“Count” Dracula
Arithmomania is the obsessive need to count things, and has a little-known, but deeply rooted, presence in vampire tales. For centuries, it was believed that besides garlic and crosses, one fool-proof defense against vampires was math. To deter a vampire, one only had to throw a handful of rice or seeds and run away, as the vampire would be unable to resume the chase until he or she had counted every single grain.
During the Middle Ages, people poured poppy seeds in the coffins of loved ones before burying them in holy ground, hoping that it would distract a vampire from biting the deceased, according to “Mindsamaze,” (Hodgson Press, 2008).
This explains why Count von Count, the calculator-hating, cheerfully spooky vampire-like Muppet on “Sesame Street,” is obsessed with numbers and counts anything that comes his way, sometimes resorting to counting his own fingers when there is nothing else around to count. While the character is more silly than scary on the children’s show, every one of the Count’s counting sessions are followed by a sinister crack of thunder and a flash of lightning.
Source of Excerpt: http://www.livescience.com/6634-7-strange-ways-humans-act-vampires.html
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