SOURCE: "Dress of White Silk" (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1951) by Richard Matheson

DESCRIPTION: "There was something else because I think I heard some one call dont let her say that! I couldnt hold to the dress. And I had it on me I cant remember. Because I was grown up strong. But I was a little girl still I think. I mean outside." ("Dress of White Silk" by Richard Matheson)

NOTES: A young girl invites her friend Mary Jane to her house, and then is taunted by her friend into showing her her dead mother's room and white silk dress. Unfortunately for MJ, the girl's mother had been a vampire and either her spirit in the dress or some taint in her daughter's blood changes her into a vampire as well.

HISTORY: Matheson tells this story from the little girl's POV which does a great job of hiding exactly what is happening. You have to think about this one. The beautiful white dress is actually dirty and smells like garbage. It also has a hole where someone (Granma probably) drove a stake into it. The dress becomes a substitute for the undead mother.