In the 19th century, in isolated villages and godforsaken towns in rural New England, people began to suspect their deceased family members had become undead. Thus began everything we know today about killing vampires.
AI Summary
# Stuff You Should Know - Vampire Panics of New England
In this fascinating episode, Josh and Chuck dive into a bizarre and relatively recent phenomenon that gripped rural New England from the late 1700s through the 1800s: widespread vampire panics where desperate families would actually exhume their dead relatives, searching for signs of vampirism and performing gruesome rituals to stop them from allegedly draining the life force from living family members. The hosts uncover the surprising truth behind these panics, revealing how tuberculosis—a disease so deadly it killed about a quarter of New Englanders at its peak—led superstitious communities who didn't understand germ theory to blame their dying loved ones on supernatural bloodsuckers, ultimately showing how real historical traumas and scientific ignorance can create very real and very strange behaviors that would echo through legend and culture for centuries to come.
Boogie Nights
1997
2h 36m
★ 7.6
"Sister Christian by Night Ranger, which factored in big time into Boogie Nights. — Josh referenced how the song 'Sister Christian' was used significantly in the film Boogie Nights."
— Josh
Dracula
2025
2h 10m
★ 7.1
"A clipping of that article was found in the papers of a certain person. Brahm Stoker. — Chuck revealed that Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, had a newspaper clipping about Mercy Brown's exhumation in his papers, potentially influencing the novel."
— Chuck
It's a Wonderful Life
1946
2h 11m
★ 8.3
"I want to give a shout out to Wonder. The movie about the kid with facial differences. — Chuck unexpectedly mentioned the movie Wonder during the vampire panic episode, noting it stars Owen Wilson and Julia Roberts."
— Chuck
Nosferatu
1922
1h 29m
★ 7.7
"These vampires were like the ghouls from the grave type. Like Nosferatu looking. — Josh compared the vampire descriptions from the panics to the appearance of Nosferatu, describing pale, skeletal vampire characteristics."
— Josh
Poltergeist
1982
1h 54m
★ 7.2
"Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? — Referenced in the Hey Dude podcast advertisement comparing the dial-up internet sound to the Poltergeist movie sound."
Stand by Me
1986
1h 29m
★ 7.8
"Members stand by me. Kid me, that's what inspired it all. — Josh referenced Stand by Me when discussing kids discovering graves in the woods, comparing it to the opening scenario of the episode."
— Josh
The Crown
2016
TV-MA
★ 8.2
"We just started watching The Crown last night. You know that show on Netflix? — Josh mentioned watching The Crown and noted how the king character coughs up blood in the first episode, a common movie trope indicating death."
— Josh
The Terminal
2004
2h 8m
★ 7.3
"She sounds like Tom Hanks in the terminal, basically, but in Chile. — Josh compared a listener's situation of being unable to obtain proper identification to Tom Hanks' character in The Terminal."
— Josh
The Village
2004
1h 48m
★ 6.5
"His favorite movie is The Village, which makes total sense. — Josh mentioned that Aaron Mankey's favorite movie is The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, which he found fitting given the episode's topic about isolated communities and superstition."
— Josh
Tombstone
1993
2h 10m
★ 7.6
"Remember Hodgman's Doc Holiday? Yeah. I'll be your huckleberry, coughing up blood and lung tissue. — Chuck referenced a movie featuring Doc Holliday (likely Val Kilmer's portrayal in Tombstone) where the character coughs up blood, illustrating the movie trope of illness indicating death."
— Chuck
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