Inspiration for Van Helsing and Vampire Hunters

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Featured Horror Books
Van Helsing
Van Helsing by BagoGames

This week, for the third installment of our Dead Author Dedication in honor of Bram Stoker. We’re going to be discussing one of his characters who doesn’t get quite as much attention as the vampire king Dracula, but is still a character that blossomed beyond the original story by Stoker. The mysteriously knowledgeable and most famous vampire hunter, Dracula’s nemesis, Abraham Van Helsing.

Polish journalist Adam Węgłowski has claimed he has finally solved the mystery of our favorite good guy and that the Stoker character is actually based on the real-life of a historically documented vampire hunter. While it has been understood that Stoker may have originally modeled Van Helsing after a real individual, it wasn’t until Węgłowski’s research that a name could actually be attributed as the main source of inspiration.

Who Was the Inspiration for Van Helsing?

Born December 14, 1666, in Angerburg (known as Węgorzewo today)–Georg Andreas Helwing (or Helwig in some places), was a part of the Duchy of Prussia–a fief of the Crown of Poland. Helwing was an incredibly learned man of letters and a reportedly brilliant scientist. In Koenigsberg, Helwing studied philosophy and theology and pursued his education while traveling; eventually, Helwing ended up in Venice and Leida where he collaborated very closely with Herman Boerhaave, a Dutch Botanist.

Georg Andreas Helwing
Georg Andreas Helwing

It wasn’t until 1691 that he returned to his hometown; shortly following his father’s death, Helwing took up employment as a Lutheran pastor. Aside from his religious line of work, he was also a physician who took a great deal of interest in studying botany and other natural sciences while doing his duty as a clergyman. What is really interesting about Helwing though, is that despite his fairly mundane line of work, he was also a student of the paranormal and supernatural. This, of course, led him to study vampires and werewolves in particular and even went so far as to talk about how the inhabitants of Masuria fought supposed vampires by decapitating them during the bubonic plague epidemic. Węgłowski’s research shows that peasants of the time also had a “habit of stabbing the corpses with stakes.”

From Helwing to Van Helsing

So with what we now know about Georg Andreas Helwing and the little we know of the mythology of Van Helsing, are the two really connected in a meaningful way? Well, within the books and papers that Helwing wrote, many of those had to do with vampires; Węgłowski makes the link not only with the similarity of surnames but also with the kinds of education that both Helwing and Van Helsing pursued. Scholars believe that Stoker also had the fortune to find out about Vlad the Impaler–his inspiration for Dracula–from his friend Ármin Vámbéry, so it is speculated that he found out about Helwing from the same source.

While Helwing may have not hunted vampires in the sense that we might think today–he didn’t actually believe in vampires–he did hunt the folklore which led people to believe in them and therefore display the practices they did. In Helwing’s homeland, the bubonic plague (1708-1711) brought the height of vampire hysteria, where he was able to describe an incident where the people of the village found a monster; he reported that “after singing a song for the dead, the head was chopped off with a spade and thrown back into the tomb together with a live dog.” This was due to the widespread belief that the dead could rise from their graves as vampires and further spread the disease which was exterminating the population. Like Van Helsing though, Helwing risked his life to save those in danger, according to Węgłowski. The only difference is that Van Helsing attempted to kill monsters, and Helwing attempted to eradicate disease.

Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1931)

Abraham Van Helsing

Interestingly enough, Van Helsing has gone through a transformation in his appearance in television and cinema; in Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi as well as Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) with Anthony Hopkins, Van Helsing makes his appearance as a man who is more advanced in age. Television and cinema of the modern age are more likely to have Van Helsing be portrayed as a younger, rogueish looking, strong but not violent man in an effort to capture the hearts of women and spark a fan base. There are of course pros and cons to both portrayals of this character, an older Van Helsing while knowledgable seems frail, where a younger Van Helsing seems physically capable, but perhaps a bit less wise.

Popular Vampire Hunter Culture

Van Helsing is not the only vampire hunting character we have seen throughout vampire movies, because it seems that with every horror and adventure story involving vampires we get another hunter or slayer to rely on to save us from the monsters. Van Helsing’s status as a vampire hunter inspired such characters as Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003), Angel (1999 – 2004), the Blade franchise where we see the vampire-human hybrid Blade try to eradicate the vampire threat. Then we also have the underdog heroes, like the Frog Brothers in Lost Boys (1987) who represent those of us who don’t have super powers, but still have a powerful need to protect people from evil.

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Interview with Female Horror Author Kat Howard

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Featured Horror Books Indie Horror Indie horror writers Women in Horror
End of the Sentence Cover
The End of the Sentence

How would you feel if you suddenly started receiving letters from someone you didn’t know? Personal letters, from someone who seemed to know more about you than you ever wanted to admit to yourself? The End of the Sentence (2014) delivers–it’s not only difficult to put down, (or stop listening to, if you opt to experience it as an audiobook) but it is also easily digestible and instantly gives the reader that desirable feeling of unease and fear.

With every turn of the page, we find ourselves more and more deeply immersed in the life of Malcolm Mays, a man whose life is falling apart as he moves into a foreclosed home in Ione, Oregon–what he doesn’t realize is that the original owner never left and doesn’t intend to. The end of his 117-year sentence is almost over…

Interview with Kat Howard

We found out that you’re not just a horror writer, but you have also explored the science fiction and fantasy genres, so what initially drew you to horror fiction?

I’ve always loved horror. Some of the first “grown up” books I read were by Stephen King, but even before that I loved stories that scared me. I like to write horror because sometimes that’s the genre that works best for what I have to say. Plus, it’s fun writing stories that might give people the shivers.

Can you tell me about how you and Maria Dahvana Headley decided to come together to co-write The End of the Sentence?

Maria’s a dear friend. We were guests at an annual convention (ConFusion) and made a comment about wanting to write something together in front of Bill Schafer, the head of Subterranean Press. He said he’d buy it, and we wrote a contract on his arm. (There was a much more official contract later.) It was honestly a joy of a project to write with her.

How did you come up with the idea of The End of the Sentence?

Maria had recently moved, and had been getting mistaken letters delivered to her address. Things kind of went from there.

Kat, we understand that this was your debut novella, how did it feel being named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2014?

I literally fell out of my chair when I found out. I’m really proud of the work we did on this novella. It remains one of my favorite things that I’ve written, and so I’m always extremely happy to see it find readers. Seeing it recognized like that meant so much.

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone

Is there anything new that you’ve published or are working on that you’d like to talk to us about?

As this is a horror venue, I have to say I was extremely pleased when my recent collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, was long-listed for the [Bram Stoker Award]. It didn’t make the final ballot, but just to see it recognized was a delight. I’m currently working on A Sleight of Shadows, the sequel to my novel An Unkindness of Magicians.

A lot of our fans are actually aspiring writers and artists, do you have any advice for them?

I always feel a little weird about giving advice, because I feel like I’m still figuring things out myself. But I think that one of the great (and yes, sometimes terrifying!) things about writing or art is that there are so many ways to come into the field. Don’t cut yourself off because you think you’re too old, or you should have gone to a different school, or that people have already done what you’re interested in. No one else can make what you will.

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Interview with Horror Author Marie Batiste

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Featured Horror Books Indie Horror Lifestyle Women in Horror

Tell me a bit about yourself and what got you into writing supernatural detective horror? 

Well, I have loved all things supernatural since I was in elementary school. I remember checking out R.L. Stine books from the library every week, first Goosebumps and then Fear Street.  Reading has always been an escape for me and the creepier the story the better.  This is why I write what I write. People say you write what you love to read. I love mysteries, I love the supernatural and I love horror. So naturally when I sit down to write that’s what my mind steers towards. 

You have detectives, undead, necromancer, spirits, and a living sculpture all tied together. What inspired that and did it take a lot of research to get all the pieces to come together? 

I would love to say that this was all planned from the beginning, but it wasn’t.  Honestly, I just added the things that I like, and what I thought would be cool and make sense. Introducing magic and the supernatural into the real world can be tricky.  I didn’t want it to be too cliché and I didn’t want it to be too out there.  I wanted the magical creatures to have a role in this world that fits their nature. Vampires need blood so them being a blood analyst in the Medical Examiner’s office makes sense. Necromancers deal with death magic so working in the Medical Examiner’s office makes sense. When possible, they resurrect victims so the detectives can interview them.  Using water dragons as ferries make sense.

What I had to research were serial killers and different types of magical and mythical creatures. While my serial killer has some magic, he doesn’t use it when he murders his victims. He does this by torturing them and then removing their eyes while they are still alive and then their organs. I researched different serial killers and tried to understand why they did what they did. Or what could make a person decide that the only true joy in life is killing people. I still don’t have any kind of understanding of what would make a person do it but this research did give me some insight into my character and his friends. I am not a budding serial killer, I just wanted to point that out. 

I also had to research poaching. I figured if some people find joy in poaching rhinos and elephants then those same people would probably find the same joy in poaching unicorns, firebirds, and other mythical creatures. I wanted to show that just because our world has magic now doesn’t mean that everything is magical.

Is the second book the finale or do we have more in store here?

The second book, which is much darker than the first, is not the end.  I have ideas for several more in the series and it is only going to get darker.

Last Thing You See Book Cover - Horror Author Marie Batiste

What has been the biggest challenge in writing this story?

I would say the biggest challenge was writing from the killer’s point of view. He also has serial killer friends.  Being in their heads was particularly draining but it was also a little fun. I don’t know what that says about me, but it was.  I think writing dark characters can be both challenging and interesting. Their attitudes towards what they do were by far the creepiest part of the book for me.

You’ve published a few books now, any advice for new horror writers? 

I have two different series. One (Rachel Dixon series) is new and the other (Moon Investigations) I am republishing.  I find it hard to advise anyone on `writing because writing is one of those things that changes with every book. Also, what works for one person may not work for another. My one piece of advice is to finish. Whatever you are writing finish it. It might be crap and if it is the first draft it will be crap, but you need to finish it. You can fix it when you’re done.  Also, if you want to write in the horror genre then you should read in that genre and not just the popular horror. Read popular horror, obscure horror, good horror, and bad.  If you don’t read in the genre you want to write, then you aren’t going to be very good at it and you probably won’t finish it. Also, don’t be so hard on yourself.

You must be a horror fan? What are some of your recommended readings and movies? 

In horror, there is something for everyone depending on what you like. If you like comedy, Ash vs The Evil Dead and Shaun of the Dead is something you’ll like. The Haunting of Hill House is amazing and the book by Shirley Jackson is something every horror writer should read.  I loved every movie based on the case files of the Warrens which include: Insidious, The Conjuring, and Annabelle. If you love zombies, iZombie is funny, and the zombies eat brains in interesting ways. Dawn of the Dead is a good one along with my favorite 28 Days Later.  American Horror Story, Supernatural, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina have a really good story and character arcs that may inspire you to write something new.

-Where can we get the first book and where and when can we get this second in the series? 

The first book, The Last Thing You See is available on Amazon. It will be available on other platforms in July. The second book One by One is basically about a murder circus and a house infused with magic and blood lust. More of the serial killers are introduced and it is much darker than the first book. It will be available on October 30th, 2020.

Finally, where can we find and follow you? 

I can be found on Instagram @mariebatisteauthor or my website mariebatiste.com.

Thank you for doing this. I have gotten a few ideas from going through your site so thank you.

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