The real vampires were not suave, polished, cultivated, or rich. They looked like ordinary dead peasants. Yet for those who believed in them, they were terrifying. So terrifying that they prompted live burials, nervous breakdown, hysterical paralysis, and speechlessness. During a real vampire panic, an overworked, underfed community was so terrified that it found the energy to dig up 11 graves, and the wood to burn 11 corpses. Real vampires were so terrifying that the energy of fear they produced actually caused poltergeist attacks. In several cases, they were so terrifying that they quite literally scared people to death. From Russia to New England, from the Scottish borders to Crete, and from the Bronze Age to the days of , takes the reader on an unforgettable tour of wonder, horror, and strangeness.