Telling the Story of the Texan Who Killed Dracula

It’s a lesser-known detail in the canon of horror literature that in Bram Stoker’s original telling, it was a Texan who finally managed to kill Count Dracula. Quincey P. Morris is a minor character in Stoker’s 1897 novel , often written out of the story in film adaptations. But for completists of Texas history and culture, Morris and his deadly bowie knife are deserving of a good origin story.

In the November 2025 issue of Texas Monthly —out just in time for Halloween—two of the magazine’s foundational figures deliver that story at last, with the first chapter of their Quincey P. Morris saga, The Bowie Knife That Killed Dracula.

The authors— Texas Monthly cofounder William Broyles and longtime Texas Monthly contributor Stephen Harrigan —are this week’s guests on TM Out Loud