On Vampire Hunting
Since its discovery sometime in the 4th millennium BCE, silver gradually garnered a reputation for its ability to ward off evil. Over time, certain attractive properties of the element, namely its medicinal qualities and ethereal sheen, were bolstered by references in myth, religion, and alchemy, and often attributed to a lunar association. This created a potent blend of silver mysticism that has laced popular fiction not only in tales of the werewolf, but also those of its shape-shifting counterpart - the vampire.
The quintessential vampire tale, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, was published in 1897. It was a period rife with scientific advances and fin de siecle anxieties. Many people were excited by the prospects, yet wary of impending changes and reluctant to forego the customs of their ancestors. These facts were duly noted by Stoker and made manifest in his work. Late 19th century innovations like the typewriter and the phonograph appear, as do many Old World conventions and phylacteries.
In one scene, early in the story, Count Dracula looms up behind Jonathan Harker as he’s shaving, startling him so that he cuts himself with the razor.
“This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror!”
Contemporary readers armed with the right brand of background knowledge could have found this plausible for two reasons: 1) vampires were believed to lead a hollow, wandering existence without a soul upon which to reflect, and 2) mirrors were made of silver and could therefore act as a potential safeguard against all manner of monsters and the undead.
In the end, only the character of Dr. Van Helsing, himself a burgeoning man of science, can help destroy the Count with his encyclopedic knowledge of Eastern European folklore.
Dracula set the precedent for vampire fiction and eventually won a place in the literary canon. Stoker’s work inspired a myriad of adaptations in a whole array of media and spawned an expansive vampire subculture.
As a result, vampire lore has now grown so vast and ambiguous as to become a shape-shifting entity in its own right. Some vampires can be knocked flat with garlic breath while others require a more complicated effort. At some point, silver mysticism fell into desuetude. Bob Bankard (www.phillyburbs.com) claims that the modern vampire hunter’s “faith in pure metals is making a comeback" yet the brood of bloodsuckers in David Slade’s new film, 30 Days Of Night, is all but immune to the silver-flecked and garlic-scented implements of yore. And what are we to make of sterling silver vampfangs and vampire grillz?
Tonight the veil between the living and the dead will be at its thinnest. Extraordinary things are bound to occur before the sun comes up. It may not help, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to keep some silver within arm’s reach in the odd chance you should find a bona fide, medieval revenant at your door.
Happy Halloween from Nelson & Nelson Antiques!
