31 Days of Horror: The Tradition of Vampire Balls

It’s near 2 am on some random side street or alleyway in and around the theater district or Lakeview in Chicago, and a few random vehicles are pulled up to the outside of a restaurant with a cabaret room run by somebody unfortunate, a big corporate brewery with several floors and an elevator up to the actual dressing room, a full on vintage ballroom, an incredibly unique bar or two, or a huge events space with “so much room for activities.”  

A few surviving tech crew have convinced tired performers from the show, maybe even the queen themselves, to help pack up the black light cube in a Rubbermaid alongside the hundreds of LED candles we use because there is a building code in the modern haunt of the vampire. We feebly toss those Rubbermaids in someone’s car or cars, unglue the fangs, and get in the car for a red-eye drive back home. 

This is the life of someone who’s been a part of the latest revival of the Vampire Ball, a tradition that as far as I can tell, goes back to the 1890s, heavily enmeshed in the tradition of the masquerade. Not all masquerades are equal though, and they’re certainly not all the same. So over time, magic crept in. Or a community of outliers, who to some seem a sinister, dark, villainous bunch. Maybe of the occult or maybe just from hell or co-signed by demons or something. There had to be something. 

As communities distilled, vampires and masquerades of a Victorian nature were encountering emo, alt and goth culture, were also a part of LGBTQIA+ culture and had an alarming majority population of people in the arts or hospitality. Theater nerds, tech guys and band geeks. This didn’t always mesh well, and sometimes it still doesn’t. I don’t think it’s easy to say what the “tradition” of a vampire ball is, because they are so inextricably linked to the places that continue to host them. 

Louisiana’s event is called Endless Nights - appropriately ethereal for that romantic green glass ghoul vibe. If you sign up for their official newsletter, you can enter your Vampire/Nightside Name along with your email address. You laugh, and a lot of people do, but it can also be good to put your normal life aside for a night and get lost in pomp, circumstance and a live DJ from midnight to 2 am. New Orleans’ ball’s theme this year is Vampire Carnevale, and it’ll be held on Halloween itself. They describe it as “Venetian Masquerade meets a Vampire Court, with the energy of a rock concert and the elegance of Burlesque cabaret”

We here in Chicago have been in Facebook chats about this since August and somehow it still doesn’t seem like enough time. This time, we had a mid-planning venue shift, to a much bigger place with multiple levels.

As the person who’s been photographing all of the latest series of Vampire Balls - 7th annual for this run - I love multiple levels. I love to haunt sidestages, balconies, and dark corners because it’s where I get the coolest shots. What are we having? We’re having bats, and burlesque, tarot readings. A ghost poet and a Night market with vampire jewelry and that’s before the actual show begins. 

At doors, a stream of people comes in. Some people came to see the bat. Her name is Roxy, and she's soft as cashmere and lovely to get the chance to interact with. Some are part of the larger vampire community in Chicago, and some just thought that a Vampire Ball seemed like the coolest way to kick off the Halloween season and are here to have a great time until we have to kick them off the dancefloor at 2 am.

Baton drops at 8 and the lights go up, I find the current least crowded place I can photograph for a while, and a series of contenders from various of the communities I mentioned the vampire masquerade community encountered are set to take the stage in a “demonstration of power.” 

This is essentially the first part of a talent show, but it’s going to be so much more glamorous and spooky than all that. Contenders include dancers, metal singers, drag performers, bellydancers, opera singers, and general theatric horror performers ready with so much fake blood.

 There are burlesque performers backstage getting ready to be the backup dancers to the spectacle, so to speak, but are actually the key ingredient to hype up the crowd for the second half of the proceedings: The Transformation. If you’ve ever known a burlesque dancer that’s good at being in the background for long, well…I’d be surprised. These “middle acts” are absolutely insane. There are elaborate costumes and props and in some cases, so much fake blood. They’re electric, they’re powerful, and they charge up an audience that’s already having the time of their lives.

Transformation involves some of the most elaborate and beautiful costumes I’ve ever seen, from full size broken-doll marionettes and beautiful Victorian gowns to head to toe glitter and glam in rich purples, burgundies and blacks, and another display of talent. 

In true Chicago style though, it’s not as simple as getting on stage and doing a good job. If you’re wanting to curry favor with this crowd as a contestant for king or queen, you should be making friends.  Entry to the ball grants an attendee one blood red bead/gem.  You use it to cast a vote for your favorite after Transformation.  Buying a drink earns you another bead. Someone in a trench coat and Groucho glasses might also be selling velvet pouches of them, or giving them away if the conversation makes him smile. You as a king or queen contestant could buy a pouch of those, but you would never do that, would you?

After Transformation, the votes are taken back to the backstage area and counted, and a new vampire king or queen waits in the wings to be announced. The chairs are taken down, and everyone presses onto the dance floor to find out who will take the throne. A little fanfare, a little drumroll, and, from behind the curtain (or from outside in the hallway) the newly appointed vampire king or queen takes the throne, and a handcrafted crown is placed on their heads. This year’s was commissioned from an artist in Kentucky and we’re pretty sure it’s actually haunted. 

In the beginning, there were two very separate, very distinct crowds at the Vampire Balls we hosted. Those who considered it a lifestyle and had found community there, and those who were looking to dress up, dance and just be someone else for the night. As I said before, those two groups didn’t always mesh well, but to date by the time the show’s over and the crown is on someone’s head, it seems like it’s all pretty well worked out. The lights go down, the DJ turns up the music, the drinks get poured and everyone parties until just about 1:30 am, when the pizza gets delivered to the crew, the lights go up, and we pack it in til next year. 

When I started writing this, I wanted to find out which of these traditions were universal, which were historic, and what their origins were. It’s the fault of being a journalist. I wanted to fact check it all, have a source for everything. Explain why the beads, why the illegal voting activity that seems so fitting here?  Demonstration of power? Transformation? Where did the rituals come from? 

It could be magic. It could be the reconvening of a community that’s often othered. It could be improv. 

And I could tell you which I think it really is, but I would never do that, would I?

The 2026 Chicago Vampire Ball will convene on October 9, 2026 at Artifact Events in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood this year, and tickets will still be available at the door at the time of publishing. 

Louisiana’s Endless Nights: Vampire Carnevale is on October 31st at the New Orleans House of Blues, with tickets also selling fast and available at this link.