For hundreds of years, people have been afraid of blood-sucking creatures that rise from the dead.
But where does the vampire myth actually come from, what happened to the people accused of being a vampire, and what if there was a simple, biological explanation for it all?
Full transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www. ... Show More
Jul 16
#622 | A Short History of Fire
A million years ago, in a cave in South Africa, our ancestors did something no other animal has ever done: they controlled fire. Fire cooked our food, shrank our guts, grew our brains, and gave us the deep sleep and fireside stories that made us human. This is the story of our sp ... Show More
24m 39s
Jul 2
#619 | Wyatt Earp | The Man Behind the Legend (English Listening Practice)
In 1881, a 30-second gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona made Wyatt Earp a legend of the Wild West. Earp was a gambler, a lawman, a fugitive, and later a showman who told his own legend for cash. So who fired first at the OK Corral, and how did Hollywood turn a frontier opportunist in ... Show More
23m 9s
Jun 18
#617 | Bob Denard: The Mercenary Who Ruled the Comoros (English Listening Practice)
In 1975, a French mercenary landed in the Comoros, a chain of small islands off East Africa, and decided he was going to run the place. Bob Denard staged four coups, converted to Islam, built a farm, and controlled the country from the shadows for over a decade. It was a story of ... Show More
25m 10s
Oct 2025
359. History of Vampires (English Vocabulary Lesson)
When you hear the word vampire, what comes to mind? Dracula? The Twilight books? Ancient castles in Transylvania? What if I told you that vampire stories are much older, and much stranger, than you think? In today’s Halloween special episode of Thinking in English, we’re going to ... Show More
17m 12s
Oct 2025
Dracula: The Myths That Made the Vampire
Vampire folklore is ancient, but with the publishing of Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897, that lore changed forever. The terrifying, grotesque creature became suave and charming, then continued to evolve into the seductive creature of the night we know today. In this episode we exam ... Show More
31m 44s