JASON COLAVITO
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean >
      • Jimmy Excerpt
      • Jimmy in the Media
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
      • James Dean, The Human Ashtray
      • James Dean and Marlon Brando
      • The Curse of James Dean's Porsche
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
        • Volume 23 Archive
        • Volume 24 Archive
        • Volume 25 Archive
        • Volume 26 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
      • Ancient Apocalypse
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Eridu Genesis
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Resurrection of Marduk
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Byzantine World Chronicle
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Atlantis as Biblical History
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Atlantis and Nimrod
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and Hanno's Periplus
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
          • Amazing New Light (Hoax)
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • History of Paleontology
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • America Known to the Ancients
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Remarkable Discoveries Within the Sphinx (Hoax)
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • The Shaver Mystery >
          • Lovecraft and the Deros
          • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • CIA Search for the Ark of the Covenant
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • The Fall of the Sky
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Poltergeist UFOs
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search

On Dracula and Dionysus

10/26/2013

20 Comments

 
TV Guide’s Matt Roush called NBC’s Dracula “the worst Dracula ever,” which is something of a stretch for anyone who has ever seen the 2006 BBC TV-movie in which the vampire becomes a symbol for syphilis and only religious puritanism can stop the sexually-transmitted scourge. However, the new series (a co-production with Britain’s Sky Living) certainly ranks among the most oddball interpretations of Dracula I’ve yet seen—and I’ve seen Dracula 2000 (2001) in which the count is “really” Judas Iscariot.

In this interpretation Dracula isn’t much of a Gothic horror but rather can best be described, in one’s best TV announcer voice, this way: “Nikola Tesla is Jay Gatsby in The Count of Monte Cristo.” The story finds Dracula masquerading as Alexander Grayson, apparently the ancestor of Batman’s sidekick, given his acrobatic martial arts skills, a European count pretending to be a British man pretending to be an American industrialist in order to enact an elaborate revenge fantasy on the organization that stopped his reign of terror in the Middle Ages. Borrowing the love story (not found in Stoker) from the 1979 and 1992 movie versions of Dracula, Grayson of course falls in love with Mina Murray, once more the reincarnation (or at least doppelganger) of his long dead bride.

The noble vampire is, in this telling, our hero, for he plans to stop a cabal of industrialists from monopolizing fossil fuels to dominate the corporate culture of the upcoming twentieth century and thus—well, I’m not sure. Are we to take that as a victory for the proletariat or a reactionary strike against the bourgeoisie by the decaying, literally parasitic remnants of the aristocracy?

The production details also bother me. Grayson wears a wristwatch, something worn only by women before the First World War and almost unheard of at all before 1900; the newspapers and signage use typefaces and spacing not typical of Victorian times; some of the women’s gowns expose both cleavage and their backs, which was not done in the Victorian era (it was one or the other, not both). 

Too talky and too clunky, this Dracula might just as well have been a period drama without the vampires; it carries nothing from Stoker’s novel than some names; it is the stepchild of the cinematic Dracula, not the literary one, and seems to know nothing of its source material or the legends and folklore that stands behind that.

However, it is interesting to stop and consider how it is that the literary Dracula, who is explicitly likened to the Devil in Bram Stoker, became godfather to a race of offspring who are, for all intents and purposes, pagan gods come to earth to mate with our women, like Apollo and Dionysus.

In Dracula, Stoker makes very plain that his vampire is meant to be read as the Devil. He attends the Scholomance, the Devil’s own diabolical school, and he speaks in the borrowed words of the Devil himself. When he comes to Renfield in the insane asylum, Dracula says to him “All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me!” This is nearly word for word what the Devil says to Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4:9: “And [the devil] saith unto him [Jesus], All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Thus is Dracula also held in check by the power of the crucifix and of communion wafers. Oh, and he also goes by the alias Count de Ville in London; even some literary scholars miss the joke: Count Devil. (Surprisingly few noticed the Matthew 4:9 passage either.)

Stoker’s Dracula, however, is not merely the Devil, though he functions as one. He also drags with him the weight of his literary origins. I don’t think it’s terribly controversial to acknowledge that Dracula owes a debt to Lord Ruthven, the title monster of John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), the vampire story given birth on the same dark and stormy night in 1816 as Frankenstein. Polidori modeled the aristocratic but dangerous vampire Lord Ruthven on Lord Byron, who had a romantic attraction to the glories of Greece and Rome. Thus does Ruthven go to Rome and to Greece, and in so doing connects the vampire to the mythology and folklore of Greece, where the main character is explicitly seeking out the antiquities of that land and investigating mythological allusions in Pausanias’ Description of Greece.

However Polidori’s vampire, while theoretically derived from the folklore revenant who returns from the grave to suck the breath from the living, was in fact much more closely related to the pagan gods of Greece than to the sad, miserable creatures of folklore. Consider the description the terrified Greek peasants give in the story. They tell the main character that the vampires gather in a sacred grove, the kind of place where the Greek gods once played amidst sylvan delight: “They described it as the resort of the vampyres in their nocturnal orgies, and denounced the most heavy evils as impending upon him who dared to cross their path.” This can be nothing more than the warning the ancient Greeks gave about the power of the gods. Artemis kills Actaeon for transgressing against her; Hera destroys Pelias for violating her sanctuary; a mere glimpse of Zeus in his glory turns Semele to dust; Apollo kills Trophonius after the latter builds the former’s temple, spawning the phrase “those whom the gods love die young.”

But above all the vampire is Dionysus, the very god who conducts woodland orgies with his maenads and who is most wild and violent in his punishment of those who cross him. His followers, in their insane ecstasies, drink the blood of their victims and consecrate it to the god—not unlike the three wives of Dracula who menace Jonathan Harker in Castle Dracula. And of course the Greeks considered wine to be the equivalent of blood (as do Christians), a suitable substitute for blood-hungry revenants when visiting the underworld, so Dionysus as wine-god is nearly indistinguishable from the aristocratic vampire who reigns by blood. Both god and vampire were said to come from the mysterious east, from the wild and savage borderlands beyond the safety of civilization.

I am not the only person to see this. Scholars like Matthew Beresford (From Demons to Dracula, 2008), Richard Daniel Lehan (The City in Literature, 1998), and John S. Bak (Postmodern Dracula, 2007) have seen pagan gods behind various interpretations of Dracula. After all, it’s probably worth noting that Dracula travels to England aboard the Demeter, named for the Greek earth goddess whose mystery rites promised eternal life after death. Like any educated Victorian, Stoker wasn’t ignorant of Greek myth.

The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (hymn 7) presents a set of images that are indistinguishable from the magical feats performed by Stoker’s Dracula. The hymn discusses the god’s capture by pirates, and the scene is worthy of a horror novel in its potent imagery:

They sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile in his dark eyes. […] But soon strange things were seen among them. First of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, and a dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly: amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely with scowling brows.

Dracula can turn into a wolf; he commands all of the frightening animals. He controls fog and storms like Athena and Zeus. He is an alchemist and magician with powers like those of Dionysus. He is, like Dionysus, quick to anger but rewards his followers’ worldly goods. Most intriguingly, Dionysus is one of the few immortals to have died. Just as Dracula can be killed by a stake through the heart, Dionysus survived the Titans’ near-complete dismemberment and consumption of his body because his heart survived (Diodorus 5.75.4 with Damascius on Phaedo at 1.170). Death and resurrection made Dionysus immortal, and so too does it with Dracula.

Most interesting is that unbeknownst to Bram Stoker, Dionysus was identified with the obscure and ancient god Zagreus (whose death and resurrection became Dionysus’) and with Sabazios (as was Zeus), the horse-riding warrior god of the Thracians who battles the Dragon (dracul), from which the real-life Dracula took his name since the Order of the Dragon took its imagery from that of Sabazios by way of St. George. The Thracian Sabazios is sometimes also thought to be related to the Dacian Zalmoxis, the god who descended into the underworld and was reborn—and whose underground chamber filled with disciples I have previously demonstrated was the model for the actual folkloric Scholomance that Dracula attended!

I can’t prove it, but I have a feeling that Polidori had the Greek gods in mind in placing Lord Ruthven in Greece. Since it was a widespread Abrahamic belief that the pagan gods were actually demons and/or fallen angels (Psalm 96:5; Augustine, City of God 7.33; Qur’an 53, etc.), it’s no surprise that the Devil and his demons acquired the powers and traits of the Greco-Roman divinities. Thus, when Stoker made Dracula into the Devil, he unconsciously carried over the basic framework of the pagan gods to his new infernal creation. (Indeed, many scholars similarly suspect, but cannot prove, that Dionysus stands behind the medieval devil of witchcraft.) We, in our modern world, have dispensed largely with the moral horror Victorian readers saw in Dracula and have instead highlighted the buried layers of the pagan undertone, bringing to the surface the idea of the deity that marries a human bride, like Dionysus with Ariadne, making the bride into an immortal. In late versions of the Ariadne story, Dionysus in fact steals Ariadne from Theseus (Diodorus 4.61.5; Pausanias 1.20.3; 10.29.4) just as Dracula tries to take Mina from Jonathan.

It is therefore no surprise that as the twentieth century drew on, the vampire’s already-tenuous connection to the rotten risen corpse of folklore retreated before the underlying, more powerful demon-god. Today’s vampires, whether they be the immortal glitter-bombs of Twilight or the timeless, selfish demigods of True Blood (or the heartthrobs of the Vampire Diaries, or the almost literally godlike Originals) perform the functions of pagan deities—exercising capricious power, protecting their favorites, and seducing mortal women. Just as women wept for Tammuz, cried for Baldur, and screamed in ecstasy for Dionysus, the romantic vampires of fiction allow for that sort of contact with the imminent divine in a safe space, one otherwise occupied by ancient astronauts.

I hesitate to too sharply define a connection, but it seems that the desire to be raptured by aliens and lusting after glittery vampire-gods breaks down largely along gender lines, all the while fulfilling the same function, if in different forms. In very rough form, and derived largely from Western cultural assumptions, men look to the alien-gods the way a Greek hero looks to his patron god, as benefactor and personal savior, while women see the vampire-god as the idealized husband. This is not absolute; there are female ancient astronaut believers and male romantic vampire fans, but in terms of cultural narratives, they play on the stories we tell about idealized gender behavior.

20 Comments
Shane Sullivan
10/26/2013 08:57:38 am

I'm a little disappointed; when you said “Nikola Tesla is Jay Gatsby in The Count of Monte Cristo,” I was hoping for a wealthy rum-runner seeking elaborate revenge while electricity shoots all over the place.

Reply
Thane
10/26/2013 03:38:16 pm

Now, that's something I'd pay to see!

Reply
John R. Salverda link
10/26/2013 09:00:52 am

I like the analogy between Dracula and Dionysus, and would take it a bit further. How about Dracula and Jesus as the Christ? Perhaps the Gypsies, who had the legend originally, had a faction of disenfranchised, wandering, Jews among them (Gypsies=Jacobsies?). The connection between Satan and Dracula (the "dragon's seed") could still be made, as the Jews, it is thought, did not look kindly upon Jesus, who was picking off converts from Judaism (after all Satan was their tradition).

The concept of drinking the blood and eating the flesh (which was criticized by the Jews as cannibalism) of a sacrificed person in order to gain immortality, could easily have been lampooned into the character of Dracula who could be killed with a "wooden stake" and how about that intense phobia of the cross?

Finally, Christ is often compared to Dionysus and as a scion of the House of David, it fits nicely with my own theory that King David was instrumental in the introduction of the "god" Dionysus (See: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-gSYCPPKnwzHnEiBndgB-ZPUHXEduOziDoQFhTxSPCs/pub ).

Reply
Thane
10/26/2013 09:28:21 am

Interesting. I knew about those characteristics of Dionysus but never made the connection to Stoker's Dracula.

Very interesting article. Thank you

Reply
Coridan Miller
10/27/2013 01:45:38 am

Forgive me if I am misinterpereting you, but this and your recent zombie posts baffle me. It seems as though you are taking to task modern incarnations of Dracula and Zombies for not respecting their origins, while admitting those origins are based on folklore itself basef on older folklore. As though the people of the past were allowed to modernize and reimagine the stories but if people do it today it is a negative thing.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/27/2013 02:56:36 am

No, NBC's Dracula is crappy on its own merits. As a piece of art, I don't like it because it is poorly conceived and simply playing off the Dracula name.

There is nothing wrong with reimagining old stories. James Whale's "Frankenstein" bears only a passing resemblance to Mary Shelley's yet it is a masterpiece. Richard Matheson rewrote Shirley Jackson's "Haunting of Hill House" as "Hell House" and turned the exact same story into something with very different themes and ideas.

Yes, I criticize zombie fiction writers for being unaware of the racial prejudice that informed that creature's origins, but in this post I had nothing useful to say about NBC's "Dracula" because it was almost completely unrelated to the source material. I just thought that for Halloween it was worth thinking about the origins of the literary vampire and how that carries over into modern depictions of the godlike monster. I don't think the NBC show would be improved with Dionysus.

Reply
Coridan Miller
10/27/2013 03:15:29 am

Ah alright then. I am curious what you think of ABC's Once Upon A Time then, compared to, say, Fox's Sleepy Hollow. The last 10 years or so not much has come out of Hollywood that isn't a reboot or reimagining. Some have done a much better job than others...

The Other J.
10/27/2013 07:39:51 am

Sleepy Hollow has done much more much better with its source material than OUAT.

Relatively speaking, the characters are more interesting; the storyline is more purposeful and moves along at pace; it isn't a minefield of plot devices; and the rules of the universe aren't as malleable as they are on OUAT, where magic can do whatever the story requires as needed, except for when it would make sense.

Plus the special effects aren't nearly as cringe-inducing; watching Sleepy Hollow doesn't feel like you're playing a game of Dragon's Lair back in the 1980's.

The main reasons I watch OUAT are
1.) I went to the same school as the writers (Kitsis and Horowitz) at the same time (Univ. of Wisconsin, undergrad), and took some of the same classes. So I'm always on the lookout for things that might have leaked through.
2.) I'm a TV masochist. Shamefully.

That said, Sleepy Hollow isn't without its issues. Crane hasn't changed his clothes in some 200 years. When they find the lost Roanoke colony, they're still speaking Middle English about 100 years after it was no longer in use. And Sleepy Hollow seems to be one of those crazy places like Haven where you have no idea why people would remain there, and you wonder why others from outside wouldn't be suspicious of all the bizarre crimes in the area. But so far, Sleepy Hollow has moved along at a pace that keeps the audience from dwelling too long on those issues, and none of them have become such major problems that they get in the way of the story. Plus I can give them the 100 year miss on Middle English; if this is a world where Washington Irving never existed, perhaps it's also a world where Middle English persisted longer than it did in our world.

I'll take Tom Mison's Ichabod Crane over OUAT's Prince Charming or Captain Hook any day, and Lt. Mills seems way more capable than Emma or Henry (plus Clancy Brown as Obi Wan Kenobi) . But I'm really hoping for an appearance by Rip Van Winkle.

Varika
10/27/2013 09:23:05 am

Other J., are they speaking Middle English, or are they speaking Elizabethan English? Elizabethan English still used some of the older pronouns like "thee" and "thou," particularly as formal speech, and Roanoke was formed during Shakespeare's lifetime, so if that's what they sound like, then it's Elizabethan English and consistent. If they sound more Chaucer-y, then you're right and it's Middle English. Not being one who watches either show, I can't say, so.

The Other J.
10/27/2013 09:43:14 am

In one episode, they encounter the lost colony of Roanoke, and they all speak Middle English. They can't understand the first boy they find, but Crane speaks Middle English, and is able to have a (subtitled) conversation with him.

And it's all Middle English in that episode. I recognize it as a dialect (they way they pronounced "Ich"), and if I knew more about it I could tell you which one, but I don't so I won't.

Thane
10/27/2013 11:24:40 am

I haven't seen Once Upon a Time but I have and do watch Sleepy Hollow.

I like the Crane character and as it has been mentioned, the storytelling moves briskly and is overall "crisp". As others mentioned, I do have issues with it. One glaring error that jumped out at me is the timing of events in Crane's past. I specifically recall that "General Washington" ordered Crane and cohort to obtain an item and the diversion they created was the Boston Tea Party. Obviously we must be in a different reality because in our history, the Boston Tea party happened before Washington was selected to lead the nascent Revolutionary Army. In fact, it occurred BEFORE the Declaration of Independence.

I don't mind magic and 'hidden history" story-lines but if you are going to place the story within our historical past, get the history right.....at least get the timelines... if nothing else.

Jason Colavito link
10/27/2013 01:07:47 pm

OUAT has some occasionally interesting ideas--making Peter Pan into the Pied Piper via the Pan pipes was resonant. But its execution is so clunky that it never really rises above the level of slightly perverted Disney fan fiction.

Sleepy Hollow is more coherent, and I am obviously amused that the writers somehow ended up reproducing the ancient myth of the Sleeping King who awakens at the Apocalypse in blending Ichabod Crane with Rip van Winkle. However, I'm suffering from apocalypse fatigue, and it's hard to get into yet another show where the world is/was/will be ending. Sleepy Hollow owes an obvious debt to Supernatural, and as of now I don't find the characters as interesting as the Winchesters were early on, before they entered the loop of the endlessly repeating guilt trip. Sleepy Hollow is a little too overstuffed for its own good.

Coridan Miller
10/27/2013 11:23:44 pm

I only saw the first episode of Sleepy Hollow and it seemed too much like a Dresden/Buffy monster of the week show without any of the personal drama and relationships OUAT has. I think the acting on OUAT is significantly better and loved that Frankenstein's new name was Dr. Whale =p

The Other J.
10/28/2013 07:42:34 am

Ach, I didn't even make the connection between Crane and Rip Van Winkle -- I didn't see Crane as sleeping so long as I did him being transported or carried across some kind of time rift, kind of like the Roanoke Colony. But that makes sense.

I could still go for some bowling gnomes.

The Other J.
10/27/2013 07:48:15 am

The dying and rising demon. This is my wine, shed for you.

That's an interesting observation about the gender differences between the ancient aliens and vampire crowds. I don't really follow either -- what I know about ancient aliens or today's vampire stories on TV come pretty much from reviews. But I have noticed that more vampire recaps focus more or less on the sexy sexiness of sexy sex, and much of the analysis is summed up with phrases like "Because sex!" And that sort of insightful coverage never really drew me in. (American Horror Story gets similar recap coverage.)

So I wonder if there's more pagan engagement going on that recaps don't generally acknowledge, or if the shows are just as detached from source material as the recaps would suggest. I've had a debate with one recapper about American Horror Story once, going over some of the layers of a couple episodes that seemed to make it more than what the recap suggested. That was summed up by the recapper saying they found that kind of thing boring.

Que sera.

Reply
Varika
10/27/2013 09:29:26 am

I actually disagree with the, ah, gender-biased observation. Basically, I don't think aliens vs. vampires has much of a distinction of draw for people, it's the underlying storylines that are the draw. Ancient aliens tends to be couched more in apocalyptic end times/"action movie" types of storylines (if you can call them that), while vampires tend to have more romance/relationship/emotional drama in. I would bet you ancient aliens would draw a lot more women if there was more romance and love-story stuff to it.

(Besides, what with my brother being a HUGE role=playing geek, I could give you chapter and verse on the White Wolf Games vampire universes--and the kind of draw they were/are for guys as well as girls when you get to do action-adventure-y stuff with them instead of making up to the love interests.)

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/27/2013 01:18:16 pm

Gender divisions aren't inherent in the creatures. Stephenie Meyer wrote an alien romance (and "Roswell" was one, too), and vampires are obviously also horror monsters ("Let the Right One In," "30 Days of Night," etc.). I was restricting my comments to the specifically romantic version of the vampire.

Thane
10/27/2013 11:41:38 am

Writing as a girl, I can tell you I never understood the attraction to vampires....filthy blood-suckers that they are. I agree with Varika that it is the type of story that is emphasized in the tale told.

Very quickly the Dracula and vampire stories followed the path from Gothic Horror to Gothic Romance with a dose of BDSM thrown in to titillate. The sexual fetishism emphasizes Dominance and submission games. In addition, there is the vanity play for the female reader. She is set up to identify with the beautiful woman that this powerful force (the vampire) can't do without. He MUST have her. She is irresistible. He can have anything and anyone he wants but he cannot do without her. She is the only one that can tame the beast.

This is a very common theme in romance fiction. Take Pride and Prejudiced, for example. Simplistically, Lord Darcy is superiority arrogant. With is wealth and familial connections, he could have any woman he chooses but he finds them all lacking.....and then he meets Elizabeth Darcy. He tries to resist her but finds, alas, that he cannot. She is initially repulsed by him (much as the females who first find themselves discomforted by the Vampire), she comes to embrace and to desire his affection and willingly gives herself to him.

P&P is far from the bodice-ripper romances but even a light and playful romance still has the underlying theme of powerful man becoming captivated by the heroine who is the female reader by proxy.

I haven't seen much SF romance. Even space operas are more a boys adventure novel than something with steamy romance and so, aliens will appeal to a different demographic.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/27/2013 01:38:31 pm

As much as I don't like to obsess on psychosexual readings of literature, it's hard not to say that the literary vampire was born of sex. From the poem "Leonora" to Lord Ruthven's cuckolding of Aubrey to Carmilla's lesbian affair, Dracula is perhaps the least explicitly sexual of the early literary vampires.

Martin Roberts link
10/27/2013 10:27:08 pm

Waldemar Januszczak hosted a BBC4 programme called The Dark Ages that showed how artists had borrowed from the Greek gods of mythology to paint and sculpt images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and God.

Riffing on the past has being going on for a long time.

I can't comment on Dracula as it has yet to air in the UK, but the trailer does not bode well.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog
    Picture

    Author

    I am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.

    Become a Patron!
    Tweets by JasonColavito
    Picture

    Newsletters

    Enter your email below to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my latest projects, blog posts, and activities, and subscribe to Culture & Curiosities, my Substack newsletter.

    Categories

    All
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative History
    Alternative History
    America Unearthed
    Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Astronauts
    Ancient History
    Ancient Texts
    Ancient Texts
    Archaeology
    Atlantis
    Conspiracies
    Giants
    Habsburgs
    Horror
    King Arthur
    Knights Templar
    Lovecraft
    Mythology
    Occult
    Popular Culture
    Popular Culture
    Projects
    Pyramids
    Racism
    Science
    Skepticism
    Ufos
    Weird Old Art
    Weird Things
    White Nationalism

    Terms & Conditions

    Please read all applicable terms and conditions before posting a comment on this blog. Posting a comment constitutes your agreement to abide by the terms and conditions linked herein.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home  |  Blog  |  Books  | Contact  |  About Jason | Terms & Conditions
© 2010-2025 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean >
      • Jimmy Excerpt
      • Jimmy in the Media
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
      • James Dean, The Human Ashtray
      • James Dean and Marlon Brando
      • The Curse of James Dean's Porsche
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
        • Volume 23 Archive
        • Volume 24 Archive
        • Volume 25 Archive
        • Volume 26 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
      • Ancient Apocalypse
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Eridu Genesis
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Resurrection of Marduk
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Byzantine World Chronicle
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Atlantis as Biblical History
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Atlantis and Nimrod
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and Hanno's Periplus
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
          • Amazing New Light (Hoax)
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • History of Paleontology
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • America Known to the Ancients
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Remarkable Discoveries Within the Sphinx (Hoax)
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • The Shaver Mystery >
          • Lovecraft and the Deros
          • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • CIA Search for the Ark of the Covenant
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • The Fall of the Sky
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Poltergeist UFOs
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search