Greetings Earthlings, this is the 4th installment in my ongoing Mystifier Series.
“Vampire Attack” 16x20 oil on panel 2026
The Tale so Far...…
When a strange and hypnotic object lands in the town of Crow during the annual Linterget Troll Festival, Marigold Badger is determined to complete the seasonal celebration and deliver the yearly offering to the troll despite the unwelcome distraction. But when a bizarre man steps out of the object claiming to be a time-traveling future-human, and proceeds to drain the life force from the town’s residents, Marigold frets at what might happen when the ferocious troll does not receive his annual tribute.
In this scene...… …
we see the creature that called itself Chaz Throckmorton assailing a hapless villager with bland small talk, unwanted advice and tales of his personal successes in business and in life.
…Or at least that’s what appeared to happen.
For in truth, Chaz Throckmorton, though the aid of his dark technology, was able to convert human attention into life force energy.
The villager, who was only twenty-five, began to age preternaturally under the unnatural/technological onslaught, and when the night was through, appeared a wizened old man.
Behind the Tale:
My favorite movie of all time is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I love that scene when Dracula’s shadow is stretching supernaturally across the castle walls, reaching for Jonathan Harker. In this painting, I wanted to do something visually similar with Chaz Throckmorton’s noodle arms.
You might also notice that “the Mystifier” is smaller in this painting. Think of the object like a smart phone. It can do many things: it is an entertainment device, a home, a spaceship, a time machine, and it can steal the life force from unsuspecting villagers living in a pre-industrial human breakaway civilization in an imaginary land.
The Mystifier can change size and color too, which is fun.
Know any attention vampires? Tag them in the comments below…just kidding, that’s rude! 🦇