Who Was the First American to Write a Vampire Short Story?

There has been much discussion about John Polidori, the young Italian doctor that travelled with Lord Byron and who wrote the first vampire short story in the English language. Polidori titled it "The Vampyre" and the story was published in 1819.

But who was the first American to write a vampire short story? That honor belongs to Robert Charles Sands, a lawyer and poet. His excellent horror story was titled "The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo" and it was published only a few months after Polidori's vampire story in 1819. "The Black Vampyre" is difficult to find. I spent time at UC San Diego spooling through microfiche and then copying the individual pages, which then had to be scanned into a computer. I included it in the award-winning BlooDeath: The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849, along with a lengthy introduction about Sands and the interesting bond that joins these earliest vampire stories in the English language.

The Vampire Arnod Short Story of 1849 Link and Descrpition

Not many vampire stories were published in the English language from 1800-1849. Those that were, however, are very interesting. One of them found during research for my vampire anthology is The Vampire Arnod published in 1849. The story did not make as the very best for this period, but it is still good. It appeared in The New Monthly Magazine on page 190 and tells of a scary man who lives in a village near Belgrade. I won't give away the plot of this very short horror story, but it's worth a read if you are into classic vampire stories.