Stepping into Professor Daniel Collins classroom is like walking into the pages of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” novel.The dark and drafty atmosphere of Campbell Hall, coupled with the professor’s haunting vampire-like widow’s peak and pale skin, creates an eerie atmosphere for studying the immortal beings in Collins’ Slavic Languages and Culture 130 class.”Slavic vampire beliefs are strange and exotic, people want to be immortal or live forever,” Collins said.The Slavic class was taught at Ohio State for years but Collins reconstructed the class three years ago. Collins now includes the study of vampires in the hopes of making the class more interesting to students. The folkloric, spiritual, literary and modern vampires are examined throughout the course.”I wanted to reach those students not yet interested in Slavic yet but who had an interest (in vampires),” Collins said. “I wanted to expose people to the Slavic language.”The five credit class meets three days a week and has about 170 students this quarter. Time in class is spent studying Slavic beliefs with a focus on vampires through lectures, literature and movies.Collins, who has a doctorate in Slavic linguistics, said that he has always been interested in mystic beings and supernatural beliefs, which may explain the full vampire costume hanging on the back of his office door. He said that understanding the incredible richness of folk beliefs, both Slavic and American, are important in forming people’s view of the world.Students said they find the class interesting and enjoyable. Most find the discussions of movies such as “Nosferatu” and “Shadow of Forgotten Ancestors” particularly helpful.”Everyone should take it,” Sarah Kimbler said. “The class is a break from all the math and English and boring stuff we have to take.”The class is offered only in the fall – Halloween season – which fit the Slavic belief that the vampire is typically seen around this season.Students said they enjoy the class because Collins is thorough and makes things easy to understand. Students often show their appreciation to Collins with gifts such as aspen stakes, fake bats and plastic teeth which he displays throughout this office. “It’s amazing how many products are out there which bare the vampires’ likeness,” Collins said.His resemblance to a vampire may be striking, his knowledge of vampires may be haunting, but he said that children don’t run and hide with shrieks of terror when they see him walking down the street.