Live from the Boathouse: Michael Bell
Incredible as it may seem to contemporary Americans, vampires preyed upon their not-so-distant ancestors. But these unseen killers did not resemble Count Dracula.
New England’s authentic vampires were the pathogenic microbes (“bacteria with fangs”) that caused consumption, or Tuberculosis. Join Michael Bell, author of Vampire’s Grasp: The Hidden History of Consumption in New England, for a journey where folklore and medical science meet to explain New England’s vampire tradition.
Michael E. Bell was awarded a Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University at Bloomington and has an M.A. in Folklore and Mythology from the University of California at Los Angeles as well as a B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology from the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more than twenty-five years, Bell was the Consulting Folklorist at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission in Providence, Rhode Island. He has also taught folklore, English, and anthropology at several colleges and universities. Dr. Bell has served as a scholar or consultant on numerous projects, particularly those concerned with folklore, folk art, oral history, and humanities programs for young adults. Bell has completed a variety of publications and media productions on topics ranging from local legends and the magical black cat bone to the occupational folklife of the shell fishing industry of Narragansett Bay.
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Admission
Non-Members: $5.00
@ 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.
