Beyond werewolves and zombies, vampires remain the most popular mythological creatures that have taken over mainstream pop culture.
They can be found in the most popular TV shows, a huge number of books and video games, as well as films where the sexiest vampires from cinema are filmed.
As a result, "obsession with vampires"began to show a negative side effect, which makes some historical facts look very vague, and in some cases this leads to the most sad consequences."Motley company"Historical figures, mistakenly portrayed as vampires, are in fact a collection of terrible serial killers. They, too, were convinced of their belonging to an immortal army."living dead"or they were presented as such in tabloid newspapers. While some of them definitely need to be included in"top list"historical vampires.
All this worked in such a way that the first five characters are common criminals, while the other five are legendary personalities, whose life paths were idealized and, after a long time, their descriptions absolutely do not correspond to the historical truth. You may be interested in the article 10 real-life vampires.
10. Tracey Wiggington (born 1965)
The first heroine is originally from Australia, along with three accomplices, accused of murdering a man in 1989. Together with her friend Liza Ptashinskaya and two other women, she lured a man into the park at night. Wiggington stabbed him 27 times. According to Ptashinskaya, they decided to commit a terrible crime in order to drink his blood, for which Wiggington was christened “Lesbian Vampire Slayer».
She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. In prison, Tracy attacked a cellmate and a warden. In 2012, already ill and walking on crutches, she was released. According to rumors, Ptashinskaya was released from prison years earlier, in 2008, but this information was not confirmed.
9. Clan of Vampires
The Vampire clan consisted of teenagers who claimed to be vampires. The group consisted of:
- Howard Scott Anderson,
- Dana Cooper,
- Roderrick Justin Ferrell,
- Charity Kissy.
They were friends of Heather Wendorf, whose parents were killed by the guys in this gang. They even burned out the Latin letter "V"On the body of his father. What for? Ferrell, you see, claimed that the man was actually a five hundred year old vampire named Vesago [“Vesago»].
Ferrell was found guilty of a serious crime, burglary and armed assault and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Anderson had to hear the same verdict. Various penalties were applied against the girls, since they were apparently not in the house at the time of the murder of Hezel's parents.
Kissy was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison under two counts for third-degree murder, robbery with a pistol or other deadly weapon, and burglary using weapons and explosives. Cooper was charged and found guilty of the same crimes and sentenced to 17.5 years.
8. Vampire rapists
Nickname "vampire rapist " Wayne Boden (born 1948; died March 27, 2006), received after committing a string of murders of women including Shirley Odette, Mariel Archambo, Jean Way and Elizabeth Ann Porto. Four attacks took place in Canada from 1969 to 1971. Boden was convicted and imprisoned for his crimes. In 1977, he managed to escape from prison for a short time. He died in 2006 of skin cancer.
Simultaneously with Boden, even if not in Canada, but in the United States, another appeared "vampire rapist". John Brennan Crutchley (see photo, born October 1, 1946, died March 30, 2002) was nicknamed the Florida Vampire Rapist. He was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault and sentenced to life imprisonment. Crutchley is a notorious rapist. a serial killer and a suspect in disappearances, including an unsolved case of sisters: 10-year-old Mary Catherine Lyon and 12-year-old Sheila Mary Lyon.
7.Richard Chase (May 23, 1950 - December 26, 1980)
Dubbed the Sacramento Vampire for drinking the blood of his victims, Chase was sentenced to imprisonment before committing suicide by taking a lethal dose of an antidepressant prescribed by a prison doctor. Most likely, he committed his first murder while firing from a car on the move. His later crimes included cannibalism.
One of the victims was even four months pregnant when he shot her three times before killing her. Episodes from various television investigations have been based on his crimes. He was sentenced to death in a gas chamber, but he managed to avoid this fate.
6. Vampires of Germany
For some strange reason, two separate people living at the same time were guilty of allegedly vampire crimes in Germany in the 1920s. Known as the vampire of Dusseldorf, Peter Kürten (born May 26, 1883, died July 2, 1931) has 9 proven murders out of 60, 7 attempted murders and an indefinite number of sexual assaults. Perhaps even more terrifying was the man called the vampire of Hanover.
This man, Fritz Haarmann (born October 25, 1879; died April 15, 1925), killed at least 24 to 27 people before being sentenced to death by guillotine in 1925 at the age of 45. Of all the vampire assassins of the twentieth century, Haarman has the most proven victims, which is why he is so high on this list.
5. Nikola Tesla (born July 10, 1856 - died January 7, 1943)
His name, like the names of the next four figures at the top of the list, are no doubt more common knowledge than the names of these criminals. For this reason, their positions are higher in the rankings, although historically they are less confirmed vampires, despite the fact that they drank someone else's blood. However, this did not stop writers and directors from portraying them as vampires, as they are seen from the point of view of pop culture.
In the Canadian television series "Asylum " (2007-2011), the famous Serbian-American scientist and inventor has a reputation as a werewolf and a vampire. And on top of that, being represented as "withmad scientist"In other media, Tesla is also declared a vampire.
4. Billy the Kid (November 23, 1859 - July 14, 1881)
In fact, in American pop culture, Billy the Kid is infamous for the outlaw of the Wild West. However, in Bloodrain 2: Liberation (2007), Billy is not only the shooter and the main villain, but also a vampire who has to fight the half-human-half-vampire Rain. The latter is victorious and later challenges the Nazis in Bloodrain: The Third Reich.
Meanwhile, in 2004, Billy finds himself in the same company with Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad Tepes in the third installment of the MacFarlane Monsters - Six Mad Characters series of plastic figures. Since Billy had a lot of criminal talent, he is ranked higher on my list.
3. Salome (A.D. 14 - A.D. 62-71)
Salome is the oldest historical figure on this list, therefore, her position is quite high here. In the Bible, she is portrayed as an insidious seductress. According to the story, she performed the Dance of the Seven Veils for Herod Antipas, who married her mother Herodias. Earlier, Herodias was married to Herod II, the father of Salome, half-brother of Iris Antipas. According to ancient sources, Salome danced quite nicely, and for this the ruler invited her to choose a reward. Salome's mother persuaded her to ask for the head of John the Baptist in order to punish the prophet for criticizing the union of Herod and Herodias.
And he agreed.Salome was first portrayed as a vampire in the book “Completely dead", Where she acted as the owner of the casino"Siete velos"And the creator of the vampire Mickey. In the series about the supernatural "Real blood", Which goes on the HBO channel Salome is one of the most ancient and powerful vampires. She holds the honorary position of chancellor in the vampire government. Salome hints to her vampire buddy Bill Compton that the Bible mistakenly attributed to her the blame for the death of John the Baptist.
2.Elizabeth Bathory (August 7, 1560 - August 21, 1614)
The so-called "Bloody Countess"Could be considered the most terrible serial killer of all times and peoples, if, of course, all the legends about her were true. She is believed to have killed between 80 and 650 people. Opponents claim that it all started after Elizabeth accidentally got a drop of the servant's blood, and she suddenly decided that the blood could rejuvenate her. Then it is reported that she began to take baths with blood or rinse her body with it.
Some have suggested that the charges are false. At the very least, we could well agree that she was not a vampire. She was a strong woman and lived in a period of misogyny. She was also a Protestant, and the main political opponents were Catholics. In addition, it is assumed that she kept a diary and historians will still have to study it. TThus, the legends surrounding her personality are still only legends.... However, she continues to be portrayed as a murderous vampire in pop culture. Indeed, no one image, except perhaps the number one hero from our list, is exaggerated as actively in pop culture as a vampire as the image of the Bloody Countess. A couple of dozen films have been filmed about her life, several plays have been written; she appears as the main character in a large number of video games and works of literature. It got to the point that they set up the production of plastic figures and dolls with her image.
1. Vlad the Impaler (1431 - 1476)
As in the case of the Bloody Countess, many of these terrible accusations of Vlad the Tepes are unfounded and appeared only after his death, or even come from biased sources. For example, a frequently copied woodcut of Tepes at a dinner table in the middle of a real forest of impaled unfortunates dates from 1499. By that time, he had already died for 20 years. Later, in the 1800s, novelist Bram Stoker finally transformed him into the vampire Dracula in a book of the same name. A dozen films and comics have been released based on this novel. Heavy metal band "Gwar”Even recorded a song about him.
The real Dracula (this name means "Son of the Dragon"), of course, took part in the military campaigns, but whether he was as terrible as he is described in pop culture - this is still debatable. However, he is credited with between 40,000 and 100,000 killed, more than anyone else on this list, even combined. Vampires remain the main aspect of Romanian culture, and more recently the last communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (January 26, 1918 - December 25, 1989) was nicknamed by the Romanians "Vampirescu "(Vampirescu) for his draining country economic policy, which he pursued during his 25-year reign.
