Sheridan Le Fanu’s grave.

Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6.

Harry Warren writes:

At Halloween, many trick or treaters will be dressed in vampire costumes due to the enduring legacy of the 1897 novel Dracula, by Irish author Bram Stoker.

The novel was also immortalised on screen by many great actors, Max Schreck playing the cadaverous vampire Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau‘s 1922 silent classic “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror“.

Then Bela Lugosi‘s genre defining Dracula in 1931 and later in the superb Gothic horror films of Dracula starring Christopher Lee as the count.

Most people today associate Stoker as the originator of the vampire in modern novels but Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu can be rightly credited as having written the first vampire story.

Le Fanu belonged to an old Dublin Huguenot family. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he published 14 novels and wrote superb stories featuring the supernatural, Uncle Silas (1864), The House by the Churchyard (1863) and a book of five long stories, probably his best work, In a Glass Darkly (1872).

The book was published 26 years before Bram Stoker’s novel also includes his classic Gothic vampire story “Carmilla“, arguably the first time a vampire appears in a modern story. The story tells of a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire. “Carmilla” popularised the theme of the female vampire replete with hints of lesbianism.

Sheridan Le Fanu rests today in Dublin’s wonderfully atmospheric Victorian Harold’s Cross cemetery. His grave has a notable plaque ” Here Lies Dublin’s Invisible Prince, Novelist and Writer of Ghost Stories”.

I would recommend a visit this weekend.

Previously: Harry’s Dublin

Pics by Harry Warren

This afternoon.

Izmir Province, Turkey.

A strong earthquake struck the Aegean Sea on Friday and was felt in both Greece and Turkey, where some buildings collapsed in the coastal province of Izmir, authorities said.

People flooded onto the streets in the tourist city of Izmir, witnesses said, after the quake struck the region with a magnitude of up to 7.0.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter that six buildings had collapsed in two districts of Izmir province.

Strong earthquake strikes Aegean Sea, shaking Turkey, Greece (Reuters)

O’SULLIVAN – Little Bird

Hungary for love.

Introducing Ian O’Sullivan, from Bray, County Wicklow, who for his debut video frolics on the north shore of Balaton lake, Hungary with, top from left: Annamaria Kaptay, Kitti Kulcsar and Charlotte Papp, on the hottest day of the year.

The promo is a collaboration between O’Sullivan, Annamaria and director miki357.

Nick says: Eastern exposure.

O’SULLIVAN

This morning.

Llewellyn Court estate, Ballinteer, Dublin.

The scene outside the house in which the bodies of 37-year-old Seema Banu, her daughter Asfira, 11, and her son Faizan, 6, were found on Wednesday.

Via RTÉ:

Officers have been in contact with the woman’s partner and father of the children, who is distressed and has been given access to medical treatment.

The results of the post-mortem examinations, which are ongoing, will determine the course of the investigation, but the case has been allocated the resources of a murder investigation.

Gardaí have appealed once again to members of the public not to circulate speculation on social media. They described this as “uninformed and unhelpful to the criminal investigation”.

Garda appeal over deaths of mother and two children in Dublin (RTÉ)

Yesterday: Community Response

RollingNews

Behold: scary-ass reflection nebula IC 2118 in the constellation of Orion. It’d put the heart sideways in you so it would. To wit:

IC 2118 is about 800 light-years from your neighbourhood, close to bright bluish star Rigel at the foot of Orion. Often identified as the Witch Head nebula for its appearance in a wider field of view it now rises before the witching hour though. With spiky stars for eyes, the ghoulish apparition identified here seems to extend an arm toward Orion’s hot supergiant star. The source of illumination for IC 2118, Rigel is just beyond this frame at the upper left.

(Image: Casey Good/Steve Timmons)

apod

This afternoon.

It’ll rip the mask off you.

Save Yourselves.

Orange warnings as Storm Aiden to bring gusts of 130km/h (RTÉ)

 

Previously: Ireland’s Oskar Schindler

To my little friends.

Gardaí seized four firearms, including two rifles, a handgun and a sawn-off shotgun, ammunition and €18,000 of suspected cocaine during an intelligence led operation in Finglas, Dublin yesterday evening.

Helluva drug.

Name those ‘pieces’, anyone?

RollingNews/@gardainfo

Movember is nearly upon us.

It comes around so fast.

Timi Ogunyemi writes:

We’ve all spent way too much time apart this year. It’s time to connect – virtually or in-person – and cut loose. We’re itching for it so badly, in fact, that we’re starting early and we want you to join us.
Shave Down today, October 30, calls for pre-kick-off donations, and let’s hit the ground running on Movember 1st.
How You Can Join the Fun Today:

·      Grab a selfie of your pre-shaved face.

·      Grab a selfie mid-shave.

·      Grab another selfie post shave.

·      Tag four bros and the hashtags #Movember #Shavedown

·      Post a grid, or a carousel on your social.

·      Sign up to Movember here

Movember

Broadsheet.ie