Greetings! First off I'd like to say how much I enjoy your website. I've already read my way through the entire Name That Trauma and Traumafession archives and have been turned on to some great things by doing so. Reading about other peoples traumas has made me think more about any unresolved fears that I had in my younger days. One that stands out to me is a book that I remember getting at my local library when I was in elementary school (maybe six or seven). The book was about vampires which I was absolutely obsessed with at the time (I remember making an effort to sleep with my neck out of the covers to be open to any chances of getting bit). The book was in the children's section of the library, but I really don't think it belonged there. It was a black hardcover book with cover art of a vampire wearing dark clothes with a pale white face and an impossibly large fang filled grin. The vampire also had what appeared to be bat white bat wings sticking out of the side of his head and blood dripping from his mouth. The picture wasn't drawn in a cartoony way but seemed like a piece of artwork made to look truly terrifying. The book was just a collection of legends and facts about vampires. I remember towards the end there was a section on animal ghosts for some reason. One of the animal ghost legends was something about a ghostly bull who cursed a bridge so that any pregnant woman who walked over it would lose her baby. I had nightmares after reading the book, but for some reason continued to take it out of the library periodically until some time in middle school. Each time I read it I ended up having nightmares (something that happens very rarely for me). It might have been called The Book of Vampires or something along those lines. It was probably the mid to late nineties when I first took the book out of the library, but the cover looked pretty worn even then, so it was probably an older book. I'd love to find this book again, even if just to see that eerie cover art one more time. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and helping me to find this book. If anything can help me find this lost nightmare, Kindertrauma can!
Is it "The Vampire Book" by J Gordon Melton? The older cover edition looks about right?
http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328854877l/607090.jpg
Maybe a combination of the Melton and the Time-Life Enchanted World "Night Creatures" cover?
http://goo.gl/WgOGi
It's "Vampires and Other Ghosts" by Thomas G. Aylesworth