Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality

Paul Barber

Yale University Press, 1988 - Social Science - 236 pages

In this engrossing book, Paul Barber surveys centuries of folklore about vampires and offers the first scientific explanation for the origins of the vampire legends. From the tale of a sixteenth-century shoemaker from Breslau whose ghost terrorized everyone in the city, to the testimony of a doctor who presided over the exhumation and dissection of a graveyard full of Serbian vampires, his book is fascinating reading.

What people are saying

Review: Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality; With a New Preface

User Review  - AJ Brenchley - Goodreads

Fascinating and unexpected; wholly original research; entirely free of fantasy but sympathetic to the human capacity for creating it. Nice clear prose, without padding. (This edition has a new preface ...

Review: Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality

User Review  - Batgrl - Goodreads

It's been ages since I read this and I think it would get another star if the main thing I didn't remember so very, very clearly was the description of the process of decomposition. Specifically the ...

About the author

Paul Barber is Senior Lecturer at the University of Chester, UK and a registered adult and mental health nurse possessing over 35 years experience. He is also co-author of "Essentials of Pharmacology for Nurses 2e" (Open University Press, 2012)

Joy Parkes is Senior Lecturer at University of Chester, UK. She is also a registered adult nurse and midwife and holds a Diploma in Health and Holistic Therapies.

Diane Blundell is Senior Lecturer at University of Chester, UK and a registered adult nurse.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality
• Author: Paul Barber
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Yale University Press, 1988
• ISBN: 0300048599, 9780300048599
• Length: 236 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Folklore & Mythology