While the legends surrounding the Bloody Countess might be more than just a little over exaggerated, and the aspects of the real life Dracula rather mundane for the first vampire in Europe, there is one man that managed to properly claim the title of ‘vampire’. That man is named Richard Trenton Chase, a man who will forever be known as the Vampire of Sacramento. 

Chase was born in Santa Clara, California on May 23, 1950. When he was young, his parents abused him and, to add injury to insult, he had shown disturbing traits such as animal cruelty and arson. He also had a problem with alcohol and substance abuse. As he grew older, he soon became a hypochondriac, a condition where he thought he had a variety of serious illnesses, much of which dealt with his heart and bones. After moving out of his mother’s house, Chase managed to live in an apartment with his friends, where they would note his odd behaviors, including walking around nude, even when people were over, and becoming high on LSD and marijuana. After his roommates moved out, Chase started capturing and mutilating many animals, before stuffing them in a blender and drinking the concoction raw. Allegedly, he believed that if he did this, his heart wouldn’t shrink. 

When he was finally institutionalized in 1976, the staff took note of his behavior as well. They called him “Dracula” because of how he killed two birds that landed near his window and drank their blood. Soon after, when he was prescribed different drugs to combat his supposed schizophrenia, Chase was released to his mother’s care. Despite this, his mother convinced him to stop taking his medication and put him in another apartment, where Chase started his killing spree.

Chase’s first victim was a drive-by shooting, and the next was a woman named Teresa Wallin. He killed Wallin while she was three months pregnant, then had sex with her corpse. Afterwards, he removed many of her organs, then drank her blood. Evelyn Miroth suffered a similar fate. He had also shot her son, Jason, and her nephew, David. By the time Chase was caught, however, and the police searched his apartment, they found that the entire apartment room was covered in blood. 

Chase was sentenced to the death penalty. Interestingly enough, many of the prisoners were aware of Chase’s abnormalities, and would often try to get him to commit suicide, though to no avail. In an interview, Chase said that he was forced to survive, that he was supposed to drink human blood. In 1980, authorities found Chase dead in his cell through an overdose of depressants. 

Many of Chase’s crimes were documented by modern culture. The movie Rampage was inspired by Chase’s crimes. In the book Thirst by Jo Nesbø, Chase was considered to be a vampire. In the TV show Criminal Minds, the killer, Eddie Mays, was inspired by Chase. It’s clear that Chase had managed to impact our culture. Whether it be through his bizarre killing spree, or his psychotic responses, Chase will continue to live on as a vampire, alongside the rest of the demons.