Many of the legends and lores surrounding vampires were only ever codified by A) Bram Stoker's Dracula novel and B) Hollywood adaptations of said novel. As such, it's always interesting to me to look at horror tales from the 1940s or earlier, before it was decided that Bram Stoker & Bela Lugosi were the be-all end-all of vampires. For instance, check out the 1948 episode of the radio program Quiet, Please entitled "My Son, John".
This is the tale of a father who wants so desperately to be reunited with his lost son that he turns to black magic to restore his son to life. However, the father believed his son died in battle as a war hero; upon his revival, the son reveals he was a deserter and that while in Europe he met a certain gent named Dracula; now that he's been brought home to the USA, John is free to spread vampirism stateside.
Where this tale may strike some fans as odd is that the vampires have the power to turn into just about anything - not only a bat or a wolf but a cat, a dog, a gorilla... it may not sound quite right, but hey, there's no such thing as vampires; you can change the rules on a whim.
You can listen to this episode on the excellent Quiet, Please fan website.
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