TGR 10.16.18. The Vampyre

This week on The Gralien Report, our lead-off story looks at the buzz surrounding a possible rocket launch or similar event that recently occurred over China, in which a bizarre display illuminated the night sky over Beijing and other regions. While it resembled a rocket launch, some have speculated that it could be an experimental hypersonic aircraft… in other news, we take a look at the new Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House,” and some of the real-life inspirations behind it before turning our attention to the latest reports of “killer clowns” in the United Kingdom. And while we’re visiting our friends across the pond, why not take a quick trip to Glastonbury Tor, and an unusual examination of an Arthurian legend or two?

Then in hour two, we turn out attention to those things related to the Halloween season; specifically, the fabled blood-suckers of myth and lore known as vampires. While many of the modern tropes associated with vampires in fiction appeared in John William Polidori’s 1819 story, “The Vampyre,” we analyze the mythic traditions from ancient times that recount blood-sucking demons and kidnappers, before coming around to early Romanian folklore, and how such legends inspired 18th century poetry, and finally, the 19th century fiction in which authors like Bram Stoker helped establish vampires in horror literature with the authorship of his landmark gothic novel, Dracula.