I watched Blacula for the first time yesterday. I’d always assumed it was a campy C-list movie, but it’s really not. The makeup may look cheesy here and there, but it’s a 70s horror movie. I recommend you give it a shot.

It got me thinking about a short story I read a few years ago, “The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo.” From 1819, it’s only the second English-language vampire story ever published. Here’s its Wikipedia page. I read it in Andrew Barger’s excellent collection, The Best Vampire Stories: 1800–1849, but you can also find the whole text here.