Countess Dolingen of Gratz

To celebrate Walpurgis Night, I reread, as I do every year, Dracula's Guest. One of my favourite vampire short stories, set on the fateful night. If you want to read my theory about its relationship to the novel, read my comments on this post. I thought about blogging about today's topic during the official Halloween countdown, but I have this in mind now, so why not do it now. I am already in a spooky mood in any case. So yeah, it struck me (again) reading it that there is actually one named vampire in it: Countess Dolingen of Gratz in Styria, who "sought and found death in 1801", according to her tombstone. I find it interesting for many reasons. First, because she is named, unlike the Weird Sisters/the Brides of Dracula. Then, because it is implied that the Countess Dolingen did not become a vampire after being bitten by one, but because she committed suicide. Although this may only be to hide the true cause of her death. And finally, because if Gratz means Graz in Austria, well, I have been there once. Another reason to visit it again one day. Otherwise, although we know barely anything of Countess Dolingen from her cameo in the short story, of course the fanbase and continuators invented a full biography of her. I don't care about Bram Stoker's continuators, but I might try myself on a bit of fan fiction featuring her one day, if something good comes to my mind. In any case, I hope to blog about her again come October.