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recent grimoire entries
Brendan Lorber on Why Daydreaming Is Important
Feb 20, 2019
Brendan Lorber on Why Daydreaming Is Important
Feb 20, 2019
Feb 20, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Alina Pleskova, Marwa Helal, June Jordan
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Poetry Weekly: Alina Pleskova, Marwa Helal, June Jordan
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Feb 19, 2019
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Feb 15, 2019
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Feb 14, 2019
Survival and Truth: How Tori Amos' Under The Pink Changed My Life
Feb 8, 2019
Survival and Truth: How Tori Amos' Under The Pink Changed My Life
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Feb 8, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Monica Youn, Traci Brimhall, Rosebud Ben-Oni
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Poetry Weekly: Monica Youn, Traci Brimhall, Rosebud Ben-Oni
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Feb 6, 2019
How Do We Name Ourselves?
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How Do We Name Ourselves?
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Feb 4, 2019
Your February 2019 Horoscopes Are Here
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Feb 1, 2019
Kristine Esser Slentz on Polyamory & Being Raised as a Jehovah's Witness
Jan 30, 2019
Kristine Esser Slentz on Polyamory & Being Raised as a Jehovah's Witness
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Jan 30, 2019
Poetry by Brandon Amico
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Poetry by Brandon Amico
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Jan 29, 2019
A Grimoire For Self-Love: A Peek At Light Magic for Dark Times
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A Grimoire For Self-Love: A Peek At Light Magic for Dark Times
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5 Books I Had No Idea Existed and Must Find at Once
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Vi Khi Nao Reviews Diana Hamilton's God Was Right
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Vi Khi Nao Reviews Diana Hamilton's God Was Right
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Jan 25, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Omotara James, John Murillo, E. Kristin Anderson
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Poetry Weekly: Omotara James, John Murillo, E. Kristin Anderson
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Jan 25, 2019
Brandon Amico on Why He Doesn't Want to Be Unreachable
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Brandon Amico on Why He Doesn't Want to Be Unreachable
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Jan 24, 2019
How To Become A Freelance Writer: On Starting Out, Discipline & Ritual
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How To Become A Freelance Writer: On Starting Out, Discipline & Ritual
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Bewitched: When The Velvet Underground Cast an Identity Spell on Me
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Bewitched: When The Velvet Underground Cast an Identity Spell on Me
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Jan 23, 2019
DIY Gift Ideas for The Magical, the Dreamy, and the Crafty
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Jan 22, 2019
Review of Christine Stoddard's 'Water for the Cactus Woman'
Jan 22, 2019
Review of Christine Stoddard's 'Water for the Cactus Woman'
Jan 22, 2019
Jan 22, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Jessica Morey-Collins, Justin Karcher
Jan 18, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Jessica Morey-Collins, Justin Karcher
Jan 18, 2019
Jan 18, 2019
June Gehringer Tells Us What She's Afraid Of
Jan 16, 2019
June Gehringer Tells Us What She's Afraid Of
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Jan 16, 2019
5 Film & TV Inspired Nightgowns You Need
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5 Film & TV Inspired Nightgowns You Need
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Music Friyay: Stevie Nicks, Sun Ra, Hamilton Leithauser
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Jan 11, 2019
Poetry by Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi
Jan 10, 2019
Poetry by Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi
Jan 10, 2019
Jan 10, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Kay Ulanday Barrett, Devin Kelly, Elizabeth Metzger
Jan 9, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Kay Ulanday Barrett, Devin Kelly, Elizabeth Metzger
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Jan 9, 2019
Poetry by Karina Bush
Jan 8, 2019
Poetry by Karina Bush
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Hillary Leftwich on Happiness & Why It's Important to Love Childhood Films
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Hillary Leftwich on Happiness & Why It's Important to Love Childhood Films
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This Moon Playlist Is Everything You Need
Jan 4, 2019
This Moon Playlist Is Everything You Need
Jan 4, 2019
Jan 4, 2019
Poetry Weekly: Chloe N. Clark, Faylita Hicks, Saretta Morgan
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Poetry Weekly: Chloe N. Clark, Faylita Hicks, Saretta Morgan
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Jan 3, 2019
Jordan Rothacker On the Apocalypse, Jared Kushner, and Daily Rituals
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Jordan Rothacker On the Apocalypse, Jared Kushner, and Daily Rituals
Jan 2, 2019
Jan 2, 2019
The brides of Dracula from Tod Browning's  Dracula  (1931).

The brides of Dracula from Tod Browning's Dracula (1931).

Why I Got a Dracula Tattoo

April 27, 2017

BY TRISTA EDWARDS

Not many people know there was an epilogue at the beginning of Tod Browning’s 1931 pre-code classic, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. The epilogue featured actor Edward Van Sloan, who played the heroic Dr. Van Helsing, taking the stage just after the film’s premier showing to make a “curtain speech” to the audience before they left the theater.

Van Sloan halts the moviegoers before they depart and delivers the following bit of dialogue:

"Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen! A word before you go. We hope the memories of Dracula and Renfield won't give you bad dreams, so just a word of reassurance. When you get home tonight and the lights have been turned out and you are afraid to look behind the curtains — and you dread to see a face appear at the window — why, just pull yourself together and remember that after all, there are such things.”

Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) confronts Dracula (Bela Lugosi). 

Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) confronts Dracula (Bela Lugosi). 

The sly speech, which leads in as a comforting gesture and words of reassurance to a truly terrified audience (Remember, 1931 audiences were coming into the age of “talkies” and advances in film technology were altering the visceral experience of the screen. In general, the audience reception to Dracula was one of distress, shock, and horror.) turns in sentiment and Van Sloan astutely confirms the viewers’ fears of the unknown.

Footage of the epilogue is rumored to be lost, although some claim it still exists albeit the film reel has deteriorated to the point that it is unsalvageable and can no longer be viewed. Stories of the epilogue have been mostly passed down through an oral history from fans, historians, and film's actors and their descendants.

The filmed speech was intended to be presented before all future viewings of the picture; however, Van Sloan’s speech only played during the initial run of the film and was then soon deleted from fear that it would offend and receive admonition from religious groups in its promotion of the supernatural.

RELATED: Identifying with the Vampire: Theda Bara's Century Old On-Screen Iconoclasm

When I first learned of this epilogue and its subsequent censorship I was immediately intrigued. Particularly in the expression there are such things. To me this phrase is a nod the imagination, the unexplainable, mystery, the hidden—the occult.

A bride rises. 

A bride rises. 

As a person who has always been interested in the uncanny, (As a young girl, I relished in playing the cemetery behind my house which has grown into the tombstone tourism I now enjoy as an adult.) this idiom and its intent piques my supernatural-minded curiosities; and as a writer I am tremendously absorbed with possibilities of the imagination—the power of it to create, to wield and unburden mystery, to construct other realms out of the ether, to instill emotions out of intangible worlds…very real emotions that can change people's actions or shift their worldview. 

RELATED: Why I Got a Witch Tattoo

I decided to get this phrase tattooed on my wrist as a nod to Dracula, the novel and the film, both favorites of mine, my longing belief in the supernatural, and a daily reminder of the imagination’s ability to conjure.

Van Sloan’s speech, (a definite PR move on behalf of Universal Studios to inculcate fear and by extension the film into viewers’ minds and social conversations leading to more ticket sales) has the ability to lead even the most devout skeptics to moments of doubt. There are such things is meant to disrupt and challenge what you have always believed. There are such things leads you to think twice that that bump in the night is just the wind rattling the shutters and to scold yourself for thinking it could be anything but because, just for a second, you believed it was something that you couldn’t explain, something dark and unknown, something that would completely change everything you knew to be true. Changed what you knew about yourself. 

I live to be shifted, to have what I know and what I don't know challenged. I want to believe that there are such things.

Do you have an occult inspired tattoo?

Submit a picture and a few words of what it means to you, why you got it, and what inspired your shadowy and enigmatic ink to lunalunaxoccult@gmail.com to be part in an upcoming piece on occult tattoos. 


Trista Edwards is poet, land mermaid, light witch, horror enthusiast, creatrix, traveler, and dog lover. She is also the curator and editor of the anthology, Till The Tide: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2015). She is currently working on her first full-length poetry collection but until then you can read her poems at The Journal, Quail Bell Magazine, 32 Poems, Birmingham Poetry Review, The Boiler Journal, Sou’wester, Queen Mob's Tea House, and more. She writes about travel, ghosts, and poetry on her blog, Marvel + Moon. (marvelandmoon.com)

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When: 7-9 p.m. WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn A sampling of a few of the poets who will be reading at the FEB. 13 event at @wordbookstores for @attheinkwell: @lifestudies + @joannacvalente + @lisamariebasile + @anditalarico (our lovely host) 🖤Mark your calendars! February 13, 7pm, Word in Brooklyn Want to get into the writing life? @lisamariebasile wrote a guide to starting your freelance life. All about working from home, money & logistics, ritual and mindfulness, finding clients, developing a portfolio, and negotiating your rates. 🙌🏽 Visit lunalunamagazine.com to read! Our very own @joannacvalente has some images up over at @yespoetry from their #Survivor photo series. (There are more at Luna Luna, too!). 🖤 We’re about 200 followers away from 10,000 (!!!!) over on twitter 🙌🏾 Pop over and follow us if you haven’t yet (we’re VERY active there, always having conversations and sharing work and engaging with all of you!) — were going to do a giveaway at 10,000. Thank you for the love, it means the world to us 🎉 LINK IN BIO! WANT TO CONJURE LIZZIE BORDEN? Of course you do. Preorder Lizzie, Speak by our phenom editor & poet @kaileytedesco via the lovely @whitestagpublishing. 👻 The Luna Luna crew! Stay tuned for a reading announcement in February here in NYC. 💜🖤😈 HAPPY NEW YEARS, friends and readers! 🙌🏽 The lovely @joannacvalente posted your January 2019 horoscopes today. Head over to lunalunamagazine.com to check it out. We have good vibes about this year + we hope you had a beautiful celebration!
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PS, as Joanna says: “A lunar eclipse will occur on January 20 during a full Leo moon is going to be emotionally intense. It will stir up feelings about belonging, identity, and love. It might not be an easy moon, but it will  help you shed any unnecessary habits and relationships. Get rid of what doesn’t serve you.” Start thinking about ways you can release those things or people — and what you’d like to focus on instead. 💜🙌🏽🎉

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