THE ST. CHARLES HERALD — SEPTEMBER 06, 1884
A Revival of the Old Superstition of Blood-Drinking Bats and Men—The Literature of Vampirism and Its Influence on European Peoples—Stories That Wore Told of Vampires and Their Doings in the East Century.
A physician of local fame in an Eastern city said to the writer recently:
“This is an age of queer mental and bodily delusions, despite its enlightenment. One of the oddest cases that I ever saw I was called on to treat the other day. A man came in to complain that his ankles were wounded. I found that the wounds were scratches, and expressed my surprise that he should have consulted a physician about a trifle. He said he often found the skin of his ankles broken in the same way on rising from bed. I suggested that he smooth the foot-board, and not kick it so much. Then the real object of his visit came out. What do you think it was? With bated breath he whispered that he was the victim of a vampire—not a vampire bat, but a human vampire. Actually, here was a sound, healthy, intelligent man cowering from the effects of that old superstition. He hinted to me that he knew who the vampire was—a former enemy now deceased. He had come to me for a charm, or something else, to exorcise his terrible visitor. I tried to laugh and chaff him out of the idea. Whether I succeeded I don’t know. The man went away very much depressed, and hasn’t returned since. I ought to have mentioned that he was a native of Hungary, and had imbibed vampirism in his childhood’s home.”
