Robert Southey's Footnote on Vampires

Although it is just mentioned in one line of text, Southey's extensive footnote on "the vampire" lasts for about nine pages. In it, Southey chronicles several occurrences of the myth in continental Europe, notably in Hungary and Greece. This association of the vampire with Hungary lasts to this day, with the association of vampires with Dracula and Transylvania, which would have been located in Hungary in Stoker's life. Moreover, it is important to note that in Southey's poem and in Byron's later The Giaour, vampires are not associated with Central or Eastern Europe, but are said to come from the Middle East or Turkey. In addition, in Southey's footnote, he emphasizes the reality of vampires as not being a myth or legend, but a historical fact by citing several supposed "real-life" cases of vampirism such as the 18th "vampire panic" in the Holy Roman Empire.