Speaker 1: All Zone Media The Club book Club The Club. Hello
Speaker 1: and welcome to Coo Zone Media Book Club. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy. Every week I read you fiction. Sometimes those
Speaker 1: stories are looking ahead into possible futures or to analyze
Speaker 1: the present. Sometimes they take us into the past. This
Speaker 1: week and next we're doing that the thing where we
Speaker 1: want in the past. I'm convinced the past matters that
Speaker 1: understanding how humans have thought and behaved in various times
Speaker 1: and places and contexts is incredibly useful when it comes
Speaker 1: to understanding how we behave now. Also, I just like
Speaker 1: weird old shit, especially Gothic stuff. So this week we're
Speaker 1: talking about the Vampire, not just a vampire, but a
Speaker 1: story old enough that it was a best seller under
Speaker 1: the name the Vampire, but with a y instead of
Speaker 1: an eye and vampire before this story, which the stories
Speaker 1: from eighteen nineteen, vampires were rarely aristocratic. They were Eastern
Speaker 1: European folklore, not the heroes and villains of Romantic and
Speaker 1: Gothic literature we know them as today. So this is
Speaker 1: the story that all of that comes from. And it
Speaker 1: was written by a man who's absolutely not famous, named
Speaker 1: John Polidori, who was the personal physician to a man
Speaker 1: who is famous, Lord Byron. There's a famous tale about
Speaker 1: the summer of eighteen sixteen and how it birthed modern
Speaker 1: speculative fiction. There's these three far left rich British people,
Speaker 1: Mary Shelley, her husband, Percy Shelley, and their friend and
Speaker 1: maybe Pollockule member, Lord Byron. They spent the summer of
Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen in Switzerland, and eighteen sixteen was the year
Speaker 1: without a summer because some volcanoes and shit, it was
Speaker 1: super cold that year. Well we're going to miss that
Speaker 1: year coming up anyway. So they're in this villa in
Speaker 1: Switzerland and they stayed up late telling each other ghost stories.
Speaker 1: Then they challenged one another to write ghost stories. Percy
Speaker 1: wrote something kind of forgettable. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, what's
Speaker 1: often called the first work of science fiction. Lord Byron
Speaker 1: he wrote a story that never quite went anywhere. He
Speaker 1: didn't finish his homework, and it was called fragment of
Speaker 1: a novel, which is obviously if you're I don't think
Speaker 1: he called it that. I just that's what they had
Speaker 1: to call it when they published it. Because Lord Byron's
Speaker 1: famous enough that everything he wrote eventually got published. It's
Speaker 1: about a nobleman traveling to the east with the intention
Speaker 1: of eventually throwing a vampire into the story. But there
Speaker 1: was a fourth person there in Switzerland. Actually there was
Speaker 1: probably a ton of people there, But who cares about servants?
Speaker 1: Am I right? John Polladori, the physician. He had been
Speaker 1: traveling with Lord Byron. Some suggest the two were sleeping together.
Speaker 1: Lord Byron at least was quite openly by well, he
Speaker 1: was quite bisexual. That was repressed and hidden by history
Speaker 1: for a long time, but he was pretty open about it.
Speaker 1: Gay sex between the men was a capital crime in
Speaker 1: England at the time, just part of why he stayed
Speaker 1: away from England. If the two were dating, it was
Speaker 1: a tempestuous relationship, if not honestly an abuse of one.
Speaker 1: It sounds like Lord Byron did not treat Polodori well,
Speaker 1: often mocking him and keeping him out of things and
Speaker 1: complaining about his like you know, oh, Polardori is so vain,
Speaker 1: and all historians are like, oh, Polodori is like so vain.
Speaker 1: What a terrible and annoying person. And I'm like he
Speaker 1: was under the employee of this man who was negging
Speaker 1: him constantly, and they were possibly sleeping together. I'm going
Speaker 1: to give John a lot of leeway here, but I've
Speaker 1: only read so much about that relationship, so who knows.
Speaker 1: I mean the people who wrote more about it no more,
Speaker 1: although still it's all conjecture. So John Polodori he wrote
Speaker 1: his own story, and it was his own version of
Speaker 1: Lord Byron's story. This time it was about two men
Speaker 1: traveling east. One is a charming, seductive man who drains
Speaker 1: the energy from everyone around him, the other effectively his
Speaker 1: thrall spoiler alert. The charming man is a vampire. It's
Speaker 1: in the title of the story. I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: ruining anything too much. And the thing is the vampire
Speaker 1: Lord Ruthven is one hundred percent based on Lord Byron.
Speaker 1: It's not subtle. It's not subtle to anyone at the
Speaker 1: time either, because an ex lover, a woman this time,
Speaker 1: had actually written a book about how shitty it was
Speaker 1: to date Lord Byron already and use the name Ruthven
Speaker 1: for Lord Byron's character, his like stand in character. This
Speaker 1: is like how you be like, I don't know, like
Speaker 1: salty to your exes at the time. If you're all
Speaker 1: in the nobility of England. It's kind of fun. Polidori
Speaker 1: finished his story, though, and to hear him tell it,
Speaker 1: he never intended to publish it anywhere. How it wound
Speaker 1: up on the desk of a disreputable publisher who put
Speaker 1: it out with Lord Byron as the byeline, which was
Speaker 1: almost certainly not the plan. It took a long time
Speaker 1: to set the record straight, and the fallout destroyed Polodari's
Speaker 1: reputation and functionally destroyed his life. He was accused of
Speaker 1: plagiarism when he tried to claim authorship of his own
Speaker 1: best selling book, and later when he a devout Catholic,
Speaker 1: tried to join a monastery, he was turned away because
Speaker 1: of his authorship of the Sordid and Bloody Vampire Story.
Speaker 1: Within two years, Polodori was dead, most likely by suicide,
Speaker 1: at the age of only twenty five years old. So
Speaker 1: his parable about having the life sucked out of him
Speaker 1: was proven true, and the metaphorical vampire Lord Byron might
Speaker 1: not have been so metaphorical. After all, this is part
Speaker 1: of my Lord Byron was the first vampire theory. See
Speaker 1: the two part series that comes out I Guess Tomorrow.
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this when it first comes out
Speaker 1: about the Luodites in England who are happening around this time,
Speaker 1: and how Lord Byron the Vampire was the only one
Speaker 1: who defended them. So if you want to hear good
Speaker 1: stuff about Lord Byron, you should listen to that episode. Anyway,
Speaker 1: now you can listen to the story itself, So prepare
Speaker 1: your ears for the Vampire. The Vampire by John Pollodori.
Speaker 1: It happened that, in the midst of the dissipation's attendant
Speaker 1: upon London winter, there appeared at the various parties of
Speaker 1: the leaders of the ton, a nobleman more remarkable for
Speaker 1: his singularities than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth
Speaker 1: around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently
Speaker 1: the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention,
Speaker 1: that he might buy a look, quell it, and throw
Speaker 1: fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned. Those who felt
Speaker 1: the sensation of all could not explain whence it arose.
Speaker 1: Some attributed it to the dead gray eye, which, fixing
Speaker 1: upon the object's face, did not seem to penetrate, and
Speaker 1: at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings
Speaker 1: of the heart, but fell upon the cheek with a
Speaker 1: leaden ray that weighed upon the skin it could not pass.
Speaker 1: His peculiarities caused him to be invited to every house.
Speaker 1: All wished to see him, and those who had been
Speaker 1: accustomed to violent excitement and now felt the weight of nui,
Speaker 1: were pleased at having something in their presence capable of
Speaker 1: engaging their attention. In spite of the deadly hue of
Speaker 1: his face, which never gained a warmer tint, either from
Speaker 1: the blush of modesty or from the strong passion of emotion,
Speaker 1: though its form and outline were beautiful, many of the
Speaker 1: female hunters after notoriety, attempted to win his attentions and
Speaker 1: gain at least some marks of what they might term affection.
Speaker 1: Lady Mercer, who had been the mockery of every monster
Speaker 1: shown in drawing room since her marriage, threw herself in
Speaker 1: this way, and did all but put on the dress
Speaker 1: of a mountebank to attract his notice, though in vain.
Speaker 1: When she stood before him, though his eyes were apparently
Speaker 1: fixed upon hers, still seemed as if they were unperceived.
Speaker 1: Even her unappalled impudence was baffled, and she left the field.
Speaker 1: But though the common adulteress could not influence even the
Speaker 1: guidance of his eyes. It was not that the female
Speaker 1: sex was indifferent to him. Yet such was the apparent
Speaker 1: caution with which he spoke to the virtuous wife and
Speaker 1: innocent daughter that few knew he ever addressed himself to females.
Speaker 1: He had, however, the reputation of a winning tongue, and
Speaker 1: whether it was that he even overcame the dread of
Speaker 1: his singular character, or that they were moved by his
Speaker 1: apparent hatred of vice, he was as often among those
Speaker 1: females who formed the boast of their sex from their
Speaker 1: domestic virtues as among those who sully it by their vices.
Speaker 1: About the same time, there came to London a young
Speaker 1: gentleman of the name of Aubrey, who was an orphan,
Speaker 1: left with an only sister, in the possession of great
Speaker 1: wealth by parents who died when he was yet in childhood,
Speaker 1: left also to himself by guardians who thought it their
Speaker 1: duty merely to take care of his fortune, while they
Speaker 1: relinquished the more important charge of his mind to the
Speaker 1: care of mercenary subalterns. He cultivated more of his imagination
Speaker 1: than his judgment. He had, hence that high romantic feeling
Speaker 1: of honor and candor, which daily ruined so many Milliner's apprentices.
Speaker 1: He believed all to sympathize with virtue, and thought that
Speaker 1: vice was thrown in by providence merely for the picturesque
Speaker 1: effect of the scene, as we see in romances. He
Speaker 1: thought that the misery of a cottage merely consisted in
Speaker 1: the vesting of clothes which were as warm, but which
Speaker 1: were better adapted to the painter's eye by their irregular
Speaker 1: folds and various colored patches. He thought, in fine that
Speaker 1: the dreams of poets were the realities of life. He
Speaker 1: was handsome, frank, and rich for these reasons. Upon his
Speaker 1: entering into the gay circles, many mothers surrounded him, striving
Speaker 1: which should describe with least truth their languishing or romping favorites.
Speaker 1: The daughters, at the same time, by their brightening countenances
Speaker 1: when he approached, and by their sparkling eyes when he
Speaker 1: opened his lips, soon led him into false notions of
Speaker 1: his talents and his merit. Attached as he was to
Speaker 1: the romance of his solitary hours, he was startled at
Speaker 1: finding that, except in the tallow and wax candles that flickered,
Speaker 1: not from the presence of a ghost, but from the
Speaker 1: want of snuffing, there was no foundation in real life
Speaker 1: for any of that congres of pleasing pictures and descriptions
Speaker 1: contained in those volumes from which he had formed his study, Finding, however,
Speaker 1: some compensation in its grafted vanity, he was about to
Speaker 1: relinquish his dreams when the extraordinary being we have described
Speaker 1: crossed him in his career. He watched him and the
Speaker 1: very impossibility of forming an idea of the character of
Speaker 1: a man entirely absorbed in himself, who gave few other
Speaker 1: signs of his observation of external objects than the tacit
Speaker 1: assent to their existence implied by the avoidance of their contact,
Speaker 1: allowing his imagination to picture everything that flattered its propensity
Speaker 1: to extravagant ideas. He soon formed this object into the
Speaker 1: hero of a romance, and determined to observe the offspring
Speaker 1: of his fancy rather than the person before him. He
Speaker 1: became acquainted with him, paid him attentions, and so far
Speaker 1: advanced upon his notice that his presence was always recognized.
Speaker 1: He gradually learnt that Lord Ruthven's affairs were embarrassed, and
Speaker 1: soon found from the notes of preparation in s blank Street.
Speaker 1: There's this thing where old timey stories will like use
Speaker 1: a series of dashes instead of giving a specific name.
Speaker 1: Happening that he was about to travel, desirous of gaining
Speaker 1: some information respecting his singular character, who till now had
Speaker 1: only wetted his curiosity, he hinted to his guardians that
Speaker 1: it was time for him to perform the tour which
Speaker 1: for many generations had been thought necessary to engage the
Speaker 1: young to take some rapid steps in their career of vice,
Speaker 1: towards putting themselves upon inequality with the aged, and not
Speaker 1: allowing them to appear as if fallen from the skies
Speaker 1: whenever scandalous intrigues are mentioned as the subjects of pleasantry
Speaker 1: or of praise, according to the degree of skill shewn
Speaker 1: in carrying them on. They consented, and Aubrey, immediately mentioning
Speaker 1: his intentions to Lord Ruthven, was surprised to receive from
Speaker 1: him a proposal to join him. Flattered by such a
Speaker 1: mark of esteem from him, who apparently had nothing in
Speaker 1: common with other men, he gladly accepted it, and in
Speaker 1: a few days they had passed the circling waters. But
Speaker 1: you know what else passed the circling waters, which I
Speaker 1: think means they went overseas to mainland Europe. All of
Speaker 1: our advertisers, they are worldly. They too have been to Europe,
Speaker 1: done a little bit of time backpacking around. In fact,
Speaker 1: some of them might be vampires. If corporations have personhood
Speaker 1: and survive after the death of individuals, are they not
Speaker 1: the vampire? I don't. Here's events and we're back hitherto.
Speaker 1: Aubrey had had no opportunity of studying Lord Ruthven's character,
Speaker 1: and now he found that, though many more of his
Speaker 1: actions were exposed to his view, the results offered different
Speaker 1: conclusions from the apparent motives to his conduct. The companion
Speaker 1: was profuse in his liberality. The idol, the vagabond, and
Speaker 1: the beggar received from his hand more than enough to
Speaker 1: relieve their immediate wants. But Aubrey could not avoid remarking
Speaker 1: that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence
Speaker 1: by the misfortune's attendant, upon every virtue that he bestowed
Speaker 1: his alms. These were sent from the door with hardly
Speaker 1: suppressed sneers. But when the prolificate came to ask something,
Speaker 1: not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to
Speaker 1: wallow in his lust, or to sink him still deeper
Speaker 1: in his inequity. He was sent away with rich charity.
Speaker 1: This was, however, attributed by him to the greater importunity
Speaker 1: of the vicious, which generally prevails of the retiring bashfulness
Speaker 1: of the virtuous indigent. There was one circumstance about the
Speaker 1: charity of his lordship which was still more impressed upon
Speaker 1: his mind. All those upon whom it was bestowed inevitably
Speaker 1: found that there was a curse upon it, for they
Speaker 1: were all either led to the scaffold or sunk the
Speaker 1: lowest and most abject misery. At Brussels and other towns
Speaker 1: through which they passed, Aubrey was surprised at the apparent
Speaker 1: eagerness with which his companion sought for the centers of
Speaker 1: all fashionable vice. There he entered into all the spirit
Speaker 1: of the Pharoh table. He bedded and always gambled with success,
Speaker 1: except where the known sharper was his antagonist, and then
Speaker 1: he lost even more than he gained. But it was
Speaker 1: always with the same unchanging face with which he generally
Speaker 1: watched the society around. It was not, however, so, when
Speaker 1: he encountered the wrath youthful novice, or the luckless father
Speaker 1: of a numerous family. Then his very wish seemed fortune's law.
Speaker 1: This apparent abstractedness of mind was laid aside, and his
Speaker 1: eyes sparkled with more fire than that of the cat.
Speaker 1: Whilst dallying with the half dead mouse in every town
Speaker 1: he left the formerly affluent youth torn from the circle
Speaker 1: he adorned, cursing in the solitude of a dungeon, the
Speaker 1: fate that had drawn him within the reach of this fiend,
Speaker 1: while many a father sat frantic amidst the speaking looks
Speaker 1: of mute, hungry children, without a single farthing of his
Speaker 1: late immense wealth wherewith to buy even sufficient to satisfy
Speaker 1: their present craving. Yet he took no money from the
Speaker 1: gambling table, but immediately lost to the ruiner of many
Speaker 1: the last guilder he had just snatched from the convulsive
Speaker 1: grasp of the innocent. This might be but the result
Speaker 1: of a certain degree of knowledge which was not, however,
Speaker 1: capable of combating the cunning of the more experienced. Aubrey
Speaker 1: often wished to represent this to his friend, and begged
Speaker 1: him to resign that charity and pleasure which proved the
Speaker 1: ruin of all, and did not tend to his own profit,
Speaker 1: but he delayed it for each day he hoped his
Speaker 1: friend would give him some opportunity of speaking frankly and
Speaker 1: openly to him. However, this never occurred. Lord Ruthven, in
Speaker 1: his carriage, and amidst the various wild and rich scenes
Speaker 1: of nature, was always the same. His eye spoke less
Speaker 1: than his lip. And though Aubrey was near the object
Speaker 1: of his curiosity, he obtained no greater gratification from it
Speaker 1: than the constant excitement of vainly wishing to break that mystery, which,
Speaker 1: to his exalted imagination began to assume the appearance of
Speaker 1: something supernatural. They soon arrived at Rome, and Aubrey for
Speaker 1: a time lost sight of his companion. He left him
Speaker 1: in daily attendance upon the morning circle of an Italian countess,
Speaker 1: whilst he went in search of the memorials of another
Speaker 1: almost deserted city. While he was thus engaged, letters arrived
Speaker 1: from England, which he opened with eager impatience. The first
Speaker 1: was from his sister, breathing nothing but affection. The others
Speaker 1: were from his guardians. The latter astonished him if it
Speaker 1: had before entered into his imagination that there was an
Speaker 1: evil power resident in his companion. These seemed to give
Speaker 1: him sufficient reason for the belief. His guardians insisted upon
Speaker 1: his immediately leaving his friend, and urged that his character
Speaker 1: was dreadfully vicious, for that the possession of irresistible powers
Speaker 1: of seduction rendered his licentious habits more dangerous to society.
Speaker 1: It had been discovered that his contempt for the adulteress
Speaker 1: had not originated in hatred of her character, but that
Speaker 1: he had required to enhance his gratification that his victim,
Speaker 1: the partner of his guilt, should be hurled from the
Speaker 1: pinnacle of unsullied virtue down to the lowest abyss of
Speaker 1: infamy and degradation. In fine, that all those females whom
Speaker 1: he had sought, apparently on account of their virtue, had
Speaker 1: since his departure, thrown every mask aside, and had not
Speaker 1: scrupled to expose the whole deformity of their vices to
Speaker 1: the public gaze. Aubrey determined, upon leaving one whose character
Speaker 1: had not yet shown a single bright point on which
Speaker 1: to rest the eye, he resolved to invent some plausible
Speaker 1: pretext for abandoning him altogether, purposing in the meanwhile to
Speaker 1: watch him more closely, and to let no slight circumstances
Speaker 1: passed by unnoticed. He entered into the same circle and
Speaker 1: soon perceived that his lordship was endeavoring to work upon
Speaker 1: the inexperience of the daughter of the lady of whose
Speaker 1: house he chiefly frequented. In Italy, it is seldom that
Speaker 1: an unmarried female is met within society. He was therefore
Speaker 1: obliged to carry on his plans in secret. But Aubrey's
Speaker 1: eye followed him in all his windings, and soon discovered
Speaker 1: that an assignation had been appointed which would most likely
Speaker 1: end in the ruin of an innocent, though thoughtless girl.
Speaker 1: Losing no time, he entered the apartment of Lord Ruthven
Speaker 1: and abruptly asked his intentions with respect to the lady,
Speaker 1: informing him at the same time that he was aware
Speaker 1: of his being about to meet her that very night.
Speaker 1: Lord Ruthven answered that his intentions were such as he
Speaker 1: supposed all would have upon such an occasion, and, upon
Speaker 1: being pressed whether he intended to marry her, merely laughed.
Speaker 1: Aubrey returned hired and immediately writing a note to say
Speaker 1: that from the moment he must decline accompanying his lordship
Speaker 1: in the remainder of their proposed tour, he ordered his
Speaker 1: servant to seek other apartments, and, calling upon the mother
Speaker 1: of the lady, informed her of all he knew, not
Speaker 1: only with regard to her daughter, but also concerning the
Speaker 1: character of his lordship. The assignation was prevented. Lord Ruthven
Speaker 1: next day merely sent his servant to notify his complete
Speaker 1: ascent to a separation, but did not hint any suspicion
Speaker 1: of his plans, having been foiled by Aubrey's interposition. Having
Speaker 1: left Rome, Aubrey directed his steps towards Greece, and, crossing
Speaker 1: the peninsula, soon found himself in Athens. He then fixed
Speaker 1: his residence in the house of a Greek, and soon
Speaker 1: occupied himself in trading the faded records of ancient glory
Speaker 1: upon monuments that apparently ashamed of chronicling the deeds of freemen.
Speaker 1: Only before slaves had hidden themselves beneath the sheltering soil
Speaker 1: of many colored lichen. Under the same room, Phis himself
Speaker 1: existed a being so beautiful and delicate that she might
Speaker 1: have formed the model for a painter wishing to portray
Speaker 1: on canvas the promised hope of the faithful in Mahamet's paradise,
Speaker 1: save that her eyes spoke too much mind for anyone
Speaker 1: to think she could belong to those who had no souls.
Speaker 1: As she danced upon the plane or tripped along the
Speaker 1: mountain side, one would have thought that the gazelle a
Speaker 1: poor type of her beauties, for one would have exchanged
Speaker 1: her eye, and apparently the eye of animated nature, for
Speaker 1: that sleepy, luxurious look of the animal suited but to
Speaker 1: the taste of an epicure the light step of Ianthe
Speaker 1: often accompanied Aubrey in his search after antiquities, and often
Speaker 1: with the unconscious girl engaged in the pursuit of a
Speaker 1: cashmere butterfly, show the whole beauty of her form, floating
Speaker 1: as it were, upon the wind, to the eager gaze
Speaker 1: of him, who forgot the letters he had just deciphered
Speaker 1: upon an almost effaced tablet, in the contemplation of her
Speaker 1: sylph like figure of tresses falling as she flitted abound
Speaker 1: exhibit in the sun's ray such delicately brilliant and swiftly
Speaker 1: fading hues. It might well excuse the forgetfulness of the
Speaker 1: antiquary who let escape from his mind the very object
Speaker 1: he had before thought of vital importance to the proper
Speaker 1: interpretation of a passage in the Pausaneus. But why attempt
Speaker 1: to describe charms which all feel but none can appreciate?
Speaker 1: It was innocence, youth, and beauty, unaffected by crowding, drawing
Speaker 1: rooms and stifling balls. Whilst he drew those remains of
Speaker 1: which he wished to preserve a memorial for his future hours,
Speaker 1: she would stand by and watch the magic effects of
Speaker 1: his pencil in tracing the scenes of her native place.
Speaker 1: She would then describe to him the circling dance upon
Speaker 1: the open plain would paint to him in all the
Speaker 1: glowing colors of youthful memory, the marriage pump she remembered
Speaker 1: viewing in her infancy, and then, turning to subjects that
Speaker 1: had evidently made a greater impression upon her mind, would
Speaker 1: tell him all the supern the natural tales of her nurse,
Speaker 1: her earnestness, an apparent belief of what she narrated excited
Speaker 1: the interest even of Aubrey, and often as she told
Speaker 1: him the tale of the living vampire who had passed
Speaker 1: years amidst his friends and dearest ties forced every year
Speaker 1: by feeding upon the life of a lovely female to
Speaker 1: prolong as existence. For the ensuing months, his blood would
Speaker 1: run cold, whilst he attempted to laugh her out of
Speaker 1: such idle and horrible fantasies. But ianthe cited to him
Speaker 1: the names of old men who had last detected one
Speaker 1: living among themselves after several of their near relatives and
Speaker 1: children had been found marked with the stamp of the
Speaker 1: fiend's appetite. And when she found him so incredulous, she
Speaker 1: begged of him to believe her, for it had been
Speaker 1: remarked that those who had dared to question their existence
Speaker 1: always had some proof given, which obliged them with grief
Speaker 1: and heartbreaking to confess it was true. She detailed to
Speaker 1: him the traditional appearance of these monsters, and his horror
Speaker 1: was increased by hearing a pretty accurate description of Lord Ruthven. He, however,
Speaker 1: still persisted in persuading her that there could be no
Speaker 1: truth in her fears, though at the same time he
Speaker 1: wondered at the many coincidences which had all tended to
Speaker 1: excite a belief in the supernatural power of Lord Ruthven,
Speaker 1: who is capable of one of his superpowers, vampires, of
Speaker 1: the superpowers of seamless ad transitions like this one, and
Speaker 1: Rebecca Aubrey began to attach himself more and more to aanthe.
Speaker 1: Her innocence, so contrasted with all the affected virtues of
Speaker 1: the women among whom he had sought for his vision
Speaker 1: of romance, won his heart. And while he ridiculed the
Speaker 1: the idea of a young man of English habits marrying
Speaker 1: an uneducated Greek girl, still he found himself more and
Speaker 1: more attached to the almost fairy form before him. He
Speaker 1: would tear himself at times from her, and forming a
Speaker 1: plan for some antiquarian research. He would depart, determined not
Speaker 1: to return until his object was attained. But he always
Speaker 1: found it impossible to fix his attention upon the ruins
Speaker 1: around him, whilst in his mind he retained an image
Speaker 1: that seemed alone the rightful possessor of his thoughts. Ianthe
Speaker 1: was unconscious of his love, and was ever the same frank,
Speaker 1: infantile being he had first known. She always seemed to
Speaker 1: part from him with reluctance, but it was because she
Speaker 1: had no longer anyone with whom she could visit her
Speaker 1: favorite haunts. Whilst her guardian was occupied in sketching or
Speaker 1: uncovering some fragment which had yet escaped the destructive hand
Speaker 1: of time. She had appealed to her parents on the
Speaker 1: subject of vampires, and they both was several present, affirmed
Speaker 1: their existence, hale with horror at the very name. Soon after,
Speaker 1: Aubrey determined to proceed upon one of his excursions, which
Speaker 1: was to detain him for a few hours. When they
Speaker 1: heard the name of the place, they all at once
Speaker 1: begged of him to not return at night, as he
Speaker 1: must necessarily pass through a wood where no Greek would
Speaker 1: ever remain after the day had closed. Upon any consideration,
Speaker 1: they described it as the resort of the vampires in
Speaker 1: their nocturnal orgies, and denounced the most heavily evils as
Speaker 1: impending upon him who dared to cross their path. Aubrey
Speaker 1: made light of their representations and tried to laugh them
Speaker 1: out of the idea, But when he saw them shudder
Speaker 1: at his daring thus to mock a superior infernal power,
Speaker 1: the very name of which apparently made their blood freeze,
Speaker 1: he was silent. Next morning, Aubrey set off upon his
Speaker 1: excursion unattended. He was surprised to observe the melancholy face
Speaker 1: of his host, and was concerned to find that his
Speaker 1: words mocking the belief of those horrible fiends had inspired
Speaker 1: them with such horror. When he was about to depart,
Speaker 1: ianthe came to the side of his horse and earnestly
Speaker 1: begged of him to return. Ere night allowed the power
Speaker 1: of those beings to be put in action, he promised.
Speaker 1: He was, however, so occupied in his research that he
Speaker 1: did not perceive the daylight would soon end, and that
Speaker 1: in the horizon there was one of those specks which,
Speaker 1: in the warmer climates so rapidly gather into a tremendous
Speaker 1: mass and pour all their rage upon the devoted country.
Speaker 1: He at last, however, mounted his horse, determined to make
Speaker 1: up by speed for his delay, but it was too late.
Speaker 1: Twilight in these southern climates is almost unknown. Immediately the
Speaker 1: sun sets, night begins, and ere he had advanced far.
Speaker 1: The power of the storm was above its echoing thunders
Speaker 1: had scarcely an interval of rest. Its thick, heavy rain
Speaker 1: forced its way through the canopying foliage, whilst the blue
Speaker 1: forked lightning seemed to fall and re eighty eight at
Speaker 1: his very feet. Suddenly, his horse took fright, and he
Speaker 1: was carried with dreadful rapidity through the entangled forest. The animal,
Speaker 1: at last, through fatigue, stopped, and he found by the
Speaker 1: glare of lightning that he was in a neighborhood of
Speaker 1: a hovel that had hardly lifted itself up from the
Speaker 1: masses of dead leaves and brushwood which surrounded it. Dismounting,
Speaker 1: he approached, hoping to find someone to guide him to
Speaker 1: the town, or at least trusting to obtain shelter from
Speaker 1: the pelting of the storm. As he approached, the thunders
Speaker 1: for a moment silent allowed him to hear the dreadful
Speaker 1: shrieks of a woman, mingling with the stifled exultant mockery
Speaker 1: of a laugh, continued in one almost unbroken sound. He
Speaker 1: was startled but roused by the thunder, which again rolled
Speaker 1: over his head. He, with a sudden effort, forced open
Speaker 1: the door of the hut. He found himself in utter darkness.
Speaker 1: The sound, however, guided him. He was apparently unperceived, for
Speaker 1: though he called still, the sounds continued and no notice
Speaker 1: was taken of him. He found himself in contact with
Speaker 1: someone whom he immediately seized when a voice cried again, baffled,
Speaker 1: to which a loud laugh seceded, and he felt himself
Speaker 1: grappled by one whose strength seemed superhuman. Determined to sell
Speaker 1: his life as dearly as he could, he struggled, but
Speaker 1: it was in vain. He was lifted from his feet
Speaker 1: and hurled with enormous force against the ground. His enemy
Speaker 1: threw himself upon him, and, kneeling upon his breast, had
Speaker 1: placed his hands upon his throat. When the glare of
Speaker 1: many torches penetrating through the hole gave light in the
Speaker 1: day disturbed him. He instantly rose, and, leaving his prey,
Speaker 1: rushed through the door, and a moment the crashing of
Speaker 1: the branches as he broke through the wood was no
Speaker 1: longer heard. The storm was now still, and Aubrey, incapable
Speaker 1: of moving, was soon heard by those without. They entered.
Speaker 1: The light of their torches fell upon the mud walls
Speaker 1: and thatch loaded on every individual's straw with heavy flakes
Speaker 1: of soot. As the desire of Aubrey, they searched for her,
Speaker 1: who had attracted him by her cries. He was again
Speaker 1: left in darkness, But what was his horror when the
Speaker 1: light of those torches once again burst upon him to
Speaker 1: perceive the airy form of his fair conductress brought in
Speaker 1: in a lifeless course. He shut his eyes, hoping that
Speaker 1: it was but a vision arising from his disturbed imagination.
Speaker 1: But again he saw the same form when he unclosed them,
Speaker 1: stretched by his side, there was no color upon her cheek,
Speaker 1: not even upon her lip. Yet there was a stillness
Speaker 1: about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the
Speaker 1: life that once dwelt. There. Upon her neck and breast
Speaker 1: was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth.
Speaker 1: Having opened the vein to this, the men pointed, crying. Simultaneously,
Speaker 1: they struck with horror. A vampire, A vampire. A litter
Speaker 1: was quickly formed, and aubrey was laid by the side
Speaker 1: of her, who had lately been to him the object
Speaker 1: of so many bright and fairy visions. Now fallen with
Speaker 1: the flower of life that had died within her. He
Speaker 1: knew not what his thoughts were. His mind was benumbed
Speaker 1: and seemed to shun reflection and take refuge in vacancy.
Speaker 1: He had almost unconsciously in his hand a naked dagger
Speaker 1: of particular construction, which it had been found in the hut.
Speaker 1: They were soon met by different parties who had been
Speaker 1: engaged in the search of her, of her whom a
Speaker 1: mother had missed. Their lamentable cries as they approached to
Speaker 1: the city for warned the parents of some dreadful catastrophe.
Speaker 1: To describe their grief would be impossible. But when they
Speaker 1: ascertained the cause of their child's death, they looked at
Speaker 1: Aubrey and pointed to the course. They were inconsolable. Both
Speaker 1: died broken hearted. And that's the end of part one.
Speaker 1: In part two, what will happen? Okay? I will say
Speaker 1: though I'm reading this for yeah, probably the fourth time
Speaker 1: or something, and just thinking about what caused this story
Speaker 1: to be written, and like, what just happened? All right,
Speaker 1: here's my money. I bet that John Polodari had a
Speaker 1: threeesome with some with Lord Byron and some girl that
Speaker 1: he liked, and then was like, I have sullied her,
Speaker 1: I have ruined her. I am so guilty. You know.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that it's just kind of like
Speaker 1: someone who is not a libertine being really upset by
Speaker 1: the actions of libertines. And it really, you know, this
Speaker 1: idea that the vampire is this figure that is going
Speaker 1: to like destroy the beautiful, innocent young girl is like, well,
Speaker 1: it's such like groomer rhetoric, right, it's so reflected in
Speaker 1: modern you know, destroying the virtue of whatever. And I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just interesting to me. I hope it's
Speaker 1: interesting to you too. And what will happen? What's going
Speaker 1: to happen is Lady Love lies dead. The woman that
Speaker 1: he was objectifying for her beauty is now dead. What
Speaker 1: will happen? Find out next week on cool Zone Media
Speaker 1: book Club. It Could Happen Here as a production of
Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media,
Speaker 1: visit our website coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here,
Speaker 1: updated monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.