America’s First Vampire: The Real Deadliest Catch

Posted by on October 19th, 2009

So how does the story of the first vampire to set foot on American shores begin – like the most frightening episode of Deadliest Catch ever. An excerpt from a New York Time archive article circa 1892:

Twenty-five years ago he was charged with being a vampire and living on human blood. He was a Portuguese sailor, and shipped on a fishing-smack from Boston up the coast in 1867. During this trip two of the crew were missing, and an investigation made. Brown was found one day, in the hold of the ship, sucking the blood from the body of one of the sailors. The other body was found at the same place, and had been served in a similar manner.

It’s a hard life at sea. Even harder with a vampire on your boat.

It continues to get weirder. Brown, the vampire sailor was convicted of murder and sentenced to hanging. President Johnson (perhaps trying to secure the vampire vote) commuted the sentence to life in prison. Although his days at sea were finished, the murdering was far from over. The grateful Brown went on to murder two more people in prison. Eventually authorities decided this guy was even more nuts then your average murderer (the vampire cannibal thing didn’t tip them off) and he was confined to an asylum.
And what was the vampire Mr. Brown’s first name? James. As in James Brown, America’s first vampire.

A PRISONER WITH A HISTORY – View Article – The New York Times


3 Responses to “America’s First Vampire: The Real Deadliest Catch”

  1. s3xt0y Says:
    October 19th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    interesting.

  2. candace tavares-decaccia Says:
    November 1st, 2009 at 9:35 am

    thats pretty interesting it kinda makes me wounder if its the blood desease they say some people have that makes them need blood or high protein diets or if there really is a portugese vampire. its cool. or maybe not if your the one to get eaten. lol

  3. candace tavares-decaccia Says:
    November 1st, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    thats pretty interesting it kinda makes me wounder if its the blood desease they say some people have that makes them need blood or high protein diets or if there really is a portugese vampire. its cool. or maybe not if your the one to get eaten. lol