The Monstrefact: The Satanic Rites of Drugula

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses possible science of the vampire Drugula…

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures,
ideas and monsters in time. The two thousand and seven

(00:24):
track of the Satanic Rites of Drugula by Electric Wizard
paints exactly the sort of picture you might expect from
this horror obsessed doom metal in stone or rock mainstay.
While the vampires of old thirsted only for human blood,
the lyrics to this song speak of quote dope laced

(00:44):
blood that has only served to introduce the vampiric Hords
and its dark prints to new highs Now. We are
not here to question the wisdom of these lyrics, but
we might well wonder how this dark tale of dope
smoke matches up to the realities of the natural world now. Historically,

(01:05):
the concept of blood drinking monsters being in any way
drawn to cannabis is interesting, in part because of cannabis's
historical associations with the treatment and prevention of parasites. In
the medical use of cannabis among the Greeks and Romans
by James L. Boutrica. The author points to Greek writings

(01:27):
in which cannabis seeds were prescribed in the treatment of
tape worms. Interestingly enough, fifth century see Greek physician Atheists
described the use of cannabis seeds as a means of
drying up the seamen and preventing nocturnal emissions as well.
Boutrica also writes that an ancient Greek work on farming

(01:48):
attest to the use of cannabis is a deterrent to
blood drinking mosquitoes. By spreading cannabis below your bed or
leaving a quote blooming sprig of fresh cannabis by your bedside,
it your blood might be protected from the nefarious thirst
of mosquitoes. Now why these notions don't sound encouraging for

(02:08):
Count Drugula and his spawn. It's also worth noting that
the Greek physician Galen wrote of the alleged blood purifying
properties of cannabis seeds, and that sounds like something of
interest to the vampiric children of the night. The study
of bat biology offers few answers, but it's worth considering

(02:29):
that common vampire bats do not learn taste aversions, as
explored by Ratcliffe at all. In a two thousand three
study in animal behavior, the bats did not seem to
quote learn to associate a novel flavor with averse gastro
intestinal events. In other words, they're not capable of associating
the symptoms caused by a toxic, spoiled, or poisonous substance

(02:52):
with a particular taste. On the other hand, they're certainly
susceptible to some of the effects of various human drugs,
but with these effects pass on through their blood to
a parasitic consumer. Well Randall Monroe explored a similar topic
on the what if website and found that a human
being would have to consume an absurd amount of human

(03:15):
blood to become drunk on the blood's alcohol content. We
can apply a similar line of thinking to other substances
in the blood, but that need not dissuade Count Drugula.
After all, he is clearly an immortal, undead being, and
perhaps he does consume the copious amounts of rock stone
or blood required to attain this level of high. But

(03:39):
our story does not end here. Perhaps Count Drugula would
be interested to know that a stroke medication dubbed draculine
has been derived from the anticoagulant properties of vampire bats
Saliva arise, arise, count drugula arise m Tune into additional

(04:02):
editions of The Monster Fact throughout the months of September
and October. As always, you can email us at contact
at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to
Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For

(04:24):
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