‘In Christian cemeteries there was a strong tendency for graves to be clustered around the burial place of a particularly holy person, preferably a martyr, but failing that, a Church leader or someone well known for the holiness of his or hers life.

‘We pray not to instruct God but to get our will in line with Heaven’ 1ĭoes the graffiti represent an attempt by the bereaved to attach the name of a deceased person to a particularly ‘notable’ or ‘ennobled’ individual – one whom was possibly regarded as a ‘folk’ saint within the community – or was it simply the desire to be affiliated with the ‘symbolism of the ideal’ in the post-Reformation world? In the Medieval world, intercessors were sought in every avenue of life as a way to ‘fast track’ the soul to heaven.

A good body of evidence now exists which supports the theory that such motifs are examples of ‘memorial’ graffiti. Although a range of apotropaic symbols are often present, the majority of the graffiti seems to consist of names and dates, often within cartouches. Book.Why have effigies and monuments to the dead historically attracted graffiti ? It is phenomenon that seems to be particularly prevalent during the 16 th and 17th centuries. But he would have been surprised, and quite pleased, to learn that his creation had inspired so many future authors. Stoker's novel, Dracula, was a hit at the time. And, of course, he had read Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu and The Vampyr by John Polidori, the writer who is often credited with the creation of the vampire genre. Although he had never visited Eastern Europe, he had an Hungarian acquaintance named Armin Vambery who liked to spin dark and inspirational tales about the Carpathian Mountains. Bram Stoker, born in Dublin in 1847, was part of the artistic community in London, the community that included Oscar Wilde, James McNeill Whistler, Arthur Conan Doyle and many others. Wells The Inn by Guy de Maupassant The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe and Captain Murderer by Charles Dickens. James The Judge's House by Bram Stoker Caterpillars by E.

Hartley The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood Count Magnus by M. This anthology contains: The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson The Festival by H. Light edge and corner wear with a crease on the spine no interior markings.

Effigies by William K. Wells