happy.

But either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I come out with that hot, juicy history gas every week. And let me know what you think down below in the comment section. I love hearing from you. And at the end, usually I read some comments. Do you watch that part? You should, because I might be talking to you. Now let's get into it, huh? Vampires. Look, Paul and Joan, they dressed up as vampires. They didn't let me know.

I'm still not in the group chat. You guys dress up in themes and then I get left out and I look like the asshole. Paul looks really sexy. Look at him. I want to jump your bones, Paul. That hair, those teeth. Oh, you look stunning. Gorgeous. Back in 1725 in a small Serbian village, a man named Petar Blagojevic died. Good, because that name...

Two months after his funeral, get this, in the middle of the night, very strange, his widow, she heard a knock at the door. Now she wasn't expecting anyone and she was alone in the house, but the knocking didn't stop. So she's like, okay, I guess I'll answer. She opens up that door. Guess who she's looking at? She is face to face with her husband. Petter Bliggett, bitch!

Yes, it was him. I mean, he looked dead, but he was alive, standing right in front of her. She was terrified. I don't know how I would act. I'd be like, what the fuck? Shut the door. She didn't know what to do, you know? But then this creepy zombie version of her husband started talking. He needed something from her, I guess, and he needed it desperately. So bad that he had climbed out from his own grave to find her. I know, what did he need? What did he need? He needed help.

his shoes. They must have been some good shoes, you know? And then after that, I guess he tried to strangle her.

So plot twist, weird. Eventually, okay, so look, he's trying to strangle her. He attacks her, I guess. And eventually she fights him off and then she ends up like running for help. I don't know if he got the shoes. After that, like, I guess Petter can't be found and weird experience. And like, who's going to believe you either, you know? It's like, oh God, you're going to be that crazy woman. Everyone's going to be like, she thinks her dead husband is coming to her house, you know?

But over the next nine nights, Petter, he attacks nine more people. Huh? Yeah, I guess he got the shoes. So after their encounter with Petter, these people each developed a strange 24-hour illness. And then they died. All nine of them. What? Yeah. So the village elders got together for an emergency meeting and concluded that Petter was undead.

History, huh? Sure is wild. And to make sure that he was undead, they called in a health and safety official to investigate. So this guy dug up the body of Petter and performed an autopsy. And he immediately noticed that the body looked and even smelled fresh. I know, I guess he was getting sniffed. Which was weird because again, Petter had died like months ago. He should smell dead. So the health and safety guy was like, I don't know. He didn't have an answer.

at least not one that like made scientific sense. So the village elders take matters into their own hands and they drive a steak, medium rare, through Pedder's body. What? Immediately? I guess. Okay look, they stab him with the steak

the wooden one, not the actual steak. I'm just hungry. But they stab him with that and I guess fresh blood just like gushed out of him. I wish I was there. This is wild to think of. So this story was actually published in papers all over the world. Suddenly,

Petter's story was front page news and it was all anyone could talk about. I don't blame them. And this became like the earliest and most well-documented case of what we would call vampire hysteria. All because Petter didn't want to go to the afterlife without his shoes.

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That's ShipStation.com code Dark History. But besides Petter coming back to life, he doesn't have much in common with our pop culture idea of a vampire. So it's like, where does our version come in? I think the Petter version is actually more interesting.

Our version starts in the 1800s with a guy named George Gordon, aka Lord Byron. Who's this Lord Byron guy? Well, he was an English poet. He was rich, charming, and I guess actually a total jerk. So Byron's mom was a Scottish heiress and his dad was

kind of a mess. You know, he spent all of the family money. He ran away to hide from like the credit collectors. And then he died at the age of 36. His dad. So George, Lord Byron,

He was born with a club foot, which basically means his ankle was twisted in so that he had to walk on like the side of his foot. And it became a condition that he ended up dealing with, well, obviously for his whole life. And it was a major source of insecurity for him. He was bullied for it and would always try, I guess, to hide it. When George was 10, he got lucky.

He inherited a family title and an estate from his great uncle. So he and his mom, they move into this like giant house on acres of land. It was so old, it was actually gifted to his family originally by King Henry VIII.

I know it's very British, it's very fancy. So this happens when he's only like 12 years old and he becomes officially Lord Byron. Now this is also when he starts writing poetry. I guess he was inspired by his first love. His first love happened to be his cousin. So I guess like maybe there weren't a lot of options.

Yeah. Well, it didn't end up working out between them. And from that point on, Lord Byron jumped from one love affair to the next. And I guess there were a ton. He was a lover. Maybe. I don't know. Lord Byron lost his virginity to his maid. Well, at least it wasn't his cousin, you know. He fell in love with a different cousin, though. And then he had an affair with a future prime minister's wife. And most of that was like while he was still a teenager, right?

Maybe he was packing.

I don't know, something's going on, right? Lord Byron eventually goes to Trinity College in Dublin. And while he was there, he got a pet bear. Good for him. Apparently this was like a way of rebelling against the rule that said students couldn't keep dogs in their dorms. And he was like, "There's no rule that says I can't have a bear." But finally, Lord Byron graduates and then he gets married. And like his playboy days are over, you would think.

No, Lord Byron is a... Not... Yeah, I think it's fair to say he's pretty terrible. He's pretty terrible, he's a bad husband, and he continues to have affairs left and right. Not only was he super abusive to his wife, but he also like cheated on her, you know, with his half-sister. He really likes to keep it in the family, it sounds like. Yeah. But many believe he was likely the biological father of his own niece.

Wait, biologic and father of his own niece. Oh, ew. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because before Byron's dad died, he, daddy, had an incestuous relationship with his own sister. Yeah, okay, that's a lot to take in, but all right. Another thing Lord Byron was known for, look, reveal, his wiener. Apparently it was massive.

It's like I'm a bratwurst. First hand eyewitnesses, people who look directly at it, said that quote, "He was built like a pony." You know? Wait, no, you don't ride a pony like that. Whatever.

I'd ride. But the thing that actually made Lord Byron famous were his big, long poems. Deep, penetrating, delicious poems. At the time, there was a new sexy genre of literature that everyone in Europe was obsessed with, and it was called romanticism. So listen, being a poet at this time was kind of like being a freaking rock star. I mean, it was so hot. Like, oh my God, you write poetry. Like,

It definitely would get you some of that pussy, you know what I'm saying? It made you famous. Their poems were like songs that made the top 100 on Billboard charts. So besides Lord Byron, the big names of this day were John Keats, William Blake, Mary Shelley, and her husband, Percy Shelley.

just to name a few. And in the summer of 1816, a bunch of them got together in Switzerland for a little vacation. Ooh, you could say like a writer's retreat. No one knew it at the time, but this trip would be the origin story for the vampire.

So the summer of 1816, woo, take your top off. It actually came to be known as like the year without a summer. Oh, my bad. Don't take your top off. Put it back on. Basically, like the weather was thrown out of whack by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. So it was very cold and very gray. So yeah, keep that shirt on. Sorry.

I jumped the gun. I heard summer. I was like, you know, it was an especially bad summer for Lorik Byron because that affair that he had with his half sister, well, it blew up and I guess everyone was like gossiping about it. Oh yeah. Everyone found out and it was like in tabloid magazines. And then ultimately, you know, him and his wife end up separating. On top of that,

He had also followed in his father's footsteps of overspending. He had so much debt that basically he had to flee the country or like the people he owed money to were going to kill him. So he runs for it and he spends the summer at Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

So while he's there, he invites some of his writer friends to come party, you know, with him. This group included Mary Shelley and her husband Percy, Mary's sister Claire, and a buddy of Lord Byron's, John William Paula Dorey. Also who made an appearance were Lord Byron's pets. He had a peacock, a monkey, and a dog.

Don't know what happened to the bear. Fun fact, during this time, Byron had an affair with Claire and I guess they ended up having a baby together. I'm telling you, that wiener must have been something else. Since the weather was like so bad, the writers, they were locked up in the house together. So they get a little drunk and Byron challenges everyone to a scary story contest.

I like that. So they would all get together at the end of the day and try to scare the crap out of each other with their stories that they had written drunk, essentially. So during these storytelling sessions, Mary Shelley started coming up with a monster. She like created her own little monster. Eventually she wrote a whole novel about that monster she thought of and it was called "Brankenstein."

Now ain't that something? Maybe you're familiar? Okay great. She published it like only a couple of years later and it was a huge success. I mean obviously it was hard to top this. Lord Byron tried to compete by telling a vampire story but it really didn't hit like Frankenstein. So

He kind of aborted mission. He stopped working on it. This guy, John Polidori, he was there as well. And he started working on his own monster story. And John, he was technically Lord Byron's doctor.

Just a little FYI. But at the same time, John was secretly being paid to write about his adventures with Lord Byron. Like, kind of like a ghost writer. You know, because people had heard about this crazy rich guy who seduced everyone he met. And obviously they wanted the dirty details back.

So Byron's publisher hired John to write a book about what really happened on this vacation. Little expose. So John starts writing his story, but it's not a memoir or like a recap of this weird vacation with his boss, you know? It's about a monster called the Vampire. Spelled differently. It's spelled with a Y instead of an I. Honestly, it looks more creepy. Vampire. Vampire.

So essentially, John like had picked up where Byron left off. Now, again, the story wasn't like about Lord Byron, but this monster vanquished.

sure had like a lot in common with Lord Byron. The vampire was an aristocrat who was also a manipulative and charming predator. And he was like a monster who needed to suck the life out of others to survive. You know, sounds like a toxic abusive relationship, right?

So at some point after the trip, Lord Byron fires John. But John, I guess, kept on writing. And the firing just kind of gave him more material. And at the same time, without anyone knowing it, he was creating the modern legend of the vampire.

So John combined stories from folklore about monsters who sucked blood or sapped energy, but wrote those monsters as charming rich guys, essentially. He took the stories of vampires in Eastern Europe and gave them a fresh, seductive face. So the story was eventually published, but when they published it, they put it under the wrong name. The publisher put it under Lord Byron's name. They say it was like an error. They didn't mean to do that.

but John had to like fight to get his name printed on his book. Eventually he did receive some credit, but still people really thought it was Lord Byron's work. It was like too late, you know? So John Polidori turned his toxic relationship with Byron into like

a horror story. So even though vampires seem like this ancient monster that's existed through centuries, the vampire as we know it didn't really exist until the 1800s when John based him off of Lord Byron. But people loved it. I mean, the stories only grew as writers looked for more real life inspiration to build on. And something happened that fit perfectly into the vampire mold right here in America.

Today's episode is making me wish I had one of those sexy, skin-tight, v-neck black dresses. And I could be all like, hot vampire babe. And you know what? I actually have dresses like that. But my struggle is the bra situation. Okay? A lot of the times these dresses that are like deep cut or...

whatever. They require you to wear the world's most uncomfortable bra. Or you could wear no bra, but then it's like my full nips are out and it's like, that's fine. But you know, I'm going to like dinner with grandpa. So, you know, I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about. Bras, huh? Bras. Bras are a struggle, right? The ones that are uncomfortable, they have like

You have tube ones, you have the ones with the underwire that's digging into your side. You're just praying that the night ends so you can run home and take off the bra. And it feels so good when you do, right? Taking off your bra and taking off your eyelashes.

Nothing beats those feelings. And honestly, that's, I mean, I just thought that's the way it was supposed to be with bras. That is, until I found Skims bras. Oh yes, they have this wireless form t-shirt bra. And at first, I had my doubts. I didn't think a bra without an underwire would be able to handle...

my calcium cannons, but it was very supportive the whole day. The bra is lightly lined so it just kind of is smooth and seamless under a t-shirt, which is nice. And honestly, I was so impressed with how comfortable it was.

Yes. Oh, hi. I was so happy I didn't have to sacrifice comfort for support. And I even kept it on for a few hours after I got home. That's how I know it passed the test. Right?

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podcast in the survey and then select my show, Dark History, and the dropdown menu that follows. And then they'll be like, "Oh wow, she did something." And I'll be like, "Yeah, thanks." Now let's get back to today's episode. So let's jump to Louisiana when it's still owned by the French. So when France was like colonizing America, they came across a very big problem.

there weren't enough women. Oh no. The journey across the Atlantic was crazy dangerous, and like most women and girls wanted no part of it. I'm good. I'll stay here, you know? So Louisiana was like full of single dudes without any women to marry. Now this was like a big problem for France because they wanted to make sure that their colony was growing. So they needed these guys to settle down and start raising families. So they decide, or

where they decided that they needed to import women directly from France. They essentially treated them like imported spices and cheese. So enter the Fia a la cassette, which means the casket girls. I'm sure I nailed that, didn't I? Now to solve the population problem in Louisiana, France started looking for virtuous girls and women of marrying age.

They wanted girls that society thought of as marriage material, which essentially means they wanted virgins. Of course, right? And not just any virgins. They wanted virgins who were trained in homemaking skills. Because you better not show up to the colonies without knowing how to like bake a pie or like knit your husband some socks or like sweep clothes.

Stuff like that. And to get women like on board with this idea, recruiters promised the women that Louisiana was the land of opportunity. They're like, "Oh yeah, it's gonna be amazing over there. You're gonna love it." The girls were all told about this amazing colony filled with men who would provide a life of luxury. You know? They're like, "Oh, okay." Unfortunately, they weren't being told the truth.

They were being sold a pack of lies. In reality, Louisiana was a struggling colony filled with unmarried men who could barely provide for themselves. And that's fine, you know, but the girls didn't know that. And these girls were young, you know, they were usually between the ages of 12 and 25. And the reason they wanted them young was because, you know, the whole goal was population growth. So women had to be young, healthy and fertile.

So these girls were like rounded up and sent on the long and difficult journey across the Atlantic. I guess the crossing took like two months. Could you imagine? We are so lucky now. I mean, sometimes longer if they hit bad weather. I couldn't imagine being on a ship for two months.

The journey, I guess, was like hellish. Passengers were cramped into extremely tight living quarters that were very unsanitary. And this made the boat a perfect place for disease to spread. So it was like dysentery, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and the flu. Tuberculosis is really hard for me. Tuberculosis.

Whatever. But most of all, I guess the most popular disease that like went around was scurvy. I know, what's scurvy? Well, let me tell you, scurvy happens when you don't get vitamin C in your diet for like a long time. And within just a month, the symptoms can start. So these include bone pain, anemia, shortness of breath, mood changes, depression,

If you got cut, like your wounds don't heal. And then I guess your gums start to bleed. It's really kind of like...

It's kinda gross, right? Superstition at sea is, uh, it was a very big thing. It's believed that if you're like a woman and you're on the deck of a boat, that was very bad luck. Oh, it was the worst luck. A woman on deck? Ugh! We're gonna die! So these via la cassette...

Fia la casette. So these women, they were kept below deck without any sunlight for upwards of two months. Because it was bad luck. We drowned ships and boats. Keep us away. Now another reason that the women were kept below deck was to protect them from seamen. Or the seamen. Like the crew. The guys working on the ship. Because they're dudes.

Need I say more? You know, what are they gonna do when no one's looking? They're gonna attack these women and like bad things were gonna happen to them. And even though the girls were like below deck, these seamen didn't give a rat's ass, bad things would like still happen. So look, they travel, right? They travel for two months, whatever. By the time they get there,

They looked like hell. And that's not me trying to be an asshole. It's, they just look like, they look, whoop, they look sick. They were pale, you know, because they didn't have any sunlight for two months. They were skinny because there wasn't a lot to eat. Not to mention, many of them had been sexually assaulted by semen. For what? You know, they thought they were going to go to this great new place. And it's like, nope, they got screwed over. But hey, they survived, I guess. So they like stepped out onto the dock,

They looked out at the promised land. At some point they realized that it was all a lie. The colonies were a freaking mess. Where were these rich men? Where was this like new exciting opportunity that I was promised? It was not there. And to make matters even worse, they have to meet their potential husbands looking like, you know, zombies, literal monsters. To the guys,

You know, these girls show up so pale that they can't like stand in the sun without even getting burned. They have sunken eyes. Their mouths were filled with blood because they're, you know, their gums. Like sure, it was from scurvy. But from the guy's point of view, it was like a little spooky. Like what is that? I don't want to marry her. And then the cherry on top was that each of the women carried a wooden box or like a casket.

and they also seemed like weirdly protective over it. So it seems like instead of like these beautiful virginal girls that these men were promised, New Orleans had just imported a boatload of vampires. In today's episode, we're talking about some steamy lesbian vampire novels and therefore I was in the mood for a new spicy

romance novel. Ooh! But I didn't know where to look. You know, there's so many out there. Where do I go? You know, when I search online, I always get sent to these, like, websites that are, um...

Not exactly what I was going for. Then I found the Dipsy app and the rest is history. If you don't know, Dipsy is the female founded app for spicy audio books and more. It's created by women for women. Their app has over 1000 spicy audio books, all crafted by a team of professional writers and top tier narrators.

Let me tell you, whether you're looking for a rugged cowboy or a Scottish sailor, you'll find characters you love on Dipsy. I'm telling you, it's steamy there. Woo! Mm-hmm. I found this really saucy story called Night School. Oh, let me tell you, it's all about like this woman, her name, who cares what her name is? I think it's like Helena. She starts working for a mysterious professor.

And she's like, "Oh my God, we have chemistry." But then strange things start to happen. And then Helena starts to wonder like, "Is this hot professor actually a vampire?"

And I was like, I'm in, babe. I'm in. Professor and a vampire? Okay. Wet. Dipsy has an easy to explore app so you can search for your favorite romance genres like contemporary, historical, dark, sports, western, uh, romantic-y?

There's just a lot, okay? There's everything that your little heart or imagination desires. It's there. Plus, there's like new chapters that are released every week, so there's always something new to enjoy. For listeners of the show, Dipsy is offering an extended 30-day free trial when you go to dipsystories.com slash darkhistory.

That's 30 days of full access for free when you go to Dipsy, D-I-P-S-E-A, stories.com slash dark history. Bang, bang. Dipsystories.com slash dark history. Thank me later.

Okay, so you're probably wondering, okay, what about that part where they're carrying caskets? Well, all of these women had been given a casette, which was a wooden chest. We don't know exactly what they would keep in it, but it was like whatever they could...

They were moving. So it's like all their stuff, their possessions, they're taking with them to this new place. So they're carrying all these caskets and whatever. But because they show up looking sickly, they're carrying these wooden boxes. Some people thought, the actual worst, they thought the chests were filled with vampires from Eastern Europe. I'm sure they could have went up to them and been like, hey, what's in there? They could have just asked. Do they think about asking?

No, they made assumptions. And they thought like that these girls were really being used to transport scary vampire men to America. Seems like a big jump you guys, but okay. All that being said, a lot of these women weren't married off immediately. It might be a shocker. So they had to find a different solution for these women and girls. In 1727, a group of nuns set up a school and orphanage for the girls. And it was called Ursuline Academy of New Orleans.

And fun fact to this day, it is the oldest operating Catholic school in the United States. Wow. So the nuns took some of the girls in.

to help them get healthy, you know, so then they could get married off. It was said that the casket girls were housed on the third floor of the Ursuline convent with their caskets at the foot of their beds. And the girls, I guess, started to make themselves at home. They really had no... Well, what else were they going to do, you know? But as they did, the neighbors living next door to the convent started to become mysteriously ill. Rumors started flying around that it was because the girls...

were vampires. And in the night, they were attacking the neighbors and draining them of their life force. As the Casket Girls got stronger, the innocent citizens around them seemed to grow weaker. So remember how I mentioned that some of these girls were assaulted on their journey from France? Were you not paying attention?

Well, I guess people started to find out that this was like a common occurrence, but instead of taking pity on the girls, like, I don't know, saying, I'm sorry, it was decided that they weren't so pure after.

So this not only ruined their prospects, but it meant that they now had nothing to do in this strange new land. And it wasn't even their fault. Now what happened next is a little murky. Some say that the king back in France heard about how terribly the girls were being treated and demanded that they were sent back home. So others say that when the king demanded the girls return, the nuns, they went like right upstairs to go tell them.

When the nuns got to the third floor of the convent, it was empty. The windows were shattered and there were no sign of the girls. Like they had vanished into thin air. Or maybe they flew away into the night. Such a big jump, but like people were like, they flew into the night.

We're so bored. Legend has it after this, the third floor of the convent was completely blocked off by the nuns. The nuns boarded up the entrance and even used nails that were like blessed by the Pope to keep these unholy monsters away, you know, just in case they ever returned.

on the, you know, the nails. So the locals, they said that like when you walk by the school, sometimes you get the feeling that something is watching you from the third floor.

it's not the girls they left to the kids who go to the ursulan academy today there are definitely still rumors of vampires in the attic in hindsight the neighbors getting sick probably had more to do with all the diseases that were brought over on the boat and not the women being vampires but you know

I don't know, I'm just a girl on the internet. But the sudden disappearance? No one could explain that. Well, I got another theory, actually. They probably broke out of there because they realized that shit sucked and they were like, let's get the fuck out of here. So that's probably where they went.

I love fall because it's an excuse to do anything that makes you feel cozy. I like making myself a big cup of mint tea. Oh, I love mint tea. Throw on a comfy blanket and listen to an audiobook. Joan feels the same way, huh Joan? She's been listening to like some spooky witchy stuff on audible all month. I think she's taking a little too far with the costume.

No, actually, you look great. You kind of, like, make a really good witch. I have to give Joan credit, though, because listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.

Like a bird. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, new ways of thinking. Audible has the best selection of audiobooks without exception, along with popular podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. All in one easy app.

It's so easy. I mean, you can find the genres you love and discover new ones. They've got the bestsellers, the new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want, added all the time. You know what I've been listening to? Listen. Okay, so it's called Over the Influence. It's by JoJo. Remember JoJo, the singer? Get a ride now.

me. Thank you. I hit those notes. So she came out with a memoir. So I've been listening to that on Audible. She's going to hold back. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.com slash dark history. Centuries after the Cassie girls arrived in Louisiana, New England was hit with

with a wave of disease. Tuberculosis was infecting and killing tons of people, sometimes taking out an entire family at once. Gosh. And just like the casket girls, people who were sick with TB started looking very corpse-like. Corpse-chic.

They were pale, they had sunken eyes, and they began coughing up blood. Vampire. So vampire panic started to spread. And people believed that the first person to die in a family would return as a vampire. They believed vampires would prey on their family until all of them were dead. This was a time before doctors knew much about disease and how they spread. So vampire theory was just a good way to explain it. They're like, yeah.

It's a vampire, you know? Instead of germs spreading the disease, like, it must be a vampire. Writing a prescription for a vampire. They didn't really have many answers then. So then doctors, they started inspecting the bodies of the recently deceased, and they were looking for the usual signs of decay. But just like with the guy we talked about in the beginning, Petter, some of the bodies looked a lot worse.

fresher than they should. So these doctors created a rule of thumb that if they cut open a body and it still contained blood and a non-decayed heart, the person had indeed

become a vampire. And to make sure that they couldn't do any more damage, the people of New England began beheading or burning these bodies. A little extreme, but okay. This went on for like a century. And as soon as disease began to spread, the vampire panic would start like all over again.

So in 1892 in Rhode Island, a man named George Brown lost his wife. I guess she had been sick and then pretty soon after two of George's daughters got sick. Sadly, the daughters had died and then not long after his son died.

got sick. His son's name was Edwin. George's friends and neighbors convinced him that digging up the bodies of his wife and daughters could actually save his son's life. George didn't love the idea of having to like dig up his dead wife and kids, but he was like, all right, if I have to. So he did. That night,

they opened the casket where his daughter, Mercy Brown, was buried. And even though that she had been dead for like two months, her body was completely intact. She had died in the winter in Rhode Island and the ground that she was buried in was freezing. So her body was kept in like very cold temperatures. So maybe that's why, you know, but a doctor who did the autopsy confirmed that the cold was most likely the reason for her body's condition, but it was,

too late. Like people were already in mob formation. They didn't care about science. They didn't care about that. They were like, no vampires, vampire. So they pointed out Mercy's like hair, fingernails, and I guess they had grown since she was buried. And this is like a fun

Let me get comfortable. This is like a fun little fact. Well, is it a fun fact? Maybe, depending on how you look at it. It's a very common myth that like all dead bodies, with all dead bodies, that their hair and fingernails grow after death. Well, I guess in reality, when bodies begin to decompose, the skin gets dehydrated and it like shrinks back from the nails and the hairline.

Oh, and this gives the illusion that nails and hair are longer than before. I could see that.

That makes sense. I still believe that they grow though. Again, way too late for all that. So the people saw a preserved dead body with long hair and nails and decided vampire. So they cut out Mercy's heart and liver and then burn them. Then after Mercy's dead organs were burned, the ashes were fed to her younger brother, Edwin. I wonder how they prepared it, like in a smoothie, like a protein powder, or was it like sprinkled on top of, what do they eat then?

fish, soup. Was it in the drink? Did he just eat the powder? Spice? Spice jar? I don't know. Well, in the end, Edwin died. You know, those ashes actually may have been the final nail in the coffin, really.

Then in the 1890s, Irish author Bram Stoker first heard about what happened to Mercy Brown and her family. And I guess this inspired him to write about vampires because clearly people could not get enough. So he wrote a little story. In 1897, the most famous vampire of them all was finally Bram.

born. You know him, you love him, give it up for daddy Dracula. He's cute. Wood bang. So just like the vampire based on Lord Byron, Dracula was an aristocrat and he was also a master manipulator. Seeing a theme here. And like the Cascade Girls, he traveled below deck. Oh,

Oh, on a ship. My bad. And like Mercy Brown, Dracula's victim, Lucy, is a beautiful young woman whose body is destroyed by her loved ones to ensure she stays dead. Bram Stoker also borrowed from another vampire story, which is a novel called Carmilla. Now, let me tell you about Carmilla. Carmilla is pretty iconic, especially for its time, because it's

It's would you would you consider it smut? It's kind of like smut, but it's hot. Like it's a it's about a female vampire called or named Carmilla. And she seduces a girl named Laura. Super hot, super spicy. Highly recommend. But it's like, again, for its time.

I don't know, it's pretty bold. So in the book, Carmilla, she can shape-shift. She's nocturnal, and most importantly, she's a seductress. So here's Laura's description of the interaction with Carmilla. Quote, "'And with gloating eyes she drew me to her, "'and her hot lips traveled along my cheek in kisses, "'and she would whisper, almost in sobs.'

Hot. It's hot. So just like Carmilla, Dracula was also super sexualized.

sexy depending on how you look at it he's described as having hairy palms now listen this there's a reason this was because at the time back in the victorian era people believed that if you masturbated a lot your palms would get hairy oh do you remember side note do you remember um a graham cracker episode didn't we talk about hairy palms in their masturbation

Yeah, we did. We did. It's been around for a while. Anyway, so Dracula, he must have been a lot, you know what I'm saying? So Dracula was like a walking, talking symbol of what happened if you gave into like your sexual urges. You'd be like this guy. And just like Carmilla, Dracula's lust could corrupt even the most perfect, pure, virginal women. Dracula was a huge hit.

Okay. And in the 125 years since its publication, it has been adapted in film many, many times. I'm sure you're aware. You know, it's everywhere. They even made, um, what's it called? Um, Sesame Street. Count Dracula. Oh, does he have hair hands? I can't remember. Also cereal. Oh.

See? They use them a lot, is what I'm saying. Nosferatu was a super popular German silent film based on Dracula. They're actually coming out with a...

a new movie, I think around Christmas, about this guy. Isn't that wild? Nosferatu was actually so similar to the book that Bram Stoker wrote that his widow, Bram's widow, she sued the filmmakers and she won.

Then, in 1931, Universal Studios made a Dracula movie starring Bela Lugosi. Now, if you've ever heard someone say, I want to suck your blood, then they're probably doing an impression, that they're aware of maybe, of Lugosi from that movie, which is now almost like 100 years old. Lugosi played the role of Dracula in such a seductive way that from that point on, in pop culture, we think of all vampires as being vampires.

delicious, horny little just like Lord Byron. I mean, when you think about it, it kind of seems like vampires have boundary issues because like they always have to have explicit permission whether or not they can come in. They're asking for consent. We can't be mad at that. But then once they're in,

They're in, you know, you can't get rid of them. It's because it all goes back to that one toxic guy who dragged his friends to an Airbnb that they never even wanted to go to. Talking about you, Lord Byron, with that big old wang. At the end of the day, if you think about it, vampires represent some of humans' greatest fears. Sex and death. I'm laughing because it's like,

We're so afraid of it, but it's like everyone does it. Everyone does both of those actually. And we're so afraid of it. I mean, that's why like vampires were created in the first place, you know, to explain why disease was spreading. Then in the Victorian era, when everyone was so sexually repressed, it's not a coincidence that they became perverts. They being the vampire. It was like a cautionary tale against lust.

Don't masturbate and don't talk to strange men or you will die. Have your heart cut out of you, burnt to a crisp, and fed to your little brother. Sweet dreams. Joan, what do you think about that? The history of vampires. Do you feel good? Joan is hairy.

Therefore, Joan, are you masturbating all the time and that's why you're a vampire? You dirty, dirty bird. Is that what you're doing in your dressing room all morning?

And Paul, Paul, he looks hot. Paul, you should just wear this all the time, honestly. You look great. Blonde, great. Long hair, great. Button up, love. No pants, hot. You're just killing it, Paul. Good for you. We need a Paul Instagram of all of your hot outfits.

And you too, John. Fine, you could be on it. Anywho, speaking of having an organ cut out of you, next episode, we're returning to a dark history favorite topic. Oh, and this episode is not for the faint of heart. And children. Don't let your children listen to this next episode. I know we're all out here like watching scary movies for Halloween. We're like, whoa. But this is way more terrifying because it's real. I'm talking about a freaky king.

There's plenty. But another freaky king who liked to drink menstrual blood, a psychotic tyrant who enjoyed roasting people alive, and other horrifying punishments that frankly blew my tits off. We're picking up right where we left off in part one, so join us next week for the dark history of ancient torture. Part two. It's pretty brutal, you guys, huh?

Well, friends, thank you for hanging out with me today. Did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs? Hi. If you're watching me, hi. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. And don't forget to subscribe because I'm here for you with new content all the time. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. Do you have any thoughts?

Well, make sure to leave a comment down below so I can see what you're saying. And then maybe your comment will be featured in a future episode. Now let's read a couple of comments that you guys have left me. Some of these usernames, huh? Sailor Moon, R-E-2-S-W, left us a comment saying, I love Bailey's voice. Really? And storytelling so much that I even listen to her ads. I don't know how much they're paying her, but they should double it.

I like that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah! Yeah! You tell 'em! Would never hear about them if it wasn't for Baileana. Oh, who's Baileana? Who's Baileana? Is that me? Okay, cute! Baileana? Are you on the wrong channel?

Was that not about me? Sailor Moon, thank you. That's very nice of you to say. You know, growing up, I got made fun of for my voice. I don't know why. I just got picked on a lot. So it's kind of nice to hear that you like my voice. It's different. It's new. It's unusual. And I really appreciate it. I also have to give some credit to our production team. And most importantly, Joan and Paul, because they help me with my ads too. These two bozos. They don't even...

They don't even do anything. They just show up and they look cute.

Karina Lynn left a comment on our Mary Ellen Pleasant episode. That was a great episode, wasn't it? Okay. Karina said, by far one of my favorite dark history episodes you've done. She should be in history books everywhere. Long live Mary. Karina, I could not agree more. Her story was so interesting, right? Very inspiring. She did so much. And I mean, I don't know why they...

don't talk about her in school, right? I agree, Karina. I agree. I'm glad you liked it. Christine Feliciano 3269 left us an episode suggestion. I have an episode suggestion for you. Look into the civil war in El Salvador and the major influence the Reagan administration had in making it worse.

Christine, I love an episode suggestion. This is a good one. I'm going to be looking into this, but we are maybe as of right now doing, working on a Reagan episode. So yeah,

Stay tuned, Christine. Stay tuned. Well, I love and appreciate you guys so much for watching and engaging. Keep on commenting because maybe you'll be featured and maybe I'll write back or maybe I'll hurt your comment. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an audio boom original.

I want to give a big special thank you to our expert, Dr. Olivia Arndahl-Woods. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices. You be safe out there. And I'll see you next week. Goodbye.

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