"The Castle of the Vampire", also known as "The Castle of the Vampire Between Tardets and Oloron", is a fabricated folk tale from the Pyrenees. It was first put to paper in 1857 by Ernest de Garay as "Le Château du Vampire" in Les Légendes des Pyrénées. Mary Eyre came across the folk tale during her travels in France and translated it to English in 1865 in A Lady's Walks in the South of France in 1863 as chapter XXXVIII. The next translation, to Spanish, occurred a century later in 1953 as "El Vampiro del Castillo" in Antología de leyendas de la literatura universal, Volume I by Vicente García de Diego.
"The Castle of the Vampire" consists of three distinct parts, two of which almost word-for-word taken from other stories. Everything concerning the Lord of Lahonce's demonic silhouette, his courting of Marguerite, his death, and his return as a vampire to haunt Marguerite is taken from Pierre Boitard's unnamed vampire story published in Le Magasin Universel, volume V, August 1838. Everything concerning the Lord of Lahonce's proposal, his nightly cemetery outings, his horse, his dog, and his murder of Marguerite is taken from Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy's "Goule", itself a 1833 translation of Gerald Griffin's "The Brown Man" from 1827. The third part concerns the Lord of Lahonce's status as a baron and all relating to his title and wealth. This part may or may not be original.
Although the text of each template story is adjusted to make one coherent text, the content of the three parts readily reveal that the whole story is cobbled together.
"The Castle of the Vampire" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: The Lord of Lahonce kills Marguerite by stabbing her with inhumanely sharp and strong fingers in the chest and letting her bleed out. In the English translation, he stabs her in the neck.
- Adapted Out: In "The Brown Man", the antagonist forms a team with his dog and his horse. In "The Castle of the Vampire", mention is made on occasion about his black steed, but it no longer is part of the horror.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The Lord of Lahonce is nobility and while it isn't clear when he began to rob cemeteries for corpses to eat, even early on in their romance Marguerite envisions his silhouette in the dark to possess burning eyes, two horns on his head, a large red tongue, claws at the tips of his fingers and cloven feet.
- The Bad Guy Wins: To keep his secrets safe, the Lord of Lahonce kills Marguerite and uses her remains for a meal to feed himself and his black dog.
- Barely-Changed Dub Name: It's easy to see how "Nora Guare" in "The Brown Man" became "Marguerite" in "Le Château du Vampire". For the English version, the name is respelled "Margaret".
- Creepy Cemetery: The castle of the Lord of Lahonce stands within short walking distance of a cemetery. Whenever there's been a recent burial, he and his black dog sneak over to dig up the corpse and consume its flesh.
- Creepy Crossdresser: As per the usuals of the ATU 363 tales, the Lord of Lahonce disguises himself as Marguerite's mother to draw a confession from her that she saw him eat a corpse. Despite that some of his behavior unsettles her, Marguerite's happiness of having her mother with her makes her fall for the disguise long enough for the vampire to hear all and kill her for his next meal.
- Desecrating the Dead: The vampiric Lord of Lahonce and his black dog have an unnatural appetite for human flesh, for which they usually visit the nearby cemetery whenever a burial has taken place.
- Don't Go in the Woods: One late evening, Marguerite returns from a visit to a neighboring village alone. She is terrified about having to cross the large forest that is rumored to be haunted to get home, but there's no way around it. Then she comes face to face with a ghost who in the dark seems to her to possess burning eyes, two horns on his head, a large red tongue, claws at the tips of his fingers and cloven feet. Making a break for it, Marguerite doesn't get far before the voice of the Lord of Lahonce calls her back, as it was him she'd run into. Taking a new look, she no longer sees horns or anything else inhumane and incorrectly blames her imagination for her fright. Still, for the time being the lord presents himself with charm and the last part of the walk is much more pleasant in his company.
- Epigraph: The epigraph is the line "Il est des croyances qu'on retrouve partout,"note attributed to Charles Nodier. It is unknown when or where he would've said this. The Spanish version features the epigraph translated, but the English version omits it.
- Flowers of Romance: During one of the healthier periods of Marguerite's and the Lord of Lahonce's romance, Marguerite spends the day looking forward to the next meeting with the Lord of Lahonce. She imagines all the sweet words he'll say to her while at the slightest breath of wind, the lilacs, the rose hips, the hawthorns, and the laburnums will shake their snow of flowers over his head.
- Hope Spot: Marguerite discovers that her husband and his black dog are dangerous and has no one nearby she can trust. She therefore asks her husband if she can go see her mother, which he refuses but he does promise to go fetch the old woman for a visit. Instead, he disguises himself as Madeleine. Marguerite is elated to see her mother again and feels safe enough to spill what she's witnessed her husband do. By the end of her tale, she sees through the disguise, and the vampire gives her just enough time to let her fate sink in before he kills her.
- Innocence Lost: Shortly after getting involved with the Lord of Lahonce, Marguerite feels the need to pray daily for the love and fear she feels towards the man. She laments that she wasn't granted to die innocently and that she lived up to and since the fatal day that she met him.
- Kiss of the Vampire: After the Lord of Lahonce falls ill and possibly dies, Marguerite grows weak, especially in the early morning. While first lovesickness is blamed, Madeleine believes something else is the matter and spies on her sleeping daughter one night. Thus she witnesses the Lord of Lahonce manifest in Marguerite's room, looking healthy as ever and his lips covering Marguerite's neck. A drop of blood running down the alabaster skin leaves no doubt that the Lord of Lahonce is a vampire.
- The Place: "The Castle of the Vampire" refers to the castle of the vampire, the Lord of Lahonce, which is where Marguerite comes to live after marrying him and eventually gets killed.
- Quieter Than Silence: At the present day remnants of the accursed Castle of Lahonce, hardly anything grows and even the wind keeps quiet. Only a number of birds of prey that circle the area provide certain relief from the audial void.
