When vampires first drifted, shadow-like, into popular literature in the early 1800s, this denizen of ancient folklore became an incarnation of the Nightmare Stranger–the alien ‘other’ who presented a threat to civilization itself. It was death reaching out to infect the living. The foreigner who defiled virtuous women. A pagan invader thriving where the light…
Tag: Clara Bow
The Man Who Was Dracula
Actually giving birth to legends about oneself is no small feat. Yet Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) managed it. Much of the stories told about him are wrong, which coincidentally gives him something in common with Vlad the Impaler — there’s a lot about him treated as gospel but which are either untrue or at least disputable.…