Vampire Crime

Authors

Katherine Ramsland

Abstract

While most of the vampire subculture these days is a benign form of role-playing, there have been cases of people who were inspired by the predatory image to kill. To their minds, the vampire mythos provides a framework that inspires and even licenses certain types of violent behaviors. Although this bloodthirsty impulse reaches back centuries and crosses cultures, I want to examine the mythology’s influence on three cases in recent American culture: Roderick Ferrell, James Riva, and Richard Trenton Chase. I will take one case at a time and then discuss how they attach to the vampire frame.

Recommended Citation

Ramsland, Katherine (2000) "Vampire Crime," Journal of Dracula Studies: Vol. 2: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/dracula-studies/vol2/iss1/5

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.