Vampires and Death in New England, 1784-1892
Close your eyes and imagine a vampire. The image that comes to mind probably is that of Bela Lugosi in the role of Dracula. Since 1897, when Bram Stoker published his novel, the Count has dominated our imaginations. But another kind of vampire survived in outlying areas of New England more than one hundred years before Stoker put pen to paper. Michael Bell relates the stories of rural families who dug up the bodies of their loved ones and burned their hearts to save the living. These ordinary farmers, who were confronted with an illness that medicine could neither explain nor cure, blamed the dead. Bell summarizes his quest for this authentic vampire tradition, detailed in his award-winning book Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001), that has led him into the field to conduct interviews, find cemeteries and gravestones, and even investigate archaeological digs. He also searched published local histories, colonial records in town halls, old newspapers on microfilm and genealogies in libraries. In Vampires and Death in New England, Bell takes you on a journey where folklore and medical science meet to explain New England’s vampire tradition. Your image of vampires will never again be the same.
Dr. Michael E. Bell, consulting folklorist with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, develops and implements programs that express and interpret Rhode Island folklife and oral history. He received his Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington, 1980 and his dissertation topic was African American voodoo practices. He is principal scholar on the Pawtuxet Village: One Space, Many Places project and the Pawtuxet Village Freedom Project; Folklorist on the Languages of the Land: a Dialogue with Salter Grove and Fish Tales projects, amongst many others. He is on the board of directors at the Cranston Historical Society, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Voices and Visions of Village Life project, and former Chair of the Cranston Historic District Commission.
Needs: Powerpoint projector (preferred) or slide projector/screen and lighted lectern/water