The Vampire Episode

Season 2, Episode 4, Oct 04, 2021, 06:12 PM

Did any mythical bloodsucking monsters from the Old World invade our New World? Are there cases of vampires in American history committing crimes?

You might expect something like Crime Categories to appear in the index of the Encyclopedia of American Crime. Listed underneath that heading are a variety of crimes you’d also expect to see: everything from arson and bank robberies to kidnapping, murder, and rape.

But there were a couple of crimes I wasn’t expecting, such as Spiritualism, which I discussed in the last episode. But the other shocker was vampires.

Of course, that was an entry I had to check out.

Turns out it wasn’t referring to the stereotypical bloodsuckers pop culture has conditioned us to expect. It was about vice extortionists.

If you’re wondering what the heck that is, stick around. We’ll be talking about those kinds of vampires --which are bloodsuckers in their own right-- as well as people who have committed murder under the delusion of being the more traditional vampires --blood-drinking and all-- in this episode of Haunting American True Crimes.

We examine three cases of killer vampires in particular:

The Vampire of Sacramento Richard Trenton Chase
James P. Riva, the vampire who murdered his own grandma with gold-tipped bullets
Roderick Ferrell and his Kentucky Vampire Clan

Sources Referenced in This Episode

The Encyclopedia of American Crime

The Sacramento Bee, Jan. 30, 1978

The Sacramento Bee, Jan. 31, 1978

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Oct. 27, 1981

The Boston Globe, Nov. 29, 1996

The Boston Globe, Dec. 8, 1996

The Palm Beach Post, Feb. 6, 1998

The Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 10, 2000

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51204/8-real-life-vampire-crimes

https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/josephine-smith-self-proclaimed-vampire-allegedly-bit-69-year-old-man-outside-hooters-6466691

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/vampire_arrested_in_flori

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-so-called-dracula-killer

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/face-chomping-vampire-attacks-geriatric-at-hooters/

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