A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists on the blood or life essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires were shroud- wearing undead beings who often visited loved ones and caused mischief in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were alive. Before the early 19th century, they were described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire. The term vampire was popularised in the West in the early 18th century, after vampire legends from oral traditions of ethnic groups of the Balkans and Eastern Europe were recorded and published. The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. The modern basis of the vampire legend comes from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, considered the quintessential vampire novel. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1826:
HMS Beagle departed on her first voyage from Plymouth for a hydrographic survey of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego regions of South America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle
1897:
The first Blackwall Tunnel (construction pictured) under the River Thames was opened to improve commerce and trade in the East End of London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwall_Tunnel
1915:
California's Lassen Peak violently erupted, the only volcanic eruption in the contiguous U.S. in the 20th century until Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassen_Peak
1972:
Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and officially became a republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka
1987:
During Hindu–Muslim rioting in Meerut, India, 19 members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary allegedly massacred 42 Muslims and dumped their bodies in water canals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashimpura_massacre
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
tram: 1. (Australia, Britain, rail transport) A passenger vehicle for public use that runs on tracks in the road (called a streetcar in North America). 2. A similar vehicle for carrying materials. 3. (US, rail transport) A people mover. 4. (US) An aerial cable car. 5. (US) A train with wheels that runs on a road; a trackless train. […] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tram
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When we are mired in the relative world, never lifting our gaze to the mystery, our life is stunted, incomplete; we are filled with yearning for that paradise that is lost when, as young children, we replace it with words and ideas and abstractions — such as merit, such as past, present, and future — our direct, spontaneous experience of the thing itself, in the beauty and precision of this present moment. We identify, label, and interpret our surroundings as abstract concepts, quite separate from another concept, which is our own separate identity and ego. --Peter Matthiessen https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Matthiessen