Prehistory: Vampyre beliefs and myths emerge in cultures around the world.
1047 First appearance in written from of the word upir (an early form of the word later to become "vampire") in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy," or wicked vampyre. NOTE: This was a mis-spelling of the correct Russian word which is upyr.
1190 Walter Map's De Nagis Curialium includes accounts of vampyre-like beings in England
1196 William of Newburgh's Chronicles records several stories of vampyre-like revenants in England.
1428/29 Vlad Dracula Son of the Dragon (later to be known as Vlad Tepes or Vlad "The Impaler"), the son of Vlad Dracul The Dragon, is born.
1436 Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste.
1442 Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with his father by the Turks.
1443 Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage of the Turks.
1447 Vlad Dracul is beheaded.
1448 Vlad briefly attains the Wallachian throne. Dethroned, he goes to Moldavia and he friends Prince Stefen.
1451 Vlad and Stefen flee to Transylvania.
1455 Constantinople falls.
1456 John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain the Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed.
1458 Matthias Corvinus suceeds John Hunyadi as King of Hungary.
1459 Easter massacre of boyers and rebuilding of Dracula's castle. Bucharest is established as the second governmental center.
1460 Attack upon Brasov, Romania.
1461 Succesful campiaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube. Summer retreat to Tirgoviste.
1462 Following the battle at Dracula's castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania. Vlad begins 13 years of imprisonment.
1475 Summer wars in in Serbia against Turks take place. November: Vlad resumes throne of Wallachia.
1476/77 Vlad is assassinated.
1560 Elizabeth Bathory is born.
1610 Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred people and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1614 Elizabeth Bathory dies.
1645 Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampyres, De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus.
1657 Fr. Francoise Richard's Relation de ce qui s'est passe a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel links vampyrism and witchcraft.
1672 Wave of vampyre hysteria sweeps through Istra.
1679 A German vampyre text, De Masticatione Mortuorum, by Philip Rohr is written.
1710 Vampyre hysteria sweeps through East Prussia.
1725 Vampyre hysteria returns to East Prussia.
1725-30 Vampyre hysteria lingers in Hungary.
1725-32 The wave of vampyre hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole).
1734 The word "vampyre" (and it is this spelling and not vampire that is being referred to in this instance) enters the English language in translations of German accounts of the European waves of vampyre hysteria.
1744 Cardinal Guideppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri.
1746 Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampyres, Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et de Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, et de Silesie.
1748 The first modern vampyre poem, "Der Vampir," is published by Hienrich August Ossenfelder.
1750 Another wave of vampyre hysteria occurs in East Prussia.
1756 Vampyre hysteria peaks in Wallachia.
1772 Vampyre hysteria occurs in Russia.
1797 Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a vampire) is published.
1797-1800 Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes "Christabel," now conceded to be the first vampyre poem in English.
1800 I Vampiri, an opera by Silestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy.
1801 "Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampyre in English.
1810 Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular viens cut and their blood drained circulate through northern England.
"The Vampyre" by John Stagg, an early vampyre poem, is published.
1813 Lord Byron's poem "The Giaour" includes the hero's encounter with a vampyre.
1819 John Polidori's The Vampyre, the first vampyre story in English, is published in the April issue of New Monthly Magazine.
John Keats composes "The Lamia," a poem built on Greek legends.
1820 Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris.
June 13: Le Vampire, the play by Chareles Nodier opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martinin Paris.
August: The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles, a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche, opens ins London.
1829 March: Heinrich Marschner's opera, Der Vampyr, based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig.
1841 Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, "Upyr," while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampyre story by a Russian.
1847 Bram Stoker is born.
Varney the Vampyre begins lengthy serialization.
1851 Alexandre Dumas's last dramatic work, Le Vampire, opens in Paris.
1854 The case of vampyrism in the Ray family of Jewett, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers.
1872 "Carmilla" is written by Sherridan Le Fanu.
In Italy, Vincenzo Verzeni is convicted of murdering two people and drinking their blood.
1874 Reports from Cevem, Ireland, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained.
1888 Emily Gerad's Land Beyond the Forest is published. It will become a major source of information about Transylvania for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
1894 H.G. Well's short story, "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid," is a precusor to science fiction vampyre stories.
1897 Dracula by Bram Stoker is published in England.
"The Vampire" by Ruyard Kipling becomes the inspiration for the creation of the vamp as a stereotypical character on stage and screen.
1912 Bram Stoker dies.
The Secrets of House No. 5, possibly the first vampyre movie, is produced in Great Britain.
1913 Dracula's Guest by Stoker is published.
1920 Dracula, the first film based on the novel, is made in Russia. No copy has survived.
1921 Hungarian filmmakers produce a version of Dracula.
1922 Nosferatu, A German-made silent film produced by Prana Films, is the thrid attempt to film Dracula.
1924 Hamilton Deane's stage version of Dracula opens in Derby.
Firtz Harmaann of Hanover, Germany, is arrested, tried, and convicted of killing more than 20 people ina vampyric crime spree.
Sherlock Holmes has his only encounter with a vampyre in "The Case of the Sussex Vampire."
1927 February 14: stage versions of Dracula debuts at the Little Theatre in London.
October: American version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, opens at Fulton Theatre in New York City.
Tod Browning directs Lon Chaney in London After Midnight, the first full-length vampyre feature film.
1928 The first edition of Montague Summer's influential work The Vampire: His Kith and Kin appears in England.
1929 Montague Summer's second vampyre book, The Vampire in Eurpope, is published.
1931 January: Spanish film verison of Dracula is previewed.
Feburary: American film version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi premieres at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.
Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering people in a vampyric killing spree.
1932 The highly acclaimed movie Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is realeased.
1936 Dracula's Daughter is released by Universal Pictures.
1942 A. E. Van Vogt's "Asylum" is the first story about an alien vampyre.
1943 Son of Dracula (Universal Pictures) stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as Dracula.
1944 John Carradine plays Dracula for the first time in Horror of Frankenstein.
1953 Drakula Istanbula, a Turkish film adaption of Dracula, is released.
Eerie No. 8 includes the first comic book adaption of Dracula.
1954 The Comics Code banished vampyres from comic books.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson presents vampyrism as a disease that alters the body.
1956 John Carradine plays Dracula in the first television adaption of the play for "Atinee Theater."
Kyuketsuki Ga, the first Japenese vampyre film, is released.
1957 The first Italian vampyre movie, I Vampiri, is released.
American producer Roger Corman makes the first science fiction vampyre movie, Not of this Earth.
El Vampiro with German Robles is the first of a new wave of Mexican vampyre films.
1958 Hammer Films in Great Britian intiates a new wave of interest in vampyres with the first of it's Dracula films. released in the United States as The Horror of Dracula.
First issue of Famous Monsters of Finland signals a new interest in horror films in the United States.
1959 Plan 9 from Outer Space is Bela Lugosi's last film.
1961 The Bad Flower is the first Korean adaption of Dracula.
1962 The Count Dracula Society is founded in Los Angeles by Donal Reed.
1964 Parque de Juelos (Park Games) is the first Spanish-made vampyre movie.
The Munsters and The Adam's Family, two horror comedies with vampyre characters, open in the fall television season.
1965 Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club.
The Munsters, based on the television show of the same name, is the first comic book series featuring a vampyri character.
1966 Dark Shadows debuts on ABC afternoon television.
1967 April: In episode 210 of Dark Shadows, vampyre Barnabas Collins makes his first appearance.
1969 First Issue of Vampirella, the longest running vampyre comic book to date, is released.
Denholm Elliot plays the title role in a BBC television production of Dracula.
Does Dracula Really Suck? (aka Dracula and the Boys) is released as the first gay vampyre movie.
1970 Christopher Lee stars in El Conde Dracula, the Spanish film adaption of Dracula.
Sean Manchester founds the Vampire Research Society.
1971 Marvel Comics releases the first copy of a post-Comics Code vampyre comic book, The Tomb of Dracula.
Morbuis, the Living Vampire, is the first new vampyre character introduced after the revision of the Comics Code allowed vampyres to reappear in comic books.
1972 The Night Stalker with Darrin McGavin becomes the most watched television movie to that point in time.
Vampire Kung-Fu is released in Hong Kong as the first of a string of vampyre martial arts films.
In search of Dracula by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu introduces Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, to the world of contemporary vampyre fans.
A Dream of Dracula by Leonard Wolf complements McNally's and Florencu's effort in calling attention to vampyre lore.
Three Vampires of History by Donald Glut is the first attempt to assemble the stories of all the historical vampyre figures.
Stephen Kaplan founds The Vampire Research Center.
1973 Dan Curtis Productions' version of Dracula (1973) stars Jack Palance in a made-for-television movie.
Nancy Garden's Vampires launches a wave of juvenile literature for children and youth.
1975 Fred Saberhagen proposes viewing Dracula as a hero rather than a villain in The Dracula Tape.
The World of Dark Shadows is founded as the first Dark Shadows fanzine.
1976 Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is published.
Stephen King is nominated for the World Fantasy Award for his vampyre novel, Salem's Lot.
Shadowcon, the first national Dark Shadows convention, is organized by Dark Shadows fans.
1977 A new, dramatic, version of Dracula opens on Broadway starring Frank Langella.
Louis Jourdan stars in the title role in Count Dracula, a three-hour version of Bram Stoker's book on BBC television.
Martin V. Riccardo founds the Vampire Studies Society.
1978 Chelsea Quin Yarbo's Hotel Transylvania joins the volumes of Fred Saberhagen and Anne Rice as a third major effort to begin a reappraisal of the vampyre myth during the decade.
Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found the Vampire Information Exchange.
1979 Based on the success of the new Broadway production, Universal Pictures remakes Dracula (1979), starring Frank Langella.
The band Bauhaus's recording of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" becomes the first hit in the new gothic rock music movement.
Shadowgram is founded as a Dark Shadow's fanzine.
1980 The Bram Stoker Society is founded in Dublin, Ireland.
Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula killer of Sacramento, California, commits suicide in prison.
The World Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now the Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded.
1983 In the December issues of Dr. Strange, Marvel Comic's ace occultist kills all the vampyres in the world, thus banishing them from Marvel Comics for the next six years.
Dark Shadows Festival is founded to host an annual Dark Shadows convention.
1985 The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice is published and reaches the best seller lists.
1989 Overthrow of Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceaucescu opens Transylvania to Dracula enthusiasts.
Nancy Collins wins a Bram Stoker Award for her vampire novel, Sunglasses After Dark.
1991 Vampire: The Masquarade, the most successful of the vampyre role-playing games, is released by White Wolf.
1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola opens.
Andrei Chikatilo os Rostov, Russia, is sentenced to death after killing and vampyrizing some 55 people.
1994 The file version of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire is released with Tom Cruise as the vampyre Lestat and Brad Pitt as the vampyre lead, Loius. 1996 A short lived television series The Masquarade is released based on the popular role-playing game by White Wolf.
1998 John Carpenter's Vampires based on the book "Vampire$" is released in theatres nation wide
