Abraham van helsing history channel

The name Van Helsing was first introduced in the pages of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The character's first iteration — Abraham — is something of an academic jack of all trades, a professor, doctor, scientist, philosopher, and professional vampire hunter.

Over the years, many Van Helsings have crossed our screens, from Peter Cushing's varied portrayals between 1958 and 1972 to Anthony Hopkins' take in 1992 and Hugh Jackman's version in 2004.

In 2016, Syfy introduced the world to Vanessa Van Helsing (Kelly Overton), a descendant of Abraham whose blood has the unique ability to turn vampires back into humans.

It's a pretty good power to have, especially considering Vanessa woke up from a coma in the middle of a vampire apocalypse.

If you're getting the impression that Syfy's Van Helsing is a little bleaker than other vampire tales, you wouldn't be wrong.

The show is just as much a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story as it