Doctor’s Report: September 29, 1876, London
My name is Jack Seward and I am a well-respected doctor in London, where I have a general practice at the local hospital. I have seen many patients with rare diseases, but none as shocking as the case of poor Miss Lucy.
I was summoned to Lucy’s seaside home by her mother, who explained that the young woman had fallen ill after being attacked by a wild dog. I immediately noted that she was unusually pale, as though she had lost a lot of blood. However, I knew this to be false because she suffered only two small bites to the side of her neck. I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory diagnosis, so I contacted my old college chum, Professor Van Helsing, to see if he could provide some help. He told me to place a ring of garlic around Lucy’s neck and, although I thought this was an unusual treatment, I followed his directions. For a week, I volunteered to watch over Lucy as she slept.
We moved Lucy from her seaside home to her parents’ London residence so that I could continue to work at the hospital during the day. This was quite tiring, so one night, I decided to skip my visit to their home and get some rest in my own bed. I knew that Lucy’s servants would take good care of her in my absence.
The next morning, I found a letter from Van Helsing that read: "My friend, please watch over Lucy tonight─I believe she is in grave danger. I will be there tomorrow."
But, that was written last night! Oh, no, was I too late? I rushed off to Lucy’s home to check on her and was surprised to find Van Helsing already on the porch. "There’s no answer . . . ," he said. "I’ve knocked several times. Did you not read my letter?"
"I’m sorry, professor, but I didn’t receive your letter until this morning. I think you were right; there is a problem," I explained. "Lucy’s mother left me a key, so I can let us in."
We proceeded through the hall into the kitchen, moving cautiously, and were shocked to find the servants passed out on the floor. "They’re not dead," I said. "They’re still breathing."
Upstairs, we discovered Lucy and her mother sprawled across the floor of the master bedroom. Van Helsing leaned down to check the mother’s pulse and shook his head in despair. "She’s dead," he said solemnly. "All the blood has been drained from her body. But this young woman is still breathing." The garlic necklace lay in pieces all over the carpet and there was fresh blood dripping from Lucy’s lips. I wiped it clean while Van Helsing returned to the kitchen to revive the servants and inform them of the tragedy. He sent one of them to retrieve Arthur from his office, which was nearby. That night, the three of us kept vigil in Lucy’s room, each taking a turn watching over her while the other two slept.
Van Helsing woke me just as the sun was peeking over the rooftops of London. "Her wound has healed," he said and pointed to her neck. "She will be dead soon." I was confused by his comments but I didn’t have enough time to ask the professor any further questions because Arthur opened his eyes then. And so did Lucy!
"Arthur?" she asked. "Is that you, my love? Come here and kiss me."
Arthur stood up and walked over to the side of her bed. He leaned down to give her a kiss, but luckily for Arthur, Van Helsing abruptly pulled him backward just as Lucy lunged forward and growled. Her face turned hard with anger and her eyes flashed a fiery red. She bared her sharp, white teeth, and then her eyes fluttered shut. One final breath escaped her lungs. Arthur instantly collapsed into my arms, weeping.
Van Helsing stood tall behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "This is only the beginning . . ."
A few days after the funeral, Van Helsing and I were drinking cups of hot milk before bed when he pulled out a newspaper from his bag and placed it on the table. "There have been reports of several children leaving their rooms at night and reappearing in the morning with mysterious wounds on their necks."
"Just like Lucy’s?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied, "and there is something else that I must tell you." He admitted to me that he suspected Lucy and the children were the victims of vampires. At first, I just laughed at him; he begged me to follow him out to the cemetery so he could provide the evidence. I did as he asked, and he led me to the mausoleum where Lucy’s coffin was held. Once inside, we lifted off the cover of her casket and─my word!─Lucy’s body was missing!
I knew that we had to inform Arthur, so the next morning, I sent a letter to him, asking that he meet us in front of the cemetery after tea time. "What are we doing here?" he asked as we entered the mausoleum, but we offered no explanation. Instead, we walked over to the coffin and began to lift off the lid. "No!" Arthur yelled, but his pleas went unheeded. There, lying in the casket was the body of Lucy, still looking like the day she died. Against Arthur’s protests, Van Helsing reached down and pulled back her lip, revealing sharp, white teeth, while I examined her clothes and saw that her skirt was caked with mud. I pointed this out to Arthur, who wailed, "This makes no sense! What has happened to my poor Lucy?"
"We have a lot to discuss, my boy," said Van Helsing, and he told him of his suspicions. Due to either denial or naiveté, Arthur was not convinced of the professor’s explanation and needed more proof.
At midnight, we returned to the mausoleum together, but this time, Lucy was not there when we arrived. "We must watch for her return," Van Helsing cautioned, pulling us out into the starry night to wait.
From the corner of his eye, Arthur spotted something white moving through the woods and jerked forward, calling out, "Lucy!" It was she! The professor pulled Arthur backward, but not before he had attracted Lucy’s attention. She came closer and we could see that she was dragging something behind her─a child! She was the one attacking children! Lucy dropped the child a few feet away and then walked over to Arthur.
"Hello, my love," she taunted him. "Give me a kiss . . ." When she leaned toward us, I could smell the reek of death on her breath. Arthur thrust a gold cross at her, and she screamed, fell backward, and then turned to run away.
After several moments, he spoke: "I know what we must do. And we must do it soon, before she harms anyone else."
There was plenty of work to be done before we could confront Lucy again, and with this in mind, we returned to the house to begin preparations. Van Helsing carved a sharp, pointed stake out of wood, and I asked the servants to prepare for us three garlic necklaces, which the professor believed would give us extra protection. When it was light again, we collected our tools and ventured out to the cemetery.
In the mausoleum, we left Arthur alone to grieve and say a final good-bye to his fiancée. We didn’t have to wait very long, because before much time had passed, he emerged with a determined look on his face and said, "I’m ready." Van Helsing untied his burlap bag and pulled out the stake and a hammer, but Arthur grabbed them from the professor’s hands. "She was my love," he explained. "I must do this myself."
"All right," agreed the professor. "Then take this hammer and drive the stake straight into her heart." We went inside the mausoleum. Arthur stepped closer to Lucy, and in one fell swoop, he brought down the hammer and drove the stake into her chest.
She writhed, screaming out in pain, but Arthur hit the stake a second and third time. At last, she stopped moving and lay silently in the coffin. She was finally at peace.
We walked in silence from the cemetery until we reached the house. There, the professor said, "The vampire that did this to Lucy is still out there, hurting people. Are you two prepared to help me hunt him down?" We both agreed without hesitation.