In case the title is confusing, Dr. Vanessa Warne is not a vampire. She is, however, the professor who will be giving our sold out Victorian Vampire Tours on October 19th and 26th.
Whether you’ve missed out on the tour and are looking to catch a little of Dr. Warne’s vampire insight or you’re doing some research to impress the professor, keep reading for answers to all your most-pressing vampire questions. Or, at least, answers to the sorts of questions you get when you crowd source your list from an office of museum employees and a small child.
Interview with Dr. Vanessa Warne
(Note: This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.)
Without giving too much away, what is your favourite thing about the Victorian Vampire Tour?
Dr. Vanessa Warne: I love being in Dalnavert at different times of year but I think it suits the spooky season we’re entering into best of all. I’m excited to have a chance to talk with people who know a lot about the cultural history of vampires and also to introduce people who might know little about Bram Stoker’s influential novel to some of its most fascinating aspects.
Should guests have any previous knowledge of Dracula or the Victorian era before coming on the Victorian Vampire Tour?
VW: No knowledge is needed, though guests with expertise will be welcome to share their wisdom; guests should bring their curiosity. I hope this tour will inspire people to read the novel for the first time or perhaps re-read it with some fresh inspiration to guide them.
How scary is the Victorian Vampire Tour?
VW: It is not scary, but we will engage with care some of the darker facets of the novel, including its depiction of violence and the history of psychiatry.
Should people be worried about encountering vampires at Dalnavert?
VW: I’ve been volunteering at Dalnavert for almost a decade now and I remain untouched by the undead. Guests need not come wearing wreaths of garlic flowers, though they are certainly welcome to do so!
There are obviously lots of different types of vampires and different rules of vampirism across cultures and stories, so what makes a vampire a vampire?
VW: That is a great question! On our tour, we’ll talk about all the research Stoker did on vampire lore and which parts of that complex body of belief that he decided to engage with and which he chose to ignore. From bats and rats, to the problems with mirrors, and the comfort of a coffin for a bed: we’ll explore different attributes of the Victorian-era vampire.
What is your favourite vampire myth or favourite type of vampire?
VW: I have a very limited knowledge of the rich world of post-Victorian vampire culture and the ways in which vampires have proliferated in literature, film, and TV since Stoker’s time. So Stoker’s Count is my favourite vampire for sure!
What is unique about the Victorian-era conception of vampires?
VW: As Stoker’s novel teaches us, Victorians were really interested in the vampire as a kind of time traveller, as a person out of their own era who has lived the life of the undead so long that they have seen and had to grapple with massive changes in, for example, technology. How might the invention of steam trains and telegraphs threaten or help the vampire in his pursuit of victims? That’s a really key question Victorian-era readers pondered with Stoker as their guide.
What is the best way to protect yourself from vampires?
VW: I think it’s fair to say that Stoker would suggest that team work is key! Stay with the group; don’t fall asleep in strange place. There’s danger in isolation and also in sleep. Staying alert and sticking together prove far more effective than garlic and crucifixes.
Why do people keep coming back to Dracula? Why does it still resonate after 125 years?
VW: I think readers keep returning to this novel because it is both exactly what we’re hoping for—a great adventure story about a battle with a supernatural threat—AND it’s very surprising in that it’s a very innovative and creative piece of writing. It experiments a lot with narrative point of view and with the incorporation of different kinds of documents, like newspaper reports and telegrams and phonographic recordings, into the flow of the novel. It’s a great work of literature as well as a thrill ride.
Do you think vampires prefer different blood types or blood from different sorts of people?
VW: Ah.... well, at the time Stoker was writing, blood types were not part of Western medical knowledge. Maybe Dracula knew the difference but, importantly, neither doctors nor novelists did!
Are vampires and werewolves enemies?
VW: Good question! I can’t comment on that as my knowledge is really limited to Stoker’s depiction of the vampire, but I like to think they’d get along. Both, after all, have animality in common and that should go a long way.
Who is your favourite fictional vampire? What is your favourite vampire-related work?
VW: It’s all about Count Dracula for me. And its Stoker’s novel—hands down!
About Dr. Vanessa Warne
Dr. Vanessa Warne is a specialist in Victorian literature and material culture. She is the co-creator and host of the podcast Victorian Samplings, which explores the objects Victorian people made and cherished. You can check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via Craftingcommunities.net. Listen in to hear some great Dalnavert content. When she isn’t teaching at the University of Manitoba, she is busy exploring the nineteenth-century history of lace.