Spooky Special: Bats (Part I) with Joey Curti and Rachel Blakey
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RSS Feed In the late 1800s, the people of New England believed there were vampires in their midst. Many had a neighbor who had gone pale, who'd felt as if someone were lying across their chest at night, who'd woken up with blood splattered across their pillow.
Neither vampires nor vampire bats had caused these symptoms, but Bram Stoker would soon tie elements of this vampire panic to bats in his classic work of Gothic horror, Dracula.
Come with me, Joey Curti, and Rachel Blakey on a misty October evening, duck beneath a lonely concrete bridge in Southern California, and find out not only what Bram Stoker knew (and didn't know) about bats, but also the true story of these oft-maligned creatures.
Note: This is part one of a two-part episode. In this portion, we get up close and personal with bats. Come back to hear a full conversation about the world's only flying mammals soon!
Links:
- Penguin Books page about Bram Stoker
- Book: Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula (this book contains the New York World article)
- Bats really are faster than birds
- Glowing bat toes
- Mexican free-tailed bat migration
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The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found here.
Photo (Mexican free-tailed bat) by Charles Hood; used with permission.
