Interred in shadows no more, the vampire mythos is illuminated in this captivating exploration of one of the world's most sinister—and feared—creatures.

Join Brian Righi as he unearths the truth behind myths and beliefs, both ancient and modern. He traces the evolution of the vampire—from Dracula's mysteriously empty grave and the enduring legend it spawned to terrifying documented cases of the real-life blood drinkers of today. Sordid and sultry, the vampire's long and gruesome history is revealed:

—Various cultures' beliefs and superstitions surrounding bloodthirsty immortals
—Chilling true accounts of the unquenchable bloodlust of historical figures such as Vlad the Impaler and Countess Báthory
—Stories and lore from villagers, as recalled from the author's travels through Romania
—Serial killers who suffered from delusions of vampirism
—How the early Christian church inadvertently fed into the 18th-century Eastern European vampire scare