When we think of vampires, we generally think of the Edward Cullen and Dracula types who have captured the popular imagination for centuries. Pale? Check. Fanged? Check. Totally fictional? Check. But ...

At home and abroad, vampire scares usually began when a person died and others in the vicinity began dying, too, usually of the same sickness. Dod Miller / Getty Images A little more than a century ...

This Halloween, vampire-mania will hit town, particularly as interest in vampires and vampirism has gripped the popular imagination by the throat in recent years. But what the various pop culture ...