Joe Cooper was a young farmer from Western Kansas who was sired by his own mother in 1933. After he rose, Joe dusted her, still confused by what had happened. Afterwards, Joe fed on his cattle, still unaware of his true nature, which he understood after remembering the film Dracula.
Joe went to the house of his friend Sal and was nearly destroyed by sunlight. Once inside Sal's house, Joe attacked Sal and drained her, hoping to turn her into a vampire. Joe, however, didn't know how to properly sire a human and thus accidentally killed her instead.
After burning Sal's corpse, Joe turned his house into an inn, using the facade to lure unsuspecting victims, whom he trapped inside a stable.