S1 Ep8: Episode 8 -Swaggering Samurai and Dracula's Bloody Tears

In this episode, we discuss important stuff in the news such as a doggy surfing competition in California and a seventeenth-century child’s anti-vampire grave that has been discovered in Poland (no stereotypes there!). For her Piece of Stuff, Ashley closely examines a set of eighteenth-century Samurai armor and the accompanying helmet and reveals clues that indicate that it may have been used more for swaggering than for battle. Bad Lad Vlad, of impaling and inspiring Bram Stoker’s Dracula fame, is the subject of Tracey’s Piece of Stuff this week, as she takes probably too deep of a dive into what proteins left behind on a tax receipt by the fifteenth-century voivode of Wallachia can tells us about his health conditions, the hot mess that was Wallachian politics, and how Vlad got his reputation for cruelty.

Ashley’s Stuff in the News:

“Surf's Up Dog: Canines Compete in the World Dog Surfing Championships,” Reuters, August 7, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/surfs-up-dog-canines-compete-in-the-worl-idUSRTSMBG3O.

Jade Eckardt, “Pups Packed the Lineup for the World Dog Surfing Championships,“ Surfer Magazine, August 7, 2023, https://www.surfer.com/trending-news/world-dog-surfing-championships.

Danielle Echeverria, “Surfing Dogs Ride Waves to Fame at World Championships in Pacifica,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2023, https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/surfing-dogs-pacifica-18275052.php.

Tracey’s Stuff in the News

Mark Milligan, “Child Found Buried Face Down with Anti-Vampire Triangular Padlock, “ Heritage Daily, August 7, 2023, accessed August 13, 2023 at https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/08/child-found-buried-face-down-with-anti-vampire-triangular-padlock/148171

Karolina Duszcyzk, “‘Vampire’ child grave discovered in 17th-century cursed cemetery,” Science in Poland, August 14, 2023, https://scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news%2C97855%2Cvampire-child-grave-discovered-17th-century-cursed-cemetery.html

Marcin, Behrendt, “Keep Demons in the Grave,” Nicolaus Copernicus University News, September 19, 2022, accessed on August 13, 2023 at https://portal.umk.pl/en/article/keep-demons-in-the-grave


Ashley’s Piece of Stuff:
“Samurai Armour and Helmet,” British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_2017-3024-1-1-14.

"Tokugawa Period," Encyclopedia Britannica, May 17, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokugawa-period.

“The Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries,” British Museum, accessed August 12, 2023, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/japan.


Tracey’s Piece of Stuff

Jo Marchant. “Document Detectives Use Smudges and Bloodstains to Investigate the Past: Proteins left behind on historic artifacts are revealing centuries old secrets,” The Smithsonian Magazine, November/December 2022. Accessed August 14, 2023 at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/document-detectives-use-smudges-bloodstains-investigate-past-180980986/

Bob Yirka, “Testing of Vlad the Impaler’s letters show he may have had condition causing his tears to be mixed with blood,” Phys.org, August 10, 2023. Accessed August 14, 2023 at https://phys.org/news/2023-08-vlad-impaler-letters-condition-blood.html

Juan José Sánchez Arreseiger, “Vlad the Impaler’s thirst for blood was an inspiration for Count Dracula,” National Geographic, November 1, 2021.

Patrick Wyman, “Vlad the Impaler and the Legend of Dracula,” Tide of History Podcast, Wondery, 2018. Accessed August 13, 2023 at https://wondery.com/shows/tides-of-history/episode/5629-vlad-the-impaler-and-the-legend-of-dracula

Emre Sahin (director), Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020, 2022), Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/80990771

Constantin Rezachevici, "Punishment with Vlad Tepes - Punishments in Europe Common and Differentiating Traits," Journal of Dracula Studies: Vol. 8 , Article 4, 2006. Accessed August 13, 2023 at
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/dracula-studies/vol8/iss1/4

Maria Gaetan Giovanna Pittalá, “Count Dracula Resurrected: Proteoic Analysis of Vlad II the Impalers Documents by EVA Technology and Mass Spectrometry,” Analytical Chemistry, August 8, 2023. DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01461

Music Credits: Ashley Bozian; Photo Credit: Tracey Cooper