Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Bell, Michael E., PUBLISHER: Wesleyan, ong>Forong> nineteenth-century New Englanders, "vampires" lurked behind tuberculosis. To try to rid ong>theong>ir houses and communities from ong>theong> scourge of ong>theong> wasting disease, families sometimes relied on folk practices, including exhuming and consuming ong>theong> bodies of ong>theong> deceased. Author and folklorist Michael E. Bell spent twenty years pursuing stories of ong>theong> vampire in New England. While writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Henry David Thoreau, and Amy Lowell drew on portions of ong>theong>se stories in ong>theong>ir writings, Bell brings ong>theong> actual practices to light ong>forong> ong>theong> first time. He shows that ong>theong> belief in vampires was widespread, and, ong>forong> some families, lasted well into ong>theong> twentieth century. With humor, insight, and sympathy, he uncovers story upon story of dying men, women, and children who believed ong>theong>y were ong>foodong> ong>forong> ong>theong> ong>deadong>. This Wesleyan paperback edition includes an extensive preface by ong>theong> author unveiling some of ong>theong> new cases he's learned about since ong>Foodong> ong>forong> ong>theong> ong>Deadong> was first published in . Acquista Ora