Manuscripts are Like Vampires: Libraries and their Uncertain Histories on the island of Jerba, Tunisia

This article explores the methodological possibilities for using unverifiable, contradictory, or demonstrably false accounts of the past for historical research. Drawing from the methodological example of historical studies on accusations of vampirism in colonial East Africa, it presents histories of three Ibadi Muslim manuscript libraries on the island of Jerba, Tunisia. These stories contain contradictory or otherwise unverifiable elements, each of which raises methodological questions for its use as a historical source. The article argues that by drawing upon the methodological premise of these studies of vampires, historians can approach far more basic questions of historical research regarding chronology, contradictory evidence, and veracity.