While many vampires have been used to scare audiences and unveil human anguishes, some bloodsuckers are more memorable than others.

Vampire fiction versus folklore As a body decomposes ... He died several weeks later. Throughout history, many people have found or exhumed extraordinarily well-preserved bodies.

Think you know movie vampires? Think again. Vampires of folklore didn’t always even drink blood. Sometimes, they would strangle their victims. Sometimes, they would fornicate with their victims ...

The folklore of the space age married medieval folklore ... In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires, Revised Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994. Dunn-Mascetti, Manuela.

Scott Detrow is a White House correspondent for NPR and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.