Vampires appear in various lore, folklore and legends throught history. They are mentioned in many cultures, in different parts of the world in different time periods.
Chronology of Vampires
| Year | Event |
| 5000 BC | The emergence of Vampirism in the Mediterranean Basin. |
| 2000 BC | Tomb of the Vampire is erected in Giza, Egypt. |
| 31 | Jesus is claimed to have healed vampires at Capernaum. |
| 140 | Reign of Longinus, Rome’s Vampire Emperor. |
| 773 | Charlemagne defeats Quadilla the Vampire thus saving Rome. |
| 1047 | First appearance of the word “upir” (an early form of the word later to become “vampire”) in a document referring to a Russian prince as “Upir Lichy”, or wicked vampire. |
| 1096 | First Crusade expels vampires from The Holy Land, Jerusalem. |
| 1190 | Walter Map’s “De Nagis Curialium” includes accounts of vampire like beings in England. |
| 1196 | William of Newburgh’s “Chronicles” records several stories of vampire like revenants in England. |
| 1428/29 | “Dracula” aka Vlad Dracula or aka Vlad the Impaler is born. |
| 1476/77 | Dracula is assassinated. |
| 1484 | The Malleus Maleficarium (the witch hunter’s bible) is written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. The topic of how to hunt and destroy a vampire is discussed within it’s pages. |
| 1530 | Italian scientist Ludovico Fatinelli burned at the stake for suggesting a biological cause for vampirism in his “Treatise on Vampires”. |
| 1560 | Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathory is born. |
| 1607 | “The Ship of the Dead” brings vampires to the New World. |
| 1610 | Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred girls and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, being bricked into a room in her castle. Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampires, “De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus”. |
| 1614 | Elizabeth Bathory dies. |
| 1657 | Fr. Francoise Richard’s “Relation de ce qui s’est passé a Sant-Erini Isle de l’Archipel” links vampirism and witchcraft. |
| 1672 | Wave of vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra. |
| 1679 | A German vampire text, “De Masticatione Mortuorum”, is written by Phillip Rohr. |
| 1710 | Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia. |
| 1725 | Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia. |
| 1725/30 | Vampire hysteria lingers in Hungary. |
| 1725/32 | The wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole). |
| 1734 | The word “vampyre” enters the English language in translations of German accounts of European waves of vampire hysteria. |
| 1744 | Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, “Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri.” |
| 1746 | Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampires, “Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de boheme, de Moravic, et de Silesie.” |
| 1748 | The first modern vampyre poem, “Der Vampir”, is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. |
| 1750 | Another wave of vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia. |
| 1756 | Vampire hysteria peaks in Wallachia, Romania. |
| 1772 | Vampire hysteria occurs in Russia. |
| 1797 | Goethe’s “Bride of Corinth” (a poem concerning a vampire) is published. |
| 1798/1800 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes “Christabel,” now conceded to be the first vampire poem in English. |
| 1800 | “I Vampiri,” an opera by Silvestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy. |
| 1801 | “Thalaba” by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampire in English. |
| 1810 | Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulated through northern England. “The Vampyre,” an early vampire poem, by John Stagg is published. |
| 1813 | A vampire appears in Lord Byron’s The Giaour. |
| 1819 | John Polidori’s “The Vampyre,” is the first vampire story in English is published. |
| 1820 | “Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires” by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: “Le Vampire,” the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. August: “The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles,” a translation of Nodier’s play by James R. Planche, opens in London. |
| 1829 | March: Heinrich Marschner’s opera, “Der Vampyr,” based on Nodier’s story, opens in Liepzig. |
| 1841 | Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, “Upyr,” while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampire story by a Russian. |
| 1847 | Bram Stoker is born. |
| 1850 | Haussman destroys Paris’ Vampire Quarter then rebuilds city. |
| 1851 | Alexandre Dumas’ last dramatic work, “Le Vampire,” opens in Paris. |
| 1854 | Copper Creek Siege in California prompts formation of Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency. The case of vampirism in the Ray family of Jewell, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers. |
| 1872 | In Italy, Vincenzo Verzeni is convicted of murdering two people and drinkin |
| 1874 | Reports from Ceven, Ireland, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained. |
| 1882 | New York Vampire riots ensue. |
| 1891 | Steketee’s Vampire Rights movement in France is started. |
| 1897 | “Dracula” by Bram Stoker is published in England. |
| 1905 | Worldwide vampire population hits the one million. |
| 1924 | Fritz Haarmann the “Vampire of Hanover” is arrested, tried and convicted of killing more than 20 people in a vampire crime spree. |
| 1931 | Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, is released. Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering a number of people in a vampiric killing spree. |
| 1932 | The movie “Vampyr,” directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer, is released. |
| 1936 | “Dracula’s Daughter” is released. |
| 1942 | A. E. Van Vought’s “Asylum” is the first story about an alien vampire. |
| 1943 | U. S. President Franklin Roosevelt unveils “The Zozobra Project”. |
| 1943 | “Son of Dracula”, stars Lon Chaney, Jr., as Dracula. |
| 1950 | In New Mexico an auto mechanic named Joe Valdez becomes the first successful recipient of the vampire vaccine. |
| 1962 | The Count Dracula Society is founded in the United States by Donald Reed. |
| 1964 | “The Munsters” and “The Addams Family”; television shows with vampire characters. |
| 1965 | Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club. |
| 1967 | Due to the Lazo Disaster in Siberia, the United Nations (UN) passes a resolution banning vampire blood research. |
| 1970 | Sean Manchester founds The Vampire Research Society.”In Search of Dracula” by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu is published. –Stephan Kaplan founds The Vampire Research Centre. |
| 1976 | The first of The Vampire Chronicles, “Interview With the Vampire”, by Anne Rice is published. |
| 1978 | Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found the Vampire Information Exchange. |
| 1979 | Frank Langella stars in the remake of Dracula. |
| 1980 | Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula Killer of Sacramento, California, commits suicide in prison. The World Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded. |
| 1985 | “The Vampire Lestat” by Anne Rice is published and reaches the best seller list. |
| 1986 | President Reagan lifts ban on the vampire and zombie blood research. |
| 1987 | “Methuselah Project” is initiated at the Santa Rosa Institute. |
| 1988 | “The Queen of the Damned” is published by Anne Rice. |
| 1992 | Andrei Chikatilo of Rostov, Russia, is sentenced to death after killing and vampirizing some 55 people. |
| 1994 | The film version of Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” opens with Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis. |
| 1998 | Blade is released into theaters. Pandora by Anne Rice is published. The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice is published. |
| 1999 | Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice is published. |