How did Vampirism enter the Goth Subculture?

I want to thank all my Goth Brothers and Sisters for very kind and awesome comments and questions posted this week here on Youtube and on my Instagram account. 🎩

There are articles in newspapers and zines showing vampirism being part of the Goth subculture since day one. Francis Ford Coppola did create an emphasis on Victorian fashion with Dracula in 1991 and that influenced Goth fashion/culture. But there is material evidence of vampire/vampyric iconography/imagery and culture being there from the beginning of Goth.

also a bit of history for anyone interested: there's a serbian story by Milovan Glišić called "After 90 years" which tells the (supposedly real) story about a village vampire Sava Savanović. That story predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 17 years. also a fun fact- "vampire" (or "vampir") is the only serbian word that is used in the whole world. it can be found in some international documents serbian officials made with the austro-hungarian empire, dating back to the early 1700s, and the fear of vampires was taken seriously by serbian emperors as far back as in the early 1300s. btw, loved the video! 🖤

Search up Dave Vanian from The Damned, around 1976 he pioneered the goth/vampire look into the burgeoning punk scene and subsequently the goth subculture respectively. Once The Damned travelled to the west cost punk scene, they also influenced Deathrock and Hardcore punk rock too!

You being in such great shape in your 50's is such a great inspiration to me in my 40's.

Love it! New here, truly enjoying your channel. A peaceful eve unto all. 🖤🕯️

Ah, Sunday just picked up! I love the white shirt and the vest. But I have to admit that I always had more of a fascination with werewolves than with vampires. Probably because of the duality and the fact that, as a plus size person I would find it hard to get the classic look right. (Not saying all vampires have to be thin, just that I would not feel comfortable).

I loved this history of vampires. They have always intrigued me ever since ibwas a child. Thankyou for sharing this with us. And as always, i love your videos. Thankyou Prof. M. 🖤❤🖤

Love the boosted logo. Frank Langella forever!

Vampires, how paradoxical creatures they are. On the one hand they represent man's wish to live an eternal life of incorruptible ability, intelligence and force. On the other hand they embody the world's violent, deadly and corrupt nature. They are frequently imagined dearly attached to objects of art, style and elegance, souls entrapped in the never-ending longing for times long past, yet they bring the untimely death of beautiful creatures whose blood they need to live a life of solitude, nostalgia and deprived of human warmth. A life that could go on forever, but that could be brought to an end through violence and an act of killing. No wonder Goths are so intensely attracted by this figure, we ourselves live a life of contrasts and paradox: we are keen at differentiating ourselves from the crowd, we prize our ability to appear in any circumstance and time as an element of contrast, of distinction with anybody else who is around us. Yet we suffer being rejected, being pushed aside and scorned, we feel a need to socialize and be accepted in all our uniqueness and contrast towards what society considers proper. Witches and vampires do not exists, but they were for centuries the scapegoats that bore the bouts of violence that stemmed from the frustration and fear that periodically struck people. Let some bad, inexplicable and sorrowful event occur whose causes are unknown but are taken as a punishment or a curse: then what is needed to put an end to the evil is a sacrifice. And what is best to sacrifice than what is out of place, of what feels foreign and strange compared to the ancient traditions? Goths, weirdos, moshers and freaks in the Americas, in Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea and a few other places can live freely with little to fear today, but we know and feel this truce could end abruptly. It only takes a sudden societal crisis, a widespread feeling of an impending peril for people to want to look for someone to blame and to persecute for having brought upon the nation the corruption and the decadence. We wished we were loved, admired, accepted or at least let alone by a world we love to stand in stark contrast against, that we find too different from our inner nature. We know we do not fit the mould, and we love it and show it. And we know that when the economy goes down, when many people find even harder to land a job they could live on, when politics are rife with corruption and scandals, when wars are consuming more and more countries in every continent, we are among those whose civil liberties will be taken as sacrificeable for the good of the country, of the economy, of the people of the status quo. Our society makes us possible, we live our Goth nature within it, but we know we are more tolerated than accepted and we know the present equilibrium could soon break down to our disadvantage. And so, we sympathize with vampires because we understand their plight.

A vampyre scene did exist in 70ies London. If you read the Sex Pistols Johnny Rottens first autobiography he describes the Vampyre scene with people wearing garlic necklaces, breaking into tombs and opening graves... Also the Damneds Dave Vanian already dressed like Vampire, he was into the Victorian Gentlemans style of dressing up and no doubt into Hammer Horror films and Stuff. No idea if he ever was into the "Cryptie" subculture too...

Oh my god I remember I had an intro to philosophy class in highschool where we had to do a paper where we used 3 images with a similar abstract theme. I don’t even remember what the theme was but I remember one of the images was a skeleton found in Italy that had evidence of being a “vampire”. It was beheaded and a rock was put in its mouth.

Thank you professor 🖤❣️💋❣️🖤🎩 You're absolutely wonderful and we very much appreciate you great sir !

Gothic literature-gothic film-goth music-goth fashion and that is how vampires became part of goth subcultures.

Thanks for another intresting subject of mine, Vampires. And I do love the influence from it that affect fashion to the music itself. I do believe some sort of those do exist. And that they can be out in the day light too, mybe more in the shadows than getting a sun burn. That cause many of those things/tales have something from the real lifes experiences included. But mybe with a twist of fantasy included. And blood have always been seen as a powerful bit, even when it comes to Witch Craft. Have a wonderful Sunday Professor M. 🦇🖤🖤🖤🖤🦇

ugh i was just wondering this, thank you for this video!

Love this video Professor M. I've been fascinated with vampires (the Hammer series and Christopher Lee as Dracula) since I was a kid. Do I believe vampires exist? Yes, absolutely. However, they're probably not like the over-the-top "polished" adaptations like what we've come to know in modern pop culture nowadays. I propose if they truly exist then they likely steer clear of modern society, found ways to always keep one step ahead of being discovered and had centuries to adapt and evolve to blend in. There's a line in the 1931 Dracula movie spoken by Professor Van Helsing that sums it up to the effect; "The power of the vampire lies in people's disbelief of it's own existence," in essence to remain invisible is how I interpret it. I'm not sure when the merge of vampires/ vampirism entered into the Goth subculture yet since I've been goth back in the late 90's I do remember there was separation of the "goth" subculture that didn't like to associate or embrace to the [then] vampire lifestyle as I remember it being called. I might add that "sanguine" (blood) vampires and "Psy" vampires used to be in a community of their own back in the 90's throughout the 2000's from all that I read on the subjects. It was practically impossible to find books on Goth fashion/ Social Goth Decorum back then and equally difficult to find many books that delved into vampirism (by modern day standards anyway). This is just from all of the reading I did back in the day as a baby bat. I'm also a bookworm. I love reading anything about vampires. Books I can recommend for further reading are: "Something in the Blood" by Jeff Guinn with Andy Grieser 1996 "Vampires Among Us" by Rosemary Ellen Guiley 1991 J. Gordon Milton's "Vampires; Encyclopedia of the Undead" (first edition) 1999 And Vampires the Occult Truth by Konstantinos, 1999 Goth fashion and vampire fashion merging together nowadays used to be different years ago. I remember the ruffled white long sleeve shirts known as "poet" shirts were in vogue around the time Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire movie debuted in the 90's. The only Goth catalog I recall that sold those shirts was a place in Canada called "Siren" which changed ownership and switched store names by 2002-'03, to Hell's Bells and then ceased once the Goth scene disappeared. And unless you had a scene that catered to the vampire fashion, that kind of specific clothing was difficult to build and find especially when thrifting as it was for me. You're very spot on with the colors for vampire wardrobes. I could even suggest darker shades of red, maybe even some dark plum/ eggplant colors. Burgundy velvet was a favorite of mine when younger, but I find nowadays going with strict black is easier for me to find. Another vampire- like color would possibly be slate grey, damask patterns of dark blood red and damask patterns of black. Black silks, especially vests even though I never owned since vests never looked good on me I thought. If a person strives for that classic undead Bela Lougosi look, then a black tux, white shirt, white vest and a monocle should suffice. Oh, and a comfortable pair of dress shoes/ black slip on dress boots. 👍🙂 Bela, I remember from watching the 1931 Dracula movie (one of my many favorites), wore a black top hat in one scene and carried a walking stick, dressed elegantly for a night on the town with an opera cloak to complete the Count's look. It was fairly recent just within the last year (of 2023) when the vampire fashion merged with the Goth fashion and became intertwined. As always, I enjoyed your video and liked the vampire ensembles! ❤🦇🙂

Great video, very informative! I came for the history and enjoyed the fashion inspiration.

Thank you so much, Professor. I'm honoured that you have taken my suggestion & created this video. As it happens, I have a hooded velveteen cloak of my own. I've had it for years! I do also love a good brooch, too. As for Vampires existing, I do believe so; though perhaps not quite as legend portays us. Oh, & I adore the way you said my name. Fangtastic!

Thank you professor m for the video really enjoyed it and loved it as well 🖤💀🦇 you always look amazing in your videos very glad to be here hope you are doing well stay safe by the way I'm new here in your channel