31 Days of Monsters: Varney the Vampire

Varney was the subject of numerous "penny dreadfuls" in his day. A Victorian gentleman cursed with vampirism, he was the prototype for many vampires to follow him. He was the first vampire in popular culture to sport fangs but unlike Dracula, Barnabas Collins and others after him, he could walk in the daylight, had no fear of the cross and lived much like a typical human until his bloodlust overtook him. Although he started out as a villain, he took on an antihero role in later tales.

31 Days of Monsters 2014: Spring-heeled Jack

Spring-heeled Jack is a figure who first came to people's attention in Victorian London. A diabolical figure capable of amazing feats of agility, Jack had the country in a grip of panic as he sprang from alleys attacking women and men with impunity. He became the subject of many penny-dreadful stories of the era, becoming a replacement for the bogeyman and even Satan himself in some traditional tales.