User:Tripodero/Vampirism in the United States

In American folklore, the vampire is a undead entity that preys upon the blood of the living, typically a family member of the deceased, closely resembling its counterpart in European folklore. Vampire myths in the United States are typically associated with New England and noteworthy cases, such as the Mercy Brown vampire incident, demonstrate a definite, albeit limited, belief in vampires in the United States.

History
Oral traditions of creatures resembling the European vampire were known among Native Americans; however, these stories were not a significant influence on the prevailing perception of vampires within the United States at large. As early as the 1860s, the term "vampire" appears in American newspaper accounts of anomalous phenomenon. On May 31, 1867, the Wheeling Register published one of the earliest accounts to expressly cite the word vampire in relation to an observable yet unaccounted for instance wherein a person is seemingly drained of blood. The articles relates that on a series of nights, a guest staying at a boarding house continuously suffers from bite marks and a loss of blood. The article does not disclose the names of persons or places involved. While the account may be attribute to biting insects or other natural causes it nonetheless makes explicit reference to the myths of vampires and even cites others suffering from similar inflections having stayed in the same room.

Characteristics
The modern conception of the vampire in the United States is largely derived from works of fiction rather than the product of vampire myths from the continent.