Vampires, pariah's even among demons. Foul are his ravages; gruesome and seemingly barbaric are the ancient and approved methods of destroying these foul beasts. Yet how we revere these creatures for all their romantic imagery. Here follows a detailed account of the history of the Vampire:

Prehistory: Vampire beliefs and myths emerge in cultures around the world

1047: First appearance of the written form of the word upir (an early form of the word "Vampire") in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy" or wicked prince.

1190: Walter Map's De Nagis Curialium includes accounts of vampire like beings in England.

1196: William of Newburgh's Chronicles records several stories of vampire like revenants in England.

1250: Vampire hysteria begins in Czechoslovakia.

1310: Vampire hysteria hits France.

1337: Vampire hysteria begins in Bohemia.

1428 - 29: Vlad Tepes, the son of Vlad Dracul, is born.

1436: Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste.

1442: Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with his father by the turks.

1443: Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage of the Turks.

1447: Vlad Dracul is beheaded.

1448: Vlad briefly attains tha Wallachian throne. Dethoned, he goes to Moldavia and befriends Prince Stefan.

1451: Vlad and Stefan flee to Transylvania.

1455: Constantinople falls. The city is later called Istanbul.

1456: John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain the Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed.

1458: Matthias Corvinus succeeds John Hunyadi as the King of Hungary.

1459: Easter massacre of boyers and rebuilding of Dracula's castle. Bucharest is established as the second governmental centre.

1460: Attack upon Brasov, Romania.

1461: Successful campaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube.

1462: Following the battle at Dracula's castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania. Vlad begins 13 years of imprisonment.

1475: Summer wars in Serbia against Turks take place. Vlad resumes throne of Wallachia.

1476 - 77: Vlad Tepes is assassinated.

1560: Elizabeth Bathory is born.

1610: Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred people and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment.

1614: Elizibeth Bathory dies.

1617: Vampire outbreak in Moravia

1645: Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of Vampires, De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus.

1657: Fr. Francoise Richard's Relation de ce qui s'est passe a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel links Vampirism and Witchcraft.

1672: A wave of Vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra.

1679: A German Vampire text, De Masticatione Mortuorum, is written by Philip Rohr.

1710: Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia.

1725: Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia.

1725 - 30: Vampire hysteria lingers in Serbia.

1725 - 32: The wave of Vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous case of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul.

1734: The word "Vampyre" entrers the English language in translations of German accounts of the European waves of Vampire hysteria.

1744: Cardinal Giusseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, Dissertions sopre I Vampiri.

1746: Davanzati publishes his treatise, Dissertations sur les Apparations des Anges des Demons et des Wspits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, et de Silesie.

1748: The first modern Vampire poem, "Der Vampir," is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.

1750: Another wave of Vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia.

1756: Vampire hysteria peeks in Wallachia.

1772: Vampire hysterai in Russia.

1797: Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a Vampire) in published.

1798 - 1800: Samual Taylor Coleridge writes "Cristobel" now conceded to be the first Vampire poem published in English.

1800: I Vampiri, an opera by Silverto de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy.

1801: "Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the Vampire in English.

1810: Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulate through northern England. "The Vampire" by John Stagg, an early vampire poem is published.

1813: Lord Byron's poem "The Giaour" includes the hero's encounter with a Vampire.

1816: Isolated Vampire incident in Yugaslavia

1819: John Polidori's The Vampyre, the first vampire story in English, is published in the April issue of New Monthly Magazine. John Kears composes "The Lamia" a poem built on ancient Greek legend.

1820: Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: Le Vampire, the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte saint-Martin in Paris. August, The Vampire; or The Bride of the Isles, a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche opens in London.

1829: March, Heinrich Marschner's opera, Der Vampyr, based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig.

1841: Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story; "Upyr" while living in Paris. It is modern Vampire story by a Russian.

1847: Bram Stoker is born. Varney the Vampyre begins lengthy serialization.

1851: Alexandre Duma's last dramatic work, Le Vampire, opens in Paris.

1854: The case of Vampirism in the Ray family of Jewett, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers.

1872: "Carmilla" is written by Sheridan Le Fanu. In Italy, Vincenzo Verzani is convicted of murdering two people and drinking their blood.

1874: Reports from Ceven, Island, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained.

1888: Emily Gerard's Land Beyond the Forest is published. It will become a major source of information about Transylvania for Bram Stoker's Dracula.

1894: H. G Wells's short story "The Flowering of the strange Orchid" is a precursor to science fiction vampire stories.

1897: Dracula by Bram Stoker is published in England. "The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling becomes the inspiration for the creation of the Vampire as a stereotypical character on stage and screen.

1912: The Secrets of House No. 5, possibly the first Vampire film, is produced in England.

1913: Dracula's Guest is published by Bram Stoker.

1920: Dracula, the first film based on the novel, is made in Russia. No copy has survived.

1921: Hungarian filmmakers produce a version of Dracula. The remians of a suspected Vampire are found in Essex, England.

1922: Nosferatu, a German-made silent film produced by Prana Films is the third attempt to film Dracula.

1924: Hamilton Deane's stage version of Dracula opens in Derby. Fritz Harmaann of Hanover, Germany, is arrested, tried, and convicted of killing more than 20 people in a vampiric crime spree. Sherlock holmes has his only encounter with a Vampire in "The case of the Sussex Vampire."

1927: February 14: Stage version of Dracula debuts at the Little Theatre in London. October: American version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, opens at the Fulton Theatre in New York City. Tod Browning directs Lon Chaney in London After Midnight, the first full-length vampire feature film.

1928: The first edition of Monague Summers's influenced work, The Vampire: His Kith and Kin appears in England.

1929: Montague Summers's second Vampire book, The Vampire in Europe, is published.

1931: January: Spanish film version of Dracula is previewed. February: American film, Dracula starring Bela Lugosi premiers at the Roxy Theatre in New York City. Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering a number of people on a vampiric killing spree.

1932: The highly acclaimed film, Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is released.

1936: Dracula's Daughter is released by Universal Pictures.

1942: A. E. Vogt;s "Asylum" is the first story about an alien Vampire.

1943: Son of Dracula is released by Universal Pictures, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Dracula.

1944: John Carradine plays Dracula for the first time in Horror of Frankenstein.

1953: Drakula Istanbula, a Turkish film adoptation of Dracula is released. Eerie No.8 includes the first comic book adaptation of Dracula.

1954: The Comics Code banishes Vampires from comic books. I am Legend by Richard Matheson presents vampirism as a desease that alters the body.

1956: John Carradine plays Dracula in the first television adaptation of the play for "Matinee theatre". Kyuketsuki Ga, the first japanese Vampire film is released.

1957: The first Italian Vampire film, I Vampiri, is released. American producer Roger Corman makes the first science fiction Vampire film, Not of this Earth. El Vampiro with German Robles is the first new wave of Mexican films about Vampires.

1958: Hammer films in Great Britain initiates a new wave of interest in Vampires with the first of its Dracula fims, released in the United States as The Horror of Dracula. First issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland signals a new interest in horror films in the United States.

1959: Plan 9 from Outer Space is Bela Lugosi's last film.

1961: The Bad Flower is the first Korean adaptation of Dracula.

1962: The Count Dracula Society is founded in Los Angeles by Donald reed.

1964: Parque de Juelos (Park of Games) is the first spanish-made Vampire film. The Munsters and The Addams Family, two horror comedies with Vampire characters. debut on American television.

1965: Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club. The Munsters, based on the television series of the same name, is the first comic book series featuring a Vampire character.

1966: Dark Shadows debuts on ABC afternoon television.

1967: April: In episode 210 of Dark Shadows, Vampire Barnabas Collins makes his first appearance.

1969: First issue of Vampirella, the longest running Vampire comic book to date,is released. Denholm Elliott plays the title role in a BBC television production of Dracula. Does Dracula Really Suck? (AKA. Dracula and the Boys) is released as the first gay Vampire film.

1970: Christopher Lee stars in El Conde Dracula, the Spanish film adaptation of Dracula. Sean Manchester founds the Vampire Research Society.

1971: Marvel Comics release the first copy of a post Comics Code vampire comic book, The Tomb of Dracula. Morbius, the living Vampire, is the first new Vampire character introduced after the revision of the Comics Code allowed Vampires to appear in comic books.

1972: The Night Stalker with Darren McGavin becomes the most watched television film to that point in time. Vampire Kung-Fu is released in Hong Kong as the first string of Vampire martial arts films. In Search of Dracula by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu introduces Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, to the world of contemporary Vampire fans. A Dream of Dracula by Leonard Wolf complements McNally's and Florescu's effort in calling attention to Vampire lore. True Vampires of History by Donald Glut is the first is the first attempt to assemble the stories of all of the historical Vampire figures. Stephen Kaplin founds The Vampire Research Centre.

1973: Dan Curtis Productions' version of Dracula (1973) stars Jack Palance in a made-for-television film. Nancy Garden's Vampires launches a wave of juvenile literature for chilfren.

1975: Fred Saberhagan proposes viewing Dracula as a hero rather than a villian in The Dracula Tape. The World of Dark Shadows is founded as the first Dark Shadows Fanzine.

1976: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is published, Stephen King is nominated for the World of fantasy Award for his vampire novel, Salam's Lot, Shadowcon, the first Dark Shadows convention, is organised by Dark Shadows fans.

1977: A new, dramtic version of Dracula opens on Broadway starring Frank Langella. Louis Jourdan stars in the title role Count Dracula, a three-hour version of Bram Stoker's book on BBC television. Martin V. Riccardo founds the Vampire Studies Society.

1978: Chelsea Quinn Yarbo's Hotel Transylvania joins the volumes of Fred Saberhagen and Anne Rice as a third major effort to begin a reappraisal of the Vampire myth during the decade. Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found The Vampire Information Exchange.

1979: Based on the success of the new broadway production, Universal Pictures remake Dracula (1979) starring Frank langelli. The band Bauhaus's recording of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" becomes the first hit of the new gothic roch music movement. Shadowgram is founded as a Dark Shadows Fanzine.

1980: The Bram Stoker Society is founded in Dublin, Ireland. Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula killer of Sacromento, California, commits suicide in prison. TheWorld Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now the Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded.

1983: In the December issue of Dr. Strange, Marvel Comics' ace occultist kills all the Vampires in the world, thus banishing them from Marvel Comics for the next 6 years. Dark Shadows Festival is founded to host an annual Dark Shadows convention.

1985: The Vampire Lestat by Anne rice is published and reaches the best seller lists.

1989: Overthrow of Romainian dictator Nikolai Ceaucescu opens Transylvania to Dracula enthusiasts. Nancy Collins wins a Bram Stoker Award for her novel, Sunglasses After Dark.

1991: Vampire: The Masquerade, the most successful Vampire roleplayng game to date is released by White Wolf.

1992: Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola is released. Andrei Chikatilo of Rostov, Russia is sentenced to death after Killing some 55 people in a Vampire like killing spree.

1994: The film version of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire is released starring Tom Cruise as Lestat and brad Pitt as Louis.

1995: In May, the International Transylanian Society of Dracula sponsers the World Dracula Conference in Romania.

1996: Members of the Vampire "cult" led by Rod ferrell are arrested for the murder of 2 people in Florida. They were subsequently tried and convicted of the murders.

1997: The centennial of the publication of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula occasions a flurry of activiy through 1997 and into 1998, including the publication of a number commemorative books, many television programs, and the issueance of postage stamps (Canada, Ireland, England and the United States). June 13 - 15: "Dracula the Centenary" is held in Whitby, Wngland. It is sponsered by the Whitby Dracula Society. August 13: Serial killer Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyah, known as the Tehran Vampire, is publicly executed in Iran . August 14 - 17: Dracula '97: a Centennial Celebration is the largest of several events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the American and Canadian chapters of the Transylvanian Society of dracula and the Count Dracula Fan Club.

1998: Rod Ferrell convicted of killing Richard and Ruth Wendorf.

"In all the darkest pages of the supernatural there is no more terrible tradition than that of the Vampire"
- Montague Summers -