The Vampire (1901) by Hugh Raymond McCrae.

[www.isfdb.org]

Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> The Vampire (1901) by Hugh Raymond McCrae.
>
> [www.isfdb.org]


Thanks for that one. I have not found the full text yet, but from what I have seen it feels surprisingly modern for 1901. Maybe it is because he is a bohemian.

Frank Norris's retelling of a dramatic episode in the medieval Icelandic saga of Grettir refers to an undead attacker as a "vampire," but this isn't justified by what the saga tells about him. Norris's version was published in 1903.

[storyoftheweek.loa.org]

Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> Frank Norris's retelling of a dramatic episode in
> the medieval Icelandic saga of Grettir refers to
> an undead attacker as a "vampire," but this isn't
> justified by what the saga tells about him.
> Norris's version was published in 1903.
>
> [storyoftheweek.loa.org]-
> thorhall-stead.html

Thanks. I mentioned Sabine Baring-Gould's 1863 version of this story, which he titled "Glámr", on page 2 of this thread.

Baring-Gould also uses the word "vampire". This is not necessarily wrong -- but it does not fit my criteria for this thread, as there is no mention of blood drinking. Or, at most, there is a very distant hint of blood drinking, in the girl who grows gradually pale and slowly dies. Glámr also has an aversion to sunlight.

Here's a link to Baring-Gould's version of the tale:

[multoghost.files.wordpress.com]

I remember a vague impression that it was faithful to the source, Grettir's Saga, but I can't now recall if I checked carefully.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 25 Mar 23 | 04:47AM by Platypus.

Today I read a short story THE AMULET FROM HELL (Weird Tales, 1935) by Robert Leonard Russell about a vampiric being from Greek superstition called "vrykolokas". I am not sure if it meets the crieteria but the monster definitely shares some conspicuous characteristics with classic vampires. Here is a part of the story in which one of the characters describes it:

In a few minutes Jachini was back, carrying a small, black-bound volume. Without a word, he sat down and began to turn through it. I caught a momentary glimpse of the title page: the name of the book was Vampyrs. At length Pietro found the section he had sought, and he began to read the queer sentences aloud.
"The vrykolokas of Greek superstition," he read in his rich, scarcely accented voice, "is the undead body of some exceedingly vicious mortal. It lives not, yet is not dead, existing on fresh blood of hapless men. Unlike the true vampire, it is not shut within a coffin by day, but is then listless and inactive, especially if it has fed the night previous. Not like other vampires, the vrykolokas eats of the bodies of its victims when all blood is exhausted.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 16 May 23 | 07:41AM by Minicthulhu.

Minicthulhu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Today I read a short story THE AMULET FROM HELL
> (Weird Tales, 1935) by Robert Leonard Russell
> about a vampiric being from Greek superstition
> called "vrykolokas". I am not sure if it meets the
> crieteria but the monster definitely shares some
> conspicuous characteristics with classic vampires.
> Here is a part of the story in which one of the
> characters describes it:
>
> In a few minutes Jachini was back, carrying a
> small, black-bound volume. Without a word, he sat
> down and began to turn through it. I caught a
> momentary glimpse of the title page: the name of
> the book was Vampyrs. At length Pietro found the
> section he had sought, and he began to read the
> queer sentences aloud.
> "The vrykolokas of Greek superstition," he read in
> his rich, scarcely accented voice, "is the undead
> body of some exceedingly vicious mortal. It lives
> not, yet is not dead, existing on fresh blood of
> hapless men. Unlike the true vampire, it is not
> shut within a coffin by day, but is then listless
> and inactive, especially if it has fed the night
> previous. Not like other vampires, the vrykolokas
> eats of the bodies of its victims when all blood
> is exhausted.

Thank you, Minicthulhu. Nice find. Actual title is "The Amulet of Hell", and I found it on archive.org. I'd say it is definitely a corpse-creature, not only because of its mummified appearance, but also because the text twice classifies it as "undead". The text does distinguish it from the "true vampire", but this for reasons distinct from the criteria I have adopted for this thread.

The Vampire of Kaldenstein (1938) by Frederick Cowles.

[www.isfdb.org]

Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> The Vampire of Kaldenstein (1938) by Frederick
> Cowles.
>
> [www.isfdb.org]

Thank you. I enjoyed that one. Very derivative of the Jonathan Harker episode in Dracula, but fun nonetheless.

- "The Horror of Abbot's Grange" (1936) by Frederick Cowles

Seems to be part of a trend of vampires who haunt paintings, while still being in some sense from the grave. See also (IIRC) "The Picture in the Room", "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "The Room in the Tower", (IIRC) "The Oval Portrait". I'm not counting cases where non-magical paintings merely document the vampire's unnatural longevity, as in "Carmilla", "Varney the Vampire", and the horror soap opera "Dark Shadows".

The Picture Bedroom (1840) by Dalton.

Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> The Picture Bedroom (1840) by Dalton.


Thank you!
A very curious story that must be relevant to the history of the genre. I'm surprised it is not better known. I thought it was already on the list because I have discussed it somewhere. I guess not here.
IIRC, it never actually uses the word "vampire" by any spelling, which may be why it gets overlooked.


This was the story I was trying to remember in my previous post, that I misremembered as "The Picture in the Room".

I read it yesterday and enjoyed it, as I do most of the broad supernatural genre.

It has that narrative frame, which seemed to be a common device for supernatural stories. At first I was put off by the very clumsy dialog, but as soon as the tale proper began, I thought the style was good enough, but unskilled.

The tale certainly used the neck wounds device. So it was familiar with the vampire trope.

I was not sure of the details of the resolution with the fleshly corpse in the vault. I'm not sure it was believable even in the context of supernatural literature. There's no precedent that I'm aware of for shooting a portrait in the head, and later having the corporeal subject of the same portrait turn up dead near his own grave, giving the appearance of a normal human body of flesh and blood.

I suspect that the whole thing was a "confounded lie from beginning to end"...which would make the story a simple fireside tall tale, like with Dunsany's Jorkens tales, with no actual supernatural element.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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The Vampyre (1850) by Elizabeth Ellet.

Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> The Vampyre (1850) by Elizabeth Ellet.


Thank you for that one. I had not heard of it.