Some time in the year 1867, a fishing smack sailed from Boston. One of the sailors was a Portuguese, who called himself “James Brown.â€? Two of the crew were missing, and were searched for. The captain went into the hold. He held up his lantern, and saw the body of one of the men, in the clutches of “Brown,â€? who was sucking blood from it. Near by was the body of the other sailor. It was bloodless. “Brownâ€? was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but President Johnson commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. In October, 1892, the vampire was transferred from the Ohio Penitentiary to the National Asylum, Washington D.C., and his story was re-told in the newspapers. See The Brooklyn Eagle, Nov. 4, 1892.
—Charles Fort, Wild Talents

“Get up, get on up…â€? the radio blasted. Mel thought to himself, “No way they’re the same James Brown. It’s a common enough name, right? And it’s not like you could mistake him for Portuguese. He’s black. And vampires can’t tan, can they?â€?

He was headed west.