Do Vampires Exist?
You say no, but back in the day, many really believed that these
toothy creatures were out there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for an
opportune moment to partake in fresh blood. Imagine a world in which the undead
are a real threat? Would you still take that shortcut through the woods? Would
you still wear your headphones in the parking garage? Would you still travel
anywhere alone at night?
That noise behind
you…is it a vampire?
Let me introduce you to three “real-life” vampires from my
neck of the woods. Then you can decide.
Mercy Lena Brown, the Exeter Vampire
Nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown, a member of a prominent
farming family in Exeter, Rhode Island, fell ill with “galloping”
consumption and died a few months later on January 17, 1892. She was not the
first of the Brown family to succumb to the disease. Her mother, Mary Brown,
died almost a decade earlier, along with the eldest daughter, Mary Olive. Edwin,
the Brown’s only son, became sick a few years after Mary Olive, but didn’t die
right away, and lived to see Mercy laid to rest with the others in the Chestnut
Hill cemetery behind the Baptist church.
As Edwin’s condition worsened, a desperate father made a last-ditch
attempt to save his only remaining child. He responded to the local stories of an
undead Mercy wandering the cemetery and farm fields, stealing the life force
from her brother and other villagers, by exhuming his daughter’s grave. Mercy’s
body was found turned over, with a flushed face and fresh blood seeping from
the heart and liver. Her heart was then removed, burned to ash, mixed with
water, and fed to Edwin to break the spell put on him. He died, still, two
months later.
Sarah Tillinghast, the Poetic
Vampire
In the year 1776, established farmer and father of fourteen
Stukely Tillinghast had an unpleasant dream one night. Half the trees in his apple
orchard died. Soon afterward, his beloved eldest daughter, Sarah, who had a
fondness for poetry and wandering the local cemetery, came home feeling ill.
Within weeks, Sarah was dead. Five children followed, each saying before their
death that Sarah had come to them in the night. When his wife fell ill, Stukely
took the farmhand, Caleb, to dig up his dead children. All of the bodies were in
various stages of decay, except for Sarah’s. According to one account, the
young girl’s eyes were open in a fixed stare. Fresh blood was in her heart and
her veins. Stukely cut out Sarah’s heart and burned it, before reburying her. The
last child, who was already ill, died, but his wife recovered and the rest of
the Tillinghast children lived.
James P Riva, the
700-Year-Old Vampire
In 1980, 23-year-old James Riva of Massachusetts shot and killed his
grandmother with gold-painted bullets, sucked her blood, and set fire to her
house. He claimed to be a 700-year-old vampire who needed blood to survive and
that he was also satisfying his vampire masters by making a human kill. In
later claims, his grandmother had been a vampire, too, and would come to him at
night to feed. During the trial, it was released that Riva would sometimes drink
a concoction of ketchup and oil because it resembled blood. He’s currently serving
a life sentence at Walpole State Prison.
A painting by Riva hangs in his former defense attorney’s office.
It’s a picture of the Boston
skyline. All of the buildings are black.
So, again, do vampires exist? Still, no? Then snuggle up in
your bed, pleased-as-punch, feeling safe, with a copy of Revamp and a mug of hot cocoa. Ignore the scratching at your window.
Tree branches. Ignore the creaks
outside your bedroom door. House settling.
Ignore the screaming. Howling wind.
And keep telling yourself that everything is going to be fine. Because there’s
no such thing as vampires, right?
Originally posted here:
http://zombiegirlshambling.blogspot.com/2012/08/revamp-guest-blog-and-virtual-tour.html#more
No comments:
Post a Comment