In its original imagining, though, the premodern vampire differed from today's in one crucial respect: His condition wasn't contagious.

WSJ: Rabies: The Plague Behind Zombies and Vampires

From a growing evidence base of mummies, researchers are now concluding that atherosclerosis may have been common in people who lived in premodern times.

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The premodern tale tellers might also be thought of as descendants of the scops of the Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages or of the griots of West Africa, men whose job it was to carry stories.

NEWYORKER: Once Upon a Time

Q.s than people of European descent, for example, prompted the British psychometrician and eugenicist Richard Lynn to concoct an elaborate evolutionary explanation involving the Himalayas, really cold weather, premodern hunting practices, brain size, and specialized vowel sounds.

NEWYORKER: None of the Above