Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Vampires

  • The smartest vampire story

    Alice TheibaultRochester, New York, United States There is something uniquely terrifying about vampires. The concept of a nocturnal creature showing up at one’s home to suck their blood is enough to make just about anyone uneasy, and so vampires have been mined as a horror device for generations. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is arguably the…

  • Vampires and blood trafficking: The International Red Cross campaign against third-world plasma collection in the 1970s

    William SchneiderIndianapolis, Indiana, United States One of the cornerstones of the WHO Blood Safety program is the voluntary donation of blood. According to the WHO Fact Sheet No. 279 (June 2015), all Member States are urged “to develop national blood systems based on voluntary unpaid donation.” The reason is, An adequate and reliable supply of…

  • Taking the bat out of Hell

    Tajri Salek Birmingham, UK   Fig. 1 The Destruction of Job’s Sons, from Illustrations of the Book of Job, 1825–26. Engraving by William Blake. Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copyright: Public Domain, Universal (CC0 1.0). “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula   If you…

  • Consumption and vampires: Metaphor and myth before science

    Gregory Rutecki Cleveland, Ohio, United States   Illustrations of vampires. Provided by author.     “In New England . . . It is believed that consumption is not a physical but a spiritual disease . . . as long as the body of a dead consumptive relative has blood in its heart it is proof…