This course answers the following questions: What is a vampire? Where do they come from? Why do we have an obsession with the walking dead, especially with fanged monsters? How do we get rid of them (or attract them)? The course will explore the origin of the vampire in Slavic folklore and trace the movement of the legend across Europe into literature and then finally into today's films and pulp fiction. We will learn about the legends, rituals and folk religious beliefs associated with the vampire phenomenon and how they have been interpreted over the centuries by various peoples. We will explore the myriad of approaches to the vampire from psychology, folkloristics, literature, physiology and anthropology. Taught in English.