When we think of vampires, we generally think of the Edward Cullen and Dracula types who have captured the popular imagination for centuries. Pale? Check. Fanged? Check. Totally fictional? Check. But ...

Since Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in 1897, vampires have seized the world's imagination. But traces of real-life vampires-or at least the belief in real-life vampires-predate Stoker's literary ...