January 20, 2025 • 60 mins
In this episode we will dive deep into the world of Eastern European vampires and theories behind things like garlic and wooden spikes. Is it possible that vampires are, in fact, aliens?!
Then we will discuss Brahm Stoker's Dracula and the alleged curse of the Nosferatu film!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:35):
Hello and welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host Annabelle, and I'm speaking on a spooky
Capricorn evening. Today we are going to talk about
(01:00):
vampires, specifically vampires from Eastern Europe and
Nosferatu. How did the myth of vampires
start and eventually turn in to a cultural classic, Nosferatu?
We are going to talk about the curse of the alleged original
(01:22):
film. We are going to talk about the
rumors of the original actor whoplayed Nosferatu, as well as a
lot of other dogmatic hearsay rumors, beliefs about vampires.
Where do all of these ideas comefrom?
Garlics. Wooden stake?
(01:43):
Holy water? Where did it all begin?
I'm so glad you asked. Let's jump into it.
First of all, I do want to mention that vampires are a very
vast topic. They have variations around the
world. This episode specifically is
(02:04):
about Eastern European vampires and how it eventually became the
tale of Dracula and eventually Nosferatu.
So firstly, the origins and characteristics of vampires from
Eastern Europe. Mostly we're like talking about
(02:25):
Slovakia, the Czech Republic, we're talking about Germany,
some parts of Austria, and in these areas, vampires are
considered to be undead, meaningthat they have died and then
become vampires. They feed on the blood and life
force of the living. They often are considered to be
(02:48):
reanimated by spirits or demons.I think this is also important
to remember. I think a lot of modern
vampires, we think of them beingdrained by a vampire and then
they turn like on the verge of death.
But in original Eastern Europeanbelief, these people are fully
(03:09):
dead and then a demon or spirit repossesses them.
I think that's an interesting distinction.
So oftentimes modern vampires are depicted to be suave, often
romantic and and very sexual. And we're going to get to that
in a second. But original vampires were
considered to be completely grotesque.
(03:31):
They were depicted being bloated, having reddish or
darkened skin, and they obviously often were depicted
with sharp teeth, but also claws, and they were believed to
have arise from improper burials.
Also suicides, people who committed crimes while they were
(03:52):
alive, people who practice witchcraft, as well as
individuals who are considered to be cursed at some point
through their life. In some parts of Eastern Europe,
they believed that babies born with deformities or a certain
birthmarks were more likely to be predisposed to becoming
(04:13):
vampires. So here are some honorable
mentions. In Germanic folklore there is
the Nachserher, meaning the after devourer, and in German
folklore folklore the Nak Zerheir is a type of vampire
that feeds on its own shroud or body in the grave, causing harm
(04:37):
to its family or community through sympathetic magic.
Isn't that interesting? It's like it's like manipulation
from the dead. I kind of live for that.
So allegedly the signs to spot an after devour or a Nak Zerheir
is that corpses found with open mouths or chewed burial shrouds
(04:59):
were suspected of being these creatures.
So to prevent this, people wouldplace coins or stones in the
mouths of the dead to prevent them from chewing their shrouds.
And I think that's so interesting.
Obviously, maybe like animals were getting in to their caskets
(05:20):
and obviously bloating is like areally common thing when people
die. So I do just find it really
interesting that they would put coins in their mouth.
It also does remind me that ancient Egypt, they would often
put coins in the mouths of people so that they could pay
the toll in the underworld, right?
(05:41):
I think that's a thing. So another type of vampire in
Germanic folklore was known as the Druden.
These were nightmare spirits. Sometimes they were connected to
vampire lore, but sometimes theywere depicted more as demons.
Drudens were basically like witches or spirits that were
known to sit on a person's chestat night and drain their energy
(06:05):
and cause them nightmares. And this sounds exactly like a
sleep paralysis demon. I've never had them, but I, I
know a lot about them. I know some people who've had
them and I've, I've done some research on my own and it seems
to be a really common experience.
I, I, I couldn't put a percentage to it, but it seems
that most people who have experienced sleep paralysis have
(06:28):
experienced some kind of dark like shadow sitting on their
chest. I think that's really
interesting. And so according to Germanic
folklore, these are almost like energy vampires, like Colin
Robinson. If you've ever had sleep
paralysis, please write in. I'd love to hear about that.
OK, so some honorable mentions of vampires in Eastern European
(06:52):
folklore were the upior or upior.
These are a type of Slavic vampire also mentioned in
Russian folklore and Polish folklore and these are
considered like one of the firstvampire legends, the upior or
(07:13):
upier, and they are like classicthey're known for consuming
victims blood and flesh. However, there's also another
kind of vampire called the Strysgia.
This is a Polish vampire, and the Stygia was thought to be a
vampiric demon created when someone was born with two souls
(07:37):
and two hearts. After they died, their second
soul would rise and then they would prey on the living.
Isn't that I, I find that one tobe really interesting, that like
someone would be born with two souls and two hearts and the
second soul would rise again, rise again, come again.
(07:59):
I think that's so fascinating tome.
OK, then in Romania and I, I, Romania I feel like is the one
that is maybe the most infamous because that's where
Transylvania is and Romania is kind of like, I think in modern
(08:24):
day we associate vampires from being from Romania.
So in Romania they have a few different kinds of vampires.
There is the strigoi, which is arestless spirit that rises from
the grave to harm the living. Then there's this Strigoi V,
(08:45):
which is like the living versionof this strigoi, and these are
witches or cursed individuals who could turn into vampires
after death. There's the Strigoi Morti, which
is like the dead strigoi, and these are vampires who came back
to life to torment their families.
And then there's the Moroi, which were often confused with
(09:07):
trigoi. However, the Moroi, or spirits
of unbaptized children. Oh, please.
Or those who died prematurely, sometimes describe as phantom
vampires. Oh, OK.
Yeah. This sounds like Churchaganda.
If you don't get baptized, you're going to become a
vampire, Please. So also a few other honourable
(09:30):
mentions that in the Bulgarian culture there are vampires
described as shadowy spirits or reanimated corpses that could
transform into animals or sometimes even fog and mist.
And the reason I just, I kind oftouched on all of those briefly
because vampires are a really vast subject.
(09:53):
And I think in modern day we do think of like this Nosferatu
character or this Dracula character, whatever it maybe you
think about True Blood or Interview with a Vampire,
Twilight, we think of these people with pale skin who are
hot and attractive, who seduce people.
Maybe they hypnotize, maybe theyread minds.
(10:16):
But in most cultures, and this is I think like a worldwide
thing, like the vampire archetype is usually more either
demonic or beast like. And even from Eastern Europe,
this seems to be a common theme.Now let's get into some like
details of where a lot of these ideas may have come from.
(10:37):
And this is where things get really interesting for me.
So of course, like, a really bigpart of these beliefs is rooted
in fear of witchcraft. And I do think that as
Christianity became more widely accepted, that did become a part
of vampiric lore even more, you know, people practicing sorcery.
I mean, it could literally just be herbal medicine.
(11:00):
But that would kind of play intothis idea of them being sinners
and working with dark spirits. So sorcery and witchcraft is a
huge part of these myths, like really Catching Fire.
But another really big thing wasgrave disturbances.
Any kind of body that was unearthed maybe from a grave
(11:21):
robber, maybe from an animal like this, really rattled people
and scared people. And especially if the body was
undecayed for some reason that scared people, like perhaps in
the winter a grave robber came and the body didn't decay as
much because it was so cold. That would really freak people
out. Another big thing was bodies
being bloated. This is super common.
(11:42):
Bodies bloat when they die, but this would kind of make people
think that they had been eating after death.
And let us not forget that in Europe for many hundreds of
years, the bubonic plague would spike and it would resurge.
And often times when people would die, they would like blood
(12:06):
would come out of their mouth after death.
And especially if they started bloating and there was a blood
on their mouth, a lot of people started believing that these
people were eating other people after they had died.
So interestingly, because in their culture, they really
thought people were dying, beingburied and then digging
(12:28):
themselves out and becoming vampires.
It became really common for people to drive either a wooden
or iron stake through the heart of the dead person in their
casket as a way to nail them to their casket.
And this is where this idea comes in of like shoving a
wooden stake through their heart.
(12:49):
Another big one was decapitatingcorpses and burning them.
I mean, that'll do the trick. And another interesting thing
that they would do is they wouldbury bodies face down to confuse
them, which I think is really interesting.
I, I don't like, you know, to play the devil's advocate, if
someone was in fact a vampire, they died and came back to life,
(13:12):
would burying them face down be enough?
I don't know. I don't think so.
The other thing I found so interesting is garlic.
People would really put garlic in the casket of a dead person
as well as thorns and other holyitems like crucifixes.
And this was believed to protectthe spirit from becoming undead.
(13:35):
The most interesting 1, the thorns make sense because I
think it's it's like a callback to Jesus and as so is the
crucifix. But what I looked into with
garlic, which I found so interesting, was that a lot of
these deaths were related to thebubonic plague.
And in the ancient world and specifically medieval Europe,
(13:55):
garlic was a very common plant that was used to heal people and
keep them healthy. It's really good for you.
It's an anti-inflammatory and people were using garlic as kind
of a cure all. So they would put garlic in the
caskets of people thinking that it would prevent them from
becoming vampires almost that like being a vampire was like
like an extra sickness on top ofthe bubonic plague, which I find
(14:18):
so interesting. However, some other things that
I'd never heard of is sometimes people put poppy seeds or grain
in the casket. They would also sometimes put
poppy seeds, grains or rice around the house because of this
rumor that vampires basically had OCD and would they would be
compelled to count things beforeproceeding.
(14:42):
And I think that's such a bizarre and interesting belief
and truly unhinged. Truly unhinged.
But I, I think I did try to lookinto that.
And that seems like it's also a thing in the Philippines and a
few other cultures. And I have a feeling that that
(15:03):
practice is derived from quote UN quote like ancient witchcraft
creating like seals with salt orsometimes even flour like as
protection around you. And maybe the dogma of them
having to count it became later.But perhaps this idea of using a
sacred substance that is pulverized like comes from the
(15:25):
ancient arts of witchcraft. That's just my inference.
So the thing that I really want to hammer home is that the
bubonic plague is a really big part of vampire mythology.
People were dying pretty quickly.
(15:46):
They would often cough up blood and would often have blood come
from their mouth after death. And so this was a really big
part of the culture. It really fueled these vampire
myths. It added fuel to the fire, and
that was a big part of what shaped these myths.
(16:11):
But this is what I really want to get into.
But you know what? First, let's take a break.
Hey little Pepper, this is Annabelle here reporting live
from Pepper World HQ. If you enjoy the podcast, it
(16:31):
would help so much if you could follow me.
You could write a comment. Give me 5 stars perhaps.
Also, I would love to. Hear.
From you e-mail in at esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com.
I'd love to hear about your stories.
I'd love to hear about suggestions.
I would love to. Hear about any kind of weird
(16:52):
freaky thing that comes to your mind?
Also, if you would like to support my podcast you can
follow me on Patreon. It's Patreon back slash
esoterica and nonsense. I will also have a YouTube.
Page coming at you so soon and Ialso sell merch.
You can look up my merch. It's in the show notes for every
(17:12):
single episode as well as the show notes for my show.
I appreciate you so much. I made this podcast to connect
with Cool. Freaky people like you.
So thank you so much and we're back.
OK, I was getting ahead of myself really quickly.
(17:33):
Before I get into the meat of what I couldn't wait to tell
you, I do want to like bring up some honorable mentions of
things that I find really interesting that I had never
heard about, and specifically this practice of putting a
wooden stake through the heart of a dead person in their
casket. What I discovered is that most
(17:53):
commonly people would use oak, ash, Hawthorne, or aspenwood,
and specifically aspenwood was used most commonly if people
could afford it to use as a stake to drive through the heart
of their dead. Because it is believed, in
(18:14):
Eastern Europe at least, that aspenwood was the same wood that
was used to crucify Jesus. So they believed that it was
extra magical. And I find that so fascinating.
I never really realized that forSO.
(18:35):
Long. People were using the same wood
that they crucified Jesus with, thinking that it was extra,
extra special. That kind of really blew my
mind. And yeah, I, I do think about
(18:57):
how much we have forgotten, likelocal beliefs and dogma about
specific plants, you know, and really what I'm, what I'm
talking about is like, I grew upwatching movies with vampires
where people put wooden stakes through their heart.
(19:18):
And we don't really know where that comes from.
It's just like a wooden stake through the heart.
And it works. But it's so interesting to me
that in some European cultures it was a specific kind of wood
because of its relationship to Jesus and holiness that would
then kill the vampires who were,you know, possessed spirits.
(19:39):
I think that's so interesting. And it's so interesting to me
how these things become part of lore and then they they lose
their meaning. You know, I think my first,
like, vampire movie I was obsessed with was The Little
Vampire, Right? Do you remember that movie, The
Little Vampire? I loved that movie.
And that was kind of like the only thing that the guy used.
Like there was the vampire hunter who was this like total
(20:00):
prick and he was this like greasy butt crack man.
And I'm pretty sure the, the wooden stakes were like his only
weapon. I don't think he used like
silver bullets or anything. It was just wooden stakes.
And he, he had like a crucifix and then he had some garlic and
stuff. But I, I, I just find that so
interesting to me, and I think that's why.
(20:23):
I wanted to start this podcast because I'm so interested in the
ancient world and I'm so interested in the legacy of our
ancestors, our global ancestors from around the world and their
beliefs and how much their beliefs have shaped our reality.
And it's kind of everywhere, like even in silly little
stories or movies that are make believe are shaped by these
(20:43):
ideas that humans had hundreds, thousands of years ago.
And I, I just find that so fascinating that these, these
beliefs are like hiding in plainsight and we, we often don't
investigate them. I, I find that so interesting.
So this is what I was so excitedto talk about.
(21:06):
This is the real meat. One very, very interesting
aspect of vampire lore relates to UFOs and aliens, specifically
the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathian Mountains is an
(21:27):
area in Transylvania that is noted for frequent UFO sightings
and strange lights in the sky. So obviously for a long time
this has an area that's been associated with mystery and
intrigue and of course now in modern times with aliens and
(21:48):
UFOs. But of course, in a maybe a more
medieval setting, if you don't really think about aliens like
you might think these lights arepeople practicing witchcraft or
like some kind of demonic activity.
And so there are some people whobelieve that the region is like
(22:10):
particularly magic and holds energetic properties such as
strong geometric fields or sorry, geomagnetic fields.
However, a lot of local legends speak of supernatural beings,
mysterious disappearances, blooddrinking creatures, and they're
often related to sightings of bright lights in the sky.
(22:32):
I'm not making this up. This is like some real shit.
This is not like new shit. This is some old school
Transylvanian lore which I didn't fucking realize.
So call back. I don't know if you ever
listened to my two-part episode about aliens.
However, I basically read from this book, which is called the
(22:56):
Introduction to Aliens, and it is an alleged translation of a
book from the Soviet Union that they would give to spies to
special, what are they called? Special Agents as kind of like a
very simplified brief overview of the known alien races to
human beings when they were lastsighted on Earth and what
(23:18):
governments they have worked with if they have.
It's a fascinating book. You can look for it online.
You know what, I should put a link for it in this episode.
But there is a specific alien race listed in this book that
we're going to talk about because this race, according to
(23:41):
this book, is where the myth of vampires come from.
This alien race is known as the have Hanui Kondras, or often for
short, just Kondras. They are an alleged
extraterrestrial race. They feature, they are usually
featured prominently in the fringe, so they're not often
(24:04):
talked about and they're described as part of a complex,
a complex network of alien species that interact with
humanity. They have a lot of different
accounts of like what people describe them as, but most
people describe them as creatures who drink blood and
(24:25):
who experiment on humans. I am going to read to you what
is written in the book I was mentioning from the USSR.
It's again super super brief. I'll go into other some more
details of like alleged information online, but this is
what the book from the USSR says.
(24:46):
The Contras come from the GalaxySexton's dwarf SPH.
No idea where that is. They first visited Earth in 934
AD in the area that we now know as Romania.
That's where Transylvania is by the way.
They are known to abduct and kill humans.
(25:08):
They also drain and drink the blood of humans as well as the
blood of animals. They are responsible for the
myth of vampires. Several human governments know
and accept their actions. There the Peppers go.
The human bodies that they use are never returned.
(25:28):
Their last sighting was in Scotland in 1996.
And you know what's crazy? That's where the little vampire
takes place. Oh my gosh.
OK, these Peppers are going at it.
I need to close the window. We'll be right back.
Planet Earth can be a terrifyingplace sometimes.
Why is that? Because of humanity?
(25:51):
Human beings. However, I would like to.
Remind you that planet Earth is a beautiful planet, and a big
reason why is because of plants.Plants are amazing.
Plants are so magical. Plants are the original.
OG. Life force on this planet.
(26:13):
Plants can heal us and plants necessitate our health.
This is your reminder. Maybe you should plant a plant
this year. If you're worried about plants,
maybe you can have a succulent like an agave.
Agave are amazing because it's almost impossible to kill agave
(26:37):
and you can use them on your skin.
You can use them if you have a sunburn.
You can use them for moisturization.
You can actually drink the pulp if you ever have a cold.
Plants are incredible. The list goes on and you already
know, but research some plants. Plant a house and plant a house.
No Plant a plant within your house.
(26:59):
Maybe plant a tree outside of your house.
Everyone on earth planted a treetoday.
That would be almost 8 billion more trees.
Let's do this as a teen baby. And we're back.
Baby boy. OK, so according to a lot of
other online sources about this alien race known as the Contras,
(27:24):
they're described as being humanoid in form and
specifically are considered to be pale, tall, and slender.
They're described as having smooth or translucent skin that
sometimes appears to emit a faint glow.
They're known to have a large, almond shaped eyes with a
piercing or hypnotic quality. They have delicate, almost
(27:46):
ethereal features, giving them an otherworldly appearance.
They're typically described to be taller than humans, ranging
from 7 to 10 feet. Their movements are said to be
graceful, almost floating, whichcontributes to their mystical
reputation. They are said to originate from
(28:10):
a distant star system, often unnamed or linked to the obscure
constellations. Some sources suggest that they
come from another dimension or ahigher plane of existence,
making them interdimensional beings rather than strictly
extraterrestrial. They're believed to have visited
Earth in ancient times, and may have been mistaken for gods,
(28:31):
spirits, or supernatural beings by early civilizations.
Their presence is linked to various myths, particularly
those involving vampires. Dude what?
So of course, their biggest characteristic, which is the
most infamous, is that they are known for consuming the blood
(28:51):
and life force as a physical necessity or perhaps as part of
a ritual. This behavior has inspired myths
of vampires, leading some to classify them as energy vampires
rather than traditional blood drinkers.
They also have a reputation for telepathic and hypnotic
abilities. They possess advanced mental
(29:13):
capabilities, including telepathic communication and the
ability to influence or control human minds.
Some stories describe their ability to induce paralysis or
hallucinations. Their technology is described as
so advanced that it happens to appear magical to humans.
They are said to use crafts capable of interstellar travel
(29:37):
or dimensional shifts. Often described as glowing orbs
or translucent spaceships. They are thought to be extremely
long lived, possibly immortal byhuman standards.
The Contras are described as observers of humanity studying
human behaviour, biology, and emotional responses.
(29:58):
Some people theorize that they are cataloguing human DNA and or
trying to influence human evolution.
Others really focus on the fact that they harvest energy and
believe that that is their primary focus on Earth.
According to some human lore, they'd speak of them harvesting
(30:20):
energy to sustain their species.This has led to the speculation
that they are involved in abduction cases or cattle
mutilations where blood and bodily fluids are drained.
They're sometimes portrayed as influencing human spirituality
or religious systems, possibly to control populations or
(30:41):
harvest faith-based energy. That is so interesting.
The alien race of the Contras are occasionally depicted as
being in conflict with other extraterrestrial or
interdimensional alien races, particularly benevolent ones
that oppose their exploitation of humanity.
(31:03):
What? I had never heard about this
before I this really blew my mind.
I also want to mention like, we're about to start talking
about Nosferatu slash Dracula, because that's like really what
we're all here for. Nosferatu is just trending.
But I do really want to mention another aspect of why vampirism
(31:26):
really got so popular in American culture and British
culture. And a big reason for that is
xenophobia and plain racism. Modern vampires are depicted
with a lot of qualities that we associate with people who are
sexually abusive, right? There's a lot of like hypnosis
(31:48):
and, and, and sexual energy and motive behind a lot of their
behaviors. And a big aspect to that comes
from the Western Europeans beingafraid of Eastern Europeans as
violent people and as highly sexual people.
And I'm not necessarily saying that's true.
(32:10):
I'm saying that that it was the impression that I think a lot of
Western Europeans had. And I think another aspect too
is that some parts of Eastern Europe still had more culture
that was pre Christian. And so I think that it it kind
of created more fear around these people that maybe still
(32:32):
living rurally and still be using bidwives or herbal
medicine or what have you, or perhaps are just like really
afraid of the men. And another aspect to that too,
and we're about to talk about this in a second, is that like
the story of Dracula, which was written by Braun Stoker, was
(32:53):
inspired by Vlad the Impaler. And from the Western European
point of view, Vlad the Impaler was an Eastern European.
So they kind of thought of him as like foreign and exotic.
But a really big motive of Vlad the Impaler was he was proudly
Christian and was killing Muslims.
(33:16):
He was opposing the Ottoman Empire with full gusto and was
murdering happily. So I think that's another really
interesting nuance that is important to to consider and
talk about that. I think modernized vampires are
(33:39):
really kind of touching on so many ancient beliefs that have
been distorted through time. And I think a really big aspect
of that is racism and and fear of Eastern European culture.
So that being said, let's talk alittle bit about Brahm Stoker.
Who is Brahm Stoker? How did he write Dracula and how
(34:01):
did Dracula become what is now Nosferatu?
So Braun Stoker, interestingly, he's from Dublin, Ireland.
Who knew that? I didn't know that he was born
in 1847. He was born on November 8th,
(34:23):
which makes him a Scorpio and hewas raised in a suburb outside
of Dublin and as a child he suffered from severe illnesses.
And so when he was very young, he spent so much of his time in
house, in his house, bedridden and his mother would tell him
stories. First of all, that is so
(34:45):
precious. And obviously, I think this is a
big foundation for him as a future writer because he spent a
lot of his childhood in his bed thinking and dreaming.
And his mother really was a storyteller and would tell him a
(35:06):
bunch of stories. And she also spoke a lot about
the potato famine, which she hadlived through.
So she told him stories that were real as fuck, stories about
death, suffering, despair. And like some really intense
stories however, and some other honorable and interesting
(35:27):
mentions. There's no proof that she told
him about these specific things,but we can assume simply because
they spent so much time togetherand she would tell him stories.
There are also Irish vampires from Irish folklore, so one of
them is known as the Dirgadu. This is a creature that
(35:50):
literally translates to red blood sucker and it is a
feminine vampire like spirit. According to the Irish legend,
she is known as a beautiful woman who died tragically and
rose from the grave to seduce men and drain their blood.
This tale of course very well may have influenced Braun Stoker
(36:16):
especially like the sexual nature.
There's also another Irish vampire known as the Abartak and
this is an Irish dwarf or Chieftain.
And in some versions of this legend the the Obtark is a
figure with blood drinking revenant.
(36:41):
So he's known to rise from the grave and terrorize people until
they are finally subdued. Oh, sorry.
Until he is finally subdued witha wooden sword and buried upside
down. And so this one particularly
feels like like a regurgitation of the Eastern European story.
(37:03):
The fact that he rises from the grave and you have to use like a
wooden sword and bury him upsidedown.
Like this feels very like a talltale, right?
Like a game of telephone. But another interesting, like
vampire, like legend are the Banshees.
The Banshees are these stories of these, like, spirits, these
(37:26):
omens of death that are known tolike, scream and screech and
these, like, really horrifying sounds.
And they're known to be terribleomens.
And this is kind of like, yeah, I I just.
I think it's so interesting to think about who Bram Stoker was
and the kinds of things he was thinking about in his childhood.
(37:49):
And yeah, I don't know, these are like the things I think
about that I, I like to think about people who lived hundreds
of years before us. Like, what were they daydreaming
about? And how does, how does that
inform their life and, and possibly their art?
So unsurprisingly, as Brom Stoker got older, he became
(38:11):
really interested in researchingEastern European culture, most
likely because he was drawn to how dark and creepy a lot of it,
a lot of it is. And specifically he became
fascinated with the story and history of Vlad the Impaler.
(38:32):
And so Dracula was directly inspired by Vlad the Impaler.
And that is something that I didnot know growing up.
And I, I find that to be so interesting.
And so here are here are some hard facts about Vlad the
(38:52):
Impaler that you're going to start seeing.
Like how much this modern vampire myth that we all think
of as modern day vampires is really modeled after Vlad the
Impaler. So Vlad the third was actually
known as Vlad Dracula. Vlad Dracula.
That is his, the name he was known by the translation of,
(39:16):
that was actually the Son of theDragon, which is fucking sick.
We do better. Whoever, whoever is listening,
we need to do better. We need to name our children
sicker names. Why don't you name your son Son
of the Dragon the Third? Come on.
So his father, who was Vlad the Second, was a member of an order
(39:39):
known as the Order of the Dragon.
This was a chivalric order established to defend
Christianity in Eastern Europe against the Ottoman Turks.
So these were like full on warriors of Christianity.
Like they were just not feeling Islam.
Oh my gosh, did you hear that? My neck really needed that.
Crack. Crack kills.
(40:01):
Kids don't crack kills. OK, so interestingly in that
this word Dracula, Dracula, or sometimes in Romanian pronounced
as Dracul, which is actually like sick Dracul.
That sounds like some cool. Like it sounds like Jokul.
(40:23):
You know, that's that's a sick nickname.
I could see like some like Stoner dude who's like kind of
creepy and like and he's like kind of gothy, but like like a
skater, like a goth skater, likedracool.
That's a sick name. Write that down.
So like I mentioned, often this translated to dragon.
(40:44):
However, sometimes this word dracool was translated as devil.
And so for some people, this surname Dracula would be
interpreted either as son of thedragon or son of the devil.
So of course, like people are terrified, like this is an
intimidation tactic. Honestly, it's a hot name.
(41:05):
Son of the devil, the third son of the dragon, the third.
Like that's a sick fucking name.Like your fave could never.
So of course, unsurprisingly, Braam Stoker just took this name
directly. He took the name Dracula from
Vlad the Impaler, and he also took quite a few other tidbits,
(41:27):
one of them being about like this idea of blood.
So of course, like Vlad was not considered to be a vampire.
That was never part of his reputation while he was alive.
However, he was known to be a very ruthless man and a man that
you often weren't known to leavealive if you were in his
(41:49):
presence, especially if you likeopposed his beliefs.
So he ruled over a area in Romania that was at one point
known as Wallachya. And this is an area that is not
far from Transylvania. So he like lived in a castle.
He ruled over this area, but nothe.
(42:11):
He wasn't like the official ruler.
It was, he was more like a Lord,if that makes sense.
And he, he would come and go as he pleased.
So again, he wasn't like an official ruler, but he in a way
he was, he was like a protector and a, a Lord.
(42:34):
I, I don't think, I don't, I, I'm using the word Lord
liberally. I don't think he was like, I
don't think that was his official title, but I think he
had the same authority in the sense that he was like a local
man of importance with access tohis own castle.
His castle was known as the Poonadi Fortress.
(42:57):
And it was situated in the in a mountainous area that again,
like, you know, we're all kind of, I think both of us have seen
Dracula. Like we're kind of all being
able to visualize it in our heads.
And so of course, like, this is like, really evoking this, like,
creepy, eerie energy, this gothic symbology that is like
(43:21):
what the Dracula story is about.This is like directly taken from
Vlad's life. Another thing that Braun Stoker
took from Vlad was that, like, he wasn't considered to be a
vampire, but a lot of historicalaccounts paint him to be
otherworldly. He's described as being cunning,
(43:42):
invincible in battle, and known to be incredibly vindictive and
to carry out very harsh punishments.
So a lot of people associated this with demonic behavior.
Some accounts suggest that Vlad's brutality aligned him
with evil and perhaps with supernatural powers.
(44:08):
And of course, you know, like inthe story of Dracula, Dracula is
known to have supernatural powers.
He was known to shape shift, control wolves and bats and
hypnotize his victims. And it is like super inspired by
Vlad being just incredibly intimidating and otherworldly.
But I think like a really big distinction that is important to
(44:33):
remember is that in real life, Vlad the Impaler was a staunch
defender of Christianity. And all the people he was
torturing and killing were usually people from the Ottoman
Empire who were trying to spreadIslam through Eastern Europe.
And so he, I mean, he was essentially like doing like a
(44:54):
one man jihad. He was killing people who did
not align with his spiritual beliefs.
And I do think that's really interesting because obviously
like a big part of these vampiremyths, which are nowadays very
derivative of Dracula, you know,they all kind of fear the
church. They fear crosses, crosses seem
(45:14):
to affect them negatively. And that is like a huge
difference from who Vlad the Impaler really was.
And I, I, I find that to be so interesting.
And of course, you know, Braun Stoker was in Ireland and like I
mentioned before, I think for Western Europe, Eastern
Europeans feel so foreign to them.
And, and so, you know, perhaps they would like lump them into
(45:40):
the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
And so like their them being Christian may not be enough for
them to like feel that they are related, if that makes sense.
I find that to be so fascinating.
So let's get into Nosferatu. I don't know if you knew this,
but the original film of the 1920s is thought to be cursed
(46:02):
and the original actor who played Nosferatu was thought to
be a real vampire by many people.
Let's get into details. This is why we all came here.
Eat your popcorn, babe. Have your water, make your tea
because we're going to get into the juicy details.
This is drama. This is OG drama.
(46:25):
So after the book of Dracula waswritten, it got super, super
popular and within like the nextfew decades, a silent film was
made in 1922 called Nosferatu. And this movie Nosferatu was
(46:46):
basically a direct RIP off of Dracula.
They just didn't get the rights to it.
So it's like it's, it's literally a RIP off.
They just called it Nosferatu. And there is so much mystery,
intrigue and legends about this film and why it's cursed.
(47:07):
And I just, I just like, I want to eat it.
I want to slurp it with the straw.
I love the drama. So instead of Count Dracula, the
vampire in this film, Nosratu isknown as Count Orlok and it was
played by an actor whose name was Max Shrek.
(47:30):
And just for some clarification,Shrek is spelled SCH like RECK.
But like, I mean, I'm pretty sure you just say Shrek like
like Shrek, which is pretty sick.
So this actor was named match Max Shrek.
He played Count Orlok who was like truly like a vampire.
(47:52):
If you've seen the original or the movie from the early 70s,
was it 69 or something? It's either the late 60s or
early 70s. It's an that is actually like my
favorite iteration. The one from the 20s is kind of
hard to watch, but this, this character count Orlok is like
the Super creepy pale bald headed man.
(48:16):
He has pointed ears and like long pointy fingers and he's
like two big front teeth, almostlike a rodent.
Like he kind of looks like a creepy skinny naked mole rat.
And the actor Max Shrek brought quite a a lot of monstrous
realism to his character. Allegedly, he really grew his
(48:37):
fingernails out and he was a method actor.
So he would come to set every day in full make up and would
never take it off and wouldn't really talk to other people on
set and would like stay to himself.
So immediately when film filmingstarted, people were terrified
of this guy and basically like as filming continued, the rumour
(49:01):
started growing on the set. And specifically because he
really like had a secretive nature.
And another aspect to it is in German, the word Shrek
translates to fright. And so this like really had
(49:23):
people going like the fact that his last name meant fright
really had people thinking that like, this man was like some
kind of demon. And so interestingly, like they
made a film in the year 2000, I don't know if you've seen it,
but it's called The Shadow of the Vampire.
And it's a movie that is about the filming of this original
(49:43):
Nosferatu. So it stars Willem Dafoe.
He he plays this Mack Shrek, theguy who's playing Count Orlok
and John Malkovich plays the director.
And so like this, this movie, which is like, it takes a lot of
artistic liberties, is basicallylike presenting the idea that
(50:04):
the director knew that Mack Shrek was a vampire and hired
him so that it could be like a, a hyper realistic film.
Now, of course, like there's no,there's nothing to back up that
Mack Shrek was a real vampire orthat the director like knew that
and hired him for that. But this movie is like, it's
pretty fun and it, it kind of explores this idea of like what
(50:24):
if he was a vampire and the the director knew like it's kind of
iconic. And so like, basically by the
time that the filming of the 1stmovie wrapped, a lot of people
on set were really, really off put by the actor Max Shrek.
Not only because he was secretive and he was like method
(50:47):
acting this creepy ass character, but also because
weird things started happening. People started talking about the
movie being possibly cursed, mostly because several cast and
crew members reportedly experienced misfortune
misfortunes during and after production.
(51:09):
Obviously these could very well be coincidences, but this
started having people think thatlike there were some dark magic
going on. Allegedly some people on the
crew died suddenly. There was a producer named Albin
Grau and his wife died suddenly.He claimed that his wife passed
(51:37):
away unexpectedly during the middle of production, and this
personal tragedy is often cited as an early sign of the curse of
this film. There was also several crew
members who alleged that they fell I'll during the production
of Nosferatu. The illnesses ranged from mild
to severe, with some individualswho are unable to complete their
(51:59):
work. Though no specific diseases are
named, in most accounts, it has been attributed to the harsh
filming conditions and the lingering aura of bad luck.
And ultimately, what really kindof put the nail in the coffin
was that after the film Nosferatu was made, Braam
Stoker's widow sued the production for ripping off the
(52:21):
book. And so they she took them to
court and they had decided that the film was to be taken off the
market. And they destroyed almost all
copies. Only a few copies survived it.
It is hard to find, but it it, you can find the original film.
And so this of course, like, again, added to this idea that
this was a cursed production. Isn't this so like Freaky Deaky?
(52:49):
But I do want to mention that like there's.
So there's not a lot known aboutMax Shrek, who is the man who
played Count Orlok, this Nosferatu character.
But allegedly before the movie came out, he was a respected
actor with a long career in theatre and film, and he was in
other films other than Nosferatu.
(53:10):
However, none of them really became that popular.
And allegedly after he made Nosferatu, he stopped acting so
much. So this kind of like added to
this idea that like what if he really is a vampire?
And honestly, like, I kind of love that.
I kind of love it. Like that's all he's known for
(53:31):
and that people really believe that.
I just feel like that's so like sick.
However, one other interesting thing is that during this movie
from the 2000s, I was mentioningwith Willem Dafoe and John
Malkovich where they're like recreating this story of the
first filming of Nosferatu. It is alleged that while they
(53:53):
were filming this movie that there was also a death of a crew
member and the rumor became so ingrained that it inspired oh oh
oh, sorry sorry, sorry I fucked this up.
The movie was inspired by the fact that a crew member
allegedly died. And so in this film the shadow
of a vampire obviously like the crew member is killed by Willem
(54:18):
Dafoe's character and he like drinks his blood.
But again, this film The Shadow of a Vampire is definitely takes
a lot of artistic liberties and really like runs with this idea.
Hi there, did you know that humans are made mostly of water?
(54:40):
Something like 80% or something?I don't, I don't remember the
stats, but water is crucial you guys.
Water is crucial. Have you been drinking water
today? I highly recommend it.
You can also add a little bit oflike pink salt or or Celtic salt
or some nice like Real Salt to your water to help your
(55:02):
electrolytes. You can do a cucumber infusion.
You could add some mint in there, some chia seeds like I'm.
I'm inviting you to be creative.Here, but I'm also here.
To remind you drink your water, baby boy, drink your water.
Really helps with the function of the nervous system, the
(55:23):
function of the bowels. We're talking optimal
functioning here. Drink your water, baby.
And we're back. So this is like some other
(55:45):
really interesting drama that led to people believing that
this film was cursed. There was a screening of the
original film Nosferatu and allegedly there was a fire that
happened and the the theatre. According to legend, the theatre
burned down as well as the, the real, the, the the film.
(56:12):
And of course, like it is important to note that theaters
often had fires because of the flammability of old film and
that everyone was just smoking openly.
So like it is totally possible that it was an accident.
However, like this just kind of again, like added fuel to the
fire of this being like a reallycreepy production and like truly
(56:41):
force. For over 100 years, people have
rumoured that Mac Shrek really was a vampire.
Obviously since this time the copyright of the Dracula novel
has expired and so now people can make films and and kind of.
(57:02):
Reboot Nosferatu as it's not a copyright infringement.
But I do think that the originalNosferatu film almost became
more interesting because it became like, illegal.
It became taboo, it became banned.
And I think that is a really bigcontributing factor to the
film's mystique and curse. You know, like there's just
(57:25):
nothing like banning a film to make it more infamous.
I also find it really interesting that this character,
Count Orlok, who is this the character of Nosferatu is like
really like a regurgitation of an Irish man's idea of an
(57:47):
Eastern European man. And I, I think that is
ultimately what, what modern dayvampirism has become, even if we
don't really realize it, even ifwe're thinking about Edward
Cullen or Lestat from Interview with a Vampire, right?
Like our ideas of modern day vampirism is really like a
(58:12):
Western European window into Eastern European culture.
And so I, I do really think thatwe shouldn't overlook that it's
in a way a bastardization in a way, it's a reduction in a way.
There's like elements of xenophobia.
(58:33):
There's like so many layers of this onion that I find really
fascinating and, and interesting.
And also like sad. I'm, I, I do feel sad how it
seems that in a lot of Western European culture there isn't a
lot of interest in care in the why and and why things are a
(58:56):
certain way and they, they seem to just be like regurgitated for
fun. However, it is very fun.
It is very cool, and perhaps Nosferatu is cursed.
So watch with care. If you have not watched the
early 70s rendition of the Nosferatu film, I highly
recommend it. It's hard to find the original
(59:18):
version because the original version I believe is in fact in
German. But they also, they basically
have an English version that's partially dubbed during filming.
They filmed, they had actors do a scene in German and they would
film the scene again in English.And in some parts they would
have people speak in German who didn't speak English.
(59:41):
They would dub over them. And I've heard that the German
version is the best. I just had trouble finding it,
so I watched the English version.
It's incredible. It's beautifully shot.
It's like it's truly an art filmand it's super, super fucking
creepy. Highly recommend and.
(01:00:03):
That tops us off, baby. I could talk.
Forever, but let's keep it a short, tight hour.
Thank you so much for listening.I have nothing but appreciation
for you. Please take good care of
yourself and I'll catch you nextweek.
Over and out.
Hello and welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host Annabelle, and I'm speaking on a spooky
Capricorn evening. Today we are going to talk about
(01:00):
vampires, specifically vampires from Eastern Europe and
Nosferatu. How did the myth of vampires
start and eventually turn in to a cultural classic, Nosferatu?
We are going to talk about the curse of the alleged original
(01:22):
film. We are going to talk about the
rumors of the original actor whoplayed Nosferatu, as well as a
lot of other dogmatic hearsay rumors, beliefs about vampires.
Where do all of these ideas comefrom?
Garlics. Wooden stake?
(01:43):
Holy water? Where did it all begin?
I'm so glad you asked. Let's jump into it.
First of all, I do want to mention that vampires are a very
vast topic. They have variations around the
world. This episode specifically is
(02:04):
about Eastern European vampires and how it eventually became the
tale of Dracula and eventually Nosferatu.
So firstly, the origins and characteristics of vampires from
Eastern Europe. Mostly we're like talking about
(02:25):
Slovakia, the Czech Republic, we're talking about Germany,
some parts of Austria, and in these areas, vampires are
considered to be undead, meaningthat they have died and then
become vampires. They feed on the blood and life
force of the living. They often are considered to be
(02:48):
reanimated by spirits or demons.I think this is also important
to remember. I think a lot of modern
vampires, we think of them beingdrained by a vampire and then
they turn like on the verge of death.
But in original Eastern Europeanbelief, these people are fully
(03:09):
dead and then a demon or spirit repossesses them.
I think that's an interesting distinction.
So oftentimes modern vampires are depicted to be suave, often
romantic and and very sexual. And we're going to get to that
in a second. But original vampires were
considered to be completely grotesque.
(03:31):
They were depicted being bloated, having reddish or
darkened skin, and they obviously often were depicted
with sharp teeth, but also claws, and they were believed to
have arise from improper burials.
Also suicides, people who committed crimes while they were
(03:52):
alive, people who practice witchcraft, as well as
individuals who are considered to be cursed at some point
through their life. In some parts of Eastern Europe,
they believed that babies born with deformities or a certain
birthmarks were more likely to be predisposed to becoming
(04:13):
vampires. So here are some honorable
mentions. In Germanic folklore there is
the Nachserher, meaning the after devourer, and in German
folklore folklore the Nak Zerheir is a type of vampire
that feeds on its own shroud or body in the grave, causing harm
(04:37):
to its family or community through sympathetic magic.
Isn't that interesting? It's like it's like manipulation
from the dead. I kind of live for that.
So allegedly the signs to spot an after devour or a Nak Zerheir
is that corpses found with open mouths or chewed burial shrouds
(04:59):
were suspected of being these creatures.
So to prevent this, people wouldplace coins or stones in the
mouths of the dead to prevent them from chewing their shrouds.
And I think that's so interesting.
Obviously, maybe like animals were getting in to their caskets
(05:20):
and obviously bloating is like areally common thing when people
die. So I do just find it really
interesting that they would put coins in their mouth.
It also does remind me that ancient Egypt, they would often
put coins in the mouths of people so that they could pay
the toll in the underworld, right?
(05:41):
I think that's a thing. So another type of vampire in
Germanic folklore was known as the Druden.
These were nightmare spirits. Sometimes they were connected to
vampire lore, but sometimes theywere depicted more as demons.
Drudens were basically like witches or spirits that were
known to sit on a person's chestat night and drain their energy
(06:05):
and cause them nightmares. And this sounds exactly like a
sleep paralysis demon. I've never had them, but I, I
know a lot about them. I know some people who've had
them and I've, I've done some research on my own and it seems
to be a really common experience.
I, I, I couldn't put a percentage to it, but it seems
that most people who have experienced sleep paralysis have
(06:28):
experienced some kind of dark like shadow sitting on their
chest. I think that's really
interesting. And so according to Germanic
folklore, these are almost like energy vampires, like Colin
Robinson. If you've ever had sleep
paralysis, please write in. I'd love to hear about that.
OK, so some honorable mentions of vampires in Eastern European
(06:52):
folklore were the upior or upior.
These are a type of Slavic vampire also mentioned in
Russian folklore and Polish folklore and these are
considered like one of the firstvampire legends, the upior or
(07:13):
upier, and they are like classicthey're known for consuming
victims blood and flesh. However, there's also another
kind of vampire called the Strysgia.
This is a Polish vampire, and the Stygia was thought to be a
vampiric demon created when someone was born with two souls
(07:37):
and two hearts. After they died, their second
soul would rise and then they would prey on the living.
Isn't that I, I find that one tobe really interesting, that like
someone would be born with two souls and two hearts and the
second soul would rise again, rise again, come again.
(07:59):
I think that's so fascinating tome.
OK, then in Romania and I, I, Romania I feel like is the one
that is maybe the most infamous because that's where
Transylvania is and Romania is kind of like, I think in modern
(08:24):
day we associate vampires from being from Romania.
So in Romania they have a few different kinds of vampires.
There is the strigoi, which is arestless spirit that rises from
the grave to harm the living. Then there's this Strigoi V,
(08:45):
which is like the living versionof this strigoi, and these are
witches or cursed individuals who could turn into vampires
after death. There's the Strigoi Morti, which
is like the dead strigoi, and these are vampires who came back
to life to torment their families.
And then there's the Moroi, which were often confused with
(09:07):
trigoi. However, the Moroi, or spirits
of unbaptized children. Oh, please.
Or those who died prematurely, sometimes describe as phantom
vampires. Oh, OK.
Yeah. This sounds like Churchaganda.
If you don't get baptized, you're going to become a
vampire, Please. So also a few other honourable
(09:30):
mentions that in the Bulgarian culture there are vampires
described as shadowy spirits or reanimated corpses that could
transform into animals or sometimes even fog and mist.
And the reason I just, I kind oftouched on all of those briefly
because vampires are a really vast subject.
(09:53):
And I think in modern day we do think of like this Nosferatu
character or this Dracula character, whatever it maybe you
think about True Blood or Interview with a Vampire,
Twilight, we think of these people with pale skin who are
hot and attractive, who seduce people.
Maybe they hypnotize, maybe theyread minds.
(10:16):
But in most cultures, and this is I think like a worldwide
thing, like the vampire archetype is usually more either
demonic or beast like. And even from Eastern Europe,
this seems to be a common theme.Now let's get into some like
details of where a lot of these ideas may have come from.
(10:37):
And this is where things get really interesting for me.
So of course, like, a really bigpart of these beliefs is rooted
in fear of witchcraft. And I do think that as
Christianity became more widely accepted, that did become a part
of vampiric lore even more, you know, people practicing sorcery.
I mean, it could literally just be herbal medicine.
(11:00):
But that would kind of play intothis idea of them being sinners
and working with dark spirits. So sorcery and witchcraft is a
huge part of these myths, like really Catching Fire.
But another really big thing wasgrave disturbances.
Any kind of body that was unearthed maybe from a grave
(11:21):
robber, maybe from an animal like this, really rattled people
and scared people. And especially if the body was
undecayed for some reason that scared people, like perhaps in
the winter a grave robber came and the body didn't decay as
much because it was so cold. That would really freak people
out. Another big thing was bodies
being bloated. This is super common.
(11:42):
Bodies bloat when they die, but this would kind of make people
think that they had been eating after death.
And let us not forget that in Europe for many hundreds of
years, the bubonic plague would spike and it would resurge.
And often times when people would die, they would like blood
(12:06):
would come out of their mouth after death.
And especially if they started bloating and there was a blood
on their mouth, a lot of people started believing that these
people were eating other people after they had died.
So interestingly, because in their culture, they really
thought people were dying, beingburied and then digging
(12:28):
themselves out and becoming vampires.
It became really common for people to drive either a wooden
or iron stake through the heart of the dead person in their
casket as a way to nail them to their casket.
And this is where this idea comes in of like shoving a
wooden stake through their heart.
(12:49):
Another big one was decapitatingcorpses and burning them.
I mean, that'll do the trick. And another interesting thing
that they would do is they wouldbury bodies face down to confuse
them, which I think is really interesting.
I, I don't like, you know, to play the devil's advocate, if
someone was in fact a vampire, they died and came back to life,
(13:12):
would burying them face down be enough?
I don't know. I don't think so.
The other thing I found so interesting is garlic.
People would really put garlic in the casket of a dead person
as well as thorns and other holyitems like crucifixes.
And this was believed to protectthe spirit from becoming undead.
(13:35):
The most interesting 1, the thorns make sense because I
think it's it's like a callback to Jesus and as so is the
crucifix. But what I looked into with
garlic, which I found so interesting, was that a lot of
these deaths were related to thebubonic plague.
And in the ancient world and specifically medieval Europe,
(13:55):
garlic was a very common plant that was used to heal people and
keep them healthy. It's really good for you.
It's an anti-inflammatory and people were using garlic as kind
of a cure all. So they would put garlic in the
caskets of people thinking that it would prevent them from
becoming vampires almost that like being a vampire was like
like an extra sickness on top ofthe bubonic plague, which I find
(14:18):
so interesting. However, some other things that
I'd never heard of is sometimes people put poppy seeds or grain
in the casket. They would also sometimes put
poppy seeds, grains or rice around the house because of this
rumor that vampires basically had OCD and would they would be
compelled to count things beforeproceeding.
(14:42):
And I think that's such a bizarre and interesting belief
and truly unhinged. Truly unhinged.
But I, I think I did try to lookinto that.
And that seems like it's also a thing in the Philippines and a
few other cultures. And I have a feeling that that
(15:03):
practice is derived from quote UN quote like ancient witchcraft
creating like seals with salt orsometimes even flour like as
protection around you. And maybe the dogma of them
having to count it became later.But perhaps this idea of using a
sacred substance that is pulverized like comes from the
(15:25):
ancient arts of witchcraft. That's just my inference.
So the thing that I really want to hammer home is that the
bubonic plague is a really big part of vampire mythology.
People were dying pretty quickly.
(15:46):
They would often cough up blood and would often have blood come
from their mouth after death. And so this was a really big
part of the culture. It really fueled these vampire
myths. It added fuel to the fire, and
that was a big part of what shaped these myths.
(16:11):
But this is what I really want to get into.
But you know what? First, let's take a break.
Hey little Pepper, this is Annabelle here reporting live
from Pepper World HQ. If you enjoy the podcast, it
(16:31):
would help so much if you could follow me.
You could write a comment. Give me 5 stars perhaps.
Also, I would love to. Hear.
From you e-mail in at esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com.
I'd love to hear about your stories.
I'd love to hear about suggestions.
I would love to. Hear about any kind of weird
(16:52):
freaky thing that comes to your mind?
Also, if you would like to support my podcast you can
follow me on Patreon. It's Patreon back slash
esoterica and nonsense. I will also have a YouTube.
Page coming at you so soon and Ialso sell merch.
You can look up my merch. It's in the show notes for every
(17:12):
single episode as well as the show notes for my show.
I appreciate you so much. I made this podcast to connect
with Cool. Freaky people like you.
So thank you so much and we're back.
OK, I was getting ahead of myself really quickly.
(17:33):
Before I get into the meat of what I couldn't wait to tell
you, I do want to like bring up some honorable mentions of
things that I find really interesting that I had never
heard about, and specifically this practice of putting a
wooden stake through the heart of a dead person in their
casket. What I discovered is that most
(17:53):
commonly people would use oak, ash, Hawthorne, or aspenwood,
and specifically aspenwood was used most commonly if people
could afford it to use as a stake to drive through the heart
of their dead. Because it is believed, in
(18:14):
Eastern Europe at least, that aspenwood was the same wood that
was used to crucify Jesus. So they believed that it was
extra magical. And I find that so fascinating.
I never really realized that forSO.
(18:35):
Long. People were using the same wood
that they crucified Jesus with, thinking that it was extra,
extra special. That kind of really blew my
mind. And yeah, I, I do think about
(18:57):
how much we have forgotten, likelocal beliefs and dogma about
specific plants, you know, and really what I'm, what I'm
talking about is like, I grew upwatching movies with vampires
where people put wooden stakes through their heart.
(19:18):
And we don't really know where that comes from.
It's just like a wooden stake through the heart.
And it works. But it's so interesting to me
that in some European cultures it was a specific kind of wood
because of its relationship to Jesus and holiness that would
then kill the vampires who were,you know, possessed spirits.
(19:39):
I think that's so interesting. And it's so interesting to me
how these things become part of lore and then they they lose
their meaning. You know, I think my first,
like, vampire movie I was obsessed with was The Little
Vampire, Right? Do you remember that movie, The
Little Vampire? I loved that movie.
And that was kind of like the only thing that the guy used.
Like there was the vampire hunter who was this like total
(20:00):
prick and he was this like greasy butt crack man.
And I'm pretty sure the, the wooden stakes were like his only
weapon. I don't think he used like
silver bullets or anything. It was just wooden stakes.
And he, he had like a crucifix and then he had some garlic and
stuff. But I, I, I just find that so
interesting to me, and I think that's why.
(20:23):
I wanted to start this podcast because I'm so interested in the
ancient world and I'm so interested in the legacy of our
ancestors, our global ancestors from around the world and their
beliefs and how much their beliefs have shaped our reality.
And it's kind of everywhere, like even in silly little
stories or movies that are make believe are shaped by these
(20:43):
ideas that humans had hundreds, thousands of years ago.
And I, I just find that so fascinating that these, these
beliefs are like hiding in plainsight and we, we often don't
investigate them. I, I find that so interesting.
So this is what I was so excitedto talk about.
(21:06):
This is the real meat. One very, very interesting
aspect of vampire lore relates to UFOs and aliens, specifically
the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathian Mountains is an
(21:27):
area in Transylvania that is noted for frequent UFO sightings
and strange lights in the sky. So obviously for a long time
this has an area that's been associated with mystery and
intrigue and of course now in modern times with aliens and
(21:48):
UFOs. But of course, in a maybe a more
medieval setting, if you don't really think about aliens like
you might think these lights arepeople practicing witchcraft or
like some kind of demonic activity.
And so there are some people whobelieve that the region is like
(22:10):
particularly magic and holds energetic properties such as
strong geometric fields or sorry, geomagnetic fields.
However, a lot of local legends speak of supernatural beings,
mysterious disappearances, blooddrinking creatures, and they're
often related to sightings of bright lights in the sky.
(22:32):
I'm not making this up. This is like some real shit.
This is not like new shit. This is some old school
Transylvanian lore which I didn't fucking realize.
So call back. I don't know if you ever
listened to my two-part episode about aliens.
However, I basically read from this book, which is called the
(22:56):
Introduction to Aliens, and it is an alleged translation of a
book from the Soviet Union that they would give to spies to
special, what are they called? Special Agents as kind of like a
very simplified brief overview of the known alien races to
human beings when they were lastsighted on Earth and what
(23:18):
governments they have worked with if they have.
It's a fascinating book. You can look for it online.
You know what, I should put a link for it in this episode.
But there is a specific alien race listed in this book that
we're going to talk about because this race, according to
(23:41):
this book, is where the myth of vampires come from.
This alien race is known as the have Hanui Kondras, or often for
short, just Kondras. They are an alleged
extraterrestrial race. They feature, they are usually
featured prominently in the fringe, so they're not often
(24:04):
talked about and they're described as part of a complex,
a complex network of alien species that interact with
humanity. They have a lot of different
accounts of like what people describe them as, but most
people describe them as creatures who drink blood and
(24:25):
who experiment on humans. I am going to read to you what
is written in the book I was mentioning from the USSR.
It's again super super brief. I'll go into other some more
details of like alleged information online, but this is
what the book from the USSR says.
(24:46):
The Contras come from the GalaxySexton's dwarf SPH.
No idea where that is. They first visited Earth in 934
AD in the area that we now know as Romania.
That's where Transylvania is by the way.
They are known to abduct and kill humans.
(25:08):
They also drain and drink the blood of humans as well as the
blood of animals. They are responsible for the
myth of vampires. Several human governments know
and accept their actions. There the Peppers go.
The human bodies that they use are never returned.
(25:28):
Their last sighting was in Scotland in 1996.
And you know what's crazy? That's where the little vampire
takes place. Oh my gosh.
OK, these Peppers are going at it.
I need to close the window. We'll be right back.
Planet Earth can be a terrifyingplace sometimes.
Why is that? Because of humanity?
(25:51):
Human beings. However, I would like to.
Remind you that planet Earth is a beautiful planet, and a big
reason why is because of plants.Plants are amazing.
Plants are so magical. Plants are the original.
OG. Life force on this planet.
(26:13):
Plants can heal us and plants necessitate our health.
This is your reminder. Maybe you should plant a plant
this year. If you're worried about plants,
maybe you can have a succulent like an agave.
Agave are amazing because it's almost impossible to kill agave
(26:37):
and you can use them on your skin.
You can use them if you have a sunburn.
You can use them for moisturization.
You can actually drink the pulp if you ever have a cold.
Plants are incredible. The list goes on and you already
know, but research some plants. Plant a house and plant a house.
No Plant a plant within your house.
(26:59):
Maybe plant a tree outside of your house.
Everyone on earth planted a treetoday.
That would be almost 8 billion more trees.
Let's do this as a teen baby. And we're back.
Baby boy. OK, so according to a lot of
other online sources about this alien race known as the Contras,
(27:24):
they're described as being humanoid in form and
specifically are considered to be pale, tall, and slender.
They're described as having smooth or translucent skin that
sometimes appears to emit a faint glow.
They're known to have a large, almond shaped eyes with a
piercing or hypnotic quality. They have delicate, almost
(27:46):
ethereal features, giving them an otherworldly appearance.
They're typically described to be taller than humans, ranging
from 7 to 10 feet. Their movements are said to be
graceful, almost floating, whichcontributes to their mystical
reputation. They are said to originate from
(28:10):
a distant star system, often unnamed or linked to the obscure
constellations. Some sources suggest that they
come from another dimension or ahigher plane of existence,
making them interdimensional beings rather than strictly
extraterrestrial. They're believed to have visited
Earth in ancient times, and may have been mistaken for gods,
(28:31):
spirits, or supernatural beings by early civilizations.
Their presence is linked to various myths, particularly
those involving vampires. Dude what?
So of course, their biggest characteristic, which is the
most infamous, is that they are known for consuming the blood
(28:51):
and life force as a physical necessity or perhaps as part of
a ritual. This behavior has inspired myths
of vampires, leading some to classify them as energy vampires
rather than traditional blood drinkers.
They also have a reputation for telepathic and hypnotic
abilities. They possess advanced mental
(29:13):
capabilities, including telepathic communication and the
ability to influence or control human minds.
Some stories describe their ability to induce paralysis or
hallucinations. Their technology is described as
so advanced that it happens to appear magical to humans.
They are said to use crafts capable of interstellar travel
(29:37):
or dimensional shifts. Often described as glowing orbs
or translucent spaceships. They are thought to be extremely
long lived, possibly immortal byhuman standards.
The Contras are described as observers of humanity studying
human behaviour, biology, and emotional responses.
(29:58):
Some people theorize that they are cataloguing human DNA and or
trying to influence human evolution.
Others really focus on the fact that they harvest energy and
believe that that is their primary focus on Earth.
According to some human lore, they'd speak of them harvesting
(30:20):
energy to sustain their species.This has led to the speculation
that they are involved in abduction cases or cattle
mutilations where blood and bodily fluids are drained.
They're sometimes portrayed as influencing human spirituality
or religious systems, possibly to control populations or
(30:41):
harvest faith-based energy. That is so interesting.
The alien race of the Contras are occasionally depicted as
being in conflict with other extraterrestrial or
interdimensional alien races, particularly benevolent ones
that oppose their exploitation of humanity.
(31:03):
What? I had never heard about this
before I this really blew my mind.
I also want to mention like, we're about to start talking
about Nosferatu slash Dracula, because that's like really what
we're all here for. Nosferatu is just trending.
But I do really want to mention another aspect of why vampirism
(31:26):
really got so popular in American culture and British
culture. And a big reason for that is
xenophobia and plain racism. Modern vampires are depicted
with a lot of qualities that we associate with people who are
sexually abusive, right? There's a lot of like hypnosis
(31:48):
and, and, and sexual energy and motive behind a lot of their
behaviors. And a big aspect to that comes
from the Western Europeans beingafraid of Eastern Europeans as
violent people and as highly sexual people.
And I'm not necessarily saying that's true.
(32:10):
I'm saying that that it was the impression that I think a lot of
Western Europeans had. And I think another aspect too
is that some parts of Eastern Europe still had more culture
that was pre Christian. And so I think that it it kind
of created more fear around these people that maybe still
(32:32):
living rurally and still be using bidwives or herbal
medicine or what have you, or perhaps are just like really
afraid of the men. And another aspect to that too,
and we're about to talk about this in a second, is that like
the story of Dracula, which was written by Braun Stoker, was
(32:53):
inspired by Vlad the Impaler. And from the Western European
point of view, Vlad the Impaler was an Eastern European.
So they kind of thought of him as like foreign and exotic.
But a really big motive of Vlad the Impaler was he was proudly
Christian and was killing Muslims.
(33:16):
He was opposing the Ottoman Empire with full gusto and was
murdering happily. So I think that's another really
interesting nuance that is important to to consider and
talk about that. I think modernized vampires are
(33:39):
really kind of touching on so many ancient beliefs that have
been distorted through time. And I think a really big aspect
of that is racism and and fear of Eastern European culture.
So that being said, let's talk alittle bit about Brahm Stoker.
Who is Brahm Stoker? How did he write Dracula and how
(34:01):
did Dracula become what is now Nosferatu?
So Braun Stoker, interestingly, he's from Dublin, Ireland.
Who knew that? I didn't know that he was born
in 1847. He was born on November 8th,
(34:23):
which makes him a Scorpio and hewas raised in a suburb outside
of Dublin and as a child he suffered from severe illnesses.
And so when he was very young, he spent so much of his time in
house, in his house, bedridden and his mother would tell him
stories. First of all, that is so
(34:45):
precious. And obviously, I think this is a
big foundation for him as a future writer because he spent a
lot of his childhood in his bed thinking and dreaming.
And his mother really was a storyteller and would tell him a
(35:06):
bunch of stories. And she also spoke a lot about
the potato famine, which she hadlived through.
So she told him stories that were real as fuck, stories about
death, suffering, despair. And like some really intense
stories however, and some other honorable and interesting
(35:27):
mentions. There's no proof that she told
him about these specific things,but we can assume simply because
they spent so much time togetherand she would tell him stories.
There are also Irish vampires from Irish folklore, so one of
them is known as the Dirgadu. This is a creature that
(35:50):
literally translates to red blood sucker and it is a
feminine vampire like spirit. According to the Irish legend,
she is known as a beautiful woman who died tragically and
rose from the grave to seduce men and drain their blood.
This tale of course very well may have influenced Braun Stoker
(36:16):
especially like the sexual nature.
There's also another Irish vampire known as the Abartak and
this is an Irish dwarf or Chieftain.
And in some versions of this legend the the Obtark is a
figure with blood drinking revenant.
(36:41):
So he's known to rise from the grave and terrorize people until
they are finally subdued. Oh, sorry.
Until he is finally subdued witha wooden sword and buried upside
down. And so this one particularly
feels like like a regurgitation of the Eastern European story.
(37:03):
The fact that he rises from the grave and you have to use like a
wooden sword and bury him upsidedown.
Like this feels very like a talltale, right?
Like a game of telephone. But another interesting, like
vampire, like legend are the Banshees.
The Banshees are these stories of these, like, spirits, these
(37:26):
omens of death that are known tolike, scream and screech and
these, like, really horrifying sounds.
And they're known to be terribleomens.
And this is kind of like, yeah, I I just.
I think it's so interesting to think about who Bram Stoker was
and the kinds of things he was thinking about in his childhood.
(37:49):
And yeah, I don't know, these are like the things I think
about that I, I like to think about people who lived hundreds
of years before us. Like, what were they daydreaming
about? And how does, how does that
inform their life and, and possibly their art?
So unsurprisingly, as Brom Stoker got older, he became
(38:11):
really interested in researchingEastern European culture, most
likely because he was drawn to how dark and creepy a lot of it,
a lot of it is. And specifically he became
fascinated with the story and history of Vlad the Impaler.
(38:32):
And so Dracula was directly inspired by Vlad the Impaler.
And that is something that I didnot know growing up.
And I, I find that to be so interesting.
And so here are here are some hard facts about Vlad the
(38:52):
Impaler that you're going to start seeing.
Like how much this modern vampire myth that we all think
of as modern day vampires is really modeled after Vlad the
Impaler. So Vlad the third was actually
known as Vlad Dracula. Vlad Dracula.
That is his, the name he was known by the translation of,
(39:16):
that was actually the Son of theDragon, which is fucking sick.
We do better. Whoever, whoever is listening,
we need to do better. We need to name our children
sicker names. Why don't you name your son Son
of the Dragon the Third? Come on.
So his father, who was Vlad the Second, was a member of an order
(39:39):
known as the Order of the Dragon.
This was a chivalric order established to defend
Christianity in Eastern Europe against the Ottoman Turks.
So these were like full on warriors of Christianity.
Like they were just not feeling Islam.
Oh my gosh, did you hear that? My neck really needed that.
Crack. Crack kills.
(40:01):
Kids don't crack kills. OK, so interestingly in that
this word Dracula, Dracula, or sometimes in Romanian pronounced
as Dracul, which is actually like sick Dracul.
That sounds like some cool. Like it sounds like Jokul.
(40:23):
You know, that's that's a sick nickname.
I could see like some like Stoner dude who's like kind of
creepy and like and he's like kind of gothy, but like like a
skater, like a goth skater, likedracool.
That's a sick name. Write that down.
So like I mentioned, often this translated to dragon.
(40:44):
However, sometimes this word dracool was translated as devil.
And so for some people, this surname Dracula would be
interpreted either as son of thedragon or son of the devil.
So of course, like people are terrified, like this is an
intimidation tactic. Honestly, it's a hot name.
(41:05):
Son of the devil, the third son of the dragon, the third.
Like that's a sick fucking name.Like your fave could never.
So of course, unsurprisingly, Braam Stoker just took this name
directly. He took the name Dracula from
Vlad the Impaler, and he also took quite a few other tidbits,
(41:27):
one of them being about like this idea of blood.
So of course, like Vlad was not considered to be a vampire.
That was never part of his reputation while he was alive.
However, he was known to be a very ruthless man and a man that
you often weren't known to leavealive if you were in his
(41:49):
presence, especially if you likeopposed his beliefs.
So he ruled over a area in Romania that was at one point
known as Wallachya. And this is an area that is not
far from Transylvania. So he like lived in a castle.
He ruled over this area, but nothe.
(42:11):
He wasn't like the official ruler.
It was, he was more like a Lord,if that makes sense.
And he, he would come and go as he pleased.
So again, he wasn't like an official ruler, but he in a way
he was, he was like a protector and a, a Lord.
(42:34):
I, I don't think, I don't, I, I'm using the word Lord
liberally. I don't think he was like, I
don't think that was his official title, but I think he
had the same authority in the sense that he was like a local
man of importance with access tohis own castle.
His castle was known as the Poonadi Fortress.
(42:57):
And it was situated in the in a mountainous area that again,
like, you know, we're all kind of, I think both of us have seen
Dracula. Like we're kind of all being
able to visualize it in our heads.
And so of course, like, this is like, really evoking this, like,
creepy, eerie energy, this gothic symbology that is like
(43:21):
what the Dracula story is about.This is like directly taken from
Vlad's life. Another thing that Braun Stoker
took from Vlad was that, like, he wasn't considered to be a
vampire, but a lot of historicalaccounts paint him to be
otherworldly. He's described as being cunning,
(43:42):
invincible in battle, and known to be incredibly vindictive and
to carry out very harsh punishments.
So a lot of people associated this with demonic behavior.
Some accounts suggest that Vlad's brutality aligned him
with evil and perhaps with supernatural powers.
(44:08):
And of course, you know, like inthe story of Dracula, Dracula is
known to have supernatural powers.
He was known to shape shift, control wolves and bats and
hypnotize his victims. And it is like super inspired by
Vlad being just incredibly intimidating and otherworldly.
But I think like a really big distinction that is important to
(44:33):
remember is that in real life, Vlad the Impaler was a staunch
defender of Christianity. And all the people he was
torturing and killing were usually people from the Ottoman
Empire who were trying to spreadIslam through Eastern Europe.
And so he, I mean, he was essentially like doing like a
(44:54):
one man jihad. He was killing people who did
not align with his spiritual beliefs.
And I do think that's really interesting because obviously
like a big part of these vampiremyths, which are nowadays very
derivative of Dracula, you know,they all kind of fear the
church. They fear crosses, crosses seem
(45:14):
to affect them negatively. And that is like a huge
difference from who Vlad the Impaler really was.
And I, I, I find that to be so interesting.
And of course, you know, Braun Stoker was in Ireland and like I
mentioned before, I think for Western Europe, Eastern
Europeans feel so foreign to them.
And, and so, you know, perhaps they would like lump them into
(45:40):
the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
And so like their them being Christian may not be enough for
them to like feel that they are related, if that makes sense.
I find that to be so fascinating.
So let's get into Nosferatu. I don't know if you knew this,
but the original film of the 1920s is thought to be cursed
(46:02):
and the original actor who played Nosferatu was thought to
be a real vampire by many people.
Let's get into details. This is why we all came here.
Eat your popcorn, babe. Have your water, make your tea
because we're going to get into the juicy details.
This is drama. This is OG drama.
(46:25):
So after the book of Dracula waswritten, it got super, super
popular and within like the nextfew decades, a silent film was
made in 1922 called Nosferatu. And this movie Nosferatu was
(46:46):
basically a direct RIP off of Dracula.
They just didn't get the rights to it.
So it's like it's, it's literally a RIP off.
They just called it Nosferatu. And there is so much mystery,
intrigue and legends about this film and why it's cursed.
(47:07):
And I just, I just like, I want to eat it.
I want to slurp it with the straw.
I love the drama. So instead of Count Dracula, the
vampire in this film, Nosratu isknown as Count Orlok and it was
played by an actor whose name was Max Shrek.
(47:30):
And just for some clarification,Shrek is spelled SCH like RECK.
But like, I mean, I'm pretty sure you just say Shrek like
like Shrek, which is pretty sick.
So this actor was named match Max Shrek.
He played Count Orlok who was like truly like a vampire.
(47:52):
If you've seen the original or the movie from the early 70s,
was it 69 or something? It's either the late 60s or
early 70s. It's an that is actually like my
favorite iteration. The one from the 20s is kind of
hard to watch, but this, this character count Orlok is like
the Super creepy pale bald headed man.
(48:16):
He has pointed ears and like long pointy fingers and he's
like two big front teeth, almostlike a rodent.
Like he kind of looks like a creepy skinny naked mole rat.
And the actor Max Shrek brought quite a a lot of monstrous
realism to his character. Allegedly, he really grew his
(48:37):
fingernails out and he was a method actor.
So he would come to set every day in full make up and would
never take it off and wouldn't really talk to other people on
set and would like stay to himself.
So immediately when film filmingstarted, people were terrified
of this guy and basically like as filming continued, the rumour
(49:01):
started growing on the set. And specifically because he
really like had a secretive nature.
And another aspect to it is in German, the word Shrek
translates to fright. And so this like really had
(49:23):
people going like the fact that his last name meant fright
really had people thinking that like, this man was like some
kind of demon. And so interestingly, like they
made a film in the year 2000, I don't know if you've seen it,
but it's called The Shadow of the Vampire.
And it's a movie that is about the filming of this original
(49:43):
Nosferatu. So it stars Willem Dafoe.
He he plays this Mack Shrek, theguy who's playing Count Orlok
and John Malkovich plays the director.
And so like this, this movie, which is like, it takes a lot of
artistic liberties, is basicallylike presenting the idea that
(50:04):
the director knew that Mack Shrek was a vampire and hired
him so that it could be like a, a hyper realistic film.
Now, of course, like there's no,there's nothing to back up that
Mack Shrek was a real vampire orthat the director like knew that
and hired him for that. But this movie is like, it's
pretty fun and it, it kind of explores this idea of like what
(50:24):
if he was a vampire and the the director knew like it's kind of
iconic. And so like, basically by the
time that the filming of the 1stmovie wrapped, a lot of people
on set were really, really off put by the actor Max Shrek.
Not only because he was secretive and he was like method
(50:47):
acting this creepy ass character, but also because
weird things started happening. People started talking about the
movie being possibly cursed, mostly because several cast and
crew members reportedly experienced misfortune
misfortunes during and after production.
(51:09):
Obviously these could very well be coincidences, but this
started having people think thatlike there were some dark magic
going on. Allegedly some people on the
crew died suddenly. There was a producer named Albin
Grau and his wife died suddenly.He claimed that his wife passed
(51:37):
away unexpectedly during the middle of production, and this
personal tragedy is often cited as an early sign of the curse of
this film. There was also several crew
members who alleged that they fell I'll during the production
of Nosferatu. The illnesses ranged from mild
to severe, with some individualswho are unable to complete their
(51:59):
work. Though no specific diseases are
named, in most accounts, it has been attributed to the harsh
filming conditions and the lingering aura of bad luck.
And ultimately, what really kindof put the nail in the coffin
was that after the film Nosferatu was made, Braam
Stoker's widow sued the production for ripping off the
(52:21):
book. And so they she took them to
court and they had decided that the film was to be taken off the
market. And they destroyed almost all
copies. Only a few copies survived it.
It is hard to find, but it it, you can find the original film.
And so this of course, like, again, added to this idea that
this was a cursed production. Isn't this so like Freaky Deaky?
(52:49):
But I do want to mention that like there's.
So there's not a lot known aboutMax Shrek, who is the man who
played Count Orlok, this Nosferatu character.
But allegedly before the movie came out, he was a respected
actor with a long career in theatre and film, and he was in
other films other than Nosferatu.
(53:10):
However, none of them really became that popular.
And allegedly after he made Nosferatu, he stopped acting so
much. So this kind of like added to
this idea that like what if he really is a vampire?
And honestly, like, I kind of love that.
I kind of love it. Like that's all he's known for
(53:31):
and that people really believe that.
I just feel like that's so like sick.
However, one other interesting thing is that during this movie
from the 2000s, I was mentioningwith Willem Dafoe and John
Malkovich where they're like recreating this story of the
first filming of Nosferatu. It is alleged that while they
(53:53):
were filming this movie that there was also a death of a crew
member and the rumor became so ingrained that it inspired oh oh
oh, sorry sorry, sorry I fucked this up.
The movie was inspired by the fact that a crew member
allegedly died. And so in this film the shadow
of a vampire obviously like the crew member is killed by Willem
(54:18):
Dafoe's character and he like drinks his blood.
But again, this film The Shadow of a Vampire is definitely takes
a lot of artistic liberties and really like runs with this idea.
Hi there, did you know that humans are made mostly of water?
(54:40):
Something like 80% or something?I don't, I don't remember the
stats, but water is crucial you guys.
Water is crucial. Have you been drinking water
today? I highly recommend it.
You can also add a little bit oflike pink salt or or Celtic salt
or some nice like Real Salt to your water to help your
(55:02):
electrolytes. You can do a cucumber infusion.
You could add some mint in there, some chia seeds like I'm.
I'm inviting you to be creative.Here, but I'm also here.
To remind you drink your water, baby boy, drink your water.
Really helps with the function of the nervous system, the
(55:23):
function of the bowels. We're talking optimal
functioning here. Drink your water, baby.
And we're back. So this is like some other
(55:45):
really interesting drama that led to people believing that
this film was cursed. There was a screening of the
original film Nosferatu and allegedly there was a fire that
happened and the the theatre. According to legend, the theatre
burned down as well as the, the real, the, the the film.
(56:12):
And of course, like it is important to note that theaters
often had fires because of the flammability of old film and
that everyone was just smoking openly.
So like it is totally possible that it was an accident.
However, like this just kind of again, like added fuel to the
fire of this being like a reallycreepy production and like truly
(56:41):
force. For over 100 years, people have
rumoured that Mac Shrek really was a vampire.
Obviously since this time the copyright of the Dracula novel
has expired and so now people can make films and and kind of.
(57:02):
Reboot Nosferatu as it's not a copyright infringement.
But I do think that the originalNosferatu film almost became
more interesting because it became like, illegal.
It became taboo, it became banned.
And I think that is a really bigcontributing factor to the
film's mystique and curse. You know, like there's just
(57:25):
nothing like banning a film to make it more infamous.
I also find it really interesting that this character,
Count Orlok, who is this the character of Nosferatu is like
really like a regurgitation of an Irish man's idea of an
(57:47):
Eastern European man. And I, I think that is
ultimately what, what modern dayvampirism has become, even if we
don't really realize it, even ifwe're thinking about Edward
Cullen or Lestat from Interview with a Vampire, right?
Like our ideas of modern day vampirism is really like a
(58:12):
Western European window into Eastern European culture.
And so I, I do really think thatwe shouldn't overlook that it's
in a way a bastardization in a way, it's a reduction in a way.
There's like elements of xenophobia.
(58:33):
There's like so many layers of this onion that I find really
fascinating and, and interesting.
And also like sad. I'm, I, I do feel sad how it
seems that in a lot of Western European culture there isn't a
lot of interest in care in the why and and why things are a
(58:56):
certain way and they, they seem to just be like regurgitated for
fun. However, it is very fun.
It is very cool, and perhaps Nosferatu is cursed.
So watch with care. If you have not watched the
early 70s rendition of the Nosferatu film, I highly
recommend it. It's hard to find the original
(59:18):
version because the original version I believe is in fact in
German. But they also, they basically
have an English version that's partially dubbed during filming.
They filmed, they had actors do a scene in German and they would
film the scene again in English.And in some parts they would
have people speak in German who didn't speak English.
(59:41):
They would dub over them. And I've heard that the German
version is the best. I just had trouble finding it,
so I watched the English version.
It's incredible. It's beautifully shot.
It's like it's truly an art filmand it's super, super fucking
creepy. Highly recommend and.
(01:00:03):
That tops us off, baby. I could talk.
Forever, but let's keep it a short, tight hour.
Thank you so much for listening.I have nothing but appreciation
for you. Please take good care of
yourself and I'll catch you nextweek.
Over and out.
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