Bats have become symbolically synonymous with vampires in Western cultures today. Graphic depictions of bats on Halloween decorations or their representation in film are often interchangeable with vampires.  For some, even harmless tiny fruit-eating bats conjure the fear of being attacked by their commonly associated blood-sucking familiars. This association has been developed for many years and concepts supported by popular culture continue to uphold the place of the bat within Vampire lore today.

Undeniably, author Bram Stoker is, directly or indirectly, primarily responsible for solidifying this association. In his seminal work Dracula (1897), the antagonist not only communicates with and controls bats as if they are his familiar, but he can also transform himself into one and his presence is regularly denoted by a bat appearing outside the window of his intended victims. Depictions of vampires since the publication and popularization of Stoker tale have embraced a similar rendition of the bat’s role within the lore.

Stoker was not the first, though. Illustrations for Rymer’s Varney the Vampire published in 1845/47 showed the creature in question with mostly bat-like qualities. Prior to that, many associations were constructed through legends of lycanthropy, sometimes connected to undead beings later to be denoted as vampires (such as Greek “Vrykolakas”) that told of creatures who feasted on the living, often while taking the form of an animal. Usually, this animal was a wolf, but occasionally it may be a bear, rat, dog, or  the now-commonly associated bat.

Spanish explorers who traveled to Central and South America in the early 16th Century returned to Europe with documentation of bats found there that emulated the habits of the legendary creature, and thus came to be known as vampire bats. Diphylla ecuadata, Desmodus rotundus, and Diaemus youngi all live off the blood of other mammals and birds. It is difficult to discern whether the traits of modern European vampire lore developed from the study of these bats or vice versa, but their traits certainly overlap significantly. Beyond simply drinking the blood of their prey, vampire bats are nocturnal, bite their victims in their sleep with sharp fangs, and often in the neck or near flowing blood vessels. The bat’s saliva contains an anti-coagulant that ensures the bats can feast from the fresh wound inflicted by their bite. The bats lap up the flowing blood, rather than suck it from their victims, but visually it may appear similar. While primarily vampire bats feed off of livestock and birds, they have been known to attack humans as well.

On a basic level, vampire bats are not dangerous. They do require many times their body weight in blood per day to survive, but they are extremely small animals and to not intend to kill their prey. They can transmit diseases, however, and occasionally their victims will die. Plague epidemics in Europe were sometimes attributed to vampires and with the introduction of knowledge of a bat’s potential to spread infection, the notion that bats were akin to vampires was well supported.

The image of the bat used to mark the presence of a vampire has been reified by popular cinema and literature since the Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Silent films, starting with Vampire of the Coast (1909), showed vampires turning into bats at will. This continued through to the 1960s with the release of titles like The Vampire Bat, and even in films being produced currently, the motif is still incorporated. Comic books, like Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula, children’s cartoons, such as Scooby Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, and many other media and staples of popular culture today continue to associate bats with vampire lore on various levels. It seems that the origins of perceiving bats as being likened to vampires may be vague in places and difficult to trace exactly, but there is no doubt that the constructed association will remain in popular cultures for some time to come.