HGB Ep. 458 - The Legend of Vampires

Moment in Oddity - Floating Violin

I'm sure many of us have heard or used the phrase, "It's the world's smallest violin and it's playing just for you". This is typically said in lack of pity to someone's whining about this, that, or the other. The first pop culture reference was on the TV show M*A*S*H by Major Margaret Houlihan (AKA Hot Lips Houlihan). Now take that tiny violin and flip it on it's ear and imagine the world's LARGEST FLOATING violin. That violin would be named Noah's Violin. The violin was created by Venetian artist Livio De Marchi. The violin was not playable, however, it did host a stringed quartet aboard, playing Vivaldi as it motorboated down Venice's Grand Canal in September of 2021. De Marchi came up with the idea during Italy's lockdown and stated that it represented Venice restarting. Bringing a message of hope, artistically and culturally. Artistry can take so many different forms, but a giant violin watercraft, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - The Completion of Mount Rushmore

In the month of October, on the 31st, in 1941, Mount Rushmore National Monument was completed. In 1923, a South Dakota historian wanted to attract tourists to the state and decided that a sculpture in the Black Hills area may just fit the bill. The historian was Doane (like roan) Robinson and Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American sculptor was hired to help with the project. Borglum, along with his son, Lincoln, proposed that the sculpture be focused on the Nation and suggested four presidents should be carved. George Washington as the founding father of our nation, Thomas Jefferson for the signing of the Louisiana Purchase and the author the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln for leading the nation through the Civil War and preserving our country at any cost, and Theodore Roosevelt due to his representation of conservation and the industrial boom. The mountain chosen to be carved was known to the Lakota's as the "Six Grandfathers". The work began in 1927 and until completion, employed more than 400 men which consisted of mostly miners. They may not have been artists, but they knew how to use dynamite and jackhammers. Each president's face is 60 feet high. The original plan was to carve each president to their waist, however, when funds ran out, it was determined that the sculptures were complete on the 31st of October, 1941. Overall, the project cost $989,992.32 and took 14 years to finish.

The Legend of Vampires

Vampire-like creatures have been a part of folklore for centuries. Much of what we believe about vampires has come from fictional works, but is it possible that undead entities that subsist on blood are real? There are several historical figures that either have connections to vampire lore or are cited as possible vampires. Could anyone who consumes blood be considered a vampire?  Join us as we explore the origins of vampire lore and examine stories of reputed vampires!

The folklore surrounding vampirism dates back centuries and the initial vampire-like creatures were basically revenants. A revenant is a human corpse or the undead that rises from its grave. In most stories, the revenant is harmful to humans. Depending on the culture, a revenant can be either a spirit, a walking corpse or a demon. The etymology of the term "vampire" is hard to pin down and there are many theories. Some scholars claim it goes back to the Greek, others claim that it has a Hungarian origin. Balkan countries used words that translated as "wolf fairy." The word vampire was introduced in Germany in 1721. It entered the English lexicon in 1732 and the French in 1737. Where the term started really isn't as interesting as the actual subject. Why did cultures even start coming up with vampire lore?

The creation of these stories basically comes down to a lack of knowledge about disease and decay. The typical human corpse goes through a series of changes as it decomposes. Generally, we would not know about these changes unless we dug somebody up. And that is what they did, dug people up. And the reason this would be done was because someone in town got a wasting disease and villagers assumed that someone was taking the essence out of this person. Rumors would start that somebody had returned from the dead. The disinterred corpse would appear to still have growing hair and nails and blood would possibly be streaming from the mouth or nose. Internal decay causes bloating, forcing blood out of the body and that's why it would look like blood had flown out of a mouth. Nails and hair seemed to continue to grow because the skin would pull back as the body dried. And if the circumstances were right, a body might be preserved for a long period of time. 

Vampire superstition thrived in the Middle Ages, especially as the plague decimated entire towns. The disease often left behind bleeding mouth lesions on its victims, which to the uneducated was a sure sign of vampirism. It wasn’t uncommon for anyone with an unfamiliar physical or emotional illness to be labeled a vampire. Many researchers have pointed to porphyria, a blood disorder that can cause severe blisters on skin that’s exposed to sunlight, as a disease that may have been linked to the vampire legend. In the late 1800s, tuberculosis of the lungs was referred to as consumption because it took a while to kill its victims. They seemed to waste away as they coughed up blood. The ill would grow pale and stop eating. Eventually, they would look almost like what most people would assume a vampire would appear to look like. At one point, one out of four people were dying from the disease. Villagers were positive that a family of vampires was living in their midst. When did these stories start to be told? 

Surprisingly, the belief in vampire-like creatures was very prominent in Arabia. The earliest references found by archaeologists were on Chaldean and Assyrian tablets. Stories were found in Babylonian writing and vampires made it into Roman and Grecian works. Romans started adopting the cremating of bodies to ensure they wouldn't rise again. The Greeks and Romans spread their superstitions to Romania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, the British Isles and even Iceland. The first documented vampire hunt took place in 1345 in France. The aswang was a popular vampire-like creature in Asia starting in the 16th century. Chile had a blood-sucking snake known as a Peuchen. De Graecorum hodie quirundam Opinationabus was published in Greece in 1645 and was considered the first written text on the treatment of vampirism. The height of vampire fever hit Europe from the 1720s to the 1730s (so much for the Age of Enlightenment) and much of the well-known folklore comes out of 18th century Europe. Vampires made it into modern fiction with the publication of "The Vampyre" by the English writer John Polidori in 1819. Vampires got much of their start in America in New England in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

Much of what we have as our vampire lore was developed from Bram Stoker's "Dracula." This tome is really when vampires went from disgusting and horrific looking creatures to charismatic, good-looking and sensual. From the novel "Dracula," we get the following traits of vampires: They are immortal, have the strength of twenty men, they can take the form of an animal like a dog, bat or wolf, have no reflection in a mirror, can appear as a mist, holy water and crosses repel them, cast no shadow, they are pale with lips that can be a deep red depending on whether they have recently fed, they must sleep in dirt from their native land, they can't enter a home unless invited inside and they can change their victims into vampires. It is from the 1922 movie "Nosferatu" that we get the idea that a vampire can be destroyed by sunlight. These are considered the traditional characteristics. Some stories vary from this...you know, like sparkly vampires. The one core characteristic is the need for a vampire to consume blood. 

The story element that one can only become a vampire if they are bitten by a vampire is more of a recent idea. It was actually thought to be possible that one could be born a revenant. Folklorist Paul Barber, wrote in his 2008 book, "Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality" that centuries ago, "Often potential revenants can be identified at birth, usually by some abnormality, some defect, as when a child is born with teeth. Similarly suspicious are children born with an extra nipple (in Romania, for example); with a lack of cartilage in the nose, or a split lower lip (in Russia) … When a child is born with a red caul, or amniotic membrane, covering its head, this was regarded throughout much of Europe as presumptive evidence that it is destined to return from the dead."

There were many superstitious practices taken up after a person died to prevent them from rising from the grave and attacking people. We already mentioned cremation. Sometimes a large stone was crammed in the mouth of the corpse before being buried, so that if the person did rise, they couldn't feed on anybody. In some places, a long nail was driven through the skull of the corpse and other places drove a stake not only into the body, but all the way through to the ground, so they would be pinned down. White thorn or ash wood was popular for making stakes. Iron stakes were also used. An interesting touch at some burials was to plant a thorny wild rose-bush near the body or at least put the stem from such o plant on the body, so that if the body tried to rise, the burial shroud would get entangled and trap the undead person. A corpse's arms might be crossed or a crucifix placed over the body to help prevent re-animation. Burial at four cross-roads was also thought to work. The strangest thing we read was that a corpse could be rubbed with the lard of a pig killed on St. Ignatius' Day to prevent vampirism.

Jure Grando Alilovic

The first historical person to be described as a vampire in records is believed to be Jure Grando Alilović who lived from 1579 to 1656. He lived in what is today Croatia. Jure Grando was called a štrigun, which was something akin to a vampire and a warlock. The legend claims that he died from an illness in 1656 and then rose from the grave every night for many years, terrorizing the people of the town of Kringa. There would be a knock on the door of a house in the village and someone from that house would die shortly thereafter. A priest in the town, Father Giorgio, claimed to come face to face with the vampire and said he held out a cross in front of the vampire and yelled "Behold Jesus Christ, you vampire! Stop tormenting us!" In 1672, the corpse of Jure was dug up and found to be perfectly preserved with a smile on his face. The group of villagers tried to pierce the chest with a hawthorne stick, but it didn't penetrate. They then sawed the head off. The vampire screamed through the process. The region was no longer terrorized.

Vlad the Impaler

Vlad Tepes (Tse-pesh) was also known as Vlad Dracul and he was born in Transylvania, Romania and ruled Walachia, Romania at different times from 1456-1462. Depending on who is telling his story, he was either a hero or a sadistic tyrant who was very cruel. He did fight off the Ottoman Empire for his people. Vlad is most known for his favoring of impaling his enemies, giving him the nickname Vlad the Impaler. Many scholars believe that Bram Stoker named Count Dracula in his novel "Dracula" after Vlad Dracul. The name Dracul comes from the Romanian word for dragon because Vlad II was inducted into the knightly Order of the Dragon. Stories about Vlad claim that he dined among his dying victims and even dipped his bread in their blood. Eighty thousand people were said to have been killed by Vlad. It makes sense that his barbaric reputation would inspire the character of Count Dracula. But he was not a vampire.

Mercy Brown

Mercy Brown was nineteen when she contracted the "galloping" variety of tuberculosis. This meant that the disease moved swiftly. Mercy passed away on January 17, 1892. Her body was placed in a stone crypt awaiting the spring thaw to be buried. Her brother Edwin also had tuberculosis and as his symptoms got worse, the people of the town started blaming a vampire for the Brown family's woes. They were certain that the vampire was living inside one of the Brown graves. This belief was held in more than just the town of Exeter. At least 80 burials have been found in recent years that appear to exhibit signs that people had been exhumed and their bodies desecrated in some way as to stop them from rising from their graves. The patriarch of the family, George Brown, grew desperate as his son became sicker and he started to believe that perhaps the neighbors were right and a vampire was stalking his family. It was decided that they needed to exhume his family members and find out which of them was the vampire. George and Doctor Harold Metcalf exhumed the bodies of George's wife and one of his daughters on March 17, 1892. They were both already skeletal. They next exhumed Mercy's body and it was still fully intact because she had been placed in the cool crypt and it was winter. Decomposition had not really begun. The two men also believe that they found fresh blood on her body. Mercy Brown was the vampire! Mercy's body was cut open and when her organs were found to still be full of blood, everyone was certain that the ritual they were about to embark upon was right. Mercy's heart was removed and burned. The ashes were collected and mixed with water so that Edwin could drink the concoction. It was believed that this would cure Edwin of the vampire attacks and break the spell. Edwin was obviously not cured. Historically, it is recorded that Mercy Brown was the last vampire exhumation.

The Carter Brothers

When taking a Vampire Tour in New Orleans, you will most definitely hear the story of the Carter Brothers. John and Wayne Carter lived in a house in the French Quarter. They kidnapped people, tied them to chairs in their house, slit their wrists open catching the blood in cups and then they drank the blood. They wouldn't completely drain their victims at once. They would leave the home before sunrise and return after dark. They would reopen the wounds at the wrists of their victims and drink the blood. They never did anything to care for their victims, like giving them food or water. They would just let them slowly die. No one knew this was happening until one of their victims managed to escape while the Carter Brothers were gone during the day. This was in 1932 and the victim was a young girl. She ran down Royal Street until she found a police officer. She told him her story and showed him her wrists, but he was skeptical because the story sounded so far-fetched. He did gather a group of officers and they visited the house where they were shocked to find four other victims. They were half dead and tied to chairs with bloody bandaged wrists. Two dead victims were also found wrapped in blankets. The brothers were arrested and they begged to be put to death because they believed they were vampires and couldn't stop what they were doing. They were tried, convicted and executed. Legend claims that when the vault where their bodies were placed was opened a year and a day later, there were no remains. There are actually no records of the Carter Brothers, either in the city or police records. Did they ever exist? There are some who claim that they see the Carter Brothers occasionally in the city. Many times they are reported standing on the second-floor balcony of the home where they used to live. Both thin and smartly dressed.

Let's look at some historical accounts of vampire-like activity. There was a castle in the north of England, where the vampire so frightened all the people that no one ever ventured out of doors between sunset and sunrise. The sons of one of his supposed victims at length opened his grave and pierced his body, from which a great quantity of blood immediately flowed, which plainly proved that a large number of persons had been his victims. In vol. iii. of Borderland by occultist Dr Franz Hartmann he shared a couple of narratives, "A young lady of G—— had an admirer, who asked her in marriage; but as he was a drunkard she refused and married another. Thereupon the lover shot himself, and soon after that event a vampire, assuming his form, visited her frequently at night, especially when her husband was absent. She could not see him, but felt his presence in a way that could leave no room for doubt. The medical faculty did not know what to make of the case; they called it ‘hysterics,’ and tried in vain every remedy in the pharmacopœia, until she at last had the spirit exorcised by a man of strong faith. 

Another case is that of a miller at D—— who had a healthy servant boy, who soon after entering his service began to fail in health. He had a ravenous appetite, but nevertheless grew daily more feeble. Being interrogated, he at last confessed that a thing which he could not see, but which he could plainly feel, came to him every night and sat upon his stomach, drawing all the life out of him, so that he became paralysed for the time being and could neither move nor cry out. Thereupon the miller agreed to share the bed with the boy, and proposed to him that he should give him a certain sign when the vampire arrived. This was done, and when the sign was given the miller grasped the invisible but very tangible substance that rested upon the boy’s stomach, and although it struggled to escape, he grasped it firmly and threw it into the fire. After that the boy recovered his health and there was no repetition of the vampire’s visits."

Dr. Hartmann also contributed the following story to the Occult Review for September 1909, under the title of An Authenticated Vampire Story, "On June 10th, 1909, there appeared in a prominent Vienna paper (the Neues Wiener Journal) a notice saying that the castle of B—— had been burned by the populace, because there was a great mortality among the peasant children, and it was generally believed that this was due to the invasion of a vampire, supposed to be the last Count B——, who died and acquired that reputation. The castle was situated in a wild and desolate part of the Carpathian Mountains, and was formerly a fortification against the Turks. It was not inhabited, owing to its being believed[68] to be in the possession of ghosts; only a wing of it was used as a dwelling for the caretaker and his wife. Now it so happened that, when I read the above notice, I was sitting in a coffee-house at Vienna in company with an old friend of mine who is an experienced occultist and editor of a well-known journal, and who had spent several months in the neighbourhood of the castle. From him I obtained the following account, and it appears that the vampire in question was probably not the old Count, but his beautiful daughter, the Countess Elga, whose photograph, taken from the original painting, I obtained. My friend said: ‘Two years ago I was living at Hermannstadt, and being engaged in engineering a road through the hills, I often came within the vicinity of the old castle, where I made the acquaintance of the old castellan, or caretaker, and his wife, who occupied a part of the wing of the house, almost separate from the main body of the building. They were a quiet old couple and rather reticent in giving information or expressing an opinion in regard to the strange noises which were often heard at night in the deserted halls,[69] or of the apparitions which the Wallachian peasants claimed to have seen when they loitered in the surroundings after dark. All I could gather was that the old Count was a widower and had a beautiful daughter, who was one day killed by a fall from her horse, and that soon after the old man died in some mysterious manner, and the bodies were buried in a solitary graveyard belonging to a neighbouring village. Not long after their death an unusual mortality was noticed among the inhabitants of the village: several children and even some grown people died without any apparent illness; they merely wasted away; and thus a rumour was started that the old Count had become a vampire after his death. There is no doubt that he was not a saint, as he was addicted to drinking, and some shocking tales were in circulation about his conduct and that of his daughter; but whether there was any truth in them, I am not in a position to say."

This is a story from Crete, "Once upon a time the village of Kalikráti, in the district of Sfakia, was haunted by a Katakhanás (Which is the term for vampire there), and the people did not know what man he was or from what part he came. This Katakhanás destroyed both children and full-grown men, and desolated both that village and many others. They had buried him at the church of St George at Kalikráti, and in those times he was regarded as a man of note, and they had built an arch over his grave." So this shepherd comes along and seeks shelter from a storm where this vampire was buried and he and the vampire actually strike up a bit of a friendship that evening, but after the vampire returns from killing people and brings the shepherd a liver, the shepherd "lost no time, but gave information to the priests and others, and they went to the tomb, and there they found the Katakhanás, just as he had been buried. And all people became satisfied that it was he who had done all the evil deeds. On this account they collected a great deal of wood, and they cast him on it, and burnt him. His gossip was not present, but when the Katakhanás was already half-consumed, he, too, came forward in order that he might enjoy the ceremony. And the Katakhanás cast, as it were, a single spot of blood, and it fell on his foot, which wasted away, as if it had been roasted on a fire. On this account they sifted even the ashes, and found the little finger nail of the Katakhanás unburnt, and burnt it too."

At the beginning of the eighteenth century several vampire investigations were held at the instigation of the Bishop of Olmutz. The village of Liebava was particularly infested, and a Hungarian placed himself on the top of the church tower and just before midnight saw a well-known vampire issue from his tomb, and, leaving his winding-sheet behind him, proceed on his rounds. The Hungarian descended from the tower and took away the sheet and ascended the tower again. When the vampire[87] returned he flew into a great fury because of the absence of the sheet. The Hungarian called to him to come up to the tower and fetch it. The vampire mounted the ladder, but just before he reached the top the Hungarian gave him a blow on the head which threw him down to the churchyard. His assailant then descended, cut off the vampire’s head with a hatchet, and from that time the vampire was no more heard of.

These are reports from a cemetery in Bulgaria, "1. A woman of the name of Stana, twenty years of age, who had died three months before, of a three days’ illness following her confinement. She had before[103] her death avowed that she had anointed herself with the blood of a vampire, to liberate herself from his persecution. Nevertheless she had died. Her body was entirely free from decomposition. On opening it the chest was found filled with recently effused blood, and the bowels had exactly the appearance of sound health. The skin and nails of her hands and feet were loose and came off, but underneath were new skin and nails.

2. A woman of the name of Miliza, who had died at the end of a three months’ illness. The body had been buried ninety and odd days. In the chest was liquid blood. The viscera were as in the former instance. The body was declared by a heyduk, who recognised it, to be in better condition and fatter than it had been in the woman’s legitimate lifetime.

3. The body of a child eight years old, that had likewise been buried ninety days; it was in the vampire condition.

4. The son of a heyduk, named Milloc, sixteen years old. The body had lain in the grave nine weeks. He had died after three days’ indisposition, and was in the condition of a vampire.

5. Joachim, likewise the son of a heyduk, seventeen years old. He had died after three days’ illness; had been buried eight weeks and some days; was found in the vampire state.

6. A man of the name of Rusha, who had died of an illness of ten days’ duration and had been six weeks buried, in whom likewise fresh blood was found in the chest.

7. The body of a girl ten years of age who had died two months before. It was likewise in the vampire state, perfectly undecomposed, with blood in the chest.

8. The body of the wife of one Hadnuck, buried seven weeks before; and that of her infant eight weeks old, buried only twenty-one days. They were both in a state of decomposition, though buried in the same ground and closely adjoining the others.

9. A servant, by name Rhade, twenty-three years of age; he had died after an illness of three months’ duration, and the body had been buried five weeks. It was in a state of decomposition.

10. The body of the heyduk Stanco, sixty years of age, who had died six weeks previously. There was much blood and other fluid in the chest and abdomen, and the body was in a vampire condition.

11. Millac, a heyduk, twenty-five years old. The body had been in the earth six weeks. It was also in the vampire condition.

12. Stanjoika, the wife of a heyduk, twenty years old; had died after an illness of three days, and had been buried eighteen. The countenance was florid. There was blood in the chest and in the heart. The viscera were perfectly sound, the skin remarkably flush."

Marita Woywod Crandle owns the Boutique du Vampyre shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans. We loved the shop and while there, we picked up her book "New Orleans Vampires History and Legend" and in there, she shares a story about a visitor to her shop that unnerved her and almost convinced her that vampires may actually exist.

So are there such things as vampires? We guess the answer to this question depends upon the definition used to describe a vampire. If it simply is someone who drinks blood, then the answer is a clear "yes." There are many modern-day Sanguinarians who are vampire lifestylers. These are people involved in consensual relationships with people willing to have their blood drank. There are also spiritual vampires. These are people who drain others of their energy. We've all met a couple of these people. But what about the traditional vampire? The creature that is undead and must drink blood to continue forward. Are they real? Do they exist? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 374 - The Legend of the Count of St. Germain

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Moment in Oddity - The Iceman Curse

Two German hikers discovered a well-preserved human mummy in the Ötztal Alps in September of 1991. This was on the border of Italy and Austria and was the oldest mummy ever found in Europe. Evidence revealed that the Iceman had met with a violent end. He was shot with an arrow and then his head was crushed. Scientists believed that he was a shaman who had been killed by his enemies. Perhaps that is why there are claims that the Iceman is cursed. Seven people who were connected with the discovery died in the thirteen months that followed. Some of those deaths were violent or odd themselves. Rainer Henn was the first to die. He worked as a forensic pathologist and he put the Iceman in a body bag with his bare hands. On his way to do a presentation on the Iceman, he was killed in a car crash. The guide who lead Henn to the body was next. An avalanche got him. The man who filmed the recovery was the third to die and this was from a brain tumor. One of the hikers who discovered the mummy went missing in 2004 and when he was found he was at the bottom of a 300 foot cliff, face down in a stream. A man on that rescue team dropped dead of a heart attack after the hiker's funeral. The next victim proclaimed the curse a bunch of rubbish and said, "The next thing you will be saying I will be next." And he was. The final victim initially got sick in 1992 right after he started working with the Iceman, eventually dying in 2005. Having all these deaths occur in connection with discovering the Iceman, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Mary, Queen of Scots Beheaded

In the month of February, on the 8th, in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay, England. Mary Stuart had been born in 1542 and was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland. She accended to the throne when she was only six days old because her father died. She would reign over Scotland from December 14, 1542 to July 24, 1567. She grew up in France and married Dauphin of France, Francis. He died in 1560 and she went to Scotland where she married her half-cousin and became Mary Stuart. They had a son named James.This new husband was nurdered two years into the marriage and Mary then married James Hepburn whom it was thought helped plan the murder. The country rose up against the couple and Mary was thrown into Loch Leven Castle and imprisoned. She abdicated the throne to her son and fled to England for protection under her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. The Queen of England thought that Mary was actually coming to take the throne, so she had her imprisoned. Over the next 19 years, she was moved from manor house to castle to manor house. During the Protestant Reformation in England, Mary got caught up in the events surrounding that and she was charged with complicity in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth. She was sentenced to die, but her legend continues as one of the most complicated characters in British and European history.

Legend of the Count of St. Germain (Research Assistance from Scott Booker, Suggested by Abby Richmond)

One legendary person in history that has been fascinating to us is the Count of St. Germain. This was a man who not only claimed to be hundreds of years old, seemingly finding the secret to eternal youth via alchemy, but sightings and stories about him throughout the centuries seem to indicate that he may have been telling the truth. Who was this man? Was he even a Count? Could he have been a time traveler? Was he a vampire and that is why he never seemed to age? Join us as we explore the legend of the Count of St. Germain.

The Comte de Saint Germain went by many aliases and has been known as several men through the centuries. There was the Marquis de Montferrat, Comte Bellamarre, Chevalier Schoening, Count Weldon, Comte Soltikoff, Graf Tzarogy, Prinz Ragoczy, Marcus S. Garmin, Master “R” and Jacque St. Germain. Regardless of what name he was introducing himself by, he was always described with similar traits as a man with a head full of black hair, appearing to be around thirty years old, handsome, robust and of medium height with barely a wrinkle on his face. The Count was rich and dressed elegantly and knew how to throw a party. The Fourth Earl of Oxford, Horace Walpole, wrote to his friend Horace Mann about the Count, "An odd man, who goes by the name of Comte St. Germain. He had been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes that he does not go by his right name. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople, a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain."

Historians disagree as to the biography of the Count of St. Germain with good reason. There seem to be no definitive records about him and he refused to give his true name. Most historians agree that he was born in the late 1600s. Biographer and Theosophist Isabel Cooper-Oakly reported in her book, "The Comte de St. Germain, the Secret of Kings" that he was born the son of the Prince of Transylvania, Francz-Leopold Racoczi, and his wife, Princess Charlotte Amalia of Hesse-Wahnfried, in the late 1690s. She claimed that he was probably born in Bohemia. His parents were unable to raise him because the political environment was becoming dangerous and he was sent to Gian Gastone, who was the last of the Medici Family, to be raised. This was his mother's brother-in-law. Under the care of Gastone, the Count would receive a great education. But there are those who disagree with this origin story.

Some historians claim that his father was Comte Adanero and his mother was Marie de Neubourg, the  widow of King Charles II of Spain. Others believe that he had been a Portugese Jew. P.T. Barnum wrote "The Humbugs of the World" in 1886 and in it he related about the Count, "The Marquis de Crequy declared that St. Germain was an Alsatian Jew, Simon Wolff by name, and was born at Strasbourg about the close of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century; others insist that he was a Spanish Jesuit named Aymar; and others again intimate that his true title was the Marquis de Betmar, and that he was a native of Portugal. The most plausible theory, however, makes him the natural son of an Italian princess and fixes his birth at San Germano, in Savoy, about the year 1710; his ostensible father being one Rotondo, a tax-collector of that district."

The Count spoke so many languages, it was as if he was from everywhere. These languages included: French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and English. As part of his education, he he also was experienced with Chinese, Latin, Arabic, Greek and Sanskrit. The Count was accomplished in so many ways. One area was music and many pieces of music are attributed to the Count, It is said that he contributed some of the songs to L'incostanza delusa, an opera performed at the Haymarket Theatre in London. The Count was an artist with a gift for painting. And he could write, but no one knows for sure if works attributed to him really were written by him. One of these would be La Très Sainte Trinosophie, The Most Holy Trinosophia, or The Most Holy Threefold Wisdom. This was a French esoteric book. There are those who claim the Count authored it, but others give Alessandro Cagliostro credit for the work. The only reason this has been connected to the Count is that there was a handwritten note on the inside cover of the original manuscript claiming that it belonged to St. Germain. The material could be his as well as we will soon discuss his interest and seeming expertise in alchemy, the esoteric and the mystical. This 96-page book written in the late 18th century is divided into twelve sections representing the twelve Zodiac signs and inside is information about masonic, kabbalistic and alchemical mysteries. Another tome attributed to him was the The Triangular Book of St. Germain or The Triangular Manuscript. This was an untitled 18th-century French text written in code and the book is literally shaped like an equilateral triangle, hence the name. The contents feature information on how to extend life and find treasure via magic. One has to decipher the code to uncover that.

Everywhere the Count went, people loved him. They wanted to be a part of his circle and attend his parties. He traveled extensively throughout Europe in the mid to late 1700s. He mesmerized people with his knowledge of jewels and since he was rich, he made jewelry a big part of his dress. He even studded his shoes with jewels. He claimed he could grow pearls to large sizes. He had perfected a technique for painting jewels and developed a special pigment that could reflect light and make jewels gleam in such a way that they were life-like. His knowledge with jewels is traced to five years that he spent in the Shah of Persia's court in the mid 1700s where he learned the jeweler’s craft. And we should mention that although the Count was famously rich, he held no bank accounts anywhere. As a matter of fact, a French ambassador in London wrote that the Count had to be a spy because "...he has cut a fine figure here, receiving great sums and settling all bills with such promptitude that it has never been necessary to remind him. Nobody can imagine how a man who was simply a gentleman could dispose of such vast resources, unless he were employed as a spy." Although he clearly would have been a catch for any woman, he never married or had any children. 

The Count was friends with many well known people like Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, who said of St. Germain, "This extraordinary man...would say in an easy, assured manner that he was 300 years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds... all this, he said, was mere trifle to him." Madame d’Adhemar wrote "Souvenirs de la Marie Antoinette," which was published in 1836, and in it she wrote that her maid once quipped about the Count, "I thought, with all due respect to Madame la Comtesse, that the devil had long since made a mantle out of the skin of this personage." St. Germain knew King Louis XV of France and his wife Marie Antoinette and advised the king and conducted secret missions for him in England. He also seemed to be able to see into the future and he told the King that the French Revolution would be coming. This was fifteen years before it actually did happen. King Louis's chief mistress, Marquise de Pompadour, was friends with the Count as well and he visited her in 1750. The Count knew Catherine The Great and is said to have played a part in the conspiracy to get her on the throne and he advised her on the war with Turkey. He knew the philosopher and writer Voltaire whom he met in 1758, and while Voltaire found him entertaining, he thought the Count talked far too much. The last five years of his life were spent at Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel's castle in Eckernförde. The co-founder of the Theosophical Society, Madame Blavatsky, met with the Count many times in the 1890s, clearly after he should have been dead. And even more remarkably, he claimed to have had conversations with the Queen of Sheba and Cleopatra.

The pieces of the Count's life that are very interesting to us are those that deal with the occult and his abilities with alchemy, which is a mixing of chemistry and philosophy to transmute baser metals into gold and find the elixir of life. Legend claims he discovered the true secret of Alchemy. He developed some kind of powder that turned lead into pure silver or gold when either of these metals was heated to its molten form and the powder was added to it. This same powder was also the key ingredient in his elixir of life and legend also claims this would impart immortality on those who drank it. Legend claims he could turn rocks into precious stones, take imperfections out of diamonds and even fashion diamonds out of thin air.

President of the Theosophical Society, Annie Besant, wrote in the Foreward of Cooper-Oakly's book, "The great Occultist and Brother of the White Lodge, fragments of whose life are herein given, was the greatest force behind in the intellectual reforming movement which received its deathblow in the outbreak of the French revolution.  Phoenix-like, it has re-arisen, and it reappeared in the 19th Century as the Theosophical Society, of which this Great Brother is one of the recognized leaders.  Still living in the same body the perennial youth of which astonished the observers of the 18th-century, He has fulfilled the prophecy made to Mme. d 'Adhémar that he would show himself again a century after his farewell to her, and, in the growing spiritual movement which is seen around us on every side, He will be one of the acknowledged Chiefs. Profoundly interesting, therefore, must be every detail that can be gathered of His eighteenth century life, and much is gathered here."

Annie is sharing here about the Masonic background of the Count. He was also believed to have connections to several other secret societies, including the Rosicrucians, Society of Asiatic Brothers, the Knights of Light, the Illuminati and Order of the Templars. Perhaps it was through the rituals of these groups that he perfected his special magic. The Count was so dedicated to his alchemy pursuits that he would set up elaborate laboratories wherever he traveled. He didn't just work on life elixirs and precious metals though. He made cosmetics, anti-aging cremes and hair-dyes. And many times his dyes were used for clothing as well.

One key indicator that someone has lived is the existence of a burial. Of course, that also indicates that the person died. The Count was reportedly buried on March 2, 1784 in a private grave at Nicolai Church at Nikolaikirchen in Eckernforde. The stone was rumored to read, "Deceased on February 27th, buried on March 2nd, 1784. The so-called Comte de St Germain and Weldon. Further information not known." A great storm destroyed the church on November 13, 1872 and all the indoor tombs were filled with sand. Most of the large tombstones were removed leaving the location of his body unknown. Which also leads people to believe that he is not buried in the church. No one had attended the funeral of this clearly well-known and liked man. He had nothing of value to his name at the time of his death save for some clothing and toiletries. Of course, the main reason we are talking about the Count is that many people believe he couldn't die, either because he had discovered an elixir that kept him young or he was a vampire. Reasons why people have believed that the Count had lived for centuries are the stories of him attending many key events in history. Granted, many of these are stories he told himself.

The Count claimed to witness Jesus change water into wine at the wedding of Cana. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 325 AD and St. Germain claimed he was present at that. The Count claimed that in 600 BC he received the Staff of Moses from one of Moses’ Great Grandson. This was the time of Cyrus in Babylon. St. Germain claimed that he had rooms at the Tower of London under King Edward II’s rule between 1307 and 1327. He also claimed to have spent time studying Speculative Chemistry with Francis I from 1501 to 1540. The Count was seen at the Coup D’état when Napoleon Bonaparte overtook the French Consulate in 1799. In 1821, he seems to disappear from history and this is when legends claim he started using aliases.

Around this time, Albert Vandam, who was an English journalist wrote about a man he met named Major Fraser, "He called himself Major Fraser, lived alone and never alluded to his family. Moreover he was lavish with money, though the source of his fortune remained a mystery to everyone. He possessed a marvelous knowledge of all the countries in Europe at all periods. His memory was absolutely incredible and, curiously enough, he often gave his hearers to understand that he had acquired his learning elsewhere than from books. Many is the time he has told me, with a strange smile, that he was certain he had known Nero, had spoken with Dante, and so on." Vandam said the man looked just like pictures he had seen of the Count of St. Germain. Major Fraser eventually died with no family. His possessions were sold and given to the poor. If he died, then he probably was not the Count. Jessie at the Finding Count Germain website, posted a possible obituary for Major Fraser.

Napoleon was suspicious of the Count, so he had people start investigating him. This started in 1870 and this special commission stored the information that it collected at the Hotel de Ville. The investigation ended in 1871 when the hotel burned down. The cause of the fire was a mystery.As mentioned earlier, Madame Blavatsky met the man in 1890 and the two stayed in contact for ten years. How would that be possible? At this point, he would be 200 years old. There is supposedly a photo that was taken of the two of them together, but we haven't seen it. In the 1920s and 1930s he appeared to other people and in 1972 he made his final appearance. A man named Richard Chanfray came forward and claimed that he was the Count. When he was pressured to prove it, he went on French television and changed lead into gold using a camp stove while the cameras rolled. He committed suicide in 1983. Chanfray did favor the count. He had a similar nose structure and the same cleft in his chin. But the similarities stop there. Chanfray had a clear biography of being born and growing up, becoming a thief and spending time in jail and he seemed to have none of the other talents of the Count. He read about the man and then became a magician and psychic after getting out of jail. Just before joining into a suicide pact with his lover, he was seen in public looking very thin with white hair. Actor Kevin Pollack favors the Count a bit too, but well, if everything we've heard about the Count is true, Pollack is definitely nothing more than a doppelganger for the famous Count.

As open-minded skeptics, of course we need to look at theories as to how the Count of St. Germain came to be known by all of us as this strange figure in history. Passports have been around a long time and early on, these passports were blank so that people could travel under assumed names. Is it possible that various people claimed to be him as they traveled? It's not like they had magazines and televisions back then, so some people would not have known what he looked like. The English mime and comedian, Mi'Lord Gower, often impersonated Saint Germain in Paris and he would tell wild stories of his exploits like he had been an adviser to Jesus. Magicians would claim to be the count as they traveled around performing. Teachings in the I Am Movement by Guy Ballard and Summit Lighthouse, that were run by Mark and Elizabeth Prophet, claim The Count Of Saint Germain as an Ascended Master. Elizabeth wrote many things as she claimed to be channeling the Count. The Ascended Masters, known in the East as Bodhisattvas, were once human beings on the Earth. These teachings lead people to believe he was reincarnated over and over until he reached ascendancy. 

A more fun theory would be that he had figured out how to time travel. It would explain his ability to provide such great advise to kings and other nobles. Time traveling would explain how he has been seen through various decades and always appearing to be around 45 years old. We've never heard anybody put forward the idea that he was a spirit, but couldn't that be a possibility as well? Some believe the Count was a vampire for several reasons. As we said, the Count loved to host parties, but one curious thing that people noticed about him was that he rarely ate at the parties. As a matter of fact, he was rarely seen eating food in public. When asked about this, the Count would respond that he so enjoyed regaling guests with stories that he didn't have time to eat. When asked what kinds of foods he liked to eat, the Count would answer oatmeal and white chicken meat. In 1760, the Count met Countess van Georgy and when he introduced himself she said she knew of a man named Count of Saint-Germain in the year 1710. Imagine her shock when he claimed to be that man. She then said that would make him around 100 years old and he responded, "That is not impossible."

Diane first heard this theory of the Count as a vampire on a vampire tour in New Orleans. The tour group stood outside of a two story building in the French Quarter with red double doors at 1039 Royal Street as the guide shared the story about a man who claimed to be named Jacque St. Germain who arrived here in 1903. He was a handsome, rich, eccentric man who liked the ladies. Whenever he strolled the streets of New Orleans, he had a pretty girl on his arm. And like the Count, he loved to throw a good party and his affairs were always lavish with the finest food and drink. He too, regaled his guests with fantastical tales of his exploits and travels. All while not eating a bite of food. Guests noticed that his stories had intricate details that would not be known to most people. And some events he spoke of happened hundreds of years in the past. And he almost seemed to indicate that he had been at the events. But that couldn't be possible.

Jacque also looked very much like the Count. Shortly after arriving in Louisiana, he started claiming that he looked similar to the man because he was a direct descendant. People were skeptical, but the picture that they had seen of the Count favored their new friend and he looked to be about forty years old. When people started to wonder if he was not just related to the Count of St. Germain, but actually might be the mysterious man, Jacque didn't discourage them. He would not confirm or deny the suspicions. Another odd thing about the man was that he clearly was very wealthy and yet he didn't seem to have the accouterments of other wealthy people like servants and monogrammed silverware. Most wealthy people in the city made a point of flaunting their wealth through highly decorated and monogrammed utensils. Jacque would pay to have his parties catered and this would include renting the fine china and silver service.

Some people started wondering if Jacque were a vampire. He never ate any food and perhaps that is why he didn't have utensils. He didn't need them. And what was that red stuff he drank from a goblet? Was it wine or something else? Jacque had been in the city for several months when a horrible event would force him to flee the city and leave New Orleans with another legend about a vampire. Jacque had brought a beautiful young lady of the evening home with him. He offered her some wine and excused himself to get comfortable. She stood in the main room where a large mirror hung on the wall and admired herself, taking great pleasure in watching herself drink from the wine glass. She heard Jacque come back into the room and before she could turn to him, she felt his lips graze her neck. The woman dipped her head back, enjoying the attention, until she felt his teeth against her neck and then he was biting her neck, his teeth digging in. She glanced into the mirror and swore she could not see Jacque's reflection. The terrified girl managed to rip herself away and she ran for a set of double doors on the upper balcony, burst through them and jumped to the street below, breaking both her legs.

Bystanders stopped to help the poor woman who was horribly injured and losing blood fast. They called for the police and then listened as she screamed erratically about having been attacked by a vampire. They thought she was delusional because of her injury. She was taken to the hospital and died later that evening. The police paid a visit to Jacque St. Germain. He was a well-respected man and seemed quite upset that the young lady had been hurt and he claimed there was a misunderstanding, so the police told him that it would be fine if he came by the police station in the morning to do an interview. He, of course, didn't show. When the police went to his house, they found him gone, but he had left nearly all his belongings. He was never seen or heard from again. While the police inspected his house, they found a bunch of uncorked wine bottles. A few had wine, but most were filled with blood, what they assumed to be human blood. People started referring to him as Vampire Jack.

Was the Count hundreds or even thousands of years old? Did he have some kind of ancient wisdom and did his practice of the lost arts lead him to create the elixir of life. He was one of the most interesting men to have ever lived. Does he still live? That is for your to decide!

Show Notes:

The Comte de St. Germain, The Secret of Kings by Isabel Cooper-Oakley: http://bit.ly/2imh7OD

Great blog: http://www.findingcountstgermain.com/ 

Marita Woywod Crandle's book: "New Orleans Vampires, History and Legend," published 2017 by Haunted America.

HGB Podcast, Ep. 78 - Legend of Mercy Brown

Moment in Oddity - The Legend of Catherine's Hill

On the Black Woods Road of Maine originates the tale of a female spectre. When the sun is setting and fog rolls in, many people claim to see the spirit of a decapitated woman named Catherine stalking the road between Franklin and Cherryfield on Route 182. The story of how Catherine lost her head involves a car accident. Or possibly a carriage accident. You see, the legend of Catherine's Hill has many different tellings depending on the decade and the storyteller. People are warned to respect the space where the spectre is seen and are directed to not take anything home with them. If a passerby should see Catherine on the side of the road, they must attempt to pick her up or she will curse them. It is said that one young man sped past the apparition and when he looked in his rearview mirror, he saw Catherine sitting in his back seat. He ended up crashing his car and dying. How do people know he saw Catherine? Well, that is what legends are all about after all. Many people claim to feel a presence and one TV reporter who visited the area for a story remarked that something was pressed against her back the whole time. Now that certainly is odd.

This Day in History - The Charge of the Light Brigade

On this day, October 25th, in 1854, the Charge of the Light Brigade occured during the Crimea War. Many people are probably familiar with the Lord Tennyson poem about the Charge of the Light Brigade. The third stanza gives all the horrible details:

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

The Light Brigade was a British Calvary made up of the 13th Light Dragoons, 4th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, 8th Hussars and 11th Hussars. They were facing Russian forces. And unfortunately, in the fog of war, orders were either miscommunicated or misunderstood and the Light Brigade, which was suppose to pursue a retreating Russian artillery, instead went for a frontal assault on a different Russian artillery that was well positioned and much larger. As the poem describes, the small force was surrounded and shot at from all sides. The casualties were high and the small division was forced to retreat. While historians have argued for decades about what really happened, there is no doubt among any of them that the Light Brigade showed true valor in facing an obvious outcome.

Legend of Mercy Brown  (Research Assistant: Lianna Sapien)

Most people assume the lore of vampires that originated in Europe, stayed in that area, but there was a time when America was embroiled in the middle of a vampire craze in New England. It was the 1800s and the dreaded consumption was wreaking havoc. Many families lost several of their members. One of those families was the Brown family. It was the death of one of their daughters that started the Legend of Mercy Brown. Were there really vampires in America and was Mercy one of them? Join us as we investigate the history of this craze and a young woman named Mercy Brown.

A few podcasts ago, we covered the Salem Witch Trials. New England was swept up in a craze about witches during that time and it would seem that superstitions still ran high in this area, even after it was apparent that what happened in Salem and other parts of New England was terribly wrong. In the late 1800s, tuberculosis started running rampant throughout the area. The Brown family lived in Exeter, Rhode Island. Exeter was sparsly populated and the Civil War had decimated the town's numbers. Soon something else would lower the population even more. The Brown family consisted of George, his wife Mary Eliza and their children. George was a farmer and well respected, so it was tragic when his wife Mary took ill. By 1883 she had died and eldest daughter Mary Olive was sick. She died seven months after her mother.

At the time, tuberculosis of the lungs was referred to as consumption because it took a while to kill its victims. They seemed to waste away as they coughed up blood. The ill would grow pale and stop eating. Eventually, they would look almost like what most people would assume a vampire would appear to look like. One out of four people were dying from the disease. Rumors and superstitions instilled fear that perhaps something other than disease was happening here. And when one family seemed to have more deaths than others, town folk wondered if perhaps a family of vampires was living in their midst. A few years passed and life went back to normal for the remaining members of the Brown family. Everyone was happy and healthy until George’s son Edwin took ill. Knowing what the disease could possibly do to Edwin, George rushed his son to a doctor who recommended sending Edwin to Colorado Springs in the hopes that the mineral water would cure Edwin’s affliction. The climate of Colorado was believed to help cure people with tuberculosis as well. He improved and returned home only to find that his sister Mercy Elena had taken ill.

Mercy was ninteen, but youth was not on her side. She had contracted what had been termed the "galloping" variety of tuberculosis. This meant that the disease moved swiftly. Mercy passed away on January 17, 1892. Her body was placed in a stone crypt awaiting the spring thaw to be buried. This helped preserve bodies. Edwin's disease took a turn for the worse and soon the people of the town started blaming a vampire for the Brown family's woes. They were certain that the vampire was living inside one of the Brown graves. This belief was held in more than just the town of Exeter. At least 80 burials have been found in recent years that appear to exhibit signs that people had been exhumed and their bodies desecrated in some way as to stop them from rising from their graves. Henry David Thoreau mentions an exhumation in his journal on September 29, 1859 to prove the point that this panic was a very real historical event.

With Edwin growing sicker and weaker, George was getting desperate. He did not want to lose his son and he started to believe that perhaps the neighbors were right and a vampire was stalking his family. This vile undead thing had to be entering his son's room at night. The only thing to be done was to exhume his family members and find out who was the culprit. Imagine how desperate these people in new England must have been to exhume their loved ones. It was happening all over. Doctor Harold Metcalf joined George in taking part in an old folk remedy. Together, on March 17, 1892, they exhumed the bodies of Mary Eliza, Mary Olive and Mercy to find if any of them were vampires. Mary Eliza and Mary Olive’s skeletons were all that remained. However, Mercy’s body was still fully intact because she had been placed in the cool crypt and it was winter. Decompensation had not really begun. The two men also believe that they found fresh blood on her body. Mercy Brown was the vampire!

As was the practice in that day, Mercy's body was cut open and when her organs were found to still be full of blood, everyone was certain that the ritual they were about to embark upon was right. Mercy's heart was removed and burned. The ashes were collected and mixed with water so that Edwin could drink the concoction. It was believed that this would cure Edwin of the vampire attacks and break the spell. Edwin was obviously not cured. Within two months, consumption had taken his life as well. Historically, it is recorded that Mercy Brown was the last vampire exhumation. Newspapers of the day like the Providence Journal reported the story and referred to what was done as barbaric. This seems to have helped stop the practice of exhuming bodies.

In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dr. Seward writes in his diary, "There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples." The people of Exeter and elsewhere were sane people. They got caught up in a craze. But what they did may have left lasting effects in the afterlife. Desecrating bodies and the emotions around this seem to have led some spirits to hang around, particularly Mercy Brown's spirit. Fun fact: It is believed the story of Mercy Brown inspired Bram Stoker as well and that Lucy is based on Mercy.

To this day, visitors of the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island report strange occurrences surrounding Mercy Brown’s grave. Stories of seeing the ghost of Mercy Brown taking a stroll along the graveyard are told by visitors. The sound of a young woman crying is heard and even a bright blue light near Mercy’s tombstone has been seen by some guests. Locals say that if you hide behind the tombstone of a man named William C. Johnson and look through the tombstone’s square hole towards Mercy’s grave on a moonlit October night, you may see the ghost of Mercy Brown walking through the cemetery. And a tradition has grown around the idea that one can make Mercy appear by knocking on her grave three times and asking, “Mercy L. Brown, Are You A Vampire?” Mercy will appear to you or speak to you.

There is a bridge near the cemetery that some claim Mercy visits. The faint smell of roses can be detected when she is nearby. And there are those who are terminally ill that claim Mercy has come to visit them to tell them that dying really isn't so bad after all. In 2011, two teenage girls died in a car accident while on the way home from a moonlight visit to Mercy’s grave along Purgatory Road. Mercy made a quilt that Brown family descendants still have to this day with a pattern that is called the Wandering Foot. A legend claims that if someone sleeps under a quilt with this pattern, then that person will be doomed to roam the earth forever. Surely, Mercy herself had slept beneath the quilt. Is this the cause of her unrest? 

Were there ever vampires in New England? Did New Englanders allow themselves to get carried away again a hundred years after their witch trials? Does Mercy Brown's spirit still walk among us because of the false accusations? Is she searching for her heart? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
For more information on the vampire panic and archaelogical finds:   http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878/?no-ist

HGB Podcast, Ep. 77 - Cachtice Castle

Moment in Oddity - A French Calvary Captures a Dutch Fleet

War sometimes brings us some of the strangest stories in history. The year was 1795 and it was a very cold January in den Helder, which was part of the United Provinces. Today, we call the United Provinces, the Netherlands. The French Revolutionary Army was making advances into this area and a group of French Hussars, which is a term used for a light cavalry, were ordered to capture den Helder. Johan Willem de Winter led his men with plans to keep Dutch ships from running to their ally, Britain. When the cavalry arrived, they found a very bizarre scene that was quite fortuitous. Ice had solidified around the Dutch fleet and the ships were stuck. The Hussars quickly surrounded the ships and forced the Dutch sailors to surrender. The fact that a cavalry charge was able to catch a fleet of ships is not only the only time this happened in recorded history, it also is quite odd.

This Day in History - Alfred Nobel is Born
 by Jessica Bell

On this day, October 21st, in 1833, Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfred was most interested in literature, chemistry and physics. Rather than being able to pursue a career in literature, he was sent abroad to study and to become a chemical engineer. While in Paris, Alfred became very interested in nitroglycerin and how it could be used in construction work. He worked together with his father to develop nitroglycerin as a commercially and technically useful explosive. Unfortunately, these experiments resulted in accidents that killed several people, including Alfred's younger brother, Emil. Alfred found, through his experiments, that mixing nitroglycerin with a fine sand would turn the liquid into paste which could be shaped into rods. These rods could then be inserted into drilling holes. He named it "dynamite” and he also invented a detonator or blasting cap which could be set off by lighting a fuse. Alfred was able to put up factories in more than 20 countries as the product became very much in demand. He was once described as "Europe's richest vagabond." By the time Alfred died in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896, he had over 355 patents. In his last will and testament, he wrote that much of his fortune (approximately 265 million US dollars) was to be used to give prizes to those who have done their best for humanity in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. His will was opposed by his relatives and questioned by authorities in various countries. In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden and the Peace Prize in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway.

Cachtice Castle and Elizabeth Bathory (Research Assistant - Rachel Hore)

The Cachtice Castle was once home to Baroness Elizabeth Bathory. She came from a family known for their cruelty to the peasontry and she possibly witnessed incredible violence from the time she was a child. Is this what led her to be called the "Blood Countess?" Was she truly the most prolific female serial killer of all time? Or was she given a bad rap, so that others could have her power and possessions? The Castle is a magnificient structure that may house the energy of intense emotions and pain. Has the energy led this structure to become haunted? Does Madame Bathory still walk its halls? Come with us as we look at the history and hauntings of Cachtice Castle and Madame Bathory.

Cachtice Castle originally belonged to Peter and Pongrac from the Hunt-Poznan family. The castle was built in the thirteenth century and is located in the Little Carpathians where it is isolated amongst the hills and its surrounding village is isolated as well. It was built to defend the western end of Hungary. The castle was built on limestone rock and made defensible by the sheer drop on three sides. It was made from stone and mortar, two building materials that do not stand the test of time, and the castle eroded. After it was abandoned, it quickly began to fall into ruin. The top floor was stuccoed on the interior and covered in frescos. A few of those last today. There were four levels with a dungeon in the bottom level. The castle had a connected manor house and though not ornate, it was decorated with fine tapestries and the food was served on plates of silver and gold.

In 1392, Stibor from Stibotice took ownership of the castle and he at one time owned up to 15 castles. In 1569, the Nadasy family became owners. We will discuss more about them in a moment. The army of  František Rákoczi II burned the castle in 1708. Repairs were made so that the castle could be tranformed into a jail. It burned once again and in 1772 the castle manor house burned as well. The entire complex then deteriorated. An interesting fact about the town of Cachtice is that it had been considered a town at one time, but was downgraded to a village. We had not realized there was a difference.

It was through the Nadasy family that Madame Elizabeth Bathory comes into the picture. She was born into Hungarian nobility in 1560 and given the name Erzsebet, which was Anglicized to Elizabeth. She was rumored to have suffered from epilepsy and fits of rage. Count Ferenec Nadasy was a soldier and Bathory was married off to him in an arranged marriage at the age of fifteen. Before the marriage took place, she had a fling with a village peasant and became pregnant. She was hidden away in her family's castle until she gave birth to a girl, who was quickly given away since this was not only scandalous, but the child's father was a peasant. There does not seem to be much of a relationship between the Count and Bathory. He was away at war for long periods of time. Some believe that he taught her torture techniques that were used in battle to get enemy prisoners to talk.

Countess Bathory would be bored while her husband was away and pieces of insanity seemed to creep inside her mind. In 1604, the Count passed away from illness leaving Bathory alone in the castle. As she aged, she worried that she would lose her beauty. Wrinkles started to form at the corners of her eyes and mouth. The elasticity of her skin was fading away. For some reason, she started to embrace the idea that youth was connected to blood. Possibly she had heard tales of vampires that roamed the woods and hills of Transylvania. Vampires did not age or die as long as they had blood. And certainly the blood of young innocent peasant girls would be the best. After all, peasants were beneath her station in life. Who would miss them? The call was put out that the castle needed lots of young servant girls and peasant families were all too happy to send their daughters off with hopes that the Countess would educate them and take good care of them. This is not what the legend of Countess Bathory would lead us to believe.

Madame Bathory appears to have taken enjoyment from causing pain to others. It is said she beat girls until blood ran, made incisions and pierced their bodies, and used hot irons to brand and burn their skin. Needles were driven into lips and fingernails. Some servants were stripped naked, covered in water and thrown outside into the frosty winter. During warmer temperatures, the girls were covered in honey and secured to the ground so that insects could attack them. The tales are numerous and horrific. But she did not just enjoy torturing the girls. She killed many of these servants, some estimate as many as 650, so that she could drain their blood and bath in it, believing that it would help her skin retain its youthful appearance. She occasionally drank the blood as well leading many to later accuse her of being a vampire. And by today's definition of vampire, she really would have been considered to be one even though she was not dead.

But was she truly the Blood Countess? On the 29th of September in 1610 the Viceroy of Hungary, Count Thurzo, was sent with a troop of men to investigate rumours of missing servant girls at the Cachtice Castle. Elizabeth was confined for the night and servants who had served as accomplices were questioned to try and discern what exactly had happened. It is said that under torture, the accomplices told all about the horrors they had witnessed or participated in commiting. The Countess was never put on trial to protect the family's name and keep the property in their hands, but she was punished. In 1611, she was walled up in a room in a tower of Cachtice Castle and left to live out the rest of her days there. There was a narrow slit where only food and water could pass through. Four years later she was dead. She had lived to be 54.

Since there is written testimony, it would seem that something did happen at the castle, but these narratives seem almost too extreme to be believed. Could it be that the accomplices were pushed into declaring falsehoods because family members wanted to take the Countess' power from her? The viceroy had tried to have her imprisoned shortly after he became palatine. It was believed that this was because he had his eye on her wealth. King Matthias owed the Countess a lot of money and some believe he conspired to have her framed. Claims that she kept a list of victims have never been proven to be true as no such record has been found. And the lack of a trial is suspicious. We will more than likely never know the truth, but the legend lives on and only continues to grow.

A traveler to Cachtice Castle once said: ''With this tale fresh in our minds, we ascended the long hill and gained the castle, and wandered over its deserted ruins. The shades of evening were just spreading over the valley, the bare grey walls stood up against the red sky, the solemn stillness of evening reigned over the scene and and two ravens, which had made their nests on the castles highest towers, came towards it winging their heavy flight, and wheeling once round, each cawing a hoarse welcome to the other, alighted on their favorite turret, I could have fancied them, the spirits of the two crones, condemned, to haunt the scene of their crimes, while their infernal mistress was expiating her murderers by more wretched dooms."

So was that just random imaginings or is there truth to the thought that Cachtice Castle might be haunted? Ghost Hunters International did not find any evidence of hauntings in their brief investigation, but ask many of those who have visited the ruins and they will tell you that there is a darkness there. People who walk the ruins claim to get strange feelings in certain areas and to see shadow people. Whether these are shades of the victims or the Countess herself is unknown. Haunting shadow cats are seen and the Countess was known to have pet cats. An urban explorer recorded a weird sounding growl when he was at the castle, but there were no other people or animals around at the time.

Was Elizabeth Bathory the most prolific serial killer in history? Or was she betrayed and lied about? Does her restless spirit still walk on this side of the veil? Have the spirits of her victims stayed to haunt the place where they experienced inhumane treatment, torture and death? Is Cachtice Castle haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes
http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/erzebet.html

HGB Podcast, Ep. 73 - Bran Castle

 
Moment in Oddity - The Vetala

The vetala is an interesting part of Indian lore. Some people mistake the vetala as a ghost, but these spirits actually possess the bodies of the dead. Where they originate from is uncertain, but the legends claim that the vetala lurk in cemeteries just waiting for a nice fresh corpse to arrive. They jump inside and reanimate the body, but they are not satisfied with just wandering around inside a dead body. They enjoy shocking people, so they do strange things with their new homes. They turn the hands and feet backwards. While these spirits enjoy playing with humans, they also can help humans. Indians believe that the vetala guard their villages. Some people claim that vetala are vampires since they appear undead, but one distinction is that the vetala can wander in the daylight, while vampires shun the sun. The vetala may just be myth, but they certainly are odd.

This Day in History - Women's March on Versailles

On this day, October 5th, in 1789 during the French Revolution, the women in the marketplaces of Paris marched on Versailles. The march was one of the most significant parts of the French Revolution. Food was scarce at the time and bread was hard to find. When there was bread for sale, it was exorbitantly priced. The women of Paris had enough of the prices and scarcity. Particularly when they watched how opulently the rich lived. At the same time, revolutionaries were pushing for a constitutional monarchy. As the mob of women grew and united with the revolutionaries, riots began to break out. The mob grew to thousands and there was a call to ransack the armory. The group did just that and with weapons in hand they marched to Versailles. They entered the palace and violently confronted the guards and King Louis XVI. They told the king their demands and by the next day, the King, his family and the French Assembly went to Paris. The King lost his independence and the changing of the power structure began. This march by the women began the Third Estate, which signified that the French nobility was over and the balance of power was turning to the common people.

Bran Castle

Bran Castle is more famously known as Dracula Castle. Originally, the Teutonic Knights claimed this spot and had a wooden fortress on the site in the 1200s, but eventually a new castle would be built and it possibly might have been a place where Vlad the Impaler passed through. Queen Maria would take possession in the 1920s and turn the fortress into a fairytale castle. Bram Stoker chose this location as the setting for part of his novel "Dracula." Stoker never visited the castle and thus his description does not match reality. Count Dracula never lived here either being that he is fictious. But the history connected to the castle gives it an ominous mystique, one that would lead many to believe the castle is haunted. But is it? And what of the lore about vampires? Are they real? Join us as we examine the history and hauntings of Bran Castle.

Bran Castle was built in 1377 by King Louis I of Anjou, the Magyar king, as a militarily strategic fortress that blocked the trade route through the Bran Gorge, which was at that time on the border between Walachia and Transylvania. Magyar refers to a nation and ethnic group of Hungary. The castle was built into and atop a 200 foot rocky crag. It is a magnificent stone structure that took only five years to construct. Through the years, its fortifications would be strengthened. The numerous turrets rise above the treetops along with the tiled roofs. King Louis' military tactics against his enemy nation Walachia heavily relied on the fortification and blocking of gorges like Bran Gorge. The road here was heavily traveled for trade. The fortress was built to protect the Magyar customs centre and intercept the road through the Gorge that lead to Transylvania.

The residents of the nearby town of Braşov eagerly helped to build the fortress because it promised new economic opportunities for the area. They were also incentivized by the promise of the return of land historically belonging to them, and maintained a good relationship with the Magyar sovereignty. Amazingly, the fortress was completed within the King's reign, and was the scene for a major battle between Romania and Walachia according to some historians. After the Romanians won the war, Bran Fortress took ownership of a lot of the surrounding lands and continued to dominate the route through Bran Gorge.

Bran Fortress was in the possession of Magyar King Sigismund of Luxembourg from 1395 - 1406. During this time he used the fortress to invade Walachia and remove Vlad the Usurper, who was replaced by the king's ally, Mircea the Old. Bran Fortress changed hands to Mircea the Old in 1412, but only for occupation and usage, and was in his possession for six years. After Mircea the Old died in 1418, the fortress returned to Sigismund of Luxembourg and was used for defensive purposes.

In 1438 the Ottoman Empire launched a military campaign in Transylvania, passing back through Bran Gorge with their spoils of war. The residents of Bran were so scarred by this that they financed fortifications to Bran Fortress themselves, despite having no obligation to do so since the fortress wasn't their property. Iancu of Hunedoara, the Voivode (principle commander of the military) of Transylvania, defeated an Ottoman attack at Bran Fortress in 1442, and used the strategic position of Bran Fortress to defend Transylvania.

Interestingly, the Walachian ruler Vlad Dracul III known as Vlad the Impaler, who has been linked to Bran Castle in popular belief because of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," actually had very little to do with the fortress' history. The connection wasn't made until much later. The name Dracul comes from the Romanian word for dragon because Vlad II was inducted into the knightly Order of the Dragon. Vlad III had conflicts with the merchants of Braşov due to economic regulations, but attempted to follow the policies of his grandfather Mircea the Old and form alliance with Walachia. However, after some conflict, the Transylvanians broke the treaty and tense relations were heightened. In 1459, Vlad started a series of "punishment" raids against Braşov, and in 1460, attacked the area through the Bran Gorge and destroyed it in his typical bloodthirsty way, burning crops and impaling prisoners. Vlad's favorite form of torture was reputed to be impaling people while they were alive and rumors circulated that he dined among those dying in such fashion. Eighty thousand people were said to have been killed by Vlad. His barbaric reputation inspired the character of Count Dracula.

In 1462, Vlad was arrested by the Magyar king on charges of siding with their mutual enemy the Turks, as evidenced by letter from Braşov residents. He was released in 1476 on the insistence of Stefan the Great, ruler of Moldavia, and reached Walachia through the Bran Gorge in an attempt to reclaim his throne. He was successfully reinstated, but had a short reign before dying in confrontation against a contender for the throne. It is believed that Vlad died in battle, but there is no significant evidence as to where and how.

Bran Fortress changed hands from the Walachian Viovode to the residents of Bran from 1497 - 1521, and was involved in the Ottoman Empire's conquest of the Hungarian Empire. When the Ottomans took over the area, their leader planned to use Bran Fortress for his military needs, but after fierce resistance, conceded to allowing the Bran residents to keep the fortress for their own use. Over the next century, it was visited by political and religious representatives and the scene of a few battles, including more conflict between Walachia and Transylvania, during which the fortress was conquered by Transylvania. In 1625, a dungeon was added to the castle and torture was believed to be practiced within the room.

The residents of Bran finally regained control of the fortress when it was donated to them by the Transylvanian Prince Gheorghe Rákóczy II on 24th April 1651. At the end of the 17th century Transylvania became part of the Habsburg empire, but the residents of Bran were allowed to keep Bran Castle in accordance to the 1651 treaty. Bran lost importance in 1836 when the border was moved, but was restored in the late 19th century when the castle was repaired and given to the Braşov Forestry, who occupied it until 1918.

After World War I, the castle became a residence of Queen Maria of Romania, beginning its relatively short history as a royal residence. It was converted to the royal summer residence, and was much loved by the Queen until her death in 1938. She added windows to the arrow slits, horse stables, a tea room, children's playroom, a gaudy chapel and extensive gardens filled with plants and animals. In 1940, Queen Maria's heart was transferred to Bran so that, according to her daughter Princess Ileana, she could be closer to her people. The Princess also had the body of her beloved younger brother Mircea, who had died in 1916 at four years old from one of the war's fever epidemics, moved to Bran to be closer to their mother, believing that they would keep each other company. It is believed that the Queen's heart was placed inside a silver casket and encased in a cliff at Bran. Princess Ileana ensured the upkeep of Bran Castle, and during World War II, founded a hospital near it and became a nurse like her mother had in World War I while her husband served in the German army. The hospital was called Queen's Heart Hospital. She was forced to leave the country in 1947 when the king abdicated, but returned in 1990 to find the hospital in disarray and the castle's objects and furnishings dispersed by the Communist government. Serious restoration of the castle began and in 2014 the castle was put up for sale (although reportedly sans plumbing, removed by the Communists in 1958 for some reason). Queen Maria is reported to haunt another nearby castle named Peles Castle. The smell of lavender is detected by custodians at times.

Because Bran Castle is the only surviving castle in Transylvania that fits Bram Stoker's description of Dracula's castle, it has captured the world's imagination as the fictional castle, and Vlad the Impaler as Count Dracula himself. Bram Stoker actually did base the castle on Bran Castle, but having never actually visited Romania, he wrote off a description of the castle. The character of Dracula was inspired by the popular stories of Vlad the Impaler, but those accounts of his blood thirst were written for political purposes (remember that the people of Bran helped imprison Vlad with these accounts). However, Stoker was careful not to make any explicit connections between Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula in anything other than name.

Stoker turned to the legends and lore of vampires to build his character Dracula after being inspired by the stories of Vlad's bloodlust and the character is also based on the local myths of the Bran area. For centuries the people firmly believed that evil spirits called "steregoi" lived among them. These ghosts lead normal lives during the day but at night, while asleep, their souls left their bodies and haunted the villages, tormenting people in their sleep. These evil spirits haunted their prey from midnight until dawn, when their power to harm people faded.

However, while the castle is of course extremely creepy, especially at night, the reports of hauntings are minimal. In fact, Freya couldn't find any evidence at all of its being haunted! Even the TV series Ghost Hunters International didn't find anything there, and Freya points out that you know they would have attributed a mouse squeak to cries of the undead. The castle does offer some fabulous events around Halloween to celebrate its history and popular culture, including ghost tours, although nothing has ever been seriously documented. It seems that the castle has gained notoriety as a "haunted attraction" only for its traditional/creepy decor and popular connections to Dracula, not because it actually is haunted.

This seems to be the perfect setting to explore the lore of vampirism. The term vampire became a part of the English language in 1732, but the folklore surrounding vampirism dates back centuries. At its very base, a vampire is a revenant. A revenant is a human corpse or the undead that rises from its grave. In most cases, the revenant is harmful to humans. Depending on the culture, a revenant can be either a spirit, a walking corpse or a demon. It's possible that these legends go back to Ancient Egypt.

The characteristics of the vampire include the ability to take the form of an animal like a dog, bat or wolf. They are pale with lips that can be a deep red depending on whether they have recently fed. They generally do not cast a reflection into a mirror and they have to avoid the daylight. Holy water and crosses repel them. These are considered the traditional characteristics. Some stories vary from this...you know, like sparkly vampires. The one core characteristic is the need for a vampire to consume blood. The story element that being bitten by a vampire means that you will become a vampire is pretty recent. It was actually thought to be possible that one could be born a revenant. Folklorist Paul Barber, wrote in his 2008 book, "Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality" that centuries ago, "Often potential revenants can be identified at birth, usually by some abnormality, some defect, as when a child is born with teeth. Similarly suspicious are children born with an extra nipple (in Romania, for example); with a lack of cartilage in the nose, or a split lower lip (in Russia) … When a child is born with a red caul, or amniotic membrane, covering its head, this was regarded throughout much of Europe as presumptive evidence that it is destined to return from the dead."

So how did such a legend get started? It comes down to ancient people not understanding decay. The typical human corpse goes through a series of changes as it decomposes. Generally, we would not know about these changes unless we dug somebody up. And that is what they did, dug people up. Someone would get sick in town and rumors would start that somebody had returned from the dead. The disinterred corpse would appear to still have growing hair and nails and blood would possibly be streaming from the mouth or nose. Internal decay causes bloating, forcing blood out of the body. Nails and hair seemed to continue to grow because the skin would pull back as the body dried. And if the circumstances were right, a body might be preserved for a long period of time.

The means of dispatching a vampire vary, but generally a wooden or iron stake is driven through the heart and the vampire's head is cut off. Unearthed ancient burials reveal that some people were buried either pinned under a rock or with a boulder jammed into their mouths. Archaeology Magazine reported in 2013 that two graves in Bulgaria contained bodies that had been pinned to the ground by iron stakes.

Bran Castle gained its notoriety through Bram Stoker's fiction, but the elements of story were inspired by true historical elements. Whether there are hauntings at Bran Castle or not, there is no doubt that the castle will always hold a mystique. And the popularity of vampires only seems to grow. Do the undead walk among us as either spirits or vampires? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
Pictures of the castle:  http://bran-castle.com/gallery-castle.html
Music featuring This is Halloween by Kayzo & LooKas can be found here:   https://soundcloud.com/kayzo-music/this-is-halloween-kayzo-x-lookas