Carmilla and the Origin of Lesbian Vampirism

- Melody Z.

We all know Dracula. The OG vampire who lives isolated in a castle in Transylvania.What you might be surprised to know is that in 1872, 25 years before Dracula was published, Sheridan Le Fanu wrote Carmilla.

Brief summary: Laura, a young woman living with her wealthy father in Styria, invites Carmilla, a mysterious girl with strange habits, to stay with her after a carriage accident that’s left Carmilla seemingly very weak. The two girls quickly strike up a strong friendship though Carmilla is very secretive about her past, her family and where she came from. Over time, Laura starts to experience strange dreams that take a toll on her health and Carmilla regularly displays spontaneous and passionate feelings of love towards Laura that somewhat intrigue her. Laura recounts her tale in letters to a certain Doctor Hesselius, another of Le Fanu’s characters. (free pdf online, free ebook online)

Vampires are thought to stem from Strigoi in Romanian mythology though mythical blood drinking creatures weren’t a rare occurrence in any culture and most likely had their role in the development of the vampire legends. The Strigoi are undead spirits that feed on blood to gain vitality. They can also turn into an animal or become invisible and are said to sneak onto houses at night to drink the blood of young women.

Another inspiration for Carmilla and the lesbian vampire trope in general is Elizabeth Bathory of Transylvania, a hungarian noblewoman of the late XVIth century who was accused of and sentenced for the murder and torture of numerous girls. Rumour has it that she drank and bathed in their blood to retain her beauty and youth.

Over the years, Carmilla has been the subject of many retellings and adaptations, notably a Canadian YouTube web-series released in 2014 which is set in modern day Silas University, in Styria, where Laura is studying journalism when her roommate, Betty, goes missing and is promptly replaced by the mysterious Carmilla. It’s essentially the tale of how a lesbian vampire and her journalist roomante team up (read: fall in love) and save the world. The show is filmed in a vlog format with episodes ranging from 2 to 15 minutes over three seasons. (season 1 on YouTube)

Carmilla, the web-series, is in my opinion a perfect example of street fantasy as, at Silas, the occult and normal worlds are essentially blended to create some form of magical chaos. A 200 year old student’s consciousness sucked into a computer? Let’s put him on a USB drive. The library’s alive? But I still need to borrow a book. And, much like in the original novel, sexuality isn’t made to be a big deal, we’ve got our resident lesbians, nobinary characters, and more!

Carmilla is an often overlooked story—I wonder why—but it truly was, in many ways, ahead of its time and, even today, continues to inspire people to tell her scandalous story in a different way for younger generations to enjoy.