Franz Hellreigel

# Franz Ludwig Hellreigel

Americanized as Francis Louis Hellreigel

New York, Lower Manhattan, Avenue B

While rather short and was noted as having very thick hair that stood up all over the place he was hardly the goblin or leprechaun that many describe him as. He had actually been married and it is due to that divorce that we know about his blood drinking.

In the interview, found by Jerry Kuntz for the blog Asbury's The Gangs of New York– Annotated (linked below) (first printed New York Mercury, and later reprinted in the National Police Gazette) Franz states that he was diagnosed with some sort of general weakness or frailty and was prescribed a very heavy meat diet and various blood tonics. While he likened it as no more disturbing than foods like Blood Sausage and states that he never seriously harmed his wife, he did admit to biting her and it seems like she was granted the divorce, at least in part, due to the biting.

It’s an interesting side note that stories about Franz briefly grew into an Urban Legend; Ludwig the Bloodsucker.

### Human Bloodsucker

A HUMAN BLOOD-SUCKER.

Strange Story of a German Tailor Who Has Developed a Dangerous Fondness for the Blood of Human Beings.

Ludwig Helreifel, a German tailor, living in Avenue B, between Second and Third streets, has acquired from his neighbors the singular name of "Bloodsucker." He not only indulges in animal blood as a tonic beverage, but expresses a preference for human blood, whenever he can get it.

This singular appetite was first made public by domestic troubles, which ended in a permanent separation between Helreifel and his wife; she, on her part, charging him with a dangerous inclination to gratify his unnatural thirst for blood at her expense.

Helreifel is a diminutive, swarthy man, His head is very large, and covered with a shock of bristly, black hair that makes his head appear out of all proportion to the body. Hair seems to grow everywhere upon the man; even upon the tip of his nose there is a considerable tuft of hair. He is not a prepossessing man in appearance, and this, probably, has had something to do with prejudicing many against him. When asked by a reporter if it was true that he habitually drank human blood, he answered by asking if the reporter was acquainted with his former wife, Margueretha. On being assured that there was no such acquaintance, he then readily and freely told his story.

"Yes, it is true that I drink blood," said Helreifel, "and it is good for me. It is a good medicine. It makes me strong. The Germans eat blood sausages, and they all say it is good. But when I drink mine they say it is bad, and

THEY CALL ME BLOODSUCKER.

Now, what is the difference whether I take the blood before it is made into sausages or afterward? They make a fuss about nothing. But all the trouble came from that woman, Margueretha. She told all the women that I couldn't live without drinking the blood of some person. And the women, they told that story to everybody for the truth; but it is not. She told them that I used to bite her arms in the night, when she was asleep, and then suck the blood. m she made me so much trouble.”

“But didn't you sometimes bite her arms?”

“Well, yes; I did bite her sometimes, but it was not for the blood, although the blood from a person is better than that of an animal. It is just as much better as good wine is better than some common wine. If you would try it once you would see the difference. Human blood is richer, and it has a finer flavor."

When questioned as to how he came to acquire such a singular appetite, Helreifel said

IT BEGAN IN CHILDHOOD.

He was a very small, delicate child, and being the last survivor of six, his parents spared no trouble or expense to raise him. In Germany the poorer classes eat very little meat, while the children get almost go none at all. But in Helreifel's case the doctor pronounced it poverty of the blood, and ordered a solid meat diet for the child. Even this did not have the desired effect, and raw meat, and finally blood still warm from the animal, was given to him. Every morning his mother would take him to a butcher's where, for four pfenings, German money, a good drink of warm blood was obtained, the mother herself first tasting the blood to see if it was fresh and pure, or, as Helreifel expressed it, "not hum-bugged.”

It this way he soon acquired an appetite for fresh blood. A cut or some similar accident when a boy at school first

GAVE HIM A TASTE OF HUMAN BLOOD.

Perceiving at once a difference, and that human blood was superior to animal, Helreifel acquired an actual appetite, a craving for the former. One reason for this preference was, he thought, because human blood was very difficult to obtain.

At parting Helreifel warned the reporter against heeding the slanders of his neighbors. "I like blood he because it is good," he said, “but these foolish women the think I am like that bat which sucks the blood from people's feet at night until they are dead. I am not like that, and they tell lies about me when they call me Bloodsucker. I believe some of them think I would suck the blood from my own veins if I could not get it from another person, but that is humbug, I like a glass of human blood just as people like a glass of good wine. It brings a good feeling and makes me me fresh and healthy. Good wine does the same thing; there is no difference."

#### Further Reading and Sources for the Real Part:

1. https://gangsannotated.blog/2020/07/20/ludwig-the-bloodsucker/
2. https://www.misfitsandmysteries.com/post/ludwig-the-blood-sucker-the-lower-east-sides-very-own-alcoholic-vampire

## Ludwig the Bloodsucker

### General Description:

Ludwig the Bloodsucker was an American mythical figure and possible urban legend in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. A longtime Bowery character, he was described as having vampire-like qualities. He was a "squat, swarthy German, with an enormous head crowned with a shock of bristly black hair. Huge bunches of hair grew out of his ears, and his unusual appearance was accentuated by another tuft which sprouted by the end of his nose" and supposedly had "hair growing out of every orifice". Ludwig was said to have preyed upon drunken customers of barroom brawls near Bismark Hall and the House of Commons and is claimed to have "quaffed human blood as if it were wine".

### Pink Spectre's Description:

Accounts vary, but most describe Ludwig as a mix between a leprechaun and a vampire. He is marked by an extreme hairiness, with hair emerging from ears and nostrils and a wild tuft of bristly black hair upon his head. As well as being wildly hairy, he also has the regular vampire feature of fangs. Unlike vampires, his skin is not pale, but swarthy. He is very short and stout. Ludwig the Bloodsucker preys upon the inebriated, so it's best to watch your intake should you be imbibing in the Bowery. Ludwig was said to drain the blood from his victims, enjoying the buzz he would get from the alcohol content in their blood. He has a particular taste for the blood of those involved in barroom brawls.

### Old Bowery Days

The Hall and the neighboring House of Commons were the haunt of a strange character known as Ludwig the Bloodsucker — stocky, swarthy German of the Neanderthal type, with a shock of stiff black hair covering his head and most of his face, thickets of it even growing from his ears and nostrils. It may have been his Pleistocene appearance which gave rise to the report that blood from the slaughterhouses was his favorite beverage — that is, when. he couldn’t conveniently get the human life-fluid.

#### Further reading and sources for the myths:

Online:

1. https://steemit.com/folklore/@pinkspectre/ludwig-the-bloodsucker-north-american-folklore
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig\_the\_Bloodsucker

In Print:

1. Macintyre, Ben. Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief. New York: Dell Publishing, 1997. (pg. 18) ISBN 0-385-31993-2
2. Petronius. New York Unexpurgated: An Amoral Guide for the Jaded, Tired, Evil, Non-conforming, Corrupt, Condemned, and the Curious, Humans and Otherwise, to Under Underground Manhattan. New York: Matrix House, 1966. (pg. 201)
3. Harlow, Alvin F. Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street. New York and London: D. Appleton & Company, 1931. (pg. 401)
	1. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.155625/page/n485/mode/2up
4. Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 175-176) ISBN 1-56025-275-8

### Get Various Sources:

#### The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld

1. https://archive.org/search.php?query=The+Gangs+of+New+York%2C+An+Informal+History+of+the+Underworld&sin=
2. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Gangs+of+New+York%3A+An+Informal+History+of+the+Underworld&i=stripbooks&crid=EVHGWNIAXUVJ&sprefix=the+gangs+of+new+york+an+informal+history+of+the+underworld%2Cstripbooks%2C108&ref=nb\_sb\_noss\_1
3. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?\_from=R40&\_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&\_nkw=The+Gangs+of+New+York%3A+An+Informal+History+of+the+Underworld&\_sacat=0
4. https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat\_org\_bks&q=the+gangs+of+new+york%3A+an+informal+history+of+the+underworld&fq=dt%3Abks

#### Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street

1. https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Old-Bowery-Days-Chronicles-Famous-Street/30994066738/bd
2. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Old+Bowery+days%3A+The+chronicles+of+a+famous+street&i=stripbooks&crid=3DA77FQGHSJO6&sprefix=old+bowery+days+the+chronicles+of+a+famous+street%2Cstripbooks%2C105&ref=nb\_sb\_noss
3. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.155625
	1. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.155625/page/n485/mode/2up
4. https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Old+Bowery+Days%3A+The+Chronicles+of+a+Famous+Street&qt=results\_page

#### New York unexpurgated

1. https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=New+York+unexpurgated+an+amoral+guide+for+the+jaded%2C+tired%2C+evil%2C+non-conforming%2C+corrupt%2C+condemned%2C+and+the+curious%2C+humans+and+otherwise%2C+to+under+underground+Manhattan.&qt=owc\_search
2. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=New%20York%20unexpurgated%3B%3A%20An%20amoral%20guide%20for%20the%20jaded%2C%20tired%2C%20evil%2C%20non-conforming%2C%20corrupt%2C%20condemned%2C%20and%20the%20curious%2C%20humans%20and%20otherwise%2C%20to%20under%20underground%20Manhattan&sts=t&cm\_sp=SearchF-\_-topnav-\_-Results
3. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=New+York+unexpurgated%3B%3A+An+amoral+guide+for+the+jaded%2C+tired%2C+evil%2C+non-conforming%2C+corrupt%2C+condemned%2C+and+the+curious%2C+humans+and+otherwise%2C+to+under+underground+Manhattan&i=stripbooks&crid=22GPTVVS98TIW&sprefix=new+york+unexpurgated+an+amoral+guide+for+the+jaded%2C+tired%2C+evil%2C+non-conforming%2C+corrupt%2C+condemned%2C+and+the+curious%2C+humans+and+otherwise%2C+to+under+underground+manhattan%2Cstripbooks%2C111&ref=nb\_sb\_noss