A note on subject matter.

Due to the topic and tone, this episode is best suited to our more mature strangers.

I'm Lauren Norton, and this is one strange thing,

the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

When you think of vampires, your mind may go to Twilight, or Anne Rice, or Dracula, or even

the host of this podcast, don't worry, no offense taken, but there are other, older, and

stranger tales.

You've no doubt heard stories of the ghouls and creatures of Europe, but there have also

been encounters with the

undead here in America. A few years ago, we told you about the Vampire of Mineral Point,

a rather fascinating tale out of Wisconsin if we do say so ourselves. But today, we're heading

further back in time, into the late 19thth century and to one of our favorite haunts, New England.

When we speak of vampires and New England, we should perhaps discuss them in the same way that we do witches,

in the context of cultural fear.

We've dipped our toes into the stream of mass hysteria and local panics before,

and we're back in those waters again.

But things are perhaps a little different this time around,

because the stakes are a lot higher.

Because back then, the people of New England were dying in droves,

and they had been for a long time. Today we're focused on what's known as the vampire panics

of New England, and on Rhode Island's last alleged vampire, Mercy Brown, you might be familiar.

How does anywhere, never mind New England, find themselves in the midst of a vampire panic?

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