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How Victorian London's 'great stink' shaped the modern vampire

Original: How London’s 1838 ‘great stink’ created the modern vampire Long before modern medicine could name the invisible terrors

Writer Rae Gillibrand argues that the modern vampire was born from epidemic fear in Victorian London. Before germ theory could explain the invisible diseases ravaging the city during the era of the 'great stink', the public personified contagion as the vampire, giving a face to deadly unknown illness. The piece links literary horror directly to public health history.

Why now: The argument connecting vampire fiction to Victorian disease panic is a fresh, shareable take on a familiar literary figure.

LondonRae GillibrandThe ConversationVictorian Britain

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• How London’s 1838 ‘great stink’ created the modern vampire Long before modern medicine could name the invisible terrors ravaging Victorian Britain, the public found a face for contagion: the vampire. by Rae Gillibrand https:// theconversation.com/how-london… · gutenberg_org · 15

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