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Facts About Vampires
If you've ever wanted a compilation of facts about vampires, you have
come to the right place. There is so much to say about vampires that
we couldn't just dedicate one page to them. Both informational
articles and questions (with answers) will be posted and updated right
here.
There are literally thousands of vampire legends throughout history.
Nearly every single culture on the face of the earth has some kind of
myth about undead, blood-sucking creatures that relate back to vampire
mythology.
Naturally, the legends are not all consistent with one another, though
there are many common threads throughout the various cultural myths. In
order to take a more analytical view at vampire, we must do a little
scientific-style hypothesizing.
With vampires, it seems there are more questions than there are
answers, so before we delve into the Question and Answer section, I'll
hook you up with some basic facts first:
Basic Facts About Vampires
* [19]Do Vampires Really Exist?
* [20]History of Vampires
* [21]The Vampire Origin Story
* [22]How To Become a Real Vampire
* [23]How To Kill a Vampire
* [24]Vampire Feeding
* [25]Vampire Disease
* [26]Traditional Vampire Names
* [27]Spell To Become A Vampire
[INS: :INS]
Answers to Previous Questions
Click below to see questions from other visitors to this page...
[28]Werewolf vs Vampire [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Why do vampires and werewolves hate each other? Answer:
According to many modern vampire stories, the vampire and the werewolf
…
[29]Selene's Prayer [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif]
Question: I was kind of confused while I was reading about this . Is
this actually something that people would use when wanting to become a
vampire
…
[30]Vampire Lineage [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif]
Question: I FIND YOUR WEBSITE TO BE VERY INTRIGUING AND QUITE MORE
REALISTIC THAN THE OTHER WEBSITES I SEARCHED BEFORE. MY QUESTION IS
SOMEWHAT
…
[31]How Many Vampire Spells Are There? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Is there more than one spell to become a vampire? Answer:
Technically, there aren't any spells to become a vampire. The only
…
[32]Special Vampire Powers [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Do vampires have special powers such as mind reading, ability
to compel people or seeing the future? Answer: The simple answer
…
[33]After The Change [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif]
Question: When someone is changed into a vampire does it have any
affect on their complexion, the way their body looks or the way their
voice sounds?
…
[34]Are Vampires Always Evil? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Are vampires naturally evil/demonic? What if you still praise
god when you are a vampire, can crosses still effect you? Answer:
…
[35]Mirrors and the Moon? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Do vampires have a reflection or not? Also wouldn't the moon
hurt them? Answer: Both excellent questions. I'll start with
…
[36]How To Invite A Vampire To Our House? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: IS THERE ANY GOOD SPELL OR SOMETHING TO INVITE A VAMPIRE TO
OUR HOUSE TO MAKE US A VAMPIRE? Answer: This seems to be a very
…
[37]What Don't Vampires Like? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: What don't vampires like? Answer: Like humans, vampires are
individuals with individual tastes and preferences. Unlike some
…
[38]Why is Vampire Skin Pale and Cold? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Okay, so I always hear that vampires skin is very cold but if
there is no blood in their veins it would be kinda like they're cold
blooded
…
[39]Facial Changes and the Power of the Cross [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: This question is mostly something i couldn't find a topic of
it, because it kinda mixes them. What do crosses do to vampires? And
can
…
[40]Are Vampire Novels Accurate? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: I am interested in researching vampires and the myths about
them. How do you find a real vampire and not someone who is acting like
one?
…
[41]Do Vampires Turn The Willing? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Where do vampires live and do they attack humans? Do vampires
stalk humans? If a vampire were to bite me, and I told her/him that I
…
[42]Where Can I Find a Real Vampire? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Are vampires real? Are they really living somewhere? Is there
any vampire living in the world? Do they exist? Are they dead living
creatures
…
[43]The Life and Death of Vampires [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: I have read that vampires can be killed by sunlight, silver,
wooden stake, fire, by tearing his head of, and using vampires disease.
…
[44]Are Vampires Heartless? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: I have heard vampires are heartless creatures? They do not
feelings? Answer: I wouldn't say that they are heartless, but there
…
[45]Is Reading About Vampires Dangerous? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: My mom showed me an article which said we become vampire,
wizards as we read about them. Is it true? Answer: The simple answer
…
[46]Can Humans Sense Vampires? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: How do you sense that you are in the presence of a vampire?
Answer: Many vampire stories tell of special powers that come
…
[47]Vampire Offspring [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif]
Question: Lets say both of a person's parents are vampires... would the
two create a vampire offspring? Answer: There is some disagreement
…
[48]Strange Vampire Name [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Can someone tell me what the vampire name Tubula Laaughstein
means and possibly the origin? Answer: As far as I can tell,
…
[49]Vampire Personality [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: What do vampires look like? Are they same as human or they
have any difference related to their personality? Answer: I assume
…
[50]Vampire Prevention [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif]
Question: I know vampires cannot enter your house with out being
invited in and cross's also keep them away from you, but are there any
other ways
…
[51]The History of Vampires [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: In The Vampire Origin Story why didn't Ambrogio feel the
thirst to kill Selene although he was in love with her? Wasn't Selene
human?
…
[52]Vampires and Garlic [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: I've heard the garlic is used to repel vampires. Is this
because they just cannot bear the smell, or is it the fact that the
odor is
…
[53]Can Vampires Fly? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[halfstar.gif]
Question: Can vampires fly like bats? Answer: There are many vampire
stories that involve flying, and some of those include the vampire
…
[54]Vampire vs Human [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[halfstar.gif]
Question: We know that vampires are a lot like people in some ways, but
will there every be a Vampire vs Human war? I think its pretty likely
because
…
[55]What Attracts Vampires? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: Are there certain things that attract vampires? Answer: In
regards to objects, materials, and sensory items, there are a few
…
[56]How Do You Know If You Are A Vampire? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: How do you know if you are a vampire? What are the real
signs? Answer: I would be surprised to find someone who was a vampire
…
[57]Do Vampires Glitter? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: I heard that vampires body glitters in the sunlight like
diamonds, and they don't show their body in the sunlight so they wont
glitter.
…
[58]What Kind of Blood Do Vampires Drink? [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: Do vampires have the ability to chose what blood to drink?
Can they chose to drink animal blood vs. human blood? Answer: Yes,
…
[59]Vampires and Silver [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: I heard that vampires are injured when they come in contact
with silver. If it's true, then like silver are there any more
materials
…
[60]Can U Bite Me Please? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: Can u bite me please! please!!!!!!!!!!!!! Answer: No.
[61]Vampire Location [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[halfstar.gif]
Question: Where do vampire's live? Do they all stick together as a
group or rather by themselves? Answer: All vampires are nomadic to
…
[62]Vampire Slaves? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[halfstar.gif]
Question: I have read a lot of books on vampires and almost all of them
have a vampire slave in them that a special vampire bite had made it so
…
[63]Werewolves and Vampires? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: I've heard (from movies, some books, and other sites) that
vampires sometimes keep werewolves for protection. I was wondering how
true
…
[64]Do Vampires Exist in India? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: Do vampires exist in India either in the present or in the
past? Answer: I seem to get this specific question quite a bit.
…
[65]Do Vampires Exist? [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[halfstar.gif]
Question: Do vampires really exist? If so, where are they? How would I
find one? Answer: I answered a similar question a while back
…
[66]Vampire Rules and Regulations [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: What are the rules and regulations vampires should follow?
Answer: There are two different kinds of "rules" to be considered.
…
[67]Vampire Conspiracy Theory [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
[star2.gif] [halfstar.gif]
Question: It is believed that vampires can be killed with stakes or
silver, don't have a reflection, are cold etc, etc. Is it not possible
that
…
[68]Special Weapons [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif] [star2.gif]
Question: Could I make handheld weapons that take advantage of a
vampires weakness to kill it at longer range? For example, you
mentioned the "active
…
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Do Vampires Really Exist?
People are constantly asking me - "do vampires really exist?" It seems
that no matter how much evidence there is to suggest they either do or
don't, most people are not satisfied without a conclusive answer. I
suppose it's human nature to want to know definitively, but without
hard scientific evidence in hand, how do we determine if vampires
really exist or not? While we may not have an airtight case to prove
that vampires are real, there is evidence to suggest that this may
indeed be the case.
It's the classic problem with myths and legends in general, but
especially with cryptids and legendary monsters - we can't prove that
they are real, but we also can't prove that they are not. There are
plenty of examples from the past where scientists believed a creature
to be extinct only to find it alive and well in a remote part of the
world. The legendary sea monster the Kraken was thought to have been
pure fantasy until giant squids matching the Kraken's description were
finally discovered.
Throughout this site, I've tried to explain exactly what the modern
vampire is (and what it isn't), but remember that there are largely
different descriptions of various "vampiric" or vampire-like creatures
throughout mythologies around the world. While we struggle to come up
with a fixed definition of what a vampire is, we may be leaving out
various mysterious and unexplainable creatures around the world that
have fed into vampire mythology. At the same time, it is exactly the
fact that nearly every culture around the world has independently
identified vampiric creatures that makes us ask the question - do
vampires really exist?
If we had hard evidence, we wouldn't even be asking the question. It
would like be asking "do zebras exist?" If we could prove it, there
would be no question. At the same time, just because we can't prove it
doesn't mean it isn't true. Plenty of people believe in a God that
rules from a place called Heaven even though they don't have any hard
proof of his or her existence either. So why not believe in vampires?
So, do vampires really exist? There's no way to be sure. There have
been reports from around the world over thousands of years of creatures
like these. If vampires don't exist, then how do you explain all of
these sightings and encounters? A hoax is one thing, but the same hoax
being played over and over again for thousands of years across
independent cultures is entirely different. We have reason to believe
they might exist because of these reports, but we have reason to be
skeptical because we don't have the proof we so badly desire.
[184xNxfemale-vampire-images-01.jpg.pagespeed.ic.uYWvvWqRiw.jpg]
Keep in mind too that if you were to encounter a vampire, you probably
would not live to tell about it. Not only are vampires insatiably
hungry for human blood, but they live by a code that requires their
existence to remain secret - only making detection that much more
difficult.
In my opinion, the only way to answer this question is to give the only
honest answer anyone can. Do vampires really exist? Maybe they do,
maybe they don't. I, for one, treat vampires like I treat demons - if
they do exist, I really don't want to run into one. Therefore, I
choose to be cautious about my actions and activities, and limit my
exposure to any of these kinds of beings to a purely inquisitive one.
Better safe than sorry. Or dead.
[19]Return from Do Vampires Really Exist to the main Vampire Facts
page.
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How To Become a Real Vampire
Vampire cults have existed for several years, but the majority of these
cults are filled with members who display vampire-like activity, such
as drinking human blood and hiding from sunlight. These cult members
are, however, distinctly human, simply mimicking the behavior of
vampires as this was, until recently, the closest a human could get to
vampirism.
The details of how to become a real vampire have only recently come to
light. Many of the ancient myths appear to be true, while others are
still in question.
In "The Vampire Bible", ancient scribes describe the only known way
that a human can become a vampire. As the following excerpt from that
book details, it takes more than just a bite to become a vampire.
"As it was with Selene and Ambrogio, when Artemis allowed him to take
of her blood, so it has been ever since. The ritual begins with a bite
from vampire to human, where he may consume her blood. As she lays
bleeding her pulse moves inside him, and they become one... "
"...and she must then drink of their joined blood, the first bite as
vampire, the last as human..."
This description portrays a ritual that is consistent with earlier
legends of vampires, where the human host must drink the blood of the
vampire in order to transform.
According to "The Vampire Bible", the reason for this ritual goes all
the way back to the beginning of vampire history, which is the
[19]story of the first vampire Ambrogio, and his star-crossed lover
[20]Selene.
As the excerpt above eludes to, the story goes that Ambrogio was made a
vampire through a series of gifts and curses from Greek gods including
[21]Apollo, [22]Artemis, and [23]Hades. Long story short, his one true
love was a mortal woman named Selene who he was forbidden from mating
with. On her deathbed Selene begged Ambrogio to create children for
her, so with the approval of Artemis, Ambrogio drank Selene's blood.
Apparently the mixing of his blood and her blood together was the only
way Ambrogio could pass on his vampirism to another human.
Later legends say that all future vampires were created by Ambrogio by
the same ritual - he would drink the human's blood, which would mix
with his own (and Selene's). The vampire would then bite his own
wrist, and the human would have to willingly drink the mixed blood in
order to become a real vampire.
[24]Return from "How To Become A Real Vampire" to the Vampires home
page.
[300xNxbecome-a-real-vampire-01.jpg.pagespeed.ic.oOfUHLLyyf.jpg]
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Spell To Become A Vampire
Note: The following information containing a spell to become a vampire
may have dangerous after-effects. It would be wise to not read this
article out loud unless you intend for these effects to occur.
Those who are familiar with [19]the story of the origin of vampires
will recognize the importance of the [20]moonlight goddess Selene in
vampire history. She is considered the mother of all vampires, though
technically she lived and died a virgin. It was her blood mixed with
her husband Ambrogio's that gave him the power to create new life
through his bite. Though her "children" never got to know her during
her lifetime, they are regularly in touch with her in the form of the
moonlight she shines down upon them each night.
It is no surprise then that Selene maintains a position of great
reverence among all vampires. It is forbidden to speak ill of her, as
she is considered both mother and guardian angel among all vampires.
I am often asked if there is any kind of magic spell to become a
vampire. While I'll be the first to say that anything is possible, I
have not in my work found any actual magic spell, nor anything that
indicates that one exists. Vampires seem to be made strictly from one
another, and you would need a "living" vampire's blood or saliva in
order to become one.
That said, there may be something that, though not technically a spell,
might have the same effect. There are several poems in the Vampire
Bible that are dedicated to Selene, the vampire mother. It is a
tradition to honor Selene with poems just as her true love Ambrogio did
while she was still alive. Ambrogio's vampire love poems are the
inspiration for this tradition, though many of the later poems are more
about gratitude and worship than love.
One such poem in particular is particularly interesting because it
appears to be a prayer to Selene asking for her specific assistance in
becoming a vampire. It's not exactly a "spell", but it is a request to
the vampire mother to send one of her "children" to the reader of the
poem in order to be turned into a vampire. This makes much more sense
than a magic spell and could possibly be one of the only ways to
attract vampires to one's self.
The poem itself is in Latin, with a translation into English following.
If anyone were going to use this as a sort of spell to become a
vampire, it would be best to read aloud the Latin version I would
think. Use at your own risk.
Ode To The Vampire Mother
O dea tenebris
mater immortalibus
puer tuus fac me sicut renascentur
mea lux vestra absorbere
liceat mihi locus ad tenebras
sicut ex utero immortales
filios tuos in ulnis
quibus invocaverit te frater
O lunae lumen
puer tuus fac me sicut renascentur
me duce tenebris sunt
i ita erit renatus
__________________________________________________________________
Oh goddess of the darkness
mother to the immortal
let me be reborn as your child
let your light absorb my own
Allow me passage to the darkness
as from your immortal womb
into the arms of your children
to whom I will call brother
Oh moonlight
let me be reborn as your child
guide the dark ones to me
so I shall be born again
[21]Return to the Facts About Vampires page.
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[7]Random Facts
interesting facts
[8]Halloween Facts
[9]Harry Potter Facts
[10]Zombie Facts
[INS: :INS]
[INS: :INS]
40 Interesting Facts About . . .
Vampires
[INS: :INS]
1. Many scholars argue the word “vampire” is either from the Hungarian
vampir or from the Turkish upior, upper, upyr meaning “witch.”
Other scholars argue the term derived from the Greek word “to
drink” or from the Greek nosophoros meaning “plague carrier.” It
may also derive from the Serbian Bamiiup or the Serbo-Crotian
pirati. There are many terms for “vampire” found across cultures,
suggesting that vampires are embedded in human consciousness.^b
2. A group a vampires has variously been called a clutch, brood,
coven, pack, or a clan.^f
3. Probably the most famous vampire of all time, Count Dracula, quoted
Deuteronomy 12:23: “The blood is the life.”^f
4. The Muppet vampire, Count von Count from Sesame Street, is based on
actual vampire myth. One way to supposedly deter a vampire is to
throw seeds (usually mustard) outside a door or place fishing net
outside a window. Vampires are compelled to count the seeds or the
holes in the net, delaying them until the sun comes up.^b
[home_blank.gif]
dolmens
[home_blank.gif]
Celtic for “stone tables,“ dolmens may have been placed over graves to
keep vampires from rising
[home_blank.gif]
5. Prehistoric stone monuments called “dolmens” have been found over
the graves of the dead in northwest Europe. Anthropologists
speculate they have been placed over graves to keep vampires from
rising.^c
6. A rare disease called porphyria (also called the "vampire" or
"Dracula" disease) causes vampire-like symptoms, such as an extreme
sensitivity to sunlight and sometimes hairiness. In extreme cases,
teeth might be stained reddish brown, and eventually the patient
may go mad.^c
7. Documented medical disorders that people accused of being a vampire
may have suffered from include haematodipsia, which is a sexual
thirst for blood, and hemeralopia or day blindness. Anemia
(“bloodlessness”) was often mistaken for a symptom of a vampire
attack.^f
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Elizabeth Bathory
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Considered a "true" vampire, Elizabeth Bathory supposedly bathed in the
blood of young virgins
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8. One of the most famous “true vampires” was Countess Elizabeth
Bathory (1560-1614) who was accused of biting the flesh of girls
while torturing them and bathing in their blood to retain her
youthful beauty. She was by all accounts a very attractive woman.^f
9. Vampire legends may have been based on Vlad of Walachia, also known
as Vlad the Impaler (c. 1431-1476). He had a habit of nailing hats
to people’s heads, skinning them alive, and impaling them on
upright stakes. He also liked to dip bread into the blood of his
enemies and eat it. His name, Vlad, means son of the dragon or
Dracula, who has been identified as the historical Dracula. Though
Vlad the Impaler was murdered in 1476, his tomb is reported
empty.^f
10. One of the earliest accounts of vampires is found in an ancient
Sumerian and Babylonian myth dating to 4,000 B.C. which describes
ekimmu or edimmu (one who is snatched away). The ekimmu is a type
of uruku or utukku (a spirit or demon) who was not buried properly
and has returned as a vengeful spirit to suck the life out of the
living.^a
11. According to the Egyptian text the Pert em Hru (Egyptian Book of
the Dead), if the ka (one of the five parts of the soul) does not
receive particular offerings, it ventures out of its tomb as a kha
to find nourishment, which may include drinking the blood of the
living. In addition, the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet was known to
drink blood. The ancient fanged goddess Kaliof India also had a
powerful desire for blood.^a
12. Chinese vampires were called a ch’iang shih (corpse-hopper) and had
red eyes and crooked claws. They were said to have a strong sexual
drive that led them to attack women. As they grew stronger, the
ch’iang shih gained the ability to fly, grew long white hair, and
could also change into a [11]wolf.^a
13. While both vampires and zombies generally belong to the “undead,”
there are differences between them depending on the mythology from
which they emerged. For example, zombies tend to have a lower IQ
than vampires, prefer brains and flesh rather than strictly blood,
are immune to garlic, most likely have a reflection in the mirror,
are based largely in African myth, move more slowly due to rotting
muscles, can enter churches, and are not necessarily afraid of fire
or sunlight.^f
14. Vampire hysteria and corpse mutilations to “kill” suspected
vampires were so pervasive in Europe during the mid-eighteenth
century that some rulers created laws to prevent the unearthing of
bodies. In some areas, mass hysteria led to public executions of
people believed to be vampires.^b
15. The first full work of fiction about a vampire in English was John
Polidori’s influential The Vampyre, which was published incorrectly
under Lord Byron’s name. Polidori (1795-1821) was Byron’s doctor
and based his vampire on Byron.^f
16. The first vampire movie is supposedly Secrets of House No. 5 in
1912. F.W. Murnau’s silent black-and-white Nosferatu came soon
after, in 1922. However, it was Tod Browning’s Dracula—with the
erotic, charming, cape- and tuxedo-clad aristocrat played by Bela
Lugosi—that became the hallmark of vampire movies and literature.^f
17. A vampire supposedly has control over the animal world and can turn
into a bat, rat, owl, moth, fox, or wolf.^c
18. In 2009, a sixteenth-century female skull with a rock wedged in its
mouth was found near the remains of plague victims. It was not
unusual during that century to shove a rock or brick in the mouth
of a suspected vampire to prevent it from feeding on the bodies of
other plague victims or attacking the living. Female vampires were
also often blamed for spreading the bubonic plague throughout
Europe.^d
19. Joseph Sheridan Le Fany’s gothic 1872 novella about a female
vampire, “Carmilla,” is considered the prototype for female and
lesbian vampires and greatly influenced Bram Stoker’s own Dracula.
In the story, Carmilla is eventually discovered as a vampire and,
true to folklore remedies, she is staked in her blood-filled
coffin, beheaded, and cremated.^f
20. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) remains an enduring influence on
vampire mythology and has never gone out of print. Some scholars
say it is clearly a Christian allegory; others suggest it contains
covert psycho-sexual anxieties reflective of the Victorian era.^k
21. According to several legends, if someone was bitten by a suspected
vampire, he or she should drink the ashes of a burned vampire. To
prevent an attack, a person should make bread with the blood of
vampire and eat it.^f
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threshold
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Without an invitation, vampires in most legends cannot cross a
threshold
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22. Thresholds have historically held significant symbolic value, and a
vampire cannot cross a threshold unless invited. The connection
between threshold and vampires seems to be a concept of complicity
or allowance. Once a commitment is made to allow evil, evil can
re-enter at any time.^b
23. Before Christianity, methods of repelling vampires included garlic,
hawthorn branches, rowan trees (later used to make crosses),
scattering of seeds, fire, decapitation with a gravedigger’s spade,
salt (associated with preservation and purity), iron, bells, a
rooster’s crow, peppermint, running water, and burying a suspected
vampire at a crossroads. It was also not unusual for a corpse to be
buried face down so it would dig down the wrong way and become lost
in the earth.^f
24. After the advent of Christianity, methods of repelling vampires
began to include holy water, crucifixes, and Eucharist wafers.
These methods were usually not fatal to the vampire, and their
effectiveness depended on the belief of the user.^f
25. Garlic, a traditional vampire repellent, has been used as a form of
protection for over 2,000 years. The ancient Egyptians believed
garlic was a gift from God, Roman soldiers thought it gave them
courage, sailors believed it protected them from shipwreck, and
German miners believed it protected them from evil spirits when
they went underground. In several cultures, brides carried garlic
under their clothes for protection, and cloves of garlic were used
to protect people from a wide range of illnesses. Modern-day
scientists found that the oil in garlic, allicin, is a highly
effective antibiotic.^k
26. That sunlight can kill vampires seems to be a modern invention,
perhaps started by the U.S. government to scare superstitious
guerrillas in the Philippines in the 1950s. While sunlight can be
used by vampires to kill other vampires, as in Ann Rice’s popular
novel Interview with a Vampire, other vampires such as Lord Ruthven
and Varney were able to walk in daylight.^f
27. The legend that vampires must sleep in coffins probably arose from
reports of gravediggers and morticians who described corpses
suddenly sitting up in their graves or coffins. This eerie
phenomenon could be caused by the decomposing process.^c
28. According to some legends, a vampire may engage in [12]sex with his
former wife, which often led to [13]pregnancy. In fact, this belief
may have provided a convenient explanation as to why a widow, who
was supposed to be celibate, became pregnant. The resulting child
was called a gloglave (pl. glog) in Bulgarian or vampirdzii in
Turkish. Rather than being ostracized, the child was considered a
hero who had powers to slay a vampire.^f
29. The Twilight book series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking
Dawn) by Stephanie Meyers has also become popular with movie-goers.
Meyers admits that she did not research vampire mythology. Indeed,
her vampires break tradition in several ways. For example, garlic,
holy items, and sunlight do not harm them. Some critics praise the
book for capturing teenage feelings of sexual tension and
alienation.^i
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vampire
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Hollywood vampires often differ drastically from folklore vampires
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30. [14]Hollywood and literary vampires typically deviate from folklore
vampires. For example, Hollywood vampires are typically pale,
aristocratic, very old, need their native soil, are supernaturally
beautiful, and usually need to be bitten to become a vampire. In
contrast, folklore vampires (before Bram Stoker) are usually
peasants, recently dead, initially appear as shapeless “bags of
blood,” do not need their native soil, and are often cremated with
or without being staked.^f
31. Folklore vampires can become vampires not only through a bite, but
also if they were once a werewolf, practiced sorcery, were
excommunicated, committed [15]suicide, were an illegitimate child
of parents who were illegitimate, or were still born or died before
baptism. In addition, anyone who has eaten the flesh of a sheep
killed by a wolf, was a seventh son, was the child of a pregnant
woman who was looked upon by a vampire, was a nun who stepped over
an unburied body, had teeth when they were born, or had a cat jump
on their corpse before being buried could also turn into
vampires.^f
32. In vampire folklore, a vampire initially emerges as a soft blurry
shape with no bones. He was “bags of blood” with red, glowing eyes
and, instead of a nose, had a sharp snout that he sucked blood
with. If he could survive for 40 days, he would then develop bones
and a body and become much more dangerous and difficult to kill.^f
33. While blood drinking isn’t enough to define a vampire, it is an
overwhelming feature. In some cultures, drinking the blood of a
victim allowed the drinker to absorb their victim’s strength, take
on an animal’s quality, or even make a woman more fecund. The color
red is also involved in many vampire rituals.^k
34. In some vampire folktales, vampires can marry and move to another
city where they take up jobs suitable for vampires, such as
butchers, barbers, and tailors. That they become butchers may be
based on the analogy that butchers are a descendants of the
“sacrificer.”^c
35. Certain regions in the Balkans believed that fruit, such as
pumpkins or watermelons, would become vampires if they were left
out longer than 10 days or not consumed by Christmas. Vampire
pumpkins or watermelons generally were not feared because they do
not have teeth. A drop of blood on a fruit's skin is a sign that it
is about to turn into a vampire.^e
36. Mermaids can also be vampires—but instead of sucking blood, they
suck out the breath of their victims.^e
37. By the end of the twentieth century, over 300 motion pictures were
made about vampires, and over 100 of them featured Dracula. Over
1,000 vampire novels were published, most within the past 25
years.^k
38. The most popular vampire in children’s fiction in recent years had
been Bunnicula, the cute little rabbit that lives a happy existence
as a vegetarian vampire.^g
39. Some historians argue that Prince Charles is a direct descendant of
the Vlad the Impaler, the son of Vlad Dracula.^h
40. The best known recent development of vampire mythology is Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel. Buffy is interesting
because it contemporizes vampirism in the very real,
twentieth-century world of a teenager vampire slayer played by
Sarah Michelle Gellar and her “Scooby gang.” It is also notable
because the show has led to the creation of “Buffy Studies” in
academia.^k
-- Posted May 2, 2009
References
^a Bartlett, Wayne and Flavia Idriceanu. 2006. Legends of Blood: The
Vampire in History and Myth. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
^b Dundes, Alan. 1998. The Vampire: A Case Book. Madison, WI:
University of Wisconsin Press.
^c Greer, John Michael. Monsters. 2001. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn
Worldwide.
^d Gusman, Jessica. “[16]Medieval Vampire Skull Found Near Venice.”
HuffingtonPost.com. March 11, 2009. Accessed: April 23, 2009.
^e Illes, Judith. 2009. Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to
the Magic Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods, and Goddesses. New
York, NY: HarperOne.
^f Melton, J. Gordon. 1999. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the
Dead. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press.
^g -----.1998. The Vampire Gallery: Who’s Who of the Undead. Farmington
Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press.
^h Russo, Arlene. 2008. Vampire Nation. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn
Worldwide.
^i TheTimes.com. “[17]New-Age Vampires Stake Their Claim.” January 12,
2006. Accessed: April 23, 2009.
^j Webster, Richard. 2008. The Encyclopedia of Superstitions. Woodbury,
MN: Llewellyn Worldwide.
^k Williamson, Milly. 2005. The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction,
and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy. London, UK: Wallflower Press.
Copyright © 2007-2015 Random History.com | [18]All Histories &
Facts | [19]Using Information on this Site | [20]Privacy
Policy |
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Real vampire myths, exaggerations, and facts
s
__________________________________________________________________
[INS: :INS]
This page is here to help you separate the myths from the facts about
vampires. As it is often true about other things, most fiction is based
on some fact. So for those things this page will also cover
exaggerations about real vampires. The things that you will find on
this page are not up for debate, although there are a lot of self
proclaimed vampires that will no doubt argue with some things that are
on here, because they falsely believe themselves to be vampires and
think that since it isn't true for them that it isn't true for real
vampires. However if it wasn’t accurate about real vampires, I would
not have it on this real vampire website.
If you know of any myths, or possibly things that you believe to be
fact about real vampires, [21]e-mail me no matter how odd or hard to
believe that they may seem.
The vampire myth/claim/belief myth, exaggeration, or fact, The real
vampire explanation in detail.
Real vampires don’t need blood, they only need some part of blood, or
just energy.
myth
A real vampire needs blood, but doesn’t need it for a psychological or
medical reason, and at the same time gets a few perks.
For those who believe that having just an [22]energy problem makes them
a vampire, try looking into the classic symptoms for Hypochondria,
[23]Psychotic Depression, Reinfelds, Depression, [24]Hypothyroidism,
[25]Insomnia, [26]Sleep apnea, [27]Chronic Fatigue Syndrome aka CFS,
[28]Fibromyalgia, Eating disorders, damage obesity does to the body,
[29]Porphyria, blood fetish, hemophilia, [30]Myasthenia gravis, and
[31]Anemia, just to name a few. In other words if you think you are a
vampire and your reason for thinking it is that you feel low on energy
often, or for others who even have the thought that you need blood to
feel normal. Then contrary to what people in the "[32]vampire
community" tell you, go see a medical professional, this includes the
combination of seeing a psychologist and some one with a PHD and get
checked. Not to mention if it was an energy reason, animal’s blood
would not work half as well as it does.
Those who think blood is just a matter of being a nutritional source
for real vampires. Keep in mind that nutritional supplement drinks
today have much higher amounts of the nutrients and minerals that a
person’s body needs than blood has. Nutritional supplements don’t have
the same effects for real vampires as blood does for real vampires
there for it is not a simple case of nutrition.
Real vampires can fly
myth
Real vampires can't fly, and neither can superman.
Do you believe every thing that you see in movies, or just the things
that you see in vampire movies?
Sunlight kills real vampires
extreme exaggeration
Sunlight won't kill a real vampire.
However due to a heightened sensitivity to it, just like we have with
basically everything else. It does cause an uncomfortable burn like
feel, almost like what a normal person feels while they have sunburn.
That feeling happens well before we have sunburn at all. It also makes
us sunburn more quickly, and get severe migraines. Not to mention is
very uncomfortable to a real vampires eyes, at times even while in a
shadow during overcast weather. Getting blood on a regular basis helps
counter this very effectively and for the average vampires it blocks
the suns effects for about 2-3 days.
Real vampires are undead
myth
Real vampires are not undead creatures nor are they monsters.
This myth most likely comes from the Dracula stories that are only
barely based on the real Romanian hero Vlad, and or from the medical
condition known as [33]Catalepsy.
Story goes Vlads death, happened at a fairly young age due to his own
brother betraying him, resulting in his brother helping kill Vlad by
encasing him in a casket and letting him die buried alive. After the
clergy that used Vlad's brother as a pawn to make this happen knew that
Vlad was dead, they made it quite clear to his brother what he had just
done. The claim of vampires being undead branches from Vlad bones
apparently not existing inside of the casket that he was buried alive
in. Truth is the bones would not be in there because his brother after
learning the truth would have dug him up, then given him a new casket
and a proper burial to honor his brother Vlad.
This story in itself couldn’t be farther from the truth, For the true
story about [34]Vlad Tepes click the link.
Real vampires kill people for food or for blood.
myth
Real vampires today do not kill people for blood or for food. All real
vampires for at least the past few decades receive blood only from
willing donors while causing the very minimum amount of pain and in a
lot of cases no pain at all. Back when superstitions, fears of witches,
vampires, werewolves, zombies and other monsters ran rampant, basically
back when it would have been impossible to get a willing donor, and
forensics was virtually nonexistent real vampires distant ancestors
most likely did kill for blood, however that no longer happens and
hasn't happened for quite some time.
Real vampires have fangs
myth
Lots of places and things say this about vampires. It’s hard to say
where it comes from, however that doesn't make it true. It could also
come from every natural carnivore and every scary monster notoriously
having big canines. Semi related real vampire’s canines do seem to get
sharper by themselves when needed, however they are not insanely long
and they do not grow.
Real vampires sleep in coffins / caskets
myth
Real vampires don’t actually sleep in coffins, that’s a myth based on
the idea of vampires being undead.
Real vampires don't need sleep
myth
Real vampires do need sleep, and we do it in normal beds like everybody
else does.
Real vampires only need blood, and don't / can't eat normal food
myth
Real vampires can eat everything that normal people can eat, and real
vampires don't live on just blood.
Real vampires are immortal
extreme exaggeration
Real vampires are far from being immortal. However, we do age
noticeably slower and we do survive a lot of things but not everything
that a normal person should not be able to survive.
The Science of Vampirism
__________________________________________________________________
Vampiric Mythology
By Hugo Pecos & Robert Lomax
Return to [14]Vampiric Sociology
Most vampire myths come to us from the Dark Ages, when science was in
its infancy and people looked to religion or superstition to explain
the world around them. While some vampire myths have their basis in
Christian Orthodoxy and Victorian romanticizing, others represent
imaginative interpretations of actual vampiric characteristics and
behavior. Seeing as how they thrive on deception, it's also highly
likely that many of these myths were perpetuated by vampires themselves
in order to gain an edge over their ill-prepared victims, to instill
more fear in the populace, or to gain more followers.
Presented in no particular order:
Vampires sleep in coffins
[lugosi2.jpg]
Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula
Source: This myth likely arose from gravediggers and passersby who
observed vampires emerging from coffins and crypts.
Fact: If a vampire did spend the night in a coffin, it probably had
nothing to do with sleeping preference. In the old days, many bite
victims were interred while still in a vampiric coma—which in-turn gave
birth to the myth that vampires must sleep within the soil of their
homeland. The truth is, vampires will sleep wherever they feel safe.
That's not to say some don't choose to sleep in coffins, though it's
more out of a sense of ritual or tradition than an actual need
(although there is the added perk of keeping out light and sound).
Garlic repels vampires
[garlic.jpg]
Source: Most likely based on observation. To ward off vampires, garlic
would be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes.
Fact: Vampires have sensitive noses and can be momentarily driven off
by pungent odors. However, this method of deterrence is unreliable and
certainly won't work on an experienced vampire. Basically, you'd be
better off using pepper spray.
Crosses repel vampires and burn their flesh
[crossdracula.jpg]
A cross employed in Horror of Dracula
Source: Christian beliefs that vampires are demons and therefore
enemies of God. During the Dark Ages, vampires were known to have been
tortured by the church using superheated iron crosses to "burn the Holy
Spirit into them" before execution.
Fact: Unless heated as a torture device, or used as some kind of melee
or throwing weapon, crosses have absolutely no effect on vampires. They
have no trouble entering churches, either.
Vampires can be killed by driving a stake through their heart
[staked2_zps73547dd9.jpg]
Staking in Horror of Dracula
Source: This myth actually started out as a misguided method of keeping
suspected vampires in their coffins by driving a long iron stake
through the torso and into the coffin floor, effectively pinning it in
place. Eventually this evolved into simply stabbing the heart using
special kinds of wood such as oak, ash and hawthorn, which were thought
poisonous to vampires because of their "purity."
Fact: Because their blood clots quickly and is circulated by skeletal
muscles, vampires can easily survive injuries to the heart and torso,
and they have little trouble freeing themselves from impalement. They
also have no apparent allergy to wood (or silver, for that matter).
When fighting vampires, your best bet is to aim for the head or spine.
Vampires burst into flames upon exposure to sunlight
[flames.jpg]
A vampiric patient is set ablaze by sunlight in
Let the Right One In.
Source: Most likely based on observation of a vampire's extreme
reaction to sunlight; and possibly mixed up with their vulnerability to
fire.
Fact: Sunlight renders vampires, with their hyperdilated irises and
reflective retinas, blind. It also causes neural pathways to fire
randomly in the brain, creating an extreme epileptic reaction. Lastly,
vampiric skin is highly sensitive to UV rays, becoming badly burned and
blistered within minutes. However, as dramatic as these reactions may
appear, not even a hint of smoke will occur.
Holy water burns vampiric flesh
[holywater.png]
Source: Christianity.
Fact: Holy water, or any water for that matter, has little effect on
vampires. They can, however, still be drowned, and they generally hate
getting wet as it can lower their body temperature, making them less
energetic and able to hunt.
Vampires prey on virginal women
[lugosi.jpg]
Lugosi whispers sweet nothings
to his next victim.
Source: A reflection of 19th-century fears over the sexual awakening of
young women. In Balkan and Bulgarian folklore, male vampires were
believed to deflower virgins and even impregnate them with half-human
hybrids known as Dhampir.
Fact: While vampires have a stated preference for the taste of young
blood, they are not particular as to which gender provides it. Being
asexual, sterile and impotent, vampires cannot have intercourse, let
alone produce any kind of offspring; and biting a pregnant woman will
only result in miscarriage or stillbirth.
Vampires can fly & move at the speed of sound
[trueblood.gif]
Vampiric speed portrayed in True Blood
Source: Observation and exaggeration of vampires running, leaping and
using their quick reflexes.
Fact: While they can sprint faster than most humans (25 to 30 miles per
hour) and jump higher than any (at least ten feet), vampires cannot
fly, levitate, teleport, or move any faster than a professional human
athlete.
Vampires can turn into bats
[vbat.png]
Vampire bats share several characteristics with
vampires, which is why they were thought of as
different forms of the same creature.
Source: Association of vampires with vampire bats, since they're both
nocturnal, have fangs, drink blood and are the main vectors of the
human vampirism virus.
Fact: Vampires cannot turn into bats, or anything else for that matter.
Although vampires can't shapeshift (or retract their fangs), their
appearance does change over time, and they can be quite adept at
disguising themselves using makeup and other methods.
Vampires do not cast shadows & are not visible in mirrors
[mirror.jpg]
Source: Christianity. It was thought that a vampire, or any creature
lacking a soul, would not cast a shadow or produce a reflection in a
mirror.
Fact: Vampires do cast shadows and are indeed visible in
mirrors—although interestingly enough, they are often quite
uncomfortable with their own reflections. As a result, they tend to
avoid mirrors, which likely reinforced this particular myth.
Vampires shed bloody tears
[tears.jpg]
Vampiric tears in True Blood (©HBO)
Source: Vampires typically have red, bloodshot scleras—the so-called
"whites of their eyes." Because of this, people throughout history have
come to believe that vampires have bleeding eyes.
Fact: Because the blood is confined to the eyeball, vampiric tears are
just as clear as ours.
Humans become vampires by drinking their blood
Source: 19th-century sexualization of vampires and their victims
"exchanging" bodily fluids.
Fact: While it's true that the vampirism virus is carried in both
vampire blood and their saliva, transmission almost always occurs
through biting. Contrary-wise, ingestion of vampire blood tends to
cause a person to throw it back up, while injection can be outright
lethal.
Elizabeth Báthory & Vlad the Impaler were vampires
[vladIII.jpg]
Vlad III, aka Prince Dracula
Source: Their alleged penchant for drinking the blood of the people
they killed. This eventually inspired Victorian author Bram Stoker's
famous vampire character Count Dracula.
Fact: There exists no verifiable evidence that Countess Báthory and
Prince Dracula were biological vampires. Even the notion that they
drank blood is dubious at best, being a likely fabrication created by
their enemies to further demonize them. Still, "artificial vampirism"
was not uncommon throughout history, as blood-feeding was commonly
thought to be the sole reason behind vampiric longevity before modern
science disproved that claim.
Vampires have psychic, hypnotic & telekinetic powers
[renfield.jpg]
Dracula's brainwashed thrall,
Renfield
Source: Observation of a vampire's ability to read subtle emotions, and
their reputation for using their "silver tongue" to get what they want.
Telekinesis was simply thrown in later as a baseless supplement, likely
due to a common association of vampirism with witchcraft and the
occult.
Fact: While vampires do have heightened senses due to their enlarged
amygdalae, they cannot read minds or see the future, only physical
expressions and mannerisms. This in-turn benefits their powers of
persuasion, as they can more easily figure out what to say. However,
these abilities depend largely on individual skill and experience.
Their enhanced hearing also allows them to talk discreetly amongst each
other, which further reinforced the psychic myth.
Vampires retain the same appearance as the day they were turned
[louis.jpg]
Interview's Louis lamenting
his eternal sideburns
Source: 19th-century romanticizing of vampiric longevity, as well as
their common use of makeup.
Fact: Older vampires look more like Nosferatu—or, more accurately,
anorexic drowning victims with alopecia and pinkeye. On a related note,
the myth that a vampire's hair never changes most likely came about
from its slowed growth rate, as well as their tendency to wear wigs
after it falls out.
Vampires can choose to live on only animals and blood bags
[bloodbag.jpg]
Source: Hollywood idealization of vampirism as something that can be
rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
Fact: Although animals and blood bags can get them by for a while,
vampires need to feed on live humans to get all the nutrients they
require.
A vampire's wounds can heal within seconds
Source: Likely an exaggeration of vampiric dexterity.
Fact: While it's true that even major injuries can clot within a few
minutes, vampiric healing rate is only double that of a human's, and
they still form scars. Moreover, although they can regenerate their
upper and lower fangs, they cannot regrow lost body parts such as limbs
or eyes.
Vampires turn to ash when slain
[ash.jpg]
Source: Most likely the practice of cremating slain vampires to prevent
the possibility of infection, as well as the selling of vampire ashes
in some parts of the world.
Fact: Dead vampires actually decompose at a slower rate than human
corpses, thanks to natural antibiotics in their bodily fluids.
Vampires can be distracted by leaving seeds for them to count
[countvon.png]
Count von Count
Source: Due to chemical changes in the part of the brain that regulates
habitual activity, vampires are more susceptible to mental disorders
such as arithmomania, or the obsessive counting of objects. Some forms
of porphyria, which has often been mistaken for vampirism throughout
history, have also been linked with such conditions.
Fact: Regardless of how severe a vampire's OCD might be, counting
objects is a low priority when faced with a potential meal or threat.
Vampires absorb ingested blood directly into their veins
[mosquito.jpeg]
A female mosquito digesting blood while
excreting excess fluid to make room
for the more solid nutrients
Source: Association of hematophagia with blood transfusions.
Fact: While many fictional vampires are depicted as being able to
absorb intact/undigested blood into their own bloodstream through a
variety of methods—hypodermic fangs, larger pores in the GI tract,
reconnection of the esophagus into the heart—the truth is that vampires
digest blood no differently than hematophages such as vampires bats,
leeches and ticks; or even how we digest our own food.
Vampires have the strength of 20 bodybuilders
[700c_zpsa7247ba7.jpg]
Source: Exaggeration of vampiric strength which was further embellished
in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Fact: Drop the zero and you have a more accurate number. A vampire is
usually quite a bit stronger than the average bodybuilder, though not
as strong as those on the upper end of the scale—the ones squatting
1,000 pounds and bench pressing 600. Whatever the case, however, the
leaner-bodied vampires still have speed and agility on their side when
faced with heavier-muscled humans.
The vampiric race can be traced back to a single progenitor
[lilith.jpg]
Lilith
Source: Association of vampires with demons, fallen angels, and
biblical creation myths—such as the legend of Lilith, who was said to
be Adam's first wife before leaving him to spend the rest of her
existence feeding on the blood of men.
Fact: Contrary to much fiction, there is no all-powerful mother or
father of all vampires, any more than there is a mother or father of
all rabies or Ebola victims (or any organism, for that matter). One
grain of truth to the Lilith legend, though, is that vampires have very
likely been around for as long as humans have (if not longer), since
Adam and Lilith were said to be created at the same time and from the
same source.
Vampires can't enter homes without an invitation
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Continue to [16]Famous Vampire Victims
__________________________________________________________________
Vampires: Fact, Fiction and Folklore
by Benjamin Radford, Live Science Contributor
Date: 22 October 2014 Time: 08:34 PM ET
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Vampire Vampire
CREDIT: [9]Margaaret M. Stewart | [10]shutterstock
Vampires are a perennial favorite around Halloween, but they can be
found year-round in movies and on television, in books and on blogs.
The public's thirst for vampires seems as endless as vampires' thirst
for blood. Modern writers of vampire fiction, including Stephenie
Meyer, Anne Rice, Stephen King and countless others, have a rich vein
of vampire lore to draw from. But where did the vampires come from?
bela lugosi as dracula
Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula has influenced how many people
picture vampires.
The most famous vampire is, of course, Bram Stoker's Dracula, though
those looking for a historical "real" Dracula often cite Romanian
prince [11]Vlad Tepes (1431-1476), after whom Stoker is said to have
modeled some aspects of his Dracula character. The characterization of
Tepes as a vampire, however, is a distinctly Western one; in Romania,
he is viewed not as a blood-drinking sadist but as a national hero who
defended his empire from the Ottoman Turks.
The vampires most people are familiar with (such as Dracula) are
revenants — human corpses that are said to return from the grave to
harm the living; these vampires have Slavic origins only a few hundred
years old. But other, older, versions of the vampire were not thought
to be human at all but instead supernatural, possibly demonic, entities
that did not take human form.
Matthew Beresford, author of "[12]From Demons to Dracula: The Creation
of the Modern Vampire Myth" (Reaktion, 2008), notes, "There are clear
foundations for the vampire in the ancient world, and it is impossible
to prove when the myth first arose. There are suggestions that the
vampire was born out of sorcery in ancient Egypt, a demon summoned into
this world from some other." There are many variations of vampires from
around the world. There are Asian vampires, such as the Chinese
jiangshi (pronounced chong-shee), evil spirits that attack people and
drain their life energy; the blood-drinking Wrathful Deities that
appear in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead," and many others.
Identifying vampires
While most people can name several elements of vampire lore, there are
no firmly established characteristics. Some vampires are said to be
able to turn into bats or wolves; others can't. Some are said not to
cast a reflection, but others do. Holy water and sunlight are said to
repel or kill some vampires, but not others. The one universal
characteristic is the draining of a vital bodily fluid, typically
blood. One of the reasons that vampires make such successful literary
figures is that they have a rich and varied history and folklore.
Writers can play with the "rules" while adding, subtracting or changing
them to fit whatever story they have in mind.
Finding a vampire is not always easy: according to one Romanian legend
you'll need a 7-year-old boy and a white horse. The boy should be
dressed in white, placed upon the horse, and the pair set loose in a
graveyard at midday. Watch the horse wander around, and whichever grave
is nearest the horse when it finally stops is a vampire's grave — or it
might just have something edible nearby; take your pick.
Interest and belief in revenants surged in the Middle Ages in Europe.
Though in most modern stories the classic way to become a vampire is to
be bitten by one, that is a relatively new twist. In his book
"[13]Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality" (Yale, 2008),
folklorist Paul Barber noted that centuries ago, "Often potential
revenants can be identified at birth, usually by some abnormality, some
defect, as when a child is born with teeth. Similarly suspicious are
children born with an extra nipple (in Romania, for example); with a
lack of cartilage in the nose, or a split lower lip (in Russia) … When
a child is born with a red caul, or amniotic membrane, covering its
head, this was regarded throughout much of Europe as presumptive
evidence that it is destined to return from the dead." Such minor
deformities were looked upon as evil omens at the time.
The belief in vampires stems from superstition and mistaken assumptions
about postmortem decay. The first recorded accounts of vampires follow
a consistent pattern: Some unexplained misfortune would befall a
person, family or town — perhaps a drought dried up crops, or an
infectious disease struck. Before science could explain weather
patterns and germ theory, any bad event for which there was not an
obvious cause might be blamed on a vampire. Vampires were one easy
answer to the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people.
Villagers combined their belief that something had cursed them with
fear of the dead, and concluded that perhaps the recently deceased
might be responsible, having come back from the graves with evil
intent. Graves were unearthed, and surprised villagers often mistook
ordinary decomposition processes for supernatural phenomenon. For
example, though laypeople might assume that a body would decompose
immediately, if the coffin is well sealed and buried in winter,
putrefaction might be delayed by weeks or months; intestinal
decomposition creates bloating which can force blood up into the mouth,
making it look like a dead body has recently sucked blood. These
processes are well understood by modern doctors and morticians, but in
medieval Europe were taken as unmistakable signs that vampires were
real and existed among them.
A buried skull with vampire-like qualities
A skeleton buried in the cemetery of Vecchiano in Pisa showing a
similar condition to the purported "Venetian vampire."
Credit: Antonio Fornaciari
Vampire defense and protection
The best way to deal with vampires, of course, is to prevent them from
coming back in the first place. A few centuries ago in Europe this was
often accomplished by staking suspected vampires in their graves; the
idea was to physically pin the vampire to the earth, and the chest was
chosen because it's the trunk of the body. This tradition was later
reflected in popular fiction depicting wooden stakes as dispatching
vampires. There was no particular significance to using wood; according
to folklore, vampires — like djinn (genies) and many other magical
creatures — fear iron, so an iron bar would be even more effective than
a wooden stake.
Other traditional methods of killing vampires include decapitation and
stuffing the severed head's mouth with garlic or a brick. In fact,
suspected vampire graves have been found with just such signs.
According to a 2012 Live Science article, "The body of the woman was
found in a mass grave on the Venetian island of Nuovo Lazzaretto.
Suspecting that she might be a vampire, a common folk belief at the
time, gravediggers [14]shoved a rock into her skull to prevent her from
chewing through her shroud and infecting others with the plague, said
anthropologist Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence." Other
researchers later challenged this interpretation, and suggested that
the brick may not have been placed in the mouth after all, but instead
was one of many bricks surrounding the body that merely fell there
after burial. Whether that burial reflected an accused vampire or not,
other graves are much clearer. In 2013, archaeologists in Bulgaria
found [15]two skeletons with iron rods through their chests; the pair
are believed to have been accused vampires, according to an article in
Archaeology magazine.
A purported "vampire" found in Venice
The skull of the "vampire of Venice," found in a mass grave with a
brick stuck in its jaw.
Credit: Matteo Borrini
If your local villagers neglected to unearth and stake a suspected
vampire and he or she has returned from the grave, there are steps you
can take to protect yourself. The exact method varies around the world,
but in some traditions the best way to stop a vampire is to carry a
small bag of salt with you. If you are being chased, you need only to
spill the salt on the ground behind you, at which point the vampire is
obligated to stop and count each and every grain before continuing the
pursuit. If you don't have salt handy, some say that any small granules
will do, including birdseed or sand. Salt was often placed above and
around doorways for the same reason.
Some traditions hold that vampires cannot enter a home unless formally
invited in. This may have been an early form of the modern "stranger
danger" warnings to children, a scary reminder against inviting unknown
people into the house.
vampirebat2010-110812-02
Credit: Ltshears | Wikimedia
Real vampires
There are, of course, a few truly vampiric animals, including leeches,
lampreys and vampire bats. And in all these cases the vampire's intent
is to draw enough blood for sustenance, but not enough to kill the
host.
But what about human vampires? There are certainly many self-identified
vampires who participate in gothic-inspired subcultures. Some host
vampire-themed book clubs or secret bloodletting rituals; others wear
capes or get vampire-fang dental implants. It's all frightening and
fun, but blood drinking is another matter entirely. The problem is that
blood is toxic; because it is so rich in iron — and because the human
body has difficulty excreting excess iron — anyone who consumes blood
regularly runs a real risk of haemochromatosis (iron overdose), which
can cause a wide variety of diseases and problems, including liver and
nervous system damage.
In one form or another, vampires have been part of human culture and
folklore in different forms for millennia, and the bloodsuckers show no
signs of going away any time soon.
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Separating Myths from Facts in Vampire: The Requiem
By [37]Justin Achilli, [38]Ken Cliffe, and [39]Colleen Totz Diamond
from [40]Vampire: The Requiem For Dummies
Where does Vampire's mythology diverge from popular belief? Where do
the conceits ring true? The following statements outline real-world
legends of the undead, clarifying their truth or falsity in the World
of Darkness.
* Vampires must sustain themselves on the blood of the living: Fact.
For the Kindred, the act of feeding is highly sensual. The vessel
feels ecstatic when it happens, and the feeding vampire undergoes a
heady rush. Certain vampires sustain their undeath by drinking the
blood of animals, but rarely for long, as either their tastes or
the needs of their cursed bodies force them to seek human blood.
* Vampires are immortal: Myth and fact. Although vampires do not
appear to age, and some survive for centuries, the Kindred use the
word undead rather than immortal. Vampirism is a curse, not a
blessing. It does carry with it great power, but the state of being
a vampire also brings with it numerous detriments, not the least of
which include the internalized rage of the Beast and feeding on
human blood.
* A vampire's prey automatically becomes a vampire: Myth. You do not
necessarily become a vampire if you're bitten or killed by a
vampire. It takes a conscious act of will, known as the Embrace, to
create a new vampire. Indeed, a vampire leaves little to mark her
passing if she is careful. All a vampire must do to hide the wound
left by her feeding is to lick it when she's done.
* Vampires have every manner of supernatural power, such as turning
into animals, flying, and wielding the strength of a dozen men:
Fact. While these powers are not universal, vampires have unique
abilities, known as Disciplines, that can grant individual undead
capabilities such as these and more.
* Vampires can have sex: Fact. While the act of feeding replaces all
physical urges, vampires can still indulge in sex and even take
pleasure from it. Curiously, however, the emotional aspect of sex
vanishes after the Embrace. A vampire might enjoy the physical
sensation of sex, but no more than she enjoys a particularly savory
smell or the touch of a luxurious fabric.
* A wooden stake destroys vampires: Myth. Vampires aren't destroyed
upon being staked; they're held in stasis. A vampire's body slowly
withers while trapped in this state, becoming ever more corpselike.
* Vampires don't show up like normal people on camera or in mirrors:
Fact. Vampires show up with their features obscured in photographic
media (including video footage) and in mirrors. They can
temporarily counteract this effect, but by "default," their
features are obscured. The same is not true for voice recordings;
vampires' voices are captured normally on voice recorders.
* Sunlight burns vampires: Fact. As part of their curse, vampires
recoil at the touch of the sun, its vital rays scorching their
undead flesh. Vampires typically spend the daylight hours in the
cold sleep of undeath, and only the most resolute can shake off the
weight of the day's forced slumber for even a short time.
* Garlic and running water repel vampires: Myth. Such notions are
nothing more than old wives' tales, cultural biases, or perhaps the
banes of certain bloodlines of Kindred.
* Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols: Myth —
almost. While such is not generally the case, the devout sometimes
do affect the Kindred with miraculous aspects of their faith.
* Vampires' souls are as dead as their bodies: Myth and fact. A
vampire may believe that he feels an emotion, but what he actually
feels is the echo of mortal emotions that the remnants of his soul
apply to his current experience. That is, a vampire who feels angry
might indeed be angry at the subject of his ire, but the resonance
of the emotion actually comes from some situation the vampire dealt
with in life. This condition results in many strange situations. A
vampire who has never experienced a given emotion before becoming
Kindred might become confused, while a vampiric artist might create
a work of art that is awkwardly devoid of any true emotional
insight.
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The History of the Vampire
The word “vampire” did not appear in English until 1734, when it was
used in an Anglo-Saxon poem titled “The Vampyre of the Fens”. One of
the earliest accounts of vampires is found in an ancient Sumerian and
Babylonian myth dating to 4,000 B.C. which describes ekimmu or edimmu
(one who is snatched away). The ekimmu is a type of uruku or utukku (a
spirit or demon) who was not buried properly and has returned as a
vengeful spirit to suck the life out of the living. The first full work
of fiction about a vampire in English was John Polidori’s influential
“The Vampyre”, which was published incorrectly under Lord Byron’s name.
Polidori (1795-1821) was Byron’s doctor and based his vampire on Byron.
In vampire folklore, a vampire initially emerges as a soft blurry shape
with no bones. He was “bags of blood” with red, glowing eyes and,
instead of a nose, had a sharp snout that he sucked blood with. If he
could survive for 40 days, he would then develop bones and a body and
become much more dangerous and difficult to kill.
In 2009, a sixteenth-century female skull with a rock wedged in its
mouth was found near the remains of plague victims. It was not unusual
during that century to shove a rock or brick in the mouth of a
suspected vampire to prevent it from feeding on the bodies of other
plague victims or attacking the living. Female vampires were also often
blamed for spreading the bubonic plague throughout Europe.
Modern Takes
5703218908_67cea91da8_z [35]via Flickr – Alvaro Tapia
Hollywood and literary depictions of vampires are vastly different than
of historical myths. Today vampires are widely believed to be very old,
tall, attractive, intelligent and aristocratic, sleep in coffins on
native ground, have an insatiable thirst for blood, and who must be
staked through the heart to be killed. In contrast, folkloric vampires
(before Bram Stoker) are usually peasants of low intelligence, recently
dead, do not need their native soil, and are often cremated with or
without being staked. By the end of the twentieth century, over 300
motion pictures were made about vampires, and over 100 of them featured
Dracula. Over 1,000 vampire novels were published, most within the past
25 years.
Powers
4196557505_8ae55196bd_z [36]via Flickr – Jared Kelly
Modern literature often states that vampires have many powers; anything
from telepathy and mind control to the ability to communicate with
and/or transform into animals. There is no historical lore that
corroborate these concepts and seem to mostly be very recent
developments in vampire mythology. The idea of a vampire is harmed by
sunlight is a fairly recent and, apparently, a literary invention.
Historic lore makes no mention of it. Though, there have been reports
that perhaps the U.S. government used such a tale to scare
superstitious guerrillas in the Philippines in the 1950s. While
sunlight can be used by vampires to kill other vampires, as in Ann
Rice’s popular novel Interview with a Vampire, other vampires such as
Lord Ruthven and Varney were able to walk in daylight.
How one becomes a vampire…
377326443_925518ce0b_z [37]via Flickr – ryan remillard
Folklore vampires can become vampires not only through a bite, but also
if they were once a werewolf, practiced sorcery, were an illegitimate
child of parents who were illegitimate, died before baptism, anyone who
has eaten the flesh of a sheep killed by a wolf, was the child of a
pregnant woman who was looked upon by a vampire, was a nun who stepped
over an unburied body, had teeth when they were born, or had a cat jump
on their corpse before being buried (England and Japan), a baby born
with teeth; a stillborn; a bat flying over a corpse (Romania); being
excommunicated by the Orthodox Church (Greece); being the seventh son
of the seventh son; a dead body that has been reflected in a mirror;
red heads (Greece); people who die by suicide or sudden, violent
deaths; people who were improperly buried; renouncing the Eastern
Orthodox religion.
What to do if you’ve been bitten and how to repel a Vampire…
2885420038_7b00119718_z [38]via Flickr – gaelx
According to several legends, if someone was bitten by a suspected
vampire, he or she should drink the ashes of a burned vampire. To
prevent an attack, a person should make bread with the blood of vampire
and eat it. Things that repel vampires: churches; crucifixes; eucharist
water; garlic; holy water; thresholds (unless they’re invited in);
mirrors; sunlight; fire. Before Christianity, methods of repelling
vampires included garlic, hawthorn branches, rowan trees (later used to
make crosses), scattering of seeds, fire, decapitation with a
gravedigger’s spade, salt (associated with preservation and purity),
iron, bells, a rooster’s crow, peppermint, running water, and burying a
suspected vampire at a crossroads. It was also not unusual for a corpse
to be buried face down so it would dig down the wrong way and become
lost in the earth. Garlic, a traditional vampire repellent, has been
used as a form of protection for over 2,000 years. The ancient
Egyptians believed garlic was a gift from God, Roman soldiers thought
it gave them courage, sailors believed it protected them from
shipwreck, and German miners believed it protected them from evil
spirits when they went underground. In several cultures, brides carried
garlic under their clothes for protection, and cloves of garlic were
used to protect people from a wide range of illnesses. Modern-day
scientists found that the oil in garlic, allicin, is a highly effective
antibiotic.
Offspring
18449204_5002549d02_z [39]via Flickr – Shawn Allen
In folklore, the vampire’s first victim would often be his wife. This
is why, in some cultures, when a husband died, the wife would change
her appearance, i.e. she would cut her hair and would wear black for
the entire period of mourning. These things were done with the
intention of deceiving the vampire, should he return. According to some
legends, a vampire may engage in sex with his former wife, which often
led to pregnancy. In fact, this belief may have provided a convenient
explanation as to why a widow, who was supposed to be celibate, became
pregnant. The resulting child was called a gloglave (pl. glog) in
Bulgarian or vampirdzii in Turkish. Rather than being ostracized, the
child was considered a hero who had powers to slay a vampire.
Vlad Tepes III
Vlad_Tepes_002 [40]via Wikipedia
It’s largely believed that Dracula is based on a Wallachian Prince
named Vlad Tepes, or Vlad Dracul, meaning “The Dragon”, though this may
not be so. There’s no evidence that Bram Stoker had ever heard of this
monarch while writing the book. Vlad Tepes was born in the fortress of
Sighisoara, Romania in December of 1431. When he was born his father,
Vlad Dracul, was the military governor of Transylvania, appointed by
the emperor Sigismund. A year prior to this time Vlad Dracul was
welcomed into the Order of the Dragon. The Order began in 1387 and was
a society committed to the military and religion. The Order was could
be compared to a men’s club today that consisted of members that were
passionate about preserving the Catholic religion and to fight against
the Turks. Dracula became prince in 1456 and in his brief reign is
estimated to have killed 100,000 people. He is named “The Impaler”
because of his proclivity for impaling his victims on a sharp pole,
often eating meals on the field in which his victims were suspended. He
was assassinated in 1476
Possible Explanations for Historic Outbreaks of “Vampirism”
NosferatuShadow
Recent research has linked historical reports of vampirism to outbreaks
of rabies in nearby areas, which would explain the senility,
sensitivity to light and garlic, as well as a tendency to bite people,
leading to the spread of the infection. A rare disease called porphyria
(also called the “vampire” or “Dracula” disease) causes vampire-like
symptoms, such as an extreme sensitivity to sunlight and sometimes
hairiness. In extreme cases, teeth might be stained reddish brown, and
eventually the patient may go mad. Documented medical disorders that
people accused of being a vampire may have suffered from include
haematodipsia, which is a sexual thirst for blood, and hemeralopia or
day blindness. Anemia (“bloodlessness”) was often mistaken for a
symptom of a vampire attack.
How To Kill Them…
1200px-Vampire_skeleton_of_Sozopol_in_Sofia_PD_2012_06 [41]800-year-old
skeleton stabbed through the chest with an iron rod via Wikipedia
To destroy a vampire: burn it; bury the corpse facedown; drive a wooden
stake through its heart; pile stones on the grave; put poppy seeds or
wild roses on the grave; boil the head in vinegar; place a coin in the
mouth and decapitate with an axe; put a lemon in the mouth; bury at a
crossroads; remove the heart and cut it in two; put garlic in the mouth
and drive a nail through the temple; cut off the toes and drive a nail
through the neck; pour boiling oil on the body and drive a nail through
the navel. TC mark
featured image – [42]via Wikipedia
Get exclusively creepy TC stories by liking [43]Creepy Catalog here.
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Are Vampires Real? The Science Behind the Myth
By [171]Jeremy A. Kaplan
Published November 25, 2009
[172]Facebook0 [173]Twitter0 [174]livefyre [175]Email [176]Print
From countless depictions of "Dracula" to recent movies like "Twilight"
and "New Moon," the vampire has been a staple in books and film. But is
there a scientific basis for the folklore? Is there fact behind the
myth of the blood-sucking creature of the night?
Decomposing bodies that leaked blood must have frightened gravediggers
in the past. Tropical diseases and insects that suck blood, leaving
corpses wasted and desiccated, must have seemed scary to other
cultures. It's a short jump from fearful to superstitious, and there
are clear biological and anthropological conditions that likely led to
these fears.
Applying science to a mostly fictional creature is nothing new, says
Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who teaches forensic psychology at DeSales
University and wrote the book, "[177]The Science of Vampires."
Addressing the origins of the myth, she asks:
"Does it derive from mythology that addresses a basic fear of death, a
lack of knowledge about body decomposition, an undefined disease, or
perhaps the symptom of a mental illness now known as 'clinical
vampirism'? That is, do these narratives express some society's need
for myth, or might a vampire tale be an attempt to explain a
frightening phenomenon actually witnessed?"
[178]SLIDESHOW: Hunter vs. Slayer: The Best of Hollywood's Vampires
To find the truth behind the stories that fuel TV shows like "The
Vampire Diaries," we turned to science. We went straight to the
scientists themselves — biologists, anthropologists and physicists — to
find out once and for all whether vampires could have existed, and how
accurate today's movies might be.
Avoiding sunlight: Several elements of the vampire legend are based
around facts, artfully combined into a scary whole. Vampires are
commonly depicted as creatures of the dark, being highly sensitive to
sunlight. This is the case for people afflicted with porphyria, a
well-known condition that makes one allergic to the sun. When exposed
to the sun, people with porphyria develop burning blisters and swelling
of the skin.
Porphyria is extremely rare, of course, but not so its milder cousin,
[179]polymorphic light eruption. This type of allergic reaction is
characterized by the formation of bumpy and itchy rashes on sun-exposed
skin. But it's not actually an allergy to the sun, rather an immune
reaction.
Immortality: Dracula is commonly regarded as not just long-lived, but
literally immortal. Ramsland thinks there is science to explain this
aspect of the myth, noting research on what scientists call
"immortalized cells." The aging process is partly predicated on the
lifespan of our cells; as long as they continue dividing, we remain
young, and structures in our cells called telomeres play a part in
cellular division.
What controls the telomeres? Ramsland explains that "through the
activity of an enzyme known as telomerase, the youth-preserving
activity of the telomeres can be extended. In other words, there's an
actual chemical in our cells that may hold the secret to eternal youth,
and if so, it may explain how vampires can live forever."
Drinking blood: Mosquitoes, bats and other creatures drink blood, but
humans rarely do — unless they have an iron deficiency such as anemia,
notes Dr. Manuel Alvarez, managing editor for health at FoxNews.com.
Those suffering from iron deficiencies could feel the need to rush out
for an extra side-helping of iron-rich spinach … or may opt to eat an
extremely bloody steak.
Craving iron and feasting on human blood are very different, of course.
But Dr. Manny notes that pica, the pattern of eating non-foods or even
blood, can result from anemia. This may not explain the vampire
mythology, but it could explain one of the characteristics associated
with the creatures.
Killing humans: Physicists Costas J. Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi argue
a good case against vampires, based on the hard facts of physics. In
their 2007 paper "[180]Cinema Fiction vs. Physics Reality: Ghosts,
Vampires and Zombies," The pair work out a mathematical formula to
describe the number of humans left after x months of vampirism
spreading through a population of size n: x – 2^n + 1.
"... we conclude that if the first vampire appeared on January 1st of
1600 AD, humanity would have been wiped out by June of 1602, two and a
half years later," the paper explains. "We conclude that vampires
cannot exist, since their existence contradicts the existence of human
beings. Incidentally, the logical proof that we just presented is of a
type known as reduction ad absurdum, that is, reduction to the absurd."
That may be hard science, but it's hardly as entertaining as the
fiction.
Jeremy A. Kaplan is Science and Technology editor at FoxNews.com, where
he heads up coverage of gadgets, the online world, space travel,
nature, the environment, and more. Prior to joining Fox, he was
executive editor of PC Magazine, co-host of the Fastest Geek
competition, and a founding editor of GoodCleanTech.
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(BUTTON) [1]Vampire Facts
* [2]Vampires History
* [3]Vampire Facts
* [4]Famous Vampires
* [5]Vampires in Fiction
1. Home
[INS: :INS]
[INS: :INS]
[INS: :INS]
Vampire Facts - Origins, Legends, Beliefs...
[6]Picture Of Nosferatu
* Legends and myths of vampires existed long ago before the word
"vampire" itself started being used. Before that time, many ancient
cultures had their own version of blood sucking spirit who
possessed deceased human body, with many unique forms and traits
that varied depending on region, environment, religious beliefs,
and folklore.
* The most common believed traits of vampire is their ability to
survive death of physical body, sustaining their undead life by
drinking fresh human blood, have fangs, sleep in coffins during day
and that they could be hurt by sunlight, objects of religion
(crosses, holy water, etc) and garlic.
* The most commonly accepted means of killing a vampire is exposure
to sunlight, beheading, piercing wooden stake in hart, burning,
entering a church or holy ground, and covering it with holy water.
* They can be temporary stunned or subdued with the use of holy
objects (crosses), garlic, holy water, mirrors, sunlight, water
(they cannot survive touching open water, such as oceans or large
lakes) and invite (they cannot enter a house without invitation).
* Some of the more exotic powers that vampires can sometimes get in
folklore tales is the ability of flying, transforming into mists or
animals, magical persuasion over humans, and ability to change
their size and weight.
* The word vampire was derived from Hungarian word "vampir" which was
given to a good or (most often) evil spirit who possessed the body
of deceased in the first 40 days of their death.
[7]Vampires History
History of vampires is long and interesting one. Countless mystical
creatures who drink blood and can live in dead human bodies haunted the
folklore tales of various civilizations from the dawn of time, but the
arrival of Slavic myth of vampires created unprecedented attention and
mass hysteria that enabled them to become instantly famous around the
world.
[8]Vampire Facts
With several hundred years of their presence among us, vampires managed
to inspire people into creation of many legendary tales, works of art
and explanations how can they really walk among us. From such abundance
of information, we extracted some of the most important facts about
vampires that you need to know.
[9]Famous Vampires
The popularity of vampires is not only great because the power they
hold, but also because the famous vampires who wielded that power with
absolute conviction and determination. Here you can find out more about
famous vampires from our history and arts.
[10]Vampires in Fiction
Since their appearances in our culture, vampires appeared in countless
pieces of art – from novels and poems, to the stage plays, movies and
video games. Here you can find out more about some of the most
important vampire themed pieces of art that mankind has ever produced.
[INS: :INS]
[11]Picture Of Vampires And Garlic
Do you know these facts about Vampires?
* Ancient Babylonians were one of the first who incorporated undead
blood eating entity in their folklore. Six thousand year old evil
mystical beings Lilitu and Esrites survived by feeding of babies
and men, respectively.
* Egyptian believed that improper burial can bring the deceased back
from the death in a form that can only survive by eating human
blood.
* Ancient Greek and Roman people feared to meet Empusae and Lamia,
who feasted on human flesh, had ability to enchant people and use
magic. Those two beings later on became morphed into medieval
versions of witches and demons, and were greatly popularized by
Church who used those two folklore beings to explain the harsh age
filled with wars, famine and diseases.
* Northern medieval Europe had also incorporated beings with vampiric
traits to their folklore. In England first stories about revenants
(resurrected evil corpses) started appearing shortly after the
waves of Viking invasions. Viking themselves told the tales of
superhuman undead creature draugr.
* The most famous vampire of all time is Count Dracula, who was based
on the life of Hungarian Count VladTepes, a man with a reputation
of fierce killer. According to popular belief, he killed because of
his Christian beliefs, which gave birth to his inability to look
and be close to churches, crosses or holy water.
* Group of vampires is often called coven or clan.
* Popular myths of vampires rose because lack of knowledge in several
scientific areas, such as stages in decomposing of body, bad
medical practices (burying of alive people, who later managed to
claw out from their grave), identification of diseases who changed
mental processes (induced rage), rare appearances of blood disorder
disease porphyria (physical inability to survive in sunlight) and
anemia, psychological diseases such as haematodipsia(sexual thirst
for blood), hemeralopia (fear of sunlight), and more.
* Mass vampire hysteria that ruled over the Europe in 18th and 19th
century gave birth to many laws regarding burying of the dead,
which in the end gave birth to many popular works of fiction and
art with vampires as main theme.
Vampire Myths and Facts
[femalevampire2.png] It is no surprise that people have the wrong ideas
about vampires. The information out there is often contradictory and
misleading. Think about how many popular books and movies have been
created on this topic? A few that you should be acquainted with include
Bram Stokers 'Dracula' and Anne Rice's 'The Vampire Chronicles' which
includes the Brad Pitt hit 'Interview with a vampire'.
Can I just branch off and add that Brad Pitt made an excellent vampire
and I am disappointed that he hasn't decided to convert. Oh well...we
still have hope for him.
A few more recent adaptations include Stephanie Meyers 'Twilight Saga'
and the popular TV hits 'The Vampire Diaries' and it's spin off 'The
Originals'.
The plethora of books and movies have at times gotten close to figuring
us out, but humans insist on keeping us on shelves where fictional
monsters dwell, which prevents rational thought and grounded
credibility for our race..
We appreciate the attention that humans give us and are even a bit
flattered that people are so enamored with us they go through such
lengths to define us. Still though, there are a few myths that have
really missed the mark that we want to clear up.
Below is a list of myths and facts that will help expand your vampire
knowledge base. If you ever decide to approach a vampire, drop some of
these tips – I guarantee that they will help you to impress even the
crankiest of our species and let them know your interest is genuine.
Myth: Vampires twinkle in the sunlight.
Myth: Vampires burn and turn into ash in the sunlight.
Fact: Vampires can walk out in the day time and in sunlight, however we
are sensitive to UV light exposure.
We only produce enough melanin to prevent us from being albino. Just as
humans, our look can be representative from the area of the world we
live in. Therefore, some of us are blonde hair and blue eyed, some of
us are black hair and brown eyed, and others are mixtures in between.
The only physical attribute that keeps us connected is fair skin tone,
even vampires from darker skinned races are pale in comparison. Some
vampires begun to use sunless tanning methods to look more human and
avoid suspicion. Our limited melanin production prevents us from
natural sun-kissed skin and we turn lobster red within 10 to 20 minutes
in direct sunlight. Give us closer to an hour in a place like Florida
and the blisters that erupt are nasty and painful…it’s a far cry from
twinkling in the sun.
Myth: Vampires are immortal
Myth: Vampires can be killed with wood stakes and are repelled by
garlic.
Fact: Some vampires live indefinitely, but we are not immortal – we can
be killed or get sick and die. And killing us is not as simple as a
stake to the heart – that's an extremely insulting idea.
The life span for the average vampire is between 400-500 years, though
many can and do live considerably longer. Few viruses penetrate our
otherwise impeccable immune systems. We cannot be killed with a wooden
stake through the heart. The only way to kill a vampire is slicing off
limb from limb and burning each piece. Unless you obtain access to one
of the rare viruses that will harm us – but I won’t even broach those
topics; vampire viruses make the worst human illness look like a common
cold. Not to mention enough garlic would repel anyone and we do not
like it in quantity as it can assault our heightened senses; however if
it is used appropriately in food dishes we are not inherently opposed
to it.
Myth: Vampires are evil monsters who have fun attacking humans
Myth: Vampires can be ‘burned’ with Holy water
Fact: Vampires are not evil as a race. We are pranksters who like to
play with humans' minds. We are not monsters and never kill humans for
fun.
For creatures who require blood to remain alive, we are actually
pacifists. We would rather avoid fighting or war as it draws too much
attention and prefer to live in peace with humans. Some vampires abhor
violence so much that they abstain from feeding on human blood
altogether. These “vegetarian” vampires rather feed on animals than
humans. I find this a bit crazy since it is not as nourishing and
nothing tastes quite like human blood. Sorry.
Myth: If a vampire bites you, they must kill you. A vampire who stops
drinking a humans blood midway has turned the human into a vampire.
Fact: A human can turn into a vampire by feeding on vampire blood.
The only way for a human to turn into a vampire is by drinking vampire
blood. Point blank. Vampires really only turn humans with whom they
have a deep connection or they fall in love with. We don't care to
create armies for ourselves, or just turn random humans willy-nilly.
Myth: [2]Vampires cannot reproduce.
Fact: Yes, we can. And we thoroughly enjoy the act.
How do you think we keep our lineage going? We are a race just like any
other and part of perpetuating our race is through procreation. Vampire
children grow faster than human children until their teenage years,
when they hit maturity. Then their growing process slows to about half
of a human. As babies, we feed them from bottles, just as you feed your
infants. Of course our formula consists mostly of blood, but we rear
our children with affection and diligence. After all we have a lot of
proper conduct to teach. But in most respects regarding parenting we
really are not that different!
Myth: Vampires sleep in caskets
Myth: We sleep hanging upside from our feet.
Myth: Vampires don't sleep at all.
Fact: We love to sleep.
And we indulge on the best beds! I personally love my queen sized with
a temper-pedic mattress and 600 count Egyptian cotton sheets, thank you
very much.
Myth: Vampires turn into bats.
Fact: We do not turn into other animals.
That would be a super cool ability though and we wish we could! We do
like to have bats as pets though, they are extremely cute.
Myth: Vampires can fly
Fact: No, we cannot fly, but we can jump rather high and are fairly
acrobatic.
Again, flying is an amazing ability that sadly we do not possess. I
think this myth comes from our ability to scale a 10 foot wall with
ease and jump horizontally further than the worlds best human
long-jumper. We can actually jump about three times further than any
human. Which I suppose is still pretty cool. We are also very fast
runners, which can make it seem as though we are not even touching the
ground.
Myth: Vampires cannot see their reflection in mirrors or show up in
photographs
Fact: [3]Vampires are real living corporeal beings.
We are not undead or ghosts. Of course we can see ourselves in mirrors
and photographs. It’s a good thing too because many of us are quite
vain and enjoy being photographed immensely.
Myth: Human food and drinks are unappealing, or even lethal, to
vampires.
Fact: We appreciate human food for what it is and we love certain
drinks, especially alcoholic ones. Not only can we eat food, we often
enjoy it.
Our favourite human food is anything with a rich flavor, like
chocolate, or dark meat cooked rare. As for drinks we take liberties in
creating our own twists to certain classics. My favourite is a red wine
ruby spritzer – half red wine and half human blood. It's absolutely
exquisite. Blood mixed in with any food makes it more enjoyable for us,
but even without it we can dine out quite nicely just as any human
would.
[[4]Old School Vampire Games] [[5]Memorable Songs About Vampires]
[[6]Essential Bygone Vampire Movies] [[7]Werewolf Movie Favorites]
[[8]Underworld Movie Series]
CAPTION: Vampire
[10]Burne-Jones-le-Vampire.jpg
The Vampire, by [11]Philip Burne-Jones, 1897
Grouping [12]Legendary creature
Sub grouping [13]Undead
Similar creatures [14]Revenant, [15]werewolf
Country [16]Transylvania, [17]England
Region [18]The Americas, [19]Europe, [20]Asia, [21]Africa
A vampire is a being from [22]folklore who subsists by feeding on the
life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures.
[23]Undead beings, vampires often visited loved ones and caused
mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were
alive. They wore [24]shrouds and were often described as bloated and of
ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale
vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Although vampiric
entities have been [25]recorded in most cultures, the term vampire was
not popularized in the west until the early 18th century, after an
influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where
vampire legends were frequent, such as the [26]Balkans and Eastern
Europe,^[27][1] although local variants were also known by different
names, such as [28]vrykolakas in [29]Greece and [30]strigoi in
[31]Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led
to what can only be called [32]mass hysteria and in some cases resulted
in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.
In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a
fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures such
as the [33]chupacabra still persists in some cultures. Early folk
belief in vampires has sometimes been ascribed to the ignorance of the
body's process of [34]decomposition after death and how people in
pre-industrial societies tried to rationalise this, creating the figure
of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. [35]Porphyria was
also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media
exposure, but has since been largely discredited.
The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in
1819 with the publication of [36]The Vampyre by [37]John Polidori; the
story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire
work of the early 19th century.^[38][2] However, it is [39]Bram
Stoker's 1897 novel [40]Dracula which is remembered as the
quintessential [41]vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern
vampire legend. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire
[42]genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, and
television shows. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the
horror genre.
Etymology
The [78]Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of the
English word vampire (as vampyre) in English from 1734, in a travelogue
titled Travels of Three English Gentlemen published in [79]The Harleian
Miscellany in 1745.^[80][3] Vampires had already been discussed in
French^[81][4] and German literature.^[82][5] After [83]Austria gained
control of northern Serbia and [84]Oltenia with the [85]Treaty of
Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the local practice of exhuming
bodies and "killing vampires".^[86][5] These reports, prepared between
1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity.^[87][5] The English term
was derived (possibly via French vampyre) from the German Vampir, in
turn derived in the early 18th century from the [88]Serbian
вампир/vampir,^[89][6]^[90][7]^[91][8]^[92][9]^[93][10]^[94][11] when
[95]Arnold Paole, a purported vampire in Serbia was described during
the time when Northern Serbia was part of the [96]Austrian Empire.
The Serbian form has parallels in virtually all [97]Slavic languages:
[98]Bulgarian and [99]Macedonian вампир (vampir), [100]Bosnian: lampir,
[101]Croatian vampir, [102]Czech and [103]Slovak upír, [104]Polish
wąpierz, and (perhaps [105]East Slavic-influenced) upiór,
[106]Ukrainian упир (upyr), [107]Russian упырь (upyr '),
[108]Belarusian упыр (upyr), from [109]Old East Slavic упирь (upir ')
(note that many of these languages have also borrowed forms such as
"vampir/wampir" subsequently from the West; these are distinct from the
original local words for the creature). The exact [110]etymology is
unclear.^[111][12] Among the proposed [112]proto-Slavic forms are
*ǫpyrь and *ǫpirь.^[113][13] Another, less widespread theory, is that
the Slavic languages have borrowed the word from a [114]Turkic term for
"witch" (e.g., [115]Tatar ubyr).^[116][13]^[117][14] Czech linguist
Václav Machek proposes Slovak verb "vrepiť sa" (stick to, thrust into),
or its hypothetical anagram "vperiť sa" (in Czech, archaic verb
"vpeřit" means "to thrust violently") as an etymological background,
and thus translates "upír" as "someone who thrusts, bites".^[118][15]
An early use of the [119]Old Russian word is in the anti-[120]pagan
treatise "Word of Saint Grigoriy" (Russian Слово святого Григория),
dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, where pagan worship of
upyri is reported.^[121][16]^[122][17]
Folk beliefs
See also: [123]List of vampires in folklore and mythology
The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia; cultures such as the
[124]Mesopotamians, [125]Hebrews, [126]Ancient Greeks, and [127]Romans
had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to
modern vampires. However, despite the occurrence of vampire-like
creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity
we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from
early-18th-century southeastern Europe,^[128][1] when [129]verbal
traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and
published. In most cases, vampires are [130]revenants of evil beings,
suicide victims, or [131]witches, but they can also be created by a
malevolent spirit [132]possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a
vampire. Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas
it caused mass hysteria and even [133]public executions of people
believed to be vampires.^[134][18]
Description and common attributes
Further information: [135]List of vampire traits in folklore and
fiction
Vampyren, "The Vampire", by [136]Edvard Munch
It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the
folkloric vampire, though there are several elements common to many
European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated in
appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these
characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood.
Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one
was seen in its [137]shroud or coffin and its left eye was often
open.^[138][19] It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in,
and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown somewhat, though in
general fangs were not a feature.^[139][20]
Creating vampires
The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original
folklore. In [140]Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse that was
jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to
become one of the undead.^[141][21] A body with a wound that had not
been treated with boiling water was also at risk. In Russian folklore,
vampires were said to have once been witches or people who had rebelled
against the [142]Russian Orthodox Church while they were
alive.^[143][22]
Cultural practices often arose that were intended to prevent a recently
deceased loved one from turning into an undead revenant. Burying a
corpse upside-down was widespread, as was placing earthly objects, such
as [144]scythes or [145]sickles,^[146][23] near the grave to satisfy
any demons entering the body or to appease the dead so that it would
not wish to arise from its coffin. This method resembles the
[147]Ancient Greek practice of placing an [148]obolus in the corpse's
mouth to pay the toll to cross the [149]River Styx in the underworld;
it has been argued that instead, the coin was intended to ward off any
evil spirits from entering the body, and this may have influenced later
vampire folklore. This tradition persisted in modern Greek folklore
about the [150]vrykolakas, in which a wax cross and piece of pottery
with the inscription "[151]Jesus Christ conquers" were placed on the
corpse to prevent the body from becoming a vampire.^[152][24] Other
methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the [153]tendons
at the knees or placing [154]poppy seeds, [155]millet, or sand on the
ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to
keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen
grains,^[156][25] indicating an association of vampires with
[157]arithmomania. Similar Chinese narratives state that if a
vampire-like being came across a sack of rice, it would have to count
every grain; this is a theme encountered in myths from the [158]Indian
subcontinent, as well as in South American tales of witches and other
sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings.^[159][26] In
[160]Albanian folklore, the [161]dhampir is the hybrid child of the
karkanxholl (a werewolf-like creature with an iron [162]mail shirt) or
the lugat (a water-dwelling ghost or monster). The dhampir sprung of a
karkanxholl has the unique ability to discern the karkanxholl; from
this derives the expression the dhampir knows the lugat. The lugat
cannot be seen, he can only be killed by the dhampir, who himself is
usually the son of a lugat. In different regions, animals can be
revenants as lugats; also, living people during their sleep. Dhampiraj
is also an Albanian surname.^[163][27]
Identifying vampires
Many elaborate rituals were used to identify a vampire. One method of
finding a vampire's grave involved leading a virgin boy through a
graveyard or church grounds on a virgin stallion—the horse would
supposedly balk at the grave in question.^[164][22] Generally a black
horse was required, though in Albania it should be white.^[165][28]
Holes appearing in the earth over a grave were taken as a sign of
vampirism.^[166][29]
Corpses thought to be vampires were generally described as having a
healthier appearance than expected, plump and showing little or no
signs of decomposition.^[167][30] In some cases, when suspected graves
were opened, villagers even described the corpse as having fresh blood
from a victim all over its face.^[168][31] Evidence that a vampire was
active in a given locality included death of cattle, sheep, relatives
or neighbours. Folkloric vampires could also make their presence felt
by engaging in minor [169]poltergeist-like activity, such as hurling
stones on roofs or moving household objects,^[170][32] and
[171]pressing on people in their sleep.^[172][33]
Protection
An image from [173]Max Ernst's [174]Une Semaine de Bonté
Apotropaics
[175]Apotropaics, items able to ward off revenants, are common in
vampire folklore. Garlic is a common example,^[176][34] a branch of
[177]wild rose and [178]hawthorn plant are said to harm vampires, and
in Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to
keep them away.^[179][35] Other apotropaics include sacred items, for
example a [180]crucifix, [181]rosary, or [182]holy water. Vampires are
said to be unable to walk on [183]consecrated ground, such as that of
churches or temples, or cross running water.^[184][36] Although not
traditionally regarded as an apotropaic, [185]mirrors have been used to
ward off vampires when placed, facing outwards, on a door (in some
cultures, vampires do not have a reflection and sometimes do not cast a
shadow, perhaps as a manifestation of the vampire's lack of a
soul).^[186][37] This attribute, although not universal (the Greek
vrykolakas/tympanios was capable of both reflection and shadow), was
used by Bram Stoker in Dracula and has remained popular with subsequent
authors and filmmakers.^[187][38] Some traditions also hold that a
vampire cannot enter a house unless invited by the owner, although
after the first invitation they can come and go as they
please.^[188][37] Though folkloric vampires were believed to be more
active at night, they were not generally considered vulnerable to
sunlight.^[189][38]
Methods of destruction
“The Vampire”, lithograph by R. de Moraine (1864).
Methods of destroying suspected vampires varied, with [190]staking the
most commonly cited method, particularly in southern Slavic
cultures.^[191][39] [192]Ash was the preferred wood in Russia and the
Baltic states,^[193][40] or [194]hawthorn in Serbia,^[195][41] with a
record of [196]oak in [197]Silesia.^[198][42] Potential vampires were
most often staked through the heart, though the mouth was targeted in
Russia and northern Germany^[199][43]^[200][44] and the stomach in
north-eastern Serbia.^[201][45] Piercing the skin of the chest was a
way of "deflating" the bloated vampire; this is similar to the act of
burying sharp objects, such as sickles, in with the corpse, so that
they may penetrate the skin if the body bloats sufficiently while
transforming into a revenant.^[202][46] In one striking example of the
latter, the corpses of five people in graveyard near Polish village of
Dravsko dating from the 17th and 18th centuries were buried with
sickles placed around their necks or across their abdomens.^[203][47]
[204]Decapitation was the preferred method in German and western Slavic
areas, with the head buried between the feet, behind the [205]buttocks
or away from the body.^[206][39] This act was seen as a way of
hastening the departure of the soul, which in some cultures, was said
to linger in the corpse. The vampire's head, body, or clothes could
also be spiked and pinned to the earth to prevent rising.^[207][48]
[208]Romani drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and
placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the
fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the
corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. In a
16th-century burial near [209]Venice, a brick forced into the mouth of
a female corpse has been interpreted as a vampire-slaying ritual by the
archaeologists who discovered it in 2006.^[210][49] Further measures
included pouring boiling water over the grave or complete incineration
of the body. In the Balkans, a vampire could also be killed by being
shot or drowned, by repeating the funeral service, by sprinkling
[211]holy water on the body, or by [212]exorcism. In Romania, garlic
could be placed in the mouth, and as recently as the 19th century, the
precaution of shooting a bullet through the [213]coffin was taken. For
resistant cases, the body was [214]dismembered and the pieces burned,
mixed with water, and administered to family members as a cure. In
Saxon regions of Germany, a lemon was placed in the mouth of suspected
vampires.^[215][50]
In Bulgaria, over 100 skeletons with metal objects, such as plough
bits, embedded in the torso have been discovered.^[216][51]^[217][52]
Ancient beliefs
[218]Lilith (1892), by [219]John Collier
Tales of supernatural beings consuming the blood or flesh of the living
have been found in nearly every culture around the world for many
centuries.^[220][53] The term vampire did not exist in ancient times;
[221]blood drinking and similar activities were attributed to
[222]demons or [223]spirits who would eat flesh and drink blood; even
the [224]Devil was considered synonymous with the vampire.^[225][54]
Almost every nation has associated blood drinking with some kind of
revenant or demon, or in some cases a deity. In [226]India, for
example, tales of [227]vetālas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses,
have been compiled in the [228]Baitāl Pacīsī; a prominent story in the
[229]Kathāsaritsāgara tells of King [230]Vikramāditya and his nightly
quests to capture an elusive one.^[231][55] [232]Piśāca, the returned
spirits of evil-doers or those who died insane, also bear vampiric
attributes.^[233][56] The [234]Persians were one of the first
civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures
attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated
[235]pottery shards.^[236][57] Ancient [237]Babylonia and [238]Assyria
had tales of the mythical [239]Lilitu,^[240][58] synonymous with and
giving rise to [241]Lilith ([242]Hebrew לילית) and her daughters the
[243]Lilu from [244]Hebrew demonology. Lilitu was considered a demon
and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies.^[245][58]
And [246]Estries, female shape changing, blood drinking demons, were
said to roam the night among the population, seeking victims. According
to [247]Sefer Hasidim, Estries were creatures created in the twilight
hours before God rested.^[248][59] An injured Estrie could be healed by
eating bread and salt given her by her attacker.
Ancient [249]Greek and [250]Roman mythology described the
[251]Empusae,^[252][60] the [253]Lamia,^[254][61] and the [255]striges.
Over time the first two terms became general words to describe witches
and demons respectively. Empusa was the daughter of the goddess
[256]Hecate and was described as a demonic, [257]bronze-footed
creature. She feasted on blood by transforming into a young woman and
seduced men as they slept before drinking their blood.^[258][60] The
Lamia preyed on young children in their beds at night, sucking their
blood, as did the gelloudes or [259]Gello.^[260][61] Like the Lamia,
the striges feasted on children, but also preyed on young men. They
were described as having the bodies of crows or birds in general, and
were later incorporated into Roman mythology as strix, a kind of
nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood.^[261][62]
In [262]Azerbaijanese [263]mythology [264]Xortdan is the troubled soul
of the dead rising from the grave.^[265][63] Some Hortdan can be living
people with certain magical properties. Some of the properties of the
Hortdan include: the ability to transform into an animal, invisibility,
and the propensity to drain the vitality of victims via blood loss.
Medieval and later European folklore
Main article: [266]Vampire folklore by region
The 800-year-old skeleton found in [267]Bulgaria stabbed through the
chest with iron rod.^[268][64]
Many myths surrounding vampires originated during the [269]medieval
period. The 12th-century English historians and chroniclers [270]Walter
Map and [271]William of Newburgh recorded accounts of
revenants,^[272][18]^[273][65] though records in English legends of
vampiric beings after this date are scant.^[274][66] The Old Norse
[275]draugr is another medieval example of an undead creature with
similarities to vampires.^[276][67]
Vampires proper originate in folklore widely reported from Eastern
Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries. These tales formed the
basis of the vampire legend that later entered Germany and England,
where they were subsequently embellished and popularized. One of the
earliest recordings of vampire activity came from the region of
[277]Istria in modern [278]Croatia, in 1672.^[279][68] Local reports
cited the local vampire [280]Jure Grando of the village Khring near
[281]Tinjan as the cause of panic among the villagers.^[282][69] A
former peasant, Jure died in 1656; however, local villagers claimed he
returned from the dead and began drinking blood from the people and
sexually harassing his widow. The village leader ordered a stake to be
driven through his heart, but when the method failed to kill him, he
was subsequently beheaded with better results.^[283][70] That was the
first case in history that a real person had been described as a
vampire.
During the 18th century, there was a frenzy of vampire sightings in
Eastern Europe, with frequent stakings and grave diggings to identify
and kill the potential revenants; even government officials engaged in
the hunting and staking of vampires.^[284][71] Despite being called the
[285]Age of Enlightenment, during which most folkloric legends were
quelled, the belief in vampires increased dramatically, resulting in a
mass hysteria throughout most of Europe.^[286][18] The panic began with
an outbreak of alleged vampire attacks in [287]East Prussia in 1721 and
in the [288]Habsburg Monarchy from 1725 to 1734, which spread to other
localities. Two famous vampire cases, the first to be officially
recorded, involved the corpses of [289]Petar Blagojevich and Arnold
Paole from Serbia. Blagojevich was reported to have died at the age of
62, but allegedly returned after his death asking his son for food.
When the son refused, he was found dead the following day. Blagojevich
supposedly returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of
blood.^[290][71] In the second case, Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer
who allegedly was attacked by a vampire years before, died while
[291]haying. After his death, people began to die in the surrounding
area and it was widely believed that Paole had returned to prey on the
neighbours.^[292][72] Another famous Serbian legend involving vampires
concentrates around a certain [293]Sava Savanović living in a watermill
and killing and drinking blood from millers. The character was later
used in a story written by [294]Serbian writer [295]Milovan Glišić and
in the Yugoslav 1973 horror film [296]Leptirica inspired by the story.
The two incidents were well-documented; government officials examined
the bodies, wrote case reports, and published books throughout
Europe.^[297][72] The hysteria, commonly referred to as the
"18th-Century Vampire Controversy", raged for a generation. The problem
was exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-claimed vampire attacks,
undoubtedly caused by the higher amount of superstition that was
present in village communities, with locals digging up bodies and in
some cases, staking them. Although many scholars reported during this
period that vampires did not exist, and attributed reports to premature
burial or [298]rabies, [299]superstitious belief increased. [300]Dom
Augustine Calmet, a well-respected French [301]theologian and scholar,
put together a comprehensive treatise in 1746, which was ambiguous
concerning the existence of vampires. Calmet amassed reports of vampire
incidents; numerous readers, including both a critical [302]Voltaire
and supportive [303]demonologists, interpreted the treatise as claiming
that vampires existed.^[304][73] In his [305]Philosophical Dictionary,
Voltaire wrote:^[306][74]
These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night
to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or
stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons
so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into [307]consumption; while
the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent
appetite. It was in [308]Poland, Hungary, Silesia, [309]Moravia,
Austria, and [310]Lorraine, that the dead made this good cheer.
Some theological disputes arose. The non-decay of vampires’ bodies
could recall the incorruption of the bodies of the saints of the
Catholic Church. A paragraph on vampires was included in the second
edition (1749) of De servorum Dei beatificatione et sanctorum
canonizatione, On the beatification of the servants of God and on
canonization of the blessed, written by Prospero Lambertini (Pope
Benedict XIV).^[311][75] In his opinion, while the incorruption of the
bodies of saints was the effect of a divine intervention, all the
phenomena attributed to vampires were purely natural or the fruit of
“imagination, terror and fear”. In other words, vampires did not
exist^[312][76]
The controversy only ceased when Empress [313]Maria Theresa of Austria
sent her personal physician, [314]Gerard van Swieten, to investigate
the claims of vampiric entities. He concluded that vampires did not
exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and
desecration of bodies, sounding the end of the vampire epidemics.
Despite this condemnation, the vampire lived on in artistic works and
in local superstition.^[315][73]
Non-European beliefs
Africa
Various regions of Africa have folktales featuring beings with vampiric
abilities: in West Africa the [316]Ashanti people tell of the
iron-toothed and tree-dwelling [317]asanbosam,^[318][77] and the
[319]Ewe people of the [320]adze, which can take the form of a
[321]firefly and hunts children.^[322][78] The eastern Cape region has
the [323]impundulu, which can take the form of a large taloned bird and
can summon thunder and lightning, and the [324]Betsileo people of
[325]Madagascar tell of the ramanga, an outlaw or living vampire who
drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles.^[326][79]
The Americas
The [327]Loogaroo is an example of how a vampire belief can result from
a combination of beliefs, here a mixture of French and African Vodu or
[328]voodoo. The term Loogaroo possibly comes from the French
[329]loup-garou (meaning "werewolf") and is common in the [330]culture
of Mauritius. However, the stories of the Loogaroo are widespread
through the [331]Caribbean Islands and [332]Louisiana in the United
States.^[333][80] Similar female monsters are the [334]Soucouyant of
[335]Trinidad, and the [336]Tunda and [337]Patasola of [338]Colombian
folklore, while the [339]Mapuche of southern [340]Chile have the
bloodsucking snake known as the [341]Peuchen.^[342][81] [343]Aloe vera
hung backwards behind or near a door was thought to ward off vampiric
beings in South American superstition.^[344][26] Aztec mythology
described tales of the [345]Cihuateteo, skeletal-faced spirits of those
who died in childbirth who stole children and entered into sexual
liaisons with the living, driving them mad.^[346][22]
During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires was
[347]widespread in parts of New England, particularly in [348]Rhode
Island and Eastern [349]Connecticut. There are many documented cases of
families disinterring loved ones and removing their hearts in the
belief that the deceased was a vampire who was responsible for sickness
and death in the family, although the term "vampire" was never actually
used to describe the deceased. The deadly disease [350]tuberculosis, or
"consumption" as it was known at the time, was believed to be caused by
nightly visitations on the part of a dead family member who had died of
consumption themselves.^[351][82] The most famous, and most recently
recorded, case of suspected vampirism is that of nineteen-year-old
[352]Mercy Brown, who died in [353]Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892. Her
father, assisted by the family physician, removed her from her tomb two
months after her death, cut out her heart and burned it to
ashes.^[354][83]
Asia
Rooted in older folklore, the modern belief in vampires spread
throughout Asia with tales of ghoulish entities from the mainland, to
vampiric beings from the islands of Southeast Asia.
South Asia also developed other vampiric legends. The [355]Bhūta or
Prét is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. It wanders around
animating dead bodies at night, attacking the living much like a
[356]ghoul.^[357][84] In northern India, there is the BrahmarākŞhasa, a
vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull
from which it drank blood. The figure of the [358]Vetala who appears in
South Asian legend and story may sometimes be rendered as "Vampire"
(see the section on "Ancient Beliefs" above).
Although vampires have appeared in [359]Japanese cinema since the late
1950s, the folklore behind it is western in origin.^[360][85] However,
the [361]Nukekubi is a being whose head and neck detach from its body
to fly about seeking human prey at night.^[362][86] There's also the
Kitsune who are spiritual vampires that need life force to survive and
use magic. As such, they acquire it from making love with humans.
The [363]manananggal of Philippine mythology
Legends of female vampire-like beings who can detach parts of their
upper body also occur in the [364]Philippines, Malaysia and
[365]Indonesia. There are two main vampire-like creatures in the
[366]Philippines: the [367]Tagalog [368]Mandurugo ("blood-sucker") and
the [369]Visayan [370]Manananggal ("self-segmenter"). The mandurugo is
a variety of the [371]aswang that takes the form of an attractive girl
by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, thread-like tongue by
night. The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim. The
manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of
severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge
bat-like wings and prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in
their homes. They use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck
[372]fetuses from these pregnant women. They also prefer to eat
entrails (specifically the [373]heart and the [374]liver) and the
phlegm of sick people.^[375][87]
The [376]Malaysian [377]Penanggalan may be either a beautiful old or
young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of
[378]black magic or other unnatural means, and is most commonly
described in local folklore to be dark or demonic in nature. She is
able to detach her fanged head which flies around in the night looking
for blood, typically from pregnant women.^[379][88] Malaysians would
hang jeruju (thistles) around the doors and windows of houses, hoping
the Penanggalan would not enter for fear of catching its intestines on
the thorns.^[380][89] The [381]Leyak is a similar being from
[382]Balinese folklore.^[383][90] A Kuntilanak or Matianak in
Indonesia,^[384][91] or [385]Pontianak or Langsuir in
Malaysia,^[386][92] is a woman who died during childbirth and became
undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. She appeared as an
attractive woman with long black hair that covered a hole in the back
of her neck, with which she sucked the blood of children. Filling the
hole with her hair would drive her off. Corpses had their mouths filled
with glass beads, eggs under each armpit, and needles in their palms to
prevent them from becoming langsuir. This description would also fit
the [387]Sundel Bolongs.^[388][93]
[389]Jiangshi, sometimes called "Chinese vampires" by Westerners, are
reanimated corpses that hop around, killing living creatures to absorb
life essence ([390]qì) from their victims. They are said to be created
when a person's soul (魄 [391]pò) fails to leave the deceased's
body.^[392][94] However, some have disputed the comparison of jiang shi
with vampires, as jiang shi are usually represented as mindless
creatures with no independent thought.^[393][95] One unusual feature of
this monster is its greenish-white furry skin, perhaps derived from
fungus or [394]mould growing on corpses.^[395][96] Jiangshi legends
have inspired a [396]genre of jiangshi films and literature in Hong
Kong and East Asia. Films like [397]Encounters of the Spooky Kind and
[398]Mr. Vampire were released during the jiangshi cinematic boom of
the 1980s and 1990s.^[399][97]^[400][98]
Modern beliefs
In modern fiction, the vampire tends to be depicted as a suave,
charismatic [401]villain.^[402][20] Despite the general disbelief in
vampiric entities, occasional sightings of vampires are reported.
Indeed, vampire hunting societies still exist, although they are
largely formed for social reasons.^[403][18] Allegations of vampire
attacks swept through the African country of [404]Malawi during late
2002 and early 2003, with mobs stoning one individual to death and
attacking at least four others, including Governor [405]Eric Chiwaya,
based on the belief that the government was colluding with
vampires.^[406][99]
In early 1970 local press spread rumours that a vampire haunted
[407]Highgate Cemetery in London. Amateur vampire hunters flocked in
large numbers to the cemetery. Several books have been written about
the case, notably by Sean Manchester, a local man who was among the
first to suggest the existence of the "[408]Highgate Vampire" and who
later claimed to have [409]exorcised and destroyed a whole nest of
vampires in the area.^[410][100] In January 2005, rumours circulated
that an attacker had bitten a number of people in [411]Birmingham,
England, fuelling concerns about a vampire roaming the streets.
However, local police stated that no such crime had been reported and
that the case appears to be an [412]urban legend.^[413][101]
The female vampire costume
In 2006, a physics professor at the [414]University of Central Florida
wrote a paper arguing that it is mathematically impossible for vampires
to exist, based on [415]geometric progression. According to the paper,
if the first vampire had appeared on 1 January 1600, and it fed once a
month (which is less often than what is depicted in films and
folklore), and every victim turned into a vampire, then within two and
a half years the entire human population of the time would have become
vampires.^[416][102] The paper made no attempt to address the
credibility of the assumption that every vampire victim would turn into
a vampire.
In one of the more notable cases of vampiric entities in the modern
age, the [417]chupacabra ("goat-sucker") of [418]Puerto Rico and
[419]Mexico is said to be a creature that feeds upon the flesh or
drinks the blood of [420]domesticated animals, leading some to consider
it a kind of vampire. The "chupacabra hysteria" was frequently
associated with deep economic and political crises, particularly during
the mid-1990s.^[421][103]
In Europe, where much of the vampire folklore originates, the vampire
is usually considered a fictitious being, although many communities may
have embraced the revenant for economic purposes. In some cases,
especially in small localities, vampire superstition is still rampant
and sightings or claims of vampire attacks occur frequently. In
[422]Romania during February 2004, several relatives of Toma Petre
feared that he had become a vampire. They dug up his corpse, tore out
his heart, burned it, and mixed the ashes with water in order to drink
it.^[423][104]
Vampirism and the [424]Vampire lifestyle also represent a relevant part
of modern day's [425]occultist movements.^[426][105] The mythos of the
vampire, his [427]magickal qualities, allure, and predatory archetype
express a strong symbolism that can be used in ritual, energy work, and
magick, and can even be adopted as a spiritual system.^[428][106] The
vampire has been part of the occult society in Europe for centuries and
has spread into the American sub-culture as well for more than a
decade, being strongly influenced by and mixed with the [429]neo gothic
aesthetics.^[430][107]
Collective noun
'[431]Coven' has been used as a collective noun for vampires, possibly
based on the [432]Wiccan usage. An alternative collective noun is a
'house' of vampires.^[433][108] David Malki, author of [434]Wondermark,
suggests in Wondermark No. 566 the use of the collective noun
'basement', as in "A basement of vampires."^[435][109]
Origins of vampire beliefs
Commentators have offered many theories for the origins of vampire
beliefs, trying to explain the superstition – and sometimes mass
hysteria – caused by vampires. Everything ranging from [436]premature
burial to the early ignorance of the body's [437]decomposition cycle
after death has been cited as the cause for the belief in vampires.
Pathology
Decomposition
Paul Barber in his book Vampires, Burial and Death has described that
belief in vampires resulted from people of [438]pre-industrial
societies attempting to explain the natural, but to them inexplicable,
process of death and decomposition.^[439][110]
People sometimes suspected vampirism when a cadaver did not look as
they thought a normal corpse should when disinterred. However, rates of
decomposition vary depending on temperature and soil composition, and
many of the signs are little known. This has led vampire hunters to
mistakenly conclude that a dead body had not decomposed at all, or,
ironically, to interpret signs of decomposition as signs of continued
life.^[440][111] Corpses swell as gases from decomposition accumulate
in the torso and the increased pressure forces blood to ooze from the
nose and mouth. This causes the body to look "plump," "well-fed," and
"ruddy"—changes that are all the more striking if the person was pale
or thin in life. In the [441]Arnold Paole case, an old woman's exhumed
corpse was judged by her neighbours to look more plump and healthy than
she had ever looked in life.^[442][112] The exuding blood gave the
impression that the corpse had recently been engaging in vampiric
activity.^[443][31] Darkening of the skin is also caused by
decomposition.^[444][113] The staking of a swollen, decomposing body
could cause the body to bleed and force the accumulated gases to escape
the body. This could produce a groan-like sound when the gases moved
past the vocal cords, or a sound reminiscent of [445]flatulence when
they passed through the anus. The official reporting on the [446]Petar
Blagojevich case speaks of "other wild signs which I pass by out of
high respect".^[447][114]
After death, the skin and gums lose fluids and contract, exposing the
roots of the hair, nails, and teeth, even teeth that were concealed in
the jaw. This can produce the illusion that the hair, nails, and teeth
have grown. At a certain stage, the nails fall off and the skin peels
away, as reported in the Blagojevich case—the [448]dermis and [449]nail
beds emerging underneath were interpreted as "new skin" and "new
nails".^[450][114]
Premature burial
It has also been hypothesized that vampire legends were influenced by
individuals being [451]buried alive because of shortcomings in the
medical knowledge of the time. In some cases in which people reported
sounds emanating from a specific coffin, it was later dug up and
fingernail marks were discovered on the inside from the victim trying
to escape. In other cases the person would hit their heads, noses or
faces and it would appear that they had been "feeding."^[452][115] A
problem with this theory is the question of how people presumably
buried alive managed to stay alive for any extended period without
food, water or fresh air. An alternate explanation for noise is the
bubbling of escaping gases from natural decomposition of
bodies.^[453][116] Another likely cause of disordered tombs is
[454]grave robbing.^[455][117]
Contagion
Folkloric vampirism has been associated with clusters of deaths from
unidentifiable or mysterious illnesses, usually within the same family
or the same small community.^[456][82] The epidemic allusion is obvious
in the classical cases of [457]Petar Blagojevich and Arnold Paole, and
even more so in the case of Mercy Brown and in the vampire beliefs of
New England generally, where a specific disease, tuberculosis, was
associated with outbreaks of vampirism. As with the pneumonic form of
[458]bubonic plague, it was associated with breakdown of lung tissue
which would cause blood to appear at the lips.^[459][118]
Porphyria
In 1985 biochemist [460]David Dolphin proposed a link between the rare
blood disorder [461]porphyria and vampire folklore. Noting that the
condition is treated by intravenous [462]haem, he suggested that the
consumption of large amounts of blood may result in haem being
transported somehow across the stomach wall and into the bloodstream.
Thus vampires were merely sufferers of porphyria seeking to replace
haem and alleviate their symptoms.^[463][119] The theory has been
rebuffed medically as suggestions that porphyria sufferers crave the
haem in human blood, or that the consumption of blood might ease the
symptoms of porphyria, are based on a misunderstanding of the disease.
Furthermore, Dolphin was noted to have confused fictional
(bloodsucking) vampires with those of folklore, many of whom were not
noted to drink blood.^[464][120] Similarly, a parallel is made between
sensitivity to sunlight by sufferers, yet this was associated with
fictional and not folkloric vampires. In any case, Dolphin did not go
on to publish his work more widely.^[465][121] Despite being dismissed
by experts, the link gained media attention^[466][122] and entered
popular modern folklore.^[467][123]
Rabies
[468]Rabies has been linked with vampire folklore. Dr Juan
Gómez-Alonso, a neurologist at Xeral Hospital in [469]Vigo, Spain,
examined this possibility in a report in [470]Neurology. The
susceptibility to garlic and light could be due to hypersensitivity,
which is a symptom of rabies. The disease can also affect portions of
the brain that could lead to disturbance of normal sleep patterns (thus
becoming nocturnal) and [471]hypersexuality. Legend once said a man was
not rabid if he could look at his own reflection (an allusion to the
legend that vampires have no reflection). Wolves and bats, which are
often associated with vampires, can be carriers of rabies. The disease
can also lead to a drive to bite others and to a bloody frothing at the
mouth.^[472][124]^[473][125]
Psychodynamic understanding
In his 1931 treatise On the Nightmare, [474]Welsh [475]psychoanalyst
[476]Ernest Jones asserted that vampires are symbolic of several
unconscious drives and [477]defence mechanisms. Emotions such as love,
guilt, and hate fuel the idea of the return of the dead to the grave.
Desiring a reunion with loved ones, mourners may [478]project the idea
that the recently dead must in return yearn the same. From this arises
the belief that folkloric vampires and revenants visit relatives,
particularly their spouses, first.^[479][126] In cases where there was
unconscious guilt associated with the relationship, however, the wish
for reunion may be subverted by anxiety. This may lead to
[480]repression, which [481]Sigmund Freud had linked with the
development of morbid dread.^[482][127] Jones surmised in this case the
original wish of a (sexual) reunion may be drastically changed: desire
is replaced by fear; love is replaced by sadism, and the object or
loved one is replaced by an unknown entity. The sexual aspect may or
may not be present.^[483][128] Some modern critics have proposed a
simpler theory: People identify with immortal vampires because, by so
doing, they overcome, or at least temporarily escape from, their fear
of dying.^[484][129]
The innate sexuality of bloodsucking can be seen in its intrinsic
connection with [485]cannibalism and folkloric one with
[486]incubus-like behaviour. Many legends report various beings
draining other fluids from victims, an unconscious association with
[487]semen being obvious. Finally Jones notes that when more normal
aspects of sexuality are repressed, regressed forms may be expressed,
in particular [488]sadism; he felt that [489]oral sadism is integral in
vampiric behaviour.^[490][130]
Political interpretation
The reinvention of the vampire myth in the modern era is not without
political overtones.^[491][131] The aristocratic Count Dracula, alone
in his castle apart from a few demented retainers, appearing only at
night to feed on his peasantry, is symbolic of the parasitic
[492]Ancien regime. In his entry for "Vampires" in the Dictionnaire
philosophique (1764), Voltaire notices how the end of the 18th century
coincided with the decline of the folkloric belief in the existence of
vampires but that now "there were stock-jobbers, brokers, and men of
business, who sucked the blood of the people in broad daylight; but
they were not dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived not in
cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces".^[493][132] Marx defined
capital as "dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking
living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it
sucks".^[494][133] [495]Werner Herzog, in his [496]Nosferatu the
Vampyre, gives this political interpretation an extra ironic twist when
protagonist [497]Jonathon Harker, a middle-class solicitor, becomes the
next vampire; in this way the capitalist [498]bourgeois becomes the
next parasitic class.^[499][134]
Psychopathology
A number of murderers have performed seemingly vampiric rituals upon
their victims. [500]Serial killers [501]Peter Kürten and [502]Richard
Trenton Chase were both called "vampires" in the [503]tabloids after
they were discovered drinking the blood of the people they murdered.
Similarly, in 1932, an unsolved murder case in [504]Stockholm, Sweden
was nicknamed the "[505]Vampire murder", because of the circumstances
of the victim's death.^[506][135] The late-16th-century Hungarian
countess and mass murderer [507]Elizabeth Báthory became particularly
infamous in later centuries' works, which depicted her bathing in her
victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth.^[508][136]
Modern vampire subcultures
Vampire lifestyle is a term for a contemporary subculture of people,
largely within the [509]Goth subculture, who consume the blood of
others as a pastime; drawing from the rich recent history of popular
culture related to cult symbolism, [510]horror films, the fiction of
[511]Anne Rice, and the styles of Victorian England.^[512][137] Active
vampirism within the vampire subculture includes both blood-related
vampirism, commonly referred to as sanguine vampirism, and [513]psychic
vampirism, or supposed feeding from [514]pranic energy.^[515][105]
Vampire bats
Main article: [516]Vampire bat
A [517]vampire bat in Peru
Although many cultures have stories about them, [518]vampire bats have
only recently become an integral part of the traditional vampire lore.
Indeed, vampire bats were only integrated into vampire folklore when
they were discovered on the South American mainland in the 16th
century.^[519][138] Although there are no vampire bats in Europe,
[520]bats and [521]owls have long been associated with the supernatural
and omens, although mainly because of their nocturnal
habits,^[522][138]^[523][139] and in modern English [524]heraldic
tradition, a bat means "Awareness of the powers of darkness and
chaos".^[525][140]
The three species of actual vampire bats are all [526]endemic to Latin
America, and there is no evidence to suggest that they had any [527]Old
World relatives within human memory. It is therefore impossible that
the folkloric vampire represents a distorted presentation or memory of
the vampire bat. The bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather
than vice versa; the Oxford English Dictionary records their folkloric
use in English from 1734 and the zoological not until 1774. Although
the vampire bat's bite is usually not harmful to a person, the bat has
been known to actively feed on humans and large prey such as cattle and
often leave the trademark, two-prong bite mark on its victim's
skin.^[528][138]
The literary [529]Dracula transforms into a bat several times in the
novel, and vampire bats themselves are mentioned twice in it. The 1927
stage production of Dracula followed the novel in having Dracula turn
into a bat, as did the [530]film, where [531]Béla Lugosi would
transform into a bat.^[532][138] The bat transformation scene would
again be used by [533]Lon Chaney Jr. in 1943's [534]Son of
Dracula.^[535][141]
In modern fiction
[536]Count Dracula as portrayed by [537]Béla Lugosi in 1931's
[538]Dracula
Main article: [539]List of fictional vampires
The vampire is now a fixture in popular fiction. Such fiction began
with 18th-century poetry and continued with 19th-century short stories,
the first and most influential of which was [540]John Polidori's The
Vampyre (1819), featuring the vampire [541]Lord Ruthven.^[542][142]
Lord Ruthven's exploits were further explored in a series of vampire
plays in which he was the anti-hero. The vampire theme continued in
[543]penny dreadful serial publications such as [544]Varney the Vampire
(1847) and culminated in the pre-eminent vampire novel of all time:
[545]Dracula by Bram Stoker, published in 1897.^[546][143] Over time,
some attributes now regarded as integral became incorporated into the
vampire's profile: fangs and vulnerability to sunlight appeared over
the course of the 19th century, with Varney the Vampire and [547]Count
Dracula both bearing protruding teeth,^[548][144] and [549]Murnau's
[550]Nosferatu (1922) fearing daylight.^[551][145] The cloak appeared
in stage productions of the 1920s, with a high collar introduced by
playwright [552]Hamilton Deane to help Dracula 'vanish' on
stage.^[553][146] Lord Ruthven and Varney were able to be healed by
moonlight, although no account of this is known in traditional
folklore.^[554][147] Implied though not often explicitly documented in
folklore, [555]immortality is one attribute which features heavily in
vampire film and literature. Much is made of the price of eternal life,
namely the incessant need for blood of former equals.^[556][148]
Literature
Main article: [557]Vampire literature
"[558]Carmilla" by [559]D. H. Friston, 1872, from The Dark Blue
The vampire or revenant first appeared in poems such as The Vampire
(1748) by [560]Heinrich August Ossenfelder, [561]Lenore (1773) by
[562]Gottfried August Bürger, Die Braut von Corinth (The Bride of
Corinth) (1797) by [563]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, [564]Robert
Southey's Thalaba the Destroyer (1801), [565]John Stagg's "The Vampyre"
(1810), [566]Percy Bysshe Shelley's [567]"The Spectral Horseman" (1810)
("Nor a yelling vampire reeking with gore") and "Ballad" in [568]St.
Irvyne (1811) about a reanimated corpse, Sister Rosa, [569]Samuel
Taylor Coleridge's unfinished [570]Christabel and [571]Lord Byron's
[572]The Giaour.^[573][149] Byron was also credited with the first
prose fiction piece concerned with vampires: The Vampyre (1819).
However this was in reality authored by Byron's personal physician,
[574]John Polidori, who adapted an enigmatic fragmentary tale of his
illustrious patient, "Fragment of a Novel" (1819), also known as "The
Burial: A Fragment".^[575][18]^[576][143] Byron's own dominating
personality, mediated by his lover [577]Lady Caroline Lamb in her
unflattering roman-a-clef, Glenarvon (a Gothic fantasia based on
Byron's wild life), was used as a model for Polidori's undead
protagonist [578]Lord Ruthven. The Vampyre was highly successful and
the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century.^[579][2]
[580]Varney the Vampire was a landmark popular mid-[581]Victorian era
[582]gothic horror story by [583]James Malcolm Rymer and [584]Thomas
Peckett Prest, which first appeared from 1845 to 1847 in a series of
pamphlets generally referred to as [585]penny dreadfuls because of
their inexpensive price and typically gruesome contents.^[586][142] The
story was published in book form in 1847 and runs to 868
double-columned pages. It has a distinctly suspenseful style, using
vivid imagery to describe the horrifying exploits of Varney.^[587][147]
Another important addition to the genre was [588]Sheridan Le Fanu's
[589]lesbian vampire story [590]Carmilla (1871). Like Varney before
her, the vampire Carmilla is portrayed in a somewhat sympathetic light
as the compulsion of her condition is highlighted.^[591][150]
No effort to depict vampires in popular fiction was as influential or
as definitive as [592]Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).^[593][151] Its
portrayal of vampirism as a disease of contagious demonic possession,
with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in
[594]Victorian Europe where tuberculosis and [595]syphilis were common.
The vampiric traits described in Stoker's work merged with and
dominated folkloric tradition, eventually evolving into the modern
fictional vampire.^[596][142] Drawing on past works such as The Vampyre
and "Carmilla", Stoker began to research his new book in the late 19th
century, reading works such as The Land Beyond the Forest (1888) by
[597]Emily Gerard and other books about Transylvania and vampires. In
London, a colleague mentioned to him the story of [598]Vlad Ţepeş, the
"real-life Dracula," and Stoker immediately incorporated this story
into his book. The first chapter of the book was omitted when it was
published in 1897, but it was released in 1914 as Dracula's
Guest.^[599][152]
The latter part of the 20th century saw the rise of multi-volume
vampire epics. The first of these was Gothic romance writer
[600]Marilyn Ross' [601]Barnabas Collins series (1966–71), loosely
based on the contemporary American TV series [602]Dark Shadows. It also
set the trend for seeing vampires as poetic [603]tragic heroes rather
than as the more traditional embodiment of evil. This formula was
followed in novelist Anne Rice's highly popular and influential
[604]Vampire Chronicles (1976–2003).^[605][153]
The 21st century brought more examples of vampire fiction, such as
[606]J.R. Ward's [607]Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and other highly
popular vampire books which appeal to teenagers and young adults. Such
vampiric [608]paranormal romance novels and allied vampiric
[609]chick-lit and vampiric [610]occult detective stories are a
remarkably popular and ever-expanding contemporary publishing
phenomenon.^[611][154] [612]L.A. Banks' [613]The Vampire Huntress
Legend Series, [614]Laurell K. Hamilton's erotic [615]Anita Blake:
Vampire Hunter series, and [616]Kim Harrison's [617]The Hollows series,
portray the vampire in a variety of new perspectives, some of them
unrelated to the original legends. Vampires in the [618]Twilight series
(2005–2008) by [619]Stephenie Meyer ignore the effects of garlic and
crosses, and are not harmed by sunlight (although it does reveal their
supernatural nature).^[620][155] [621]Richelle Mead further deviates
from traditional vampires in her [622]Vampire Academy series
(2007–present), basing the novels on Romanian lore with two races of
vampires, one good and one evil, as well as half-vampires.^[623][156]
Film and television
Main article: [624]Vampire film
Iconic scene from [625]F. W. Murnau's [626]Nosferatu, 1922
Considered one of the preeminent figures of the classic horror film,
the vampire has proven to be a rich subject for the film and gaming
industries. [627]Dracula is a major character in more films than any
other but [628]Sherlock Holmes, and many early films were either based
on the novel of Dracula or closely derived from it. These included the
landmark 1922 German silent film [629]Nosferatu, directed by [630]F. W.
Murnau and featuring the first film portrayal of Dracula—although names
and characters were intended to mimic Dracula's, Murnau could not
obtain permission to do so from Stoker's widow, and had to alter many
aspects of the film. In addition to this film was Universal's
[631]Dracula (1931), starring Béla Lugosi as the Count in what was the
first talking film to portray Dracula. The decade saw several more
vampire films, most notably [632]Dracula's Daughter in 1936.^[633][157]
The legend of the vampire was cemented in the film industry when
Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation with the celebrated
[634]Hammer Horror series of films, starring [635]Christopher Lee as
the Count. The successful 1958 [636]Dracula starring Lee was followed
by seven sequels. Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these and
became well known in the role.^[637][158] By the 1970s, vampires in
films had diversified with works such as [638]Count Yorga, Vampire
(1970), an African Count in 1972's [639]Blacula, the BBC's [640]Count
Dracula featuring French actor [641]Louis Jourdan as Dracula and
[642]Frank Finlay as Abraham Van Helsing, and a Nosferatu-like vampire
in 1979's [643]Salem's Lot, and a remake of Nosferatu itself, titled
[644]Nosferatu the Vampyre with [645]Klaus Kinski the same year.
Several films featured female, often lesbian, vampire antagonists such
as Hammer Horror's [646]The Vampire Lovers (1970) based on Carmilla,
though the plotlines still revolved around a central evil vampire
character.^[647][158]
The pilot for the Dan Curtis 1972 television series [648]Kolchak: The
Night Stalker revolved around reporter Carl Kolchak hunting a vampire
on the Las Vegas strip. Later films showed more diversity in plotline,
with some focusing on the vampire-hunter, such as [649]Blade in the
[650]Marvel Comics' [651]Blade films and the film [652]Buffy the
Vampire Slayer.^[653][142] Buffy, released in 1992, foreshadowed a
vampiric presence on television, with adaptation to a long-running hit
[654]TV series of the same name and its spin-off [655]Angel. Still
others showed the vampire as protagonist, such as 1983's [656]The
Hunger, 1994's [657]Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
and its indirect sequel of sorts [658]Queen of the Damned, and the 2007
series [659]Moonlight. [660]Bram Stoker's Dracula was a noteworthy 1992
film which became the then-highest grossing vampire film
ever.^[661][159] This increase of interest in vampiric plotlines led to
the vampire being depicted in films such as [662]Underworld and
[663]Van Helsing, and the Russian [664]Night Watch and a TV miniseries
remake of [665]'Salem's Lot, both from 2004. The series [666]Blood Ties
premiered on [667]Lifetime Television in 2007, featuring a character
portrayed as Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of [668]Henry VIII of
England turned vampire, in modern-day [669]Toronto, with a female
former Toronto detective in the starring role. A 2008 series from HBO,
entitled [670]True Blood, gives a [671]Southern take to the vampire
theme.^[672][155] In the same year the [673]BBC Three series [674]Being
Human became popular in Britain. It featured an unconventional trio of
a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who are sharing a flat in
[675]Bristol.^[676][160]^[677][161] Another popular vampire-related
show is CW's [678]The Vampire Diaries. The continuing popularity of the
vampire theme has been ascribed to a combination of two factors: the
representation of [679]sexuality and the perennial dread of
mortality.^[680][162] Another "vampiric" series that has come out
between 2008 and 2012 is the [681]Twilight Saga, a series of films
based on the book series of the same name.
In quite another type of depiction, [682]Count von Count, a harmless
and friendly vampire parodying Bela Lugosi's depictions, is a major
character on the children's television series [683]Sesame Street. He
teaches counting and simple arithmetic through his compulsion to count
everything, a trait he shares with certain other vampires of folklore.
Games
The [684]role-playing game [685]Vampire: the Masquerade has been
influential upon modern vampire fiction and elements of its
terminology, such as embrace and sire, appear in contemporary
fiction.^[686][142] Popular [687]video games about vampires include
[688]Castlevania, which is an extension of the original Bram Stoker
Dracula novel, and [689]Legacy of Kain.^[690][163] Vampires are also
sporadically portrayed in other games, including [691]The Elder Scrolls
IV: Oblivion, when a character can become afflicted with porphyric
haemophilia.^[692][164] A different take on vampires is presented in
Bethesda's other game [693]Fallout 3 with "The Family". Members of the
Family are afflicted with a manic desire to [694]consume human flesh,
but restrict themselves to drinking blood to avoid becoming complete
monsters.^[695][165]
[1121]Categories:
* [1122]Corporeal undead
* [1123]Shapeshifting
* [1124]Supernatural legends
* [1125]Slavic legendary creatures
* [1126]Vampires
* [1127]Vampirism
* [1128]Mythic humanoids
Myth & Lore:
A vampire feeds on the life essence of their victims. This usually
occurs by drinking the blood of their victim. The reasons that the
vampire needs blood to survive varies from culture to culture. Some
feel that the vampire needs blood to flow through their veins to keep
their bodies animated and limit the damage of decay. Others feel that
the beasts feed as a sadistic habit in order to wreak havoc and fear.
This theory of course also makes on think that it may not be the blood
that animates the vampire, but the fear & pain. Vampires aren't
particular they will drink the blood of animals as well as humans.
The most obvious characteristic that you think of when referring to the
vampire is of course that the creature is dead a yet walks among the
living. Most tales of vampirism tell us that these beings have fangs,
are afraid of sunlight, they can shape-shift, (i.e. bats and wolves),
they cry tears of blood, sleep in a coffin during the day and have
extreme levels of strength and speed. Of course it goes without saying
that this creature is immortal, unless of course killed using the
proper methods.
As stated before different cultures have different myths about the
vampires. For instancing European beliefs the vampire is dead, zombie
like, hideously deformed from death and inherently evil. Whereas the
American legend has been handed to us by Hollywood. The creature is a
sensual, desirable one. Most of our movies and fiction combine the myth
and legend of Europe, but also adds the dash of Americana, making this
being a seductive beauty, with brawn as well as brains, and sometimes
even a dash of compassion.
Who is a vampire? Are you predestined from birth to become one of the
undead? In older lore vampires were people who died unnaturally and
couldn't face the fact that they were truly dead. In my research I
found some really fun and interesting ways of becoming one with the
undead. The most common way of becoming is of course being bitten by a
vampire. From here on the becoming is very bizarre. Lets start with
some of the predisposition's; being conceived on a holy day, being
weaned too early, being born the seventh son of the seventh son or
receiving a curse. The last two are my personal favorites a mother who
did not eat enough salt during pregnancy and a mother being stared at
by a vampire while pregnant. Enough of predisposition's, lets move onto
ways that you can cause yourself to become a vampire. Common beliefs in
older lore include being a witch or were-wolf, being cruel or evil
person, committing suicide, being murdered or being the murderer. All
these things can make you a vampire upon death. But wait, there are
more ways to be a do-it-yourselfer. These are my personal favorites in
this category; eating sheep killed by a wolf, leading an immoral life,
(i.e. prostitutes & treacherous barmaids), or (for a priest) saying
mass while in the state of mortal sin. For the Europeans after death
becomings include; wind from the Russian Steppe blowing on the corpse
and being buried face up in the grave, the latter of the two believed
in certain parts of Romania. Other after death causes of the becoming
are; having a cat or other animal jump or fly over a corpse, having a
shadow fall on a corpse, no burial or improper burial rites, murder
that is unrevenged, having ones brother sleep walk (?), death by
drowning and finally stealing the ropes used to bury the corpse. So my
research turned up many way to become a vampire.
How do you detect that someone is a vampire? Ever wonder if your
friends, family or teachers are just Vampires leeching you dry? The
following suggestions are taken basically from old myths and lore. If
you find a corpse that is bloated, showed blood in the mouth, grew long
nails and hair chances are that you are dealing with a vampire. (Of
course in modern times we have realized that the previous conditions
are all part of decomposition.) To detect a vampire at graveside or in
the cemetery, if you are not looking for anyone in particular, first
look for fingersized holes around the grave, look for disturbed dirt,
constant mists, disturbed coffins, moved or fallen tombstones
footprints leading to and from the grave, (just make sure that they
aren't your own), no birds singing, dogs barking and refusing to enter
the cemetery, geese screaming when near the suspected grave and last,
but not least, groaning sounds from under the earth.
If you think that someone you know has been a victim of vampirism or
might possibly be a vampire here are some ways of detection. If the
supposed victim suffers from one or more of the following list chances
are that you are dealing with the undead. Things to look for are
sleeplessness, nightmares, anemia, bite marks on the neck, (dead give
away), exhaustion, nervousness, irritability, sleepwalking, difficulty
in breathing, no appetite, weight loss, aversion to garlic, strange
dental growths and photosensitivity. All taken together means that you
are either dealing with a vampire or a parent of young children.
The appearance of the suggested vampire is also important. You should
look for the following; fangs, red eyes, long fingernails, paleness,
reluctance to enter a house without an invitation, hairy palms and
aversion to bright lights. Also look to see if your family and/or
friends have a reflection or cast a shadow.
Once you have determined that you are dealing with the undead, the
following information is to help you prevent, protect and destroy your
evil demon. Prevention for pre-burial is fun, here is just a sampling
of what I found; destroyed vampire that caused death, close all
windows, prevent moonlight from falling on the corpse, cover all
mirrors, (keep in mind that these are old rituals used when people
still buried their own), place corn or garlic in mouth and cover all
standing water. Now for some of my personal favorites; pour incense
into eyes, nose and ears of victim. Bind the body of the victim by
tying the mouth shut, tying legs or feet together, weld the toes
together (?), and then wrap in carpet or net. Decapitate the corpse and
place the head under the arm or between legs or bury it in a separate
grave. The number one favorite to prevent a loved one from becoming one
of the undead, stretch a dead cat or dog across the threshold to the
house.
If your prevention does not work, then you should try to protect
yourself and your loved ones from the same fate. Garlic of course is
one well-known method. It can be used on windows, doors, around the
neck and under armpits (?); if you mix it with water it can be
sprinkled or sprayed throughout an area. Also try fishnets on windows,
doors and graves, for some unknown reason vampires are obsessed with
untangling objects. Seeds are another way to protect yourself, just
sprinkle into yard or walkways; vampires are compelled to count seeds
(i.e. the count on Sesame Street). Holy water is yet another popular
way of protection. Bells ringing will keep the undead away if ringing
constantly. My last suggestion would be placing mirrors on the doors,
because, as one author put it, it really annoys the vampire that they
cannot see their own reflection.
If your prevention does not work, then you should try to protect
yourself and your loved ones from the same fate. Garlic of course is
one well-known method. It can be used on windows, doors, around the
neck and under armpits (?); if you mix it with water it can be
sprinkled or sprayed throughout an area. Also try fishnets on windows,
doors and graves, for some unknown reason vampires are obsessed with
untangling objects. Seeds are another way to protect yourself, just
sprinkle into yard or walkways; vampires are compelled to count seeds
(i.e. the count on Sesame Street). Holy water is yet another popular
way of protection. Bells ringing will keep the undead away if ringing
constantly. My last suggestion would be placing mirrors on the doors,
because, as one author put it, it really annoys the vampire that they
cannot see their own reflection.
Now that I have given you the information to detect, prevent and
protect yourself from the evil critters, lets move onto Myths of the
creation of the vampire. Many authors have written about vampires and
their creation, but the story or myth that is my favorite is the "Myth
of Merrydeath" by an unknown author.
The tale tells of a beautiful queen ruling for her children in ancient
times. Keep in mind that this is a time when men were still new to the
earth. Queen Meredith had taken a lover after years of being alone due
to the king's death. Her lover was Mambayan, a warrior chieftain and
close friend of the king. Well as all good love stories go, her lover
was wounded in battle. Also around the same time a vampfara was
imprisoned in the castle keep. Meredith tried everything in her power
to save Manbayan, but to no avail. Death was imminent. An old crone
suggested that since the vampfara appeared to be able to heal itself,
maybe they should try the blood of the vampfara to heal Manbayan.
Meredith formed an idea in her mind to visit the vampfara and request
his help. That very same night she did visit the vampfara. When she
requested his blood to save her lover. The vampfara thought about her
request and he requested his freedom in return. He told her that she
must carry his blood inside of her, as it had to be kept warm. He bit
her and drank her blood greedily and just as she was about to die he
sliced his wrist and held it to her mouth, making her drink his blood.
Then he told her that in order to save her lover she must repeat the
same procedure. Of course they have now died and been made into
vampires. The kingdom rebelled against the lovers who now walked with
the undead and cast them out. As the story goes they are still roaming
the night together and the vampfarant was freed as per agreement. That
is the myth of Queen Merrydeath.
History:
When you think about vampires usually the first name that you think of
is Dracula. Bram Stoker is the man who penned the famous novel
"Dracula". It is thought this story that most of us are introduced to
vampires.
"Dracula" was actually based on a true Romanian Prince named Vlad
Tepes, (pronounced Tzepesh). He was seen as a hero by his countrymen.
According to most legend he was considered a fair, but very cruel man.
Most of the information about this prince has been handed down to us by
verbal tradition in his homeland, and by Russian and German pamphlets
printed shortly after his death. The verbal form tells us of his
conquests for his country, whereas the pamphlets portrayed him as an
evil demon.
The name Dracula (draculaea) simply means son of the Dracul. The name
Dracul seems a little harder to decipher. Some say that it means demon
or devil, while other historians assert that Vlad the II belonged as a
knight of the order of the dragon, hence the surname dracul- dragon,
the insignia of the order was a dragon being knocked down by a cross.
The knights were a group of Slavic rulers and warlords sworn to uphold
the Christian faith against the Turks. The name Tepes is also report to
mean "the impaler".
So that was the history of the name, but who was this man so closely
connected to the vampire. His life started off well as the son of the
prince of Wallachia. At a young age he was captured by the Turks and
imprisoned by the Sultan. It has been suggested that Vlad developed his
sadistic tendencies during his captivity, as he would not convert his
allegiance to the Sultan. Vlad was eventually released as the Turks
thought him subdued.
Vlad the III actually ruled Wallachia three separate times as the
prince or voevod (warlord). He first ruled in 1448, he left the throne
the same year because he realized that at that moment in time he was
not strong enough to defeat the Turks. His second term as ruler began
in 1456. He ruled well with the help of his allies, he ensured peace in
his country. He was always depicted as a sever ruler. He was ousted by
his brother with the help of the Turks, in 1462. His third and final
rule only lasted a month in 1476. At this time he was beaten in battle
by the Turks and killed afterward. His head was presented to the Sultan
as proof of his death and his body buried in a monastery. An
interesting footnote to this story is that when Dracula- Vlad Tepes the
III's grave was later opened all that was found was a pile of horse
bones.
Of course there were reasons why the Turks were afraid of Dracula and
his countrymen considered him so severe in his punishments. Vlad the
III was known as the impaler because that is how he killed many of his
opponents. There are numerous stories that tell of the atrocities
committed by the man.
One story tells of how he impaled his victims in geometric patterns,
the height of the stake indicated the rank of the victim. The corpses
were often left rotting for months as a deterrent to the Turkish
armies. Vlad was not just an impaler, he also had a few other tortures
that he seemed to favor such as, nails in the head, cutting off limbs,
blinding, strangulation, burning, mutilation of sexual organs, scalping
and skinning. The list seems to go on and on, too morbid to continue.
He did not like the noblemen of his country, because they were
untrustworthy, and he often employed his methods of torture against
them as well as his enemies. At one point he even had his noblemen
building Dracula Castle. It has also been reported that he was not fond
of the ailing or poor. To rid his country of these people he held a
feast for them. At the end of the feast ordered his soldiers to bar up
the exits and burn the great hall to the ground. His reason for this
was so that the poor and invalid would no longer be a burden to his
countrymen.
There is never any mention of Vlad the III being a Vampire, just a
sadistic ruler. Vlad was a hero to his people, even though his methods
of his punishment were unequivocally severe and cruel. He helped defeat
the Turks and kept them out of Romania for many years. I have used many
different sources for this history and all tell the tale a little
differently, but the same basic premise is the same throughout all
sources. (See acknowledgements at the end of the article.)
There are other famous people in history that were considered vampires.
In the next few paragraphs I will tell of Elizabeth Bathory, the
Vampire of Croglin Range, Arnold Paole, John George Haige, Fritz
Haarmann, Martin Dummolard and Peter Kurten.
Elizabeth Bathory was a Transylvanian noblewoman born in 1560. She was
married to Count Ferencz Nadasdy. By the age of 25 years old she became
obsessed with her beauty and terrified of growing old. When her husband
died in 1604 Elizabeth moved back to her family lands in Vienna. She
began to practice certain forms of sorcery, which included attending
rituals that sacrificed animals.
Elizabeth became obsessed with blood by accident. She was correcting a
servant girl for not performing her duties to the satisfaction of the
countess. Elizabeth went after the young girl with a pair of scissors.
Her blood was splayed over Elizabeth, whom upon cleaning discovered
that it made her skin more youthful. This started her descent into
hell; it is thought that she participated in the murders of over 600
young girls. She preferred the blood of younger girls and considered
them to be her fountain of youth. She would torture her victims for
weeks and sometimes month before actually killing them. By December of
1610, only six years after the death of her husband, she was brought to
trial for her atrocities and found guilty. Due to the fact that she was
a noblewoman she would not be put to death for her crimes. She was
sentenced to life imprisonment in her own home. She was placed in a
small room with no windows or doors, only an opening for food to passed
through and slits for air. The documents of her trial were sealed, when
later found they were not completely intact. The rumors still
circulated that not only did she bath in the blood of her victims, but
she also drank it as well.
The vampire of Croglin Range is another interesting story. There is no
exact name given to this creature, but when chased by one of the
victim's families, it disappeared into an old family crypt that had
been in the town for hundreds of years. When the vault was opened by
the town's people it was discovered that all the coffins but one had
been destroyed. Inside the remaining coffin was a mummified corpse with
a fresh bullet wound. The villagers disturbed by this sight of the
corpse removed the vile being and burnt it on a funeral pyre. That
vampire visits the town of Croglin Range no more.
Arnold Paole is another unique character in history. This story is
actually documented and can be found in a few history books from the
area. Arnold Paole was from Medvenga, near Belgrade. The story goes
that he returned home from Greece in 1727, where he had served in the
army. Upon his return he married a local girl. He often told her that
he feared an early demise. Sure enough, while working on his farm he
fell from a great height and was returned home, he from internal
injuries within a few days. After a month townspeople had begun
reporting that they had seen Arnold in their homes. These people soon
turned up dead from reasons unknown. Arnold's body was exhumed. When
the coffin was opened they found the body had experienced no
decomposition, old skin and nails had been replaced by new. There was
even fresh blood on his lips. A member of the group that had exhumed
the body staked Arnold. The corpse sat up and screamed, fresh blood
flowed from the wound. The group then began to do the same to all of
Arnold's victims, careful to surround the bodies with garlic. All was
quiet until 1732 when there was another group of unexplained deaths.
The town took no chances this time and exhumed all of the corpses to
investigate. Again they found no decomposition among the bodies, so
they performed the ritual again. One theory explaining the second
outbreak was that Arnold had also attacked cattle as well as people and
when the cattle was slaughtered for meat and consumed the vampire
qualities were passed on to the innocent victims.
John George Haige was another character in history whose claim to fame
was vampirism. In 1944 the "Acid Bath Vampire" was born. John had a
troubled youth in Wakefield, England. He claimed to have a reoccurring
dream about a forest of crucifixes, the crucifixes would turn into
trees dripping blood. There was a man there to collect the blood and
offer it to John, but that was when he would wake up, never tasting the
offering. He would later rent a basement workshop and shortly
thereafter commit his first murder. He only drained enough fresh blood
from his first victim to fill a cup, which he would drink. Then he
would dispose of the body by dumping it into a bathtub and pouring acid
on it, letting it melt until only sludge would remain. Then he would
gather the sludge and dump it down a manhole located in the workshop.
He killed many victims this way and was caught because of his
increasing acid orders. This led to his arrest, where he confessed
everything. It only took a Jury 15 minutes to deliberate and return
with a guilty verdict. He was hung on August 10, 1949.
Another fun character was Fritz Haarmann. He and two accomplices
committed many grisly murders. Fritz was into cannibalism and like
biting his victims on the throat. His other good qualities consisted of
being a child molester and selling the flesh of his victims to
unsuspecting customers in his cook-shop. Fritz was beheaded in April of
1925. His brain was donated to science for research.
Martin Dummolard was a man possessed by a woman. He was called the
"Monster of Montluel". Martin met his mistress Justine Lafayette when
he moved into her boarding house. Martin would drink the blood of his
victims and take the fleshier parts home for Justine to eat. They
murdered close to eighty girls before being caught in 1888. Justine was
beheaded by the guillotine, and Martin spent the remainder of his life
in an asylum for the criminally insane.
Our final story takes place in Germany and is about a man named Peter
Kurten. The "Vampire of Dusseldorf" as he was known, was the son of an
alcoholic father and a mother who just didn't care about anything. He
was a truck driver, a bespectacled little man, very unassuming,
however, this man was able to assault or murder twenty-nine people
during his reign of terror. His victims were strangled, raped and then
he would slit their throats so that he could drink their blood. He
married, hoping that it help him to control his urges. This did not
work. He was a devoted husband by day and an evil creature by night.
Eventually, he confessed his crimes to his wife, who then turned him in
to the police. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1931. He
wrote letters to the families of his victims, stating with no remorse
that some people crave alcohol, where as, he craved blood and
apparently needed some kind of sexual fulfillment.
Of course these are just a small sampling of those in history that were
considered vampires. These people needed or craved blood to survive
just as our Vampires of lore needed blood to survive.
Are there really vampires? That is for you the reader to decide. Those
who lust for blood must have some reason for this need, but again that
is for you to decide.If you have any questions please contact me at
[2]cat@theshadowlands.com. I will do my best to answer them.
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17 Historical & Mythical ‘Facts’ About Vampires
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phactvamp1
Oh sure, you’ve watched plenty of vampire movies and think you know all
there is about these bloodsucking creatures. Nope. You’ll feel pretty
silly if you run into a real vampire one day and haven’t read up on how
to defend yourself. Come with me into this list if you want to live.
(1) The word “vampire” springs from many possible origins and scholars
heartily enjoy debating the subject. The word may have come from the
Hungarian “vampir” or the Turkish “upier,” which means witch. There’s
also a possible Greek origin from the word “to drink” or “plague
carrier” and the Serbo-Croatian “pirati.” Regardless of the origin,
these words all refer to immortal, blood-sucking humans.
(2) Do you think vampires don’t exist? They probably don’t, but a group
of diseases known as “Porphyrias” can give someone vampire-like
symptoms. This condition is caused by bacteria and must be treated fast
(within 72 hours) by antibiotics before it becomes incurable. This
“vampire disease” changes the person’s blood and skin chemistry. They
develop photosensitivity, muscle weakness, seizures, and a slow
heartbeat. Unfortunately, they don’t gain all the cool parts of being a
vampire, like immortality, speed, or the desire to wear velvet at all
times.
phactvamp4
(3) Vampire lore dates back way back to 4000 BC with ancient Sumerian
and Babylonian myths. According to these myths, a vengeful spirit or
demon called an “ekimmu” would return after improper burial to feed
upon the living.
(4) Ancient Egyptians believed in vampires. The Egyptian Book of the
Dead believed that the “ka” (part of the soul) must receive proper
offerings, or it would leave its tomb to ravage the living. Egyptians
also believed in the warrior goddess Sekhmet, who slaughtered hordes of
men and fed upon their blood. Indian lore believes in a similar
goddess, Kaliof.
(5) Ancient Chinese myths believed in a vampire-like species called
“ch’iang shigh” (or corpse-hopper”) with red eyes and ginormous claws.
These creatures were fueled by an overwhelming sexual drive and, as
such, primarily attacked women. In later stages, the ch’iang shih were
believed to fly and transform into wolves.
(6) Throughout Europe, archeologists have discovered giant stone
monuments called “dolmens,” which were placed over graves to prevent
suspected vampires from rising from the dead. They also found that mass
hysteria throughout the continent led to corpse mutilation and public
executions of all those suspected of vampirism.
(7) One of the most enduring tales of a “true vampire” is the legend of
Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who lived from 1560-1614. She tortured
young virgins and bit their flesh before bathing in their blood to make
herself more beautiful and eternally youthful. Her list of victims
reportedly topped 650. Bathory died four years after being placed into
solitary confinement for her crimes.
(8) Much modern vampire folklore is based upon Vlad the Impaler (or
Vlad of Walachia), who lived in Romania from 1431-1476. His heinous
acts including skinning people alive and drinking their blood. Vlad was
known for enjoying his meals while surrounded by Ottoman Turks (impaled
from the rear to mouth) throughout the room. At one point, 20,000 dead
bodies decorated the outside of his castle as a message to all his
enemies.
(9) Some historians believe England’s Prince Charles is a descendant of
Vlad the Bad. Charles has made light of this revelation by once joking
that he has “A bit of a stake in [Romania].” Nice.
(10) Vlad’s legacy really messed with Romanians’ minds. People believed
that a child could be made a vampire if a spell was cast during
pregnancy or childbirth. Other possible “causes” included a cat or dog
walking over a grave, being buried wrong, being a seventh son, being
born illegitimate or as a byproduct of one parent having sex with a
vampire, or committing suicide. Oh, and never eat sheep meat or lamb
meat killed by a wolf. That’s a surefire way to vamp out.
(11) The myth that vampires sleep in coffins started when gravediggers
and morticians observed corpses that suddenly sat up. This phenomenon,
while disturbing, can be explained by the decomposition process.
(12) If a vampire should approach and bite you, there are options to
avoid vamping out. You could try eating garlic (widely believed to
protect from evil spirits as a gift from God), wearing hawthorn
branches as a head wreath, donning iron jewelry, or spreading salt all
over your house. OR you could go really hardcore and eat the ashes of a
burned vampire (good luck with that one).
(13) To prevent a vampire entering your home, avoid being dumb enough
to invite one over your threshold. Holy water, crucifixes, Eucharist
wafers, bells, peppermint, running water, fire and scattered seeds are
also ways to ward off the undead. There’s also the theory that burying
a corpse face down will keep them from rising up (or maybe they’ll
simply dig their way to China).
(14) The creators of Count von Count from Sesame Street played upon the
vampire myth of seed counting. Vampires are allegedly compelled to
count seeds, which will keep them occupied until the sun rises. Worth a
try in a pinch.
(15) The legend that vampires don’t have a reflection started with the
theory that they lose their souls after coming back to earth. People
thought that mirrors reflect both body and soul, and if you don’t have
a soul, the mirror won’t bother to acknowledge your existence. To
further complicate matters for the undead, mirrors used to contain
silver, which wards off vampires.
(16) A group of vampires can be referred to as many things, including
“Run Fast!” In medieval times, vampires were referred to as belonging
to packs, clans, or covens. Members of the modern day Sanguinarian
(blood drinking) movement refer to themselves as Vampirists. In role
playing games like Vampire: The Masquerade, the undead are organized
into clans or bloodlines.
dracula-1
(17) Film and literature continue to keep the vampire dream alive. Bram
Stoker’s Dracula was written in 1897 and remains a key influence. One
of the first vampire movies is 1912’s Secrets of the House (1912).
Nosferatu followed in 1922, but Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in 1931
really set the ball rolling. Lugosi’s dashing and ravishing
aristocratic take on the bloodsucker became an inspiration for most
vampire movies and books that followed. As of the year 2000, over 300
movies and 1000 books about vampires existed.
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[52]Science on [53]NBCNews.com
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* Image:
Summit Entertainment
"Eclipse," opening June 30, is the third big-screen adaptation of
Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series of vampire romance novels. The
stories revolve around the tangled relationship between the human
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and the vampire Edward Cullen (Robert
Pattinson). Heartthrob vampires are, of course, fictional creatures
drawn from a rich history of myth and reality. Click ahead to learn
more.
* Bloodsucking humans in medieval times
Image:
Matteo Borrini / AP
This 16th-century woman, whose remains were excavated during an
archaeological dig near Venice, apparently had a brick shoved into
her trap because she was thought to have a thirst for human blood.
Scholars trace the myth that humans rise from the dead and suck the
blood of others to medieval ignorance about how diseases spread and
bodies decompose.
When mass graves were re-opened during epidemics to deposit fresh
corpses, the diggers often encountered older, bloated bodies with
blood seeping out of their mouths — conditions that scientists now
know result from the buildup of gases in decomposing organs. In
earlier times, however, this was regarded as a sign that the
corpses were drinking the blood of others.
Medieval Italians thought that the only known way to kill the
undead was to stick a brick in their mouths so that they would
starve, according to Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist and
anthropologist at Florence University.
This skull with a mouthful of brick, he said, is "evidence of
exorcism against a vampire."
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Bloodthirsty bats in the mythological mix
Image:
Bat Conservation Int'l
Bloodthirsty bats entered the vampire mythology when explorers of
the New World returned to Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries
with tales of winged mammals that fed on the blood of humans and
their livestock under the cover of night, biologist Bill Schutt
says in his book "Dark Banquet." Schutt distinguishes between the
real-life bloodsuckers of the animal world ("vampires") and the
mythical creatures ("vampyres" with a "y").
"Gradually, the folklore of vampyrism began to incorporate the bat
and batlike characteristics into its lexicon. Bats were prime
candidates for superstition and unwarranted fear, and they would
become forever linked to vampyrism in 1897 with the publication of
Bram Stoker's novel, 'Dracula,'" he writes.
* Dracula based on a Romanian warlord
Image:
www.RomaniaTourism.com
The Dracula character was inspired by a 15th-century Romanian
warlord who impaled his victims with a wooden stake and then
covered the landscape with the decaying bodies to scare off his
enemies.
This warlord was named Vlad III. Vlad II, his father, was
indoctrinated into the Order of the Dragon around 1431 and was
thereafter known as Vlad Dracul.
Vlad III's impaling ways had earned him the nickname Vlad Tepes, or
Vald the Impaler. Those who preferred to avoid the "impaler" title
instead called him Dracula, which translates to "son of the
Dragon."
The historical Dracula, however, was never associated with vampire
lore until Stoker's novel, Paul Barber notes in a Skeptical
Inquirer essay entitled "Staking Claims: The Vampires of Folklore
and Fiction." This fact seems lost on thousands of tourists each
year who visit Romania to see Bran's Castle, marketed as Dracula's
Castle.
* Porphyria: The 'vampire disease'?
Image:
American Academy of Dermatology
An Internet search on the words porphyria and vampire results in
hundreds of links to Web pages explaining — and often debunking —
the association between the group of rare blood disorders and the
origins of vampire myths.
Porphyrias are characterized by irregularities in the conversion of
chemical compounds called porphryins into a substance called heme,
an iron-rich pigment in the blood. This irregularity causes a
buildup of porphryins.
Symptoms of some forms of porphyria include sensitivity to
sunlight, a la Dracula, that causes skin rashes such as the one
shown here.
A few scholars have suggested that vampires of folklore actually
suffered porphyria and sought to treat themselves by drinking
blood. Barber notes in his Skeptical Inquirer essay that this idea
is widely perpetuated "even though we have no evidence either that
drinking blood would alleviate the symptoms of porphyria or that
any live people were accused of drinking blood — it was always
corpses."
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Vampire bats lick, not suck, blood
Image:
Getty File
Perhaps sucking sounds sexier than licking — but truth be told,
vampire bats lick their victims' blood instead of sucking it down,
according to scientists who study the creatures. The bats use heat
sensors to locate veins and cut into them with sharp teeth. As
blood oozes out, the mammals lick it up. A chemical in vampire bat
saliva prevents the victim's blood from clotting, allowing the bat
to feed uninterrupted. Side note: A drug based on this bat-saliva
chemical helps prevent strokes and heart attacks in humans.
* Bats aren't the only blood-feeders
Image:
Michael Wann / Harold Harlan
The infusion of bats into vampire lore has given the winged mammals
extra attention, taking the spotlight off even creepier critters
and creatures that reap their nutrition from human blood.
High up on Bill Schutt's list are bedbugs, which have staged a
historic comeback in recent years to the torment of everyone, even
guests at ritzy hotels. Experts blame the resurgence on everything
from the bugs hitching a ride back to the States in the luggage of
international travelers to ineffective means of pest control such
as bait traps in lieu of pesticides.
Another bloodsucker occasionally in the news is the leech, which is
widely used in medicine for skin grafts and reattachment surgeries.
An infamously notable application of the latter was the repair of
John Wayne Bobbit's widely publicized penile amputation in 1993.
© 2013 msnbc.com. [70]Reprints
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[124]Books Generic wolf motif Vampires: Facts and Myths
The book contains information on lesser vampires like fleders and
garkains, as well as higher vampires, including alps and bruxae. It
describes methods of fighting blood-drinkers and dispels myths that
have accumulated concerning these monsters.
A tome analysing folk myths about [125]vampires and providing accurate
information about blood-drinkers like alps, bruxae, fleders and
garkains.
[126]Journal entries [127][yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAQAICTAEAOw%3D%3D] Edit
Monsters:
o [128]Alp
o [129]Bruxa
o [130]Fleder
o [131]Garkain
Ingredients:
o [132]Abomination lymph
o [133]Alp Fangs
o [134]Bruxa blood
o [135]Fleder fangs
o [136]Garkain saliva
o [137]Naezan salts
o [138]Wing membrane
Price [139][yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAQAICTAEAOw%3D%3D] Edit
Buy Sell
600 [140]Items Oren 120 [141]Items Oren
Location [142][yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAQAICTAEAOw%3D%3D] Edit
* [143]Bookseller in [144]Tanner's Square in the [145]Trade Quarter.
* The [146]Hermit in the [147]Fields sells it.
* This book can also be chosen as a reward for the [148]Hunting the
Wild Hunt quest for the same Hermit.
Retrieved from
"[149]http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Vampires:_Facts_and_Myths?oldid=133
584"
[150]Categories:
* [151]The Witcher books
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Vampire
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology | 2001
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.
Vampire
Russian vampir, South Russian upuir, probably from the root pi, to
drain, with the prefix va, or av. A dead person who returns in spirit
form from the grave for the purpose of sucking the blood of living
persons, or a living sorcerer who takes a special form for destructive
purpose. Webster's International Dictionary defines a vampire as "a
blood-sucking ghost or reanimated body of a dead person; a soul or
re-animated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave and
wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, causing
their death."
The belief in vampires is an ancient one. It was found in ancient
[58]India, [59]Babylonia, [60]Greece, and for a time accepted by early
[61]Christians. The conception of the vampire was common among Slavonic
peoples, especially in the Balkan countries and in [62]Hungary,
[63]Bohemia, [64]Moravia, and [65]Silesia.
In these territories from 1730 to 1735, there was a claimed epidemic of
vampirism, but it was by no means confined there. In [66]Russia and the
[67]Ukraine it was believed that vampires were generally wizards or
sorcerers, but in [68]Bulgaria and [69]Serbia it was thought that any
corpse over which a cat or a dog jumped or over which a bird flew was
liable to become a vampire. In Greece, a vampire was known as a
broncolaia or bourkabakos, which was identified with the Slavonic name
for "werewolf," vlkodlak, or vukodlak. The vampire, too, was often
supposed to steal the heart of his victim and to roast it over a slow
fire, thus causing interminable amorous longings.
Marks of Vampirism
Vampirism is said to be epidemic in character: where one instance is
discovered it is almost invariably followed by several others. It is
believed that the victim of a vampire pines away and dies and becomes
in turn a vampire after death, and so duly infects others.
After the disinterment of a suspected vampire, various well-known signs
are looked for by experienced persons. Thus, if several holes about the
breadth of a man's finger are observed in the soil above the grave, the
vampire character of its occupant may be suspected. The corpse is
usually found with wide-open eyes, ruddy, life-like complexion and
lips, a general appearance of freshness, and shows no signs of
corruption.
It may also be found that the hair and nails have grown as in life. On
the throat, two small livid marks may be observed. The coffin is also
very often full of blood, the body has a swollen and gorged appearance,
and the shroud is frequently half-devoured. The blood contained in the
veins of the corpse is found, on examination, to be in a fluid
condition as in life, and the limbs are pliant and have none of the
rigidity of death.
Examples of Vampirism
Many tales of vampirism have been recorded. Charles Ferdinand de
Schertz, in his work Magia Posthuma, printed at Olmutz in 1706, related
several stories of apparitions of this sort.
One, among others, was of a herdsman of the village of Blow near the
town of Kadam in Bohemia, who visited several persons who all died
within eight days.
At last, the inhabitants of Blow dug up the herdsman's body and fixed
it in the ground with a stake driven through it. The man, even in this
condition, laughed at the action of the people about him and told them
they were very obliging to furnish him with a stick with which to
defend himself.
The same night, he extricated himself from the stake, frightened
several persons by appearing to them, and caused the deaths of many
more individuals. He was then delivered into the hands of the hangman,
who put him into a cart in order to burn him outside the town. As they
went along, the carcass shrieked in the most hideous manner and moved
as if it were alive, and upon being again run through with a stake, it
gave a loud cry, and a great quantity of fresh blood issued from the
wound. At last, the body was burned to ashes.
Augustine Calmet, in his Dissertation on Vampires appended to his
Dissertation upon the Apparitions of Angels, Demons, and Ghosts
(English translation, 1759), gave several instances of vampirism:
"It is now about fifteen years since a soldier, who was quartered in
the house of a Haidamack peasant, upon the frontiers of Hungary, saw,
as he was at the table with his landlord, a stranger come in and sit
down by them. The master of the house and the rest of the company were
strangely terrified, but the soldier knew not what to make of it. The
next day the peasant died, and, upon the soldier's enquiring into the
meaning of it, he was told that it was his landlord's father who had
been dead and buried above ten years that came and sat down at table,
and gave his son notice of his death.
"The soldier soon propagated the story through his regiment, and by
this means it reached the general officers, who commissioned the count
de Cabreras … to make an exact enquiry into the fact. The count,
attended by several officers, a surgeon, and a notary, came to the
house, and took the deposition of all the family, who unanimously swore
that the spectre was the landlord's father, and that all the soldier
had said was strictly true. The same was also attested by all the
inhabitants of the village.
"In consequence of this the body of the spectre was dug up, and found
to be in the same state as if it has been but just dead…. The count de
Cabreras ordered its head to be cut off, and the corpse to be buried
again. He then proceeded to take depositions against other spectres of
the same sort, and particularly against a man who had been dead above
thirty years, and had made his appearance there several times in his
own house at meal-time. At his first visit he had fastened upon the
neck of his own brother, and sucked his blood; at his second, he had
treated one of his children in the same manner; and the third time, he
fastened upon a servant of the family, and all three died upon the
spot.
"Upon this evidence, the count gave orders that he should be dug up,
and being found, like the first, with his blood in a fluid state, as if
he had been alive, a great nail was drove through his temples, and he
was buried again. The count ordered a third to be burnt, who had been
dead above sixteen years, and was found guilty of murdering two of his
own children by sucking their blood.
"The gentleman who acquainted me with all these particulars, had them
from the count de Cabreras himself, at Fribourg in Brisgau, in the year
1730."
Other cases alluded to by Calmet are as follows:
"In the part of Hungary … on the other side of the Tibiscus,… the
people named Heydukes have a notion that there are dead persons, called
by them vampires, which suck the blood of the living, so as to make
them fall away visibly to skin and bones, while the carcasses
themselves, like leeches, are filled with blood to such a degree that
it comes out at all the apertures of their body. This notion has lately
been confirmed by several facts.
"About five years ago, an Heyduke, named Arnold Paul, an inhabitant of
Medreiga, was killed by a cart full of hay that fell upon him. About
thirty days after his death, four persons died suddenly, with all the
symptoms usually attending those who are killed by vampires. It was
then remembered that this Arnold Paul had frequently told a story of
his having been tormented by a Turkish vampire, in the neighbourhood of
Cassova, upon the borders of Turkish Servia (for the notion is that
those who have been passive vampires in their life-time become active
ones after death; or, in other words, that those who have had their
blood sucked become suckers in their turn) but that he had been cured
by eating some of the earth upon the vampire's grave, and by rubbing
himself with his blood. This precaution, however, did not hinder him
from being guilty himself after his death; for, upon digging up his
corpse forty days after his burial, he was found to have all the marks
of an arch-vampire. His body was fresh and ruddy, his hair, beard, and
nails were grown, and his veins were full of fluid blood, which ran
from all parts of his body upon the shroud that he was buried in. The
hadnagy, or bailiff of the village, who was present at the digging up
of the corpse, and was very expert in the whole business of vampirism,
ordered a sharp stake to be drove quite through the body of the
deceased, and to let it pass through his heart, which is attended with
a hideous cry from the carcass, as if it had been alive. This ceremony
being performed, they cut off the head, and burnt the body to ashes.
After this, they proceeded in the same manner with the four other
persons that died of vampirism, lest they also should be troublesome.
But all these executions could not hinder this dreadful prodigy from
appearing again last year, at the distance of five years from its first
breaking out. In the space of three months, seventeen persons of
different ages and sexes died of vampirism, some without any previous
illness, and others after languishing two or three days. Among others,
it was said, that a girl, named Stanoska, … went to bed in perfect
health, but awoke in the middle of the night, trembling, and crying out
that the son of the Heyduke Millo, who died about nine weeks before,
had almost strangled her while she was asleep. From that time she fell
into a languishing state, and died at three days' end. Her evidence
against Millo's son was looked upon as a proof of his being a vampire,
and, upon digging up his body, he was found to be such.
"At the consultation of the principal inhabitants of the place, … it
was considered how it was possible that the plague of vampirism should
break out afresh, after the precautions that had been taken some years
before: and, at last, it was found out that the original offender,
Arnold Paul, had not only destroyed the four persons mentioned above,
but had killed several beasts, which the late vampires, and
particularly the son of Millo, had fed upon. Upon this foundation a
resolution was taken to dig up all the persons that had died within a
certain time. Out of forty were found seventeen, with all the evident
tokens of vampirism; and they had all stakes drove through their
hearts, their heads cut off, their bodies burnt, and their ashes thrown
into the river."
Methods of Extirpation
The commonest methods of extirpation of vampires are beheading the
suspected corpse, taking out the heart, impaling the corpse with a
white-thorn stake (in Russia an aspen), and burning it. Sometimes more
than one or all of these precautions is taken.
Instances are on record where the graves of as many as thirty or forty
persons have been disturbed during the course of an epidemic of
suspected vampirism and their occupants impaled or beheaded.
Persons who dread the visits or attacks of a vampire sleep with a
wreath made of garlic round the neck, as garlic is supposed to be
especially obnoxious to the vampire.
When impaled, the vampire is usually said to emit a dreadful cry, but
it has been pointed out that intestinal gas may be forced through the
throat by the entry of the stake into the body, and that this may
account for the sound.
The method of discovering a vampire's grave in Serbia was to place a
virgin boy upon a coal-black stallion which had never served a mare and
to mark the spot that the horse refused to pass. An officer quartered
in Wallachia wrote to Calmet, giving him an instance of this method.
A Bulgarian belief was that a wizard or sorcerer may entrap a vampire
by placing some food for which the vampire has a partiality in a
bottle. When the vampire enters in the shape of fluff, the sorcerer can
seal up the flask and throw it into the fire.
Scientific Views of Vampirism
The British custom of piercing a suicide's body with a stake would
appear to be a remnant of the belief in vampirism. Such beliefs were
also to be seen in the Polynesian tii, the Malayan hantu penyardin (a
dog-headed water demon), and the kephn of the Karens, which devoured
human souls.
The English anthropologist E. B. Tylor considered vampires to be
"causes conceived in spiritual form to account for specific facts of
wasting disease." The Russian folklorist Alexander N. Afansyev regarded
them as thunder gods and spirits of the storm, who sleep during winter
in cloud coffins and rise again in spring.
Calmet's difficulty in accepting vampires was that he could not
understand how a spirit could leave its grave and return there with
matter in the form of blood, leaving no evidence that the surface of
the earth above the grave had been stirred. But this view might be
combated by the theory of the precipitation of matter.
In modern times, it is easy to understand how individuals in an
unrecognized condition of cataleptic trance might have been prematurely
buried alive and upon regaining consciousness have struggled to escape
their horrible plight. Their bodies would have exhibited many of the
signs associated with vampires.
It is now also generally known that some individuals suffer from a
morbid fascination with human blood, and it would have been easy in the
past to associate such unnatural appetite with vampirism. The infamous
Countess Elizabeth Bathory of [70]Transylvania (d. 1614) was reputed to
have murdered nearly 700 young women in the belief that their blood
would keep her young.
No doubt the observed activities of the various types of vampire bats
(Desmodus Rufus, Didemus Yungi, Diphylla Caudata, Des-modus Rotunda )
in sucking blood from cattle and horses have helped to spread legends
of vampires. The vampire bat drinks 20 ccs of blood per day and has
been known to attack human beings. It also spreads rabies, thus
enhancing stories of a vampire plague.
Psychic Theories of Vampires
Some individuals seem to have the ability to draw some kind of psychic
energy from others. Every stage performer or public speaker is aware of
the rapport which exists between performer and audience, and many have
become expert at gaining confidence and power through some instinctive
techniques of centralizing and transforming psychic or nervous energy.
The common experience of out-of-the-body travel or astral projection
has sometimes been associated with visits to other individuals, as well
as contacts with frightening elementals on the astral plane. Some
occultists appear to have mastered techniques by which they can
astrally project, and visit their victims while asleep and drain their
vitality from them.
During the nineteenth century, the French Spiritualist Z. J. Piérart
attempted to reconcile the theory of premature burial with astral
projection by those who died after being buried alive. He wrote:
"Poor dead cataleptics, buried as if really dead in cold and dry spots
where morbid causes are incapable of effecting the destruction of their
bodies, the astral spirit enveloping itself with a fluidic ethereal
body, is prompted to quit the precincts of its tomb and to exercise on
living bodies acts peculiar to physical life, especially that of
nutrition, the result of which, by a mysterious link between soul and
body which spiritualistic science will some day explain, is forwarded
to the material body lying still within the tomb, and the latter is
thus helped to perpetuate its vital existence."
Adolphe d'Assier, in his book Posthumous Humanity (1887), admitted that
the body of the vampire may be dead but the spirit earthbound and
obsessed with the idea that the physical body must be saved from
dissolution. Consequently the dense astral body feeds on human victims
and, by some mysterious process, conveys the blood into the tomb.
Both speculations furnish explanations of the attestation of numerous
ancient chronicles that fresh blood was found in the exhumed and
uncorrupted body of dead people suspected of vampirism.
Following the occult boom of the 1950s, Bram Stoker 's powerful but
much neglected masterpiece [71]Dracula was taken up again, examined by
critics and found to be as full of vitality as during Stoker's own
lifetime. Almost by contagion, it has generated a plethora of horror
movies, plays, and other vampire thrillers.
In [72]Britain, the Dracula Society, with its general interest in
Gothic themes, pioneered tourist expeditions to Transylvania, and in
Stoker's [73]Ireland, a Bram Stoker Society was founded to honor a much
neglected Irishman. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the most active
organization was the Count Dracula Fan Club, headquartered in New York
City. However, in 1999, the club announced its closing.
Much of the interest in vampires has also been carried by fan clubs
that have grown out of television series. "Dark Shadows" fandom, from
the 1960s, had retained its vitality for over 30 years and still
attracts 400-600 members to its annual meeting. Another set of fan
clubs sprung up from "Forever Knight," the series featuring a vampire
policeman from [74]Toronto. As the century ended, vampire fandom
received an unexpected boost from the successful series, "Buffy the
Vampire Slayer."
In the 1990s, interest in vampires shifted largely to the Internet
where thousands of sites cover all aspects of the vampire world. Over
2000 sites alone were devoted just to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
show in 1999. Vampire Junction, formerly a fan magazine, was one of the
first to make the transition to the Internet and emerged as one of the
most complete guides to vampires.
(See also Dracula ; Magia Posthuma ; Monsters )
Sources:
Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1995.
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, & Death: Folklore & Reality. New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988.
Burton, Sir Richard. Vikram and the Vampire, or Tales of Hindu Devilry.
London: Tilston & Edwards, 1832. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications,
1969.
Calmet, Augustine. Dissertations Upon the Apparitions of Angels,
Demons, and Ghosts, and Concerning … Vampires. Paris: De Burel'aine,
1746. Reprint, London, 1759.
——. The Phantom World; or, The History and Philosophy of Spirits,
Apparitions, & Co. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1850; Philadelphia:
A. Hart, 1850.
De Schertz, Charles F. Magia Posthuma. Olmutz, 1706.
Dresser, Norine. American Vampires: Fans, Victims & Practitioners. New
York: W. W. Norton, 1989.
Dundas, Alan. The Vampire: A Casebook. Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1998.
Ennemoser, Joseph. The History of Magic. 2 vols. 1854. Reprint, New
York: University Books, 1970.
Frayling, Christopher, ed. Vampyres: From Lord Byron to Count Dracula.
London: Faber and Faber, 1991.
Glut, Donald F. The Dracula Book. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press,
1975.
Harenburg, Johann C. Von Vampyren. N.p., 1739.
Hartmann, Franz. Premature Burial. London: Swann Sonnenschein, 1896.
Hertz, Wilhelm. Der Werwolf. Stuttgart, 1862.
Introvigne, Massimo. La stripe de Dracula: Indagine sul vampirismpo
dall'antichita ai nostro giorni. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadari Editore,
1997.
Mackenzie, Andrew. Dracula Country. London: Arthur Barker, 1977.
Marigny, Jean. Vampires: Restless Creatures of the Night. New York:
Abrams, 1994.
McNally, Raymond T. Dracula Was a Woman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
McNally, Raymond T., and Radu Florescu. In Search of Dracula: A True
History of Dracula and Vampire Legends. New York: New York Graphic
Society, 1972. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Mannhardt, W. Über Vampirismus. (see vol. 4 of Zeitschrift für Deutsche
Mythologie und Sittenkunde ) Göttingen, 1858.
Masters, Anthony. The Natural History of the Vampire. London: Ruper
Hart-Davis, 1972; London: Mayflower 1974.
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead.
2nd edition. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999.
——. The Vampire Gallery. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1998.
——. Video Hound's Vampires on Video. Detroit, Visible Ink Press, 1996.
Miller, Elizabeth. Dracula: Sense and Nonsense. Westcliffe-on-Sea, UK:
Desert Island Books, 1998.
——. Dracula: The Shade and the Shadow. Westcliffe-on-Sea, UK: Desert
Island Books, 1998.
——. Reflection on Dracula: Ten Essays. White Rock, BC: Transylvanian
Press, 1997.
Perkowski, Jan I., ed. Vampires of the Slavs. Cambridge, Mass.: Slavica
Press, 1976.
Ralston, W. R. S. Russian Folk Tales. London: Smith, Elder, 1873.
——. The Songs of the Russian People. London, 1872. Reprint, New York:
Haskell House, 1970.
Ranfft, Michael. De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis. Leipzig, 1728.
Rickles, Laurence A. The Vampire Lectures. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1999.
Rohr, Philip. De Masticatione Mortuorum. N.p., 1679.
Ronay, Gabriel. The Dracula Myth. London: W. H. Auden, 1972; London:
Pan 1975.
Roth, Phyllis A. Bram Stoker. Boston: Twayne, 1982.
Senf, Carol A. The Vampire in Nineteenth-Century English Literature.
Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press,
1988.
Shepard, Leslie. The Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories. New York:
Citadel, 1977.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire, His Kith and Kin. London: Kegan, Paul,
1928; New York: University Books, 1960.
——. The Vampire in Europe. London: Kegan, Paul, 1929; New York:
University Books, 1962.
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vols. London, 1903-04.
Underwood, Peter. The Vampire's Bedside Companion: The Amazing World of
Vampires in Fact and Fiction. London: Leslie Frewin, 1972.
Wright, Dudley. The Book of Vampires. 2d ed. London, 1924; Causeway
Books, 1973.
Zopfius, Johan Heinrich. Dissertatio de Vampiris Seruiensibus. Halle,
1733.
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Vampires
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying | 2002 |
COPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc.
Vampires
Historians document that vampires have most often been reported as
inhabitants of shallow graves in the Eastern European countryside. Bram
Stoker portrayed [83]Dracula (1897), most renown of all revenants, as
master of a gloomy and forbidding castle. For contemporary novelist
Anne Rice, the French Quarter of [84]New Orleans has long been a
favorite milieu for the undead.
Perhaps the best place to find vampires is in the darker recesses of
the human imagination. There is something about the image of the
vampire that has attracted and fascinated as well as frightened and
repelled. Understanding the vampire, then, may be a way of
understanding some of the mysteries of the human psyche. Nevertheless,
the vampire has not been constructed entirely of moonbeams and
fantasies. There is a practical, down-to-earth side of the vampire that
deserves careful attention.
Definition and History of Vampires
The vampire seems to defy the firm, mutually exclusive categories of
being dead or alive. A vampire's biography begins with death.
Furthermore, much of the vampire's time is spent as a corpse or
corpse-impersonator. But at night, when the living lie themselves down,
up rises the apparent corpse with its dangerous cravings. In the
twenty-first century new definitional issues related to brain death,
life support systems, persistent vegetative states, and the freezing of
both embryos and cadavers (cryonic suspension) have blurred the
boundaries between life and death. It is also recognized that some
structures, such as the mosaic tobacco virus, can exhibit the
properties of either a living or nonliving structure depending upon
their situation. For much of history, though, it was the vampire who
most daringly crossed and recrossed the borders between the living and
the dead.
Vampires are sometimes referred to as "the undead" and sometimes as
revenants, reanimated corpses that drink the blood of the living to
preserve their own existence. Scholars currently believe that the word
vampire derives from the Slavic language spoken in [85]Serbia. The
consensus is that vampire derives from the Slavic verb "to drink." The
term was known in [86]England in the late seventeenth century and
entered other European languages early in the eighteenth century.
Perhaps surprisingly, this term did not make its way to the supposed
homeland of vampires—Hungary and Transylvania—until some time
afterward.
The vampire (by whatever name) may have been with humankind since
earliest times. In his The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype
(1963), the analytical psychologist Erich Neumann suggests that early
civilizations had an intensely conflicted attitude toward both the
earth and femininity.
In the myths and tales of all people, ages, and countries—and even
in the nightmares of our own nights—witches and vampires, ghouls and
specters, assail us, all terrifyingly alike. . . . This Terrible
Mother is the hungry earth, which devours its own children. (Neumann
1963, pp.148–149)
Neumann offers many examples of rituals and artifacts to support his
belief that the vampire is an ancient and universal symbol of the Great
Mother swallowing up her own creations in order to recycle them in new
form. However, this dramatic idea remains in need of more evidence for
the supposed prevalence of vampirism in the ancient world and does not
explain why males have been in the clear majority among vampire ranks
(until the twentieth century). Scholars also reject the assumption that
vampires are part of all world cultures. Native-American traditions,
for example, have their own creatures of the night, such as the
skinwalkers (restless spirits of the dead who sometimes make themselves
visible), but these do not fit the precise profile of the vampire. A
plausible case could be made for a widespread fear of the dead in many
cultures, but not necessarily for belief in blood-sucking revenants.
It is clear that vampirism had a secure place in Slavic superstitions
for many years before it became a household word with the publication
of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). The author transformed these folk
stories into a dark gothic romance. His leading character was inspired
by a character he did not have to invent: Vlad Tepes, a
fifteenth-century tyrant who slaughtered and sometimes tortured
thousands of people. "Vlad the Impaler" was no vampire, though; he did
his terrible deeds while alive and had a hearty appetite that did not
include sucking blood. Stoker, using literary license, combined the
historical Vlad with vampire legends and added a veneer of Victorian
culture. Separating fact from fantasy became increasingly difficult as
popular literary and theatrical vampires distanced themselves from
their roots in anxiety-ridden folklore. Inquiring minds have therefore
been following the trail of the vampire, classifying and explaining as
best they can.
Folk and Literary Vampires
Classification and description are the first steps to shedding light on
these dwellers in darkness. Of most interest to serious students of
vampirism is the folk vampire. This is the creature who preceded the
literary and commercial vampire. In general, the folk vampire is
simpler, cruder, and less appealing than his citified cousin;
therefore, folk vampires are seldom cunning or sexy. Many are just
thirsty, and not always particular about their sources of nutrition.
Rural vampires have been accused of rising from their graves to filch
the blood of cows or other available livestock. Unlike the elegant
Count Dracula, these revenants are foul-smelling and gross, as might be
expected from those who, partially decomposed, spend much of their time
in a grave.
Another common feature of folk vampires is that they are rarely, if
ever, seen at work. The classic case for the existence of a local
vampire is built upon (a) something bad that happened in the night and
(b) discovering a corpse in its grave that did not appear sufficiently
dead. The corpse might have flecks of blood on its face, especially the
lips, and might seem to have changed position.
An important distinction can be made among folk vampires. Some are
simple, brutish, and unfortunate creatures. Others, though, are corpses
that have either been "vampirized" by evil forces or who have willed
themselves to return and wreak vengeance on those they believe have
wronged them. Not surprisingly, it is this more dangerous and evil form
that has attracted the most attention. Vampire-finders, accompanied by
the bravest of the brave and a representative of the church, sought and
opened suspect graves and took measures to ensure that the inhabitants
would henceforth remain in place. Decapitation and, of course, driving
a stake through the heart, were among the specific remedies.
Literary and commercial vampires are generally more sophisticated and
take better care of their appearances among the living. The sexual
allure and prowess of vampires is almost entirely a literary
embellishment, again owed chiefly to the Victorian imagination of Bram
Stoker. There is little doubt that the popular success of vampires has
been enhanced by their dangerous sexuality. These dark lovers were
nearly perfect for a society that discouraged open expression of
sexuality, especially for women. Vampires embodied both forbidden
sexuality and escape from death but their wretched form of existence
was punishment for their transgression.
Scientific and Philosophical Vampires
Another type of vampire has been created by those attempting to explain
the creature on scientific grounds. The cultural historian Paul Barber
has made a strong case for the vampire as a creature of ignorance and
circumstance. He notes that most people have little knowledge about the
normal course of postmortem changes. Natural events may therefore be
given supernatural explanations. Furthermore, bodies may emerge from
the grave for a variety of simple if disquieting reasons. Because the
most influential collection of vampire reports comes from rural areas
of Eastern Europe, Barber offers the following alternative explanations
to the folk belief in the reality of the undead.
* • Animals dig up bodies from shallow graves.
* • Flooding uncovers bodies from shallow graves.
* • Grave robbers dig up corpses as they seek items or body parts for
sale.
* • People dig up corpses to move them to other places.
* • Gases form in the corpse, sometimes causing postmortem movement.
* • Some corpses decompose slowly for various reasons (e.g., cold
temperature or death by poison).
It may be added that fears of being buried alive were widespread in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some of these fears were
justified, for example, by an epileptic seizure or other loss of
consciousness mistaken for death. Porphyria has been nominated
repeatedly as a medical condition that produces pallor, giving the
individual a somewhat bloodless appearance. The victims are highly
sensitive to sunlight and therefore are likely to adopt lifestyles
resembling the nocturnal vampire.
The philosophical (or inner) vampire has been created by those seeking
to understand the meaning of vampirism in their own minds. Although the
speculations have some grounding in fact, some are more appropriately
offered as questions rather than answers. For example, is the vampire a
sort of "middle man" who provides an image and focus point for all the
organic recycling that occurs in nature through season after season and
life after life? Is the vampire a concealed warning to humankind?
Meaning, people should perhaps be content with one life and not grasp
for more. Or, is it possible that within each person lurks an ancient
and relentless archetype that seeks satisfaction in the most primitive
ways despite one's learning, civilization, and moral development?
However when one answers these questions, it is likely that the vampire
will not be leaving its haunts in the human mind anytime soon.
See also: Aids; Brain Death; Buried Alive; Cryonic Suspension; Death
Instinct; Definitions of Death; Ghosts; Gods and Goddesses of Life and
Death; Horror Movies; Life Support System; Persistent Vegetative State;
Personifications of Death; Sex and Death, Connection of;
Thanatomimesis; Zombies
Bibliography
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
Dresser, Norine. American Vampires. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.
Dundes, Alan, ed. The Vampire: A Casebook. Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1998.
Gladwell, Adele O., and James Havoc, eds. Blood and Roses: The Vampire
in Nineteenth-Century Literature. London: Creation Press, 1992.
Heldreteth, Leonard G., and Mary Pharr, eds. The Blood Is the Life:
Vampires in Literature. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University
Press, 1999.
McNally, Raymond T., and Radu Florescu. In Search of Dracula.
Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1972.
Neumann, Erich. The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Perkowski, Jan L., ed. Vampires of the Slavs. Cambridge, MA: Slavica
Publishers, 1976.
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Lestat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire and His Kith and Kin. New York: E. P.
Dutton, 1928.
Wolf, Leonard. The Annotated Dracula. New York: Clarkson N. Potter,
1975.
ROBERT KASTENBAUM
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vampire
The Oxford Companion to the Body | 2001 |
© The Oxford Companion to the Body 2001, originally published by Oxford
University Press 2001.
vampire The predatory aristocrat whose blood-lust leads him to drain
the blood of peasants, usually young women, is the stock figure of the
vampire as represented by the cinematic Nosferatu, John Polidori's Lord
Ruthven, and Bram Stoker's Count [95]Dracula. For the ‘undead’, this
exsanguination is a reproductive act, that conflates both food and sex.
The most effective means of reproduction for the vampire, however, has
been textual. Novels such as Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872),
Stoker's Dracula (1897), and Prest's Varney the Vampire (1847) have
perpetuated an image that continues to replicate itself throughout our
culture rather like a virus. Vampirism is encoded within popular
culture through a complex nexus of literature, folklore, and fantasy.
Traditionally the revenant, or undead, is a mouldering [96]corpse
dragging itself out of graves to feed off the life-blood of the living.
Premature burial arising from times of plague is one explanation for
the prevalence of the vampire phenomenon at certain periods in history.
The mecca for vampires is Eastern Europe. The word itself is believed
to be of Magyar origin, possibly derived from the Turkish uber, meaning
witch. The term was first used in English in 1734, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary, where vampires are described as ‘The bodies
of deceased persons, animated by evil spirits, which come out of the
graves in the night-time, suck the blood of many of the living, and
thereby destroy them’.
In contrast, Stoker's eroticized and glamorous cloaked Count is a
hybrid of the Wandering Jew and his hypnotic gaze, the libertine Lord
Ruthven, who is based on Byron, and at least two notorious historical
figures, whose careers were drenched in the blood of Eastern European
peoples. These were Vlad Tepes, impaler and Romanian Prince, and
Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian aristocrat, who was known as the Blood
Countess of Cachtice. A sixteenth-century mass murderer whose
sadomasochistic practices included biting off the flesh of her victims,
Báthory's cruelties towards her servants escalated into capturing women
and young girls who were then tortured and killed. Estimates of the
numbers range from from thirty to over seven hundred. Their blood was
drained for the Countess's rejuvenating bloodbaths, by such torturous
contraptions as the cruelly spiked Iron Maiden. The horrors of
Báthory's necro-sadism were written out of criminal history into
fairy-tale, where she is represented as the wicked queen in Snow White,
who contemplates her beauty at her looking-glass for hours on end. As
this pathological behaviour suggests, vampirism can be a clinical
phenomenon within which folklore, fantasy, and deviant behaviour
converge.
The ingestion of blood can complement [97]necrophilia, which consists
largely of sexual satisfaction derived from physical contact with a
dead body. Auto-vampirism can include self-induced bleeding, or
auto-haemofetishism, which is a condition whereby sexual pleasure is
derived from the sight of blood.
The most well-known association of pathological conditions with
vampires and [98]werewolves was with the rare group of diseases called
porphyrias. Caused by the body's over-production of porphyrins — a
normal component of haemoglobin (due in fact to an inborn error of
metabolism), one type of this condition caused George III to produce
blue urine and to collapse, foaming at the mouth. More obviously
vampiric forms of the illness present themselves as an intolerance to
light, wherein the skin cracks and bleeds, the gums and upper lip
recede, and there is redness of the eyes, teeth, and skin. Seclusion
from daylight and, ironically, drinking blood were prescribed remedies.
[99]anaemia has also been attributed to the vampire. During the
nineteenth century, sufferers on this side of the grave were treated
with animal blood, which they were expected to imbibe. In
Joseph-Ferdinand Gueldry's painting, The Blood Drinkers, of 1898, a
line of pale and languid women queue up in an abattoir for a glass of
warm ox's blood. It is likely that their anaemia had been caused by
menstrual losses.
A link between [100]menstruation and vampirism is made by Freud in his
essay ‘The Taboo of Virginity’ (1918). Again, among the myriad ways in
which Dracula may be read is as an anti-menstrual subtext, which
pathologizes femininity and constructs female blood as polluted and
male blood as pure. From the writings on menstrual taboo of Stoker's
contemporary, James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, we can infer
similarities between vampires and menstruating women. Both are
condemned as unclean, agents of pollution, and instigators of
corruption. Sharing an avoidance of [101]mirrors and crucifixes, they
have been barred from many churches, temples, and synagogues. Some
pre-industrial societies believed that a man could die from having
contact, particularly intercourse, with a menstruating woman — and to
make love with a vampire was potentially lethal. In such cultures,
after menarche, a young girl would be kept out of the sun lest she,
vampire-like, shrivel up into a withered skeleton. Frazer explains that
for their own protection these adolescent girls were kept in tenebrous
seclusion, where they were suspended between life and death, heaven and
earth, until marriage. Likewise, the vampire exists in a bodily state
that is between life and death and in a spiritual limbo betwixt heaven
and earth. The coffins to which vampires retreat in the day serve, like
menstrual huts, as places of seclusion and safety. For both vampires,
their victims, and menstruating women, it is normal for blood to flow
outside the body. Mythologized as transgressing the natural order,
menstruating women in some cultures have a kinship with vampires.
Psychic vampirism is an affliction that, according to the Victorian
physician Jules Michelet, affects young girls: ‘A hysterical girl is …
a vampire who sucks the blood of the healthy people around her.’ The
female vampire is a species of the femme fatale, whose deadly vampiric
embrace can be seen as a metaphor for the transmission of syphilis — a
potentially lethal, [102]sexually transmitted disease. Not just young
female patients but also the male doctors, too, who are known as
leeches or blood-suckers and who practise blood-letting, partake of the
nature of vampires.
In his vampire-hunter's manual, called Traité sur les Apparitions des
Ésprits et sur les Vampires ([103]Paris 1746), Dom Augustine Calmet
provides case histories of how he set out to ‘cure’ the supposed plague
of vampires that was infecting eighteenth-century [104]Europe. His
first resort was decapitation, staking out the heart, and then
incineration. The overkill of this zealous Benedictine monk was
presumably due to the ambivalent attitude towards death which
characterized the average vampire. More apotropaic methods (techniques
for turning evil away) included stuffing objects into the orifices of
corpses or confronting the ambulatory blood-sucker with a crucifix. The
latest breed of fictional vampires, such as Ann Rice's androgynous
vampires in her Vampire Chronicles, which began publication in 1976,
have proved to be a strain resistant to such apotropaics, while Poppy
Z. Brite's vampires are immune to the deleterious effects of religious
symbolism. For them vampirism is drained of signification. In Lost
Souls (1992), which is an appropriate title for the vampire entering
post-modernism, the sexual significance of vampirism is no longer a
means of reproduction but a sadomasochistic diversion.
The vampire is a sublimation of our fears of death and disease,
articulating our resistance to an acceptance of the process of
decomposition. Human decay involves discolouration, bloating, and
leaking of blood-stained fluid from the mouth and nostrils — which have
been misinterpreted as the superfluities of a blood-satiated cadaver.
The taboos surrounding putrefaction and funereal rights, which can
involve the second burial of the exhumed undead, suggest that it is not
until a corpse no longer resembles the living, and only when it resides
in its skeletal state as a momento mori, that the living can truly rest
in peace.
Marie Mulvey-Roberts
See also [105]sadomasochism; [106]torture.
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Vampire Studies
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology | 2001
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.
Vampire Studies
Founded in [115]Chicago in 1977 as the Vampire Studies Society by
Martin V. Riccardo, the organization was the first vampire fan club to
use the word "vampire" in its name (there had previously been several
organizations built around [116]Dracula). For several years the society
published a Journal of Vampirism. The word "society" was dropped in
1990 and Vampire Studies now exists as a correspondence network and
information clearing-house for people interested in all aspects of
vampire lore. Those interested may contact Riccardo at P.O. Box 151,
Berwyn, IL 60402-0151.
Sources:
"The Lure of Martin V. Riccardo." Special issue of The Vampire
Information Exchange Newsletter 53 (April 1991).
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead. 2nd
edition. [117]Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.
Riccardo, Martin V. Liquid Dreams of Vampires. St. Paul: Llewellyn
Publications, 1997.
——. The Lure of the Vampire. Chicago: Adams Press, 1983. ——. Vampires
Unearthed. [118]New York: Garland, 1983.
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vampire
The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2015
COPYRIGHT 2012 The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2012,
Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press.
vampire, in folklore, animated corpse that sucks the blood of humans.
Belief in vampires has existed from the earliest times and has given
rise to an amalgam of legends and superstitions. They were most
commonly thought of as spirits or demons that left their graves at
night to seek and enslave their victims; it was thought that the
victims themselves became vampires. The vampire could be warded off
with a variety of charms, amulets, and herbs and could finally be
killed by driving a stake through its heart or by cremation. Sometimes
the vampire assumed a nonhuman shape, such as that of a bat or wolf
(see [127]lycanthropy). Probably the most famous vampire in literature
is Count Dracula in the novel Dracula by Bram [128]Stoker.
See A. Masters, The Natural History of the Vampire (1972); N. Auerbach,
Our Vampires, Ourselves (1995).
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Vampires
Myths and Legends of the World | 2001
COPYRIGHT 2001 Macmillan Reference, USA.
Vampires
In European folklore, a vampire is a corpse that rises from the grave
and sucks blood from the living. According to some accounts, the dead
become vampires because demons or evil spirits enter their bodies.
Vampires are also said to be dead werewolves, witches, criminals,
suicides, and heretics. In some legends, the victims of vampire attacks
turn into vampires themselves.
Much vampire folklore originated in [137]Hungary and the Slavic areas
of eastern [138]Europe and western [139]Russia. The most famous of all
vampires, [140]Dracula, is associated with the [141]Transylvania region
of [142]Romania.
heretic person whose beliefs are contrary to church doctrine
The principal characteristic of the vampire is that when buried it does
not decay like a normal corpse. Instead, it leaves the grave at night
to search for victims. According to tradition, a vampire remains active
as long as it can obtain blood. It avoids the sun—some sources say that
direct sunlight will kill a vampire—and often sleeps in its coffin by
day. Methods of killing a vampire include driving a wooden stake
through its heart, cutting off its head, and burning it. Garlic and
Christian crosses are thought to offer some protection from a vampire's
attack.
See also Dracula? Monsters; Werewolves; Witches and Wizards.
*See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further
information.
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vampire
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009
© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally
published by Oxford University Press 2009.
vam·pire / ˈvamˌpīr/ • n. 1. a corpse supposed, in European folklore,
to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting
their necks with long pointed canine teeth. ∎ fig. a person who preys
ruthlessly on others. 2. (also vampire bat) a small bat that feeds on
the blood of mammals or birds using its two sharp incisor teeth and
anticoagulant saliva, found mainly in tropical America. It belongs to
the family Desmodontidae (or Phyllostomidae) and includes three
species, esp. the common vampire (Desmodus rotundus). DERIVATIVES:
vam·pir·ic / vamˈpirik/ adj.
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vampire
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 |
© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published
by Oxford University Press 2006.
vampire in European folklore, a corpse supposed to leave its grave at
night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long
pointed canine teeth. The word comes (in the mid 18th century) via
French from Hungarian vampir, perhaps from Turkish uber ‘witch’.
The 20th-century vamp for a woman who uses sexual attraction to exploit
men is an abbreviation of this word.
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vampire
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 |
© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology 1996, originally
published by Oxford University Press 1996.
vampire preternatural malignant being, supposed to suck blood; person
who preys upon others; kind of bat supposed to suck blood. XVIII. — F.
vampire or G. vampir — identical form in Sl. langs., in which there are
vars. such as Russ. upȳr′, Pol. upiór.
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vampirism
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009
© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally
published by Oxford University Press 2009.
vam·pir·ism / ˈvampīˌrizəm/ • n. the action or practices of a vampire.
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vampire
Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007
© Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes 2007, originally published by Oxford
University Press 2007.
vampire •sapphire • backfire • campfire •shellfire • ceasefire •
misfire • spitfire •speechifier •humidifier, solidifier •modifier •
codifier • amplifier •vilifier •mollifier, qualifier •nullifier •
magnifier • indemnifier •signifier • personifier • unifier •typifier •
stupefier •clarifier, scarifier •terrifier, verifier •gentrifier •
glorifier • purifier •classifier, pacifier •specifier • intensifier •
crucifier •emulsifier • versifier •gratifier, ratifier •sanctifier •
identifier • testifier •prettifier • quantifier • fortifier •beautifier
• stultifier • justifier •liquefier • wildfire • watchfire •bonfire •
crossfire • bushfire • gunfire •surefire • lammergeier • multiplier
•outlier • Niemeyer • quagmire •vampire • empire • occupier • umpire
•hairdryer • prophesier • satire •Blantyre • saltire • haywire •
tripwire •retrochoir • underwire
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Facts and information from other sites
* [190]Vampires at HighBeam Research Premium reference
* [191]Vampires on Wikipedia
Related topics
* [192]vampire bat [193]vampire bat
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Published on May 29, 2014
Are vampires only a myth or are there real facts behind the legend?
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Are vampires real or just the product of strange history and twisted
imaginations? From Twilight to the Vampire Diaries and Anne Rice to
True Blood, vampires have inspired fiction for centuries. But is there
truth behind these stories?
Presenting 5 signs that Vampires are real, including vampire skeletons
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Werewolves and Vampires – Classic Monsters of Myth and Legend
[12]June 5, 2013
[13]Frank Morin
[14]Frank Morin [15]2 Comments
Werewolves and Vampires. Two favorite monsters that have scared and
fascinated the world for centuries.
First: Vampires – we have poems, stories, and plays dating back to the
1700’s, based on legends that date back even further. (one list claims
there have been 197 vampire movies)
[16]Vampire image Some well-known stories and/or movies:
* Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003)
* Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files (2000 – 2011)
* Interview with a Vampire (1994)
* the Blade series (1998 – 2004)
* The Lost Boys (1987)
* Salem’s Lot by Stephen King (book: 1975, Movie: 1979)
Why so much focus on vampires, and why do they continue to appeal to
generation after generation?
Anciently, vampires were always seen as creatures of gothic horror,
little more than animated corpses often preying on their closest loved
ones. Then, starting as early as the 1800’s, vampires became sensual,
seductive creatures, the living embodiment of forbidden lusts. The
classic Dracula by Bram Stoker is a great example of that transition
period that dramatically impacted the entire field.
Later Vampire stories continued to evolve, many focusing on vampire
hunters (Blade, Buffy, Monster Hunter International), and eventually
portraying vampires less as evil incarnate and more as objects of
desire (Twilight).
I find the transition interesting. It’s rare these days to find a
classic vampire that just sneaks around at night looking for virgins to
bite. Far more often, the vampires are depicted as cool, rich, sexy,
and desirable, with a hint of danger thrown in that only seems to
increase the appeal. People today seem to want to flirt with the danger
rather than destroy it.
Then there are the Werewolves (or lycanthropes)
[17]Werewolf image Werewolf legends are some of the oldest and most
widespread of all monsters, with stories from all parts of the world.
Werewolves are shape shifters, the living embodiment of the beast caged
inside of man, released to savage across the world without restraint.
Early werewolves were often depicted as witches, who used various
potions to turn into wolves, or required intricate rituals to affect
the change. The full moon, connected with madness in people for
millennia, is generally associated with werewolves too. Some werewolves
can voluntarily change shape, others are cursed, usually after being
bitten, and face a terrible fate of changing against their will and
losing control.
Werewolves in the past century have generally been depicted as being
vulnerable to silver, but highly resistant to other injuries. Stories
about werewolves abound, all the way back to Little Red Riding Hood.
Many movies have been made about werewolves, including notables like:
* Werewolf of London (1935)
* The Wolf Man (1941)
* The Howling (1981)
* Silver Bullet (1985) – based on a novella by Stephen King
* Dog Soldiers (2002)
Unlike vampires, far fewer werewolf stories depict them as anything but
horrific creatures. We love to be scared, to see the face of
destructive evil.
[18]Werewolves vs Vampires image Then there is the awesome juncture
where vampires and werewolves meet:
* The Underworld series (starting in 2003)
* The Twilight series
* Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International Series
* Van Helsing (2004) – one of my favorites
* Even Abbot and Costello
So what continues to drive the fascination? I remember years ago people
saying, “Don’t write any more vampire stories. That market is saturated
and dead.”
Then Twilight took over the world, and spawned an entire new genre of
paranormal romance. Vampires and werewolves are still everywhere.
I think part of the allure is the fact that people know these monsters.
Sure, different stories twist facts around some but, for the most part
when someone says “vampire” or “werewolf”, people immediately get a
sense of what they’re talking about.
For vampires, they’re always tied to seductive evil, and audiences get
a thrill flirting along that forbidden line.
Werewolves, savage and hard to kill, offer great power, and the loss of
all restraint, all social norms. They’re the animal we all hold within,
the face of what happens when we cross the line and step to the far
side of chaos.
Although I have no interest in writing a vampire or werewolf story any
time soon, there are lessons to be learned by the great ongoing success
of these stories, and the myths that give them life. Are the monsters
in our stories sensual, tempting, and savage? Do they terrify and
fascinate in equal measure? Do they reflect the darkness lurking within
the characters, and by extension, the readers? Is there a risk the hero
may fall to that darkness, even in their moment of victory?
If so, your own myths might prove to be legends in their own right.
[19]Share on Facebook [20]Share on Facebook
[21]creativity [22]inspiration for writers [23]myth
About Frank Morin
Frank Morin grew up in Maine with a voracious appetite for reading and
has always loved great stories in whatever form, from novels to movies
to campfire tales. He started writing stories as a teen, but got
sidetracked into a computer programming career. Now an independent
software consultant, he's turned back to writing with a passion. Frank
writes all types of fantasy, with seven novels completed to-date. His
first indie published novella, Saving Face, is a sci-fi/fantasy
thriller. A related free short story is available for download from his
website: www.frankmorin.org. Frank is gearing up for a concentrated
publishing blitz in 2015, with novels from three separate series. The
first two novels of an epic fantasy series, an alternate history
fantasy trilogy that picks up where Saving Face left off, and the first
three novels of an exciting YA fantasy series. More details will be
coming soon. Frank lives in Oregon with his wife Jenny and their four
children. In their home, storytelling is a cherished family tradition
that keeps magic alive.
[24]View all posts by Frank Morin →
2 responses on “Werewolves and Vampires – Classic Monsters of Myth and
Legend”
1. Pingback: [25]Werewolves and Vampires – Classic Monsters of Myth
and Legend « Blog « Author Frank Morin
2. [26]RD Meyer [27]June 6, 2013 at 1:26 am
I love vampires and werewolves, but most of today’s books make them
too fuzzy and lovable, which a monster should never be. In fact,
the only time a vampire or werewolf should sparkle is after being
set on fire my the human hero.
RD Meyer recently posted..[28]Only One Star?
[29]Reply ↓
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[31]The Inevitability of Myth
[32]Greek Myths and Legends
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When people don’t understand how something works, they often come up
with their own explanations. For example, when ancient societies didn’t
understand where lightning came from, they attributed it to an angry
god. Thus the myth of the lightning god was born.
This tendency of humans to create their own explanations for unusual
phenomena may have led to the invention of mythological creatures such
as those now seen dominating fantasy writing and films. From a
scientific point of view, it is interesting to investigate the source
of these myths. How did they come about and why did they become so
popular?
With Halloween approaching, I have decided to dedicate a blog entry to
the potential ‘scientific’ explanations behind some of our favourite
and most enduring mythological creatures: vampires, zombies and
werewolves!
Vampires.
Vampires have always been amongst the most popular mythological
creatures, from the tales of Bram Stoker to more modern incarnations
like those in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight. However, in case
you have been living in a cave and these have all bypassed you, here is
a brief overview of the vampire legend: vampires are generally believed
to be human beings who, in life, were bitten by another vampire and
then return after death to feed on the blood of other humans. Vampires
are generally assumed to never die naturally but, depending on which
adaptation you read, can be killed by exposure to sunlight, garlic,
holy water or direct penetration through the heart with a wooden stake.
Vampires are now a pretty popular part of modern culture, but how could
the myth have first come about?
Although few scientific papers exist on this topic the internet is rife
with debate and appears to point to several different medical
conditions:
Probably the most popular theory of the origin of the vampire is the
disease porphyria: as explained by[15] this article in Scientific
American. Porphyria is actually a term for several diseases which are
all caused by irregularities in production of heme, a chemical in
blood. Some forms of this condition, such as cutaneous erythropoietic
porphyria (CEP), lead to deposition of toxins in the skin. Sufferers
are often sensitive to light since light activates these toxins. When
active, toxins eat away at the skin causing disfigurement, including
erosion of the lips and gums. These factors could have led to
the corpse-like, fanged appearance that we associate with vampires and
their dislike of sunlight. Interestingly, people who suffer from
porphyria also have an intolerance to foods that have a high sulphur
content…such as garlic.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Another possible explanation for vampires is tuberculosis (TB). This is
a lung disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The
reason [16]this disease has been suggested as the origin of the vampire
myth is because victims turn very pale, often avoid the sunlight and
cough up blood. This is actually due to the disease damaging the lungs,
but it’s easy to see how it could be misinterpreted as someone having
recently drunk blood. According to [17]this study, the vampire myth may
also have arisen from the fact that TB spreads rapidly and easily from
person to person. The infectious nature of this disease may have led to
the belief that the vampire rises from the dead to feed on his loved
ones, causing them to suffer the same symptoms.
An intriguing alternative explanation is [18]Catalepsy. This is a
disease of the central nervous system leading to a slowing of the heart
and breathing rate, with sufferers often seizing up completely. These
symptoms may have led people to mistakenly believe the sufferer to be
dead. Therefore, since these individuals were perceived to have risen
from the dead, it is easy to see how this disorder could be linked to
paranormal mythology.
Zombies.
Ah, the zombie apocalypse, ever a popular scenario in films and books.
Some organisations, such as the [19]Centers for Disease Control in the
USA even run “zombie apocalypse” days so you can prepare for what to do
when the end is nigh.
Zombies are usually defined as people who were once human, but have
been altered in some way so they no longer have a sense of self.
Usually the sufferers have died and then been re-animated with a
surprising taste for human brains. Zombies pursue this delicacy
relentlessly. Often, anything that has had its free will removed and is
bending to the will of others is also referred to as a “zombie”.
The zombie myth is believed to [20]have originated in Haiti. There are
many examples in Haitian and voodoo folklore of corpses which have been
re-animated and used as slaves by sorcerers. The existence of zombies
was [21]explored scientifically in 1982 by Dr. Wade Davis after a man,
Clairvius Narcisse, claimed to have been brought back to life by a
sorcerer. Dr. Davis examined samples of the “zombie powder” which the
sorcerer allegedly used to create his zombies. He found that the powder
contained several toxins, including tetrodotoxin, which is found in
pufferfish. Dr. Davis theorised that the tetrodotoxin caused paralysis
and a death-like appearance in the sufferer, but that this state would
eventually wear off, giving the illusion that the victim had been
raised from the dead. He wrote two books on the subject, called Passage
of Darkness and The Serpent and the Rainbow (the latter of which was
used as the basis for a horror film). However, some sources do not
believe that Davis’s work is scientifically valid due to the fact that
the tetrodotoxin level in the “zombie powder” were actually found to be
quite low. There was also some speculation that Davis’ work could have
been plagued with murky ethics following reports of alleged
grave-robbing.
Film depictions of the zombie apocalypse usually hint that it is
rapidly spread by a pathogen such as a bacteria or virus. This may have
some root in real life, as there are a number of known pathogens that
are suspected of causing behavioural changes. As explained in this[22]
blog by fellow Brain Bank-er Sarah the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can
control the behaviour of rats. The rats behave in a “zombie-like”
manner, going against their natural instincts to actively seek out cats
– the parasite’s true target. There have been some suggestions that
toxoplasma gondii can affect the behaviour of humans too, making men
more jealous and women more ‘warm hearted’. If T. gondii or similar
parasites are ever able to affect humans in a way that modifies their
behaviour to extremes well … hello, zombie apocalypse! (In the
interests of not scaring you too much, I should point out that this
scenario is very, very, unlikely).
However, there are other ways of creating a Zombie. Scarily, some
current scientific techniques may one day be capable of creating
‘zombies’! Scientists are now capable of controlling some aspects of
behaviour in certain laboratory animals using targeted laser light to
activate groups of genetically modified neurons, this technique is
known as optogenetics (for more detail see this [23]post by fellow
Brain Bank-er Natasha). This notion of behavioural control of ‘loss of
free will’ is spookily similar to the depictions of some of the
mindless zombies seen in popular culture. However, the ultimate aim of
this technology is much less sinister, it is actually being used to
investigate how the nervous system works and how problems may be
corrected when things go wrong.
Werewolves.
Werewolves appear to be having a mini media renaissance, thanks to
Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter books and all of Team Jacob.
Legend has it that werewolves spend most their time in human form but
then, on the full moon, transform into a giant man-eating wolf with no
human conscience. The werewolf usually turns back into a human at
sunrise, with no recollection of their wolfish activities.
Lycanthropy, the clinical name given to werewolves in fiction, is
actually a real medical term referring to someone who is under the
delusion that they are a wolf.
Some medical theories concerning the origin of werewolves were explored
in the book Why do Men have Nipples? by Billy Goldberg and Mark Leyner.
One of these is once again based around porphyria, the same disease
with links to the vampire myth. Some sufferers of cutaneous porphyria
exhibit the canine “fang” look caused by the erosion of the gums. Also,
following exposure to light, the healing blisters on sufferers’ skin
often grow a fine layer of hair.
Someone suffering from congenital hypertrichosis universalis
The authors also speculate that the disease congenital hypertrichosis
universalis could be a cause of the werewolf myth as this also causes
excessive hair growth across the whole body. However, this disease is
extremely rare so may not be prevalent enough to have bred such a
popular myth.
Another possible reason behind the werewolf myth is the disease rabies.
Rabies most famously affects dogs, but can also be transmitted to other
animals. Its most characteristic feature is foaming at the mouth but it
also causes hydrophobia (fear of water), aggressiveness, hallucinations
and delirium. If an infected animal bites a human, they will suffer
from similar symptoms. Possibly, in the past, someone noticed that a
human bitten by a rabid dog took on the same characteristics and
thought that the person was literally becoming a very aggressive dog or
wolf. However, rabies doesn’t explain the all-over hairiness or link
to the lunar cycle most people associate with werewolves, particularly
as, if you believe Noel Coward, sufferers of rabies famously come out
in the midday sun.
According to [24]howstuffworks.com, the idea of men turning into wolves
has been a part of folklore since ancient times, but was popularised
by the 1941 film The Wolf Man. It is therefore possible that the myth
of werewolves, unlike vampires and zombies, has been shaped more by
popular culture than medical science.
My boyfriend suggested that being a woman may also be an origin for the
werewolf myth. He decided to point out that women tend to get a bit
aggressive at certain times once a month. This suggestion was met with
a stony silence and being made to pay for dinner (I think it may have
been a full moon).
So, there is no clear scientific explanation for these myths, but the
subjects continue to fascinate and intrigue us. More and more films and
books are being produced which revolve around these mythical horrors,
often meaning that the origins of the myths become further buried as
authors and film-makers add new characteristics and traits (However,
that doesn’t make unearthing the science behind these enduring and
popular creatures any less interesting). As you can see from some of
the articles here, scientists are using the popularity of these myths,
especially zombies, to raise awareness of very real and potentially
dangerous situations such as the rapid spreading of a deadly disease.
Since these stories can be used both to entertain and educate, keep the
tales coming!
Post by: Louise Walking Dead
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About thebrainbank
The brain bank comprises a group of Manchester based scientists eager
to enthuse and entertain with their scientific banter. To learn more
about who we are see the our 'about' page. You can also find us on
twitter @brainbankmanc or email us brainbankmanc@gmail.com.
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23 Responses to The science behind the myths: Are there clinical explanations
for vampires, zombies or werewolves?
1. [31]mohamad says:
[32]October 31, 2012 at 1:57 pm
may be next days we are going to see one of having lunch with us in
our house ( or could be we are the lunch ) , as a veterinary there
isn`t something impossible
[33]Reply
2. Pingback: [34]狼人、僵尸、吸血鬼传说起源的临床医学解释
3. Amunyu says:
[35]March 12, 2013 at 1:32 am
Nice! It’s only logical. But my problem with this explanations is
the myth is told differently in different societies. In my society
the myth is not about vampires, zombies or werewolves. It is rather
associated with ‘hyenas’. According to the myth there are certain
individuals who have the power to control hyenas and command them
to do their works just like the compelling power of vampires. It is
hereditary and not transmitted. They feed on human flesh but not
while it’s alive. They make their target sick to death and they
feed on its flesh by resurrecting it within three days of its
death. You can find similar myth among different societies and it
makes you question what if there is really something that we human
beings could not explain through reason? Just curious …
[36]Reply
4. Samantha says:
[37]July 24, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Werewolves, zombies, and vampires are REAL trust me they are
[38]Reply
+ tej says:
[39]August 19, 2013 at 5:03 pm
there is no such things as vampires.i thnk u watched too much
movies like twilight. or serials like vd
[40]Reply
o R.A.L.G. says:
[41]September 18, 2014 at 4:13 am
I am saying…yes they are real..though they were just told
in exaggeration.
[42]Reply
# Cody barnhardt says:
[43]December 1, 2014 at 4:10 am
I opened a pack of raw steak a few days ago for
thanksgiving and was about to cook it when
apparently something somewhere inside of me was like
“hey! That looks delicious! Let’s just eat it raw!”
And I did… Does this make me a
werewolf/vampire/zombie?
[44]Reply
@ madeline says:
[45]May 25, 2015 at 6:17 am
no that makes you a looney who is probably
going to die.
# Hesha says:
[46]July 19, 2015 at 12:53 am
I agree, I mean werewolf, Vampire, and Zombie
stories are so popular they gotta be real. But over
the years every thing probably got exaggerated.
[47]Reply
5. Olivia says:
[48]October 14, 2013 at 2:48 pm
i believe in people and animals having strange side affects on a
full moon but i dont believe in anything such as zombies or
vampires. i am a very supersticious person though (i take from my
mum and dad). this is a gr8 website and it has provided a lot of
answers, thank you!
[49]Reply
6. Olivia says:
[50]October 14, 2013 at 2:51 pm
:)
[51]Reply
+ madeline says:
[52]May 25, 2015 at 6:18 am
:)
[53]Reply
7. Pingback: [54]What’s the difference between a vampire and a
werewolf? | What's The Diff!
8. Ellya Farahanny says:
[55]November 9, 2013 at 6:52 am
Hey guys. I’m a genetics student and currently doing my 2nd year in
my local university in Malaysia. I hope by reading your blogs, my
curiousity and critical thinking skills can be enhanced as I’m lack
of both. I just wanna say your blog is awesome and please keep us
updated with interesting topics! Terima kasih (Thank You in
“Malay”)
[56]Reply
9. Pingback: [57]Real Vampires by J.B. Doyle | Life Paths 360
10. Pingback: [58]Origin of the Vampire | Deakin SciCom 2014
11. Pingback: [59]Vampire Stiinta | Human Textuality
12. Tiff says:
[60]December 28, 2014 at 8:45 am
Geez!! The photoshopped zombie actually made me jump. An
interesting read, Thanks!
[61]Reply
+ KuraiKokoro says:
[62]May 27, 2015 at 6:56 am
I think that was from garrys mod.
[63]Reply
13. Pingback: [64]Two stories: Kart and Dark Side | Onto the page
14. johanna says:
[65]July 28, 2015 at 4:07 pm
i think vampires and werewolve turning into normal humans re real
because if dey re not thre cant have a name
[66]Reply
15. Pingback: [67]Lastest Porphyria News
16. Scarlet says:
[68]July 31, 2015 at 3:26 am
You are all fools if you do not believe in these creatures! The
only reason you don’t want to believe in them is because you don’t
understand them!
[69]Reply
Dracula Dead and Loving It Columbia Pictures
Everyone knows that vampires suck … your blood!!!! Seriously though, do
you know the history behind modern vampire lore? These creatures of the
night have been lurking around for a very long time, although the
princes and princesses of darkness have taken on different guises and
mythologies throughout the ages.
Here are some things you probably didn’t know about vampires. If the
items on this list are old news to you, you might want to take a look
in the mirror and check for a reflection … your blood! Okay. Didn’t
work so well that time.
Why Vampires Have No Reflection
Harry Engels, Getty Images
According to legend, when a human dies and then returns to the world as
a vampire, he or she no longer has a soul. The unlucky individual is
now a vampire. It was once believed that mirrors cast back the
[19]image of the body and the soul; therefore if you didn’t have soul,
you couldn’t have a reflection.
Mirrors also used to contain some silver (not anymore, so don’t go and
break yours up trying to score beer pennies), which could also have
made a vampire’s reflection hard to see. Silver, [20]as pretty much
everyone knows, is toxic to the undead. Seriously, if you don’t know
that, what have you been doing with your life? Enjoying it? Pfffffft.
The Egyptians Had Vampires… Sort Of
egypt vampire YouTube
Proof!
Ancient Egyptians had all kinds of gods. The [21]warrior goddess
Sekhmet had the very bad habit of walking among men, slaughtering them
and then drinking up all of their blood. Apparently she needed
thousands of jugs of blood, sometimes mixed with beer, either to quench
her incredible thirst or because she was an unstoppable party animal.
One of her nicknames was the “Lady of the Bloodbath.” Another was “Lady
Who Maybe Stole My Cellphone.” If she ever is reincarnated, you might
want to refrain from inviting her over for your next Halloween costume
party, because she will ruin bobbing for apples like *that.*
What Do You Call a Group of Vampires?
Christopher Furlong, Getty Images
We would call them dorks.
Let’s see, cows are grouped together in herds, geese gather in gaggles,
fish in schools….What would you call a [22]large group of vampires
flying your way? Well, other than “nothing good is about to happen,”
you could officially say, “Look, there’s a brood, clutch, clan, coven
or pack of vampires over there. Maybe we should head in the opposite
direction. Wait, I dropped my thesaurus. Don’t leave me, only
frieeeend!”
Dracula Was Not a Nice Guy
IFRAME: [23]http://www.youtube.com/embed/5Ioiag30eAI?feature=oembed
All right, the fact that the [24]historical Dracula wasn’t a nice guy
is stating the obvious, but the level of his evil is actually quite
shocking. It was said that Vlad of Walachia, who also went by “Vlad the
Impaler,” never ate a meal without Ottoman Turks, impaled on stakes,
dying all around him. This 15th century Romanian monster left, at one
time, 20,000 corpses stuck on pikes outside of his castle as a warning
to all who would dare challenge him. When a corpse became too rotten to
display any longer, Vlad had no problem making a new one to take its
place. Apparently, he took his nickname very seriously. (“Vlad the Home
Decorator” never quite took.)
Vampire Defense
buffy gif
This doesn’t always work.
If a vampire bites you, not all hope is lost. Different societies
believed there were different cures for the affliction known as
vampirism. Here are some things you can do if you suspect those marks
on your skin aren’t from a mosquito, or [25]you want to keep an
unwanted vampire away:
– Eat lots of garlic
– Gather hawthorn branches and use them as a repellent (they also make
lovely wreathes)
– Bury potential vampires face down so they’ll dig the wrong way when
trying to get out (vampires are mad dumb, yo)
– Spread salt around the house
– Wear a cross (a no-brainer)
– Decapitate the vampire bothering you
– Wear iron (not silver) jewelry
– And last but not least, scatter seeds around your house because
vampires like counting them and can get distracted, which will give you
time to escape.
Unusual Ways to Become a Vampire
hocus pocus
Depending on the culture a vampire came from, there were a lot of
interesting ways [26]a vampire could be “made.” In Romania, for
example, people used to believe a child could simply be born a vampire
if the right spell was cast during or before the birth. Other fun ways
you could become a member of the club of the undead were partaking of
lamb meat slaughtered by a wolf, being a Satanist or a witch,
committing suicide, letting a cat or dog walk above the newly departed,
or being buried (after you die, of course) in the wrong manner. And
here you thought all it took was a simple bite on the neck.
The Word ‘Vampire’ Has Many Possible Roots
ungroundable
There is some disagreement among scholars about the [27]true origins of
the word vampire. It might be Hungarian, Romanian or Turkish in
origin, or perhaps the word even came from Hebrew. Other theories
speculate the word dates all the way back back to ancient Greece, where
it might have come from the verb “to drink.” Regardless of the origin
of the word, the terror it has so often inspired remains the same
everywhere, because people don’t really care about word origins when a
monster is trying to eat them.
Vampire Pumpkins and Watermelons, Really?
vampire pumpkin
Okay, vampire pumpkins and watermelons might not sound scary, but in
the Balkans people actually once believed that gourds posed a real
threat. If a pumpkin or watermelon was left outside for too long after
picking, and especially if it wasn’t gobbled up before Christmas, the
fruit in question [28]could turn into a vampire. Even though this kind
of food wasn’t deemed desirable, an undead pumpkin was a low-level
threat, because without teeth, the fruit had no way of biting its
potential victims.
Britain’s Prince Charles Might Be Related to Dracula
Chris Jackson, Getty Images
Yep, it seems Prince Charles just might be a [29]descendant of the
historical Dracula, also known as Vlad of Walachia, or to his more
intimate associates, “Vlad the Impaler.” At least that’s what some
historians think, and if you doubt the future monarch of Great Britain
could ever be related to such a tyrant, Charles has even admitted the
fact himself. He stated that genealogy has proven his kinship with the
dastardly prince. Because of this, Charles once joked that he had, “A
bit of a stake in the country (Romania).” Peasants being impaled by the
thousands. Hilarious!
A Real Disease Causes Vampire Like Symptoms
Public Domain, Getty Images
The very rare, and unusual, group of diseases known as “porphyria” can
actually cause vampire-like symptoms. That said, the disease is
something you definitely don’t want, just in case any of the
‘[30]Twilight‘ fans out there were hoping for a chance at the romantic
and glittery vampire life. People afflicted with this condition
suffered from a severe sensitivity to sunlight, hallucinations,
paranoia, possible madness and a host of other debilitating conditions.
The disease has been [31]associated with vampires in the past, but in
reality, it only gives its victims a vampire’s weaknesses, but none of
vampire’s strengths. So basically it turns you into Count Duckula. A
vampire that eats broccoli? What a wuss.
The Vampire Bat - The Myths And Facts
Are you feeling a bit squeamish about the vampire bat? (The photo's of
a common one and is from [27]Wikimedia Commons).
Desmodus rotundus common vampire bat photo
Horror movies have led to all kinds of negative thoughts and feelings
about them. Although their diet might sound a bit gross, there are many
positive and [28]surprising things about them too.
So let's start by dispelling some of the myths that surround them...
Myth 1: They kill living creatures by sucking all the blood out of
them.
Fact: It's true that their diet consists solely of blood (hematophagy).
But rather than suck, they lap up the blood and take no more than 2
tablespoons (which is about half their body weight).
This usually isn't harmful to the host unless several of them take
blood from the same animal on the same night.
Myth 2: They're pretty big.
Fact: Unlike the bats that are sometimes used in horror films, a real
vampire bat is small. They grow to the length of a human adult thumb
and have a wingspan of 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches). Weight-wise,
they're between 28 to 40 g (around 1 to 1.5 oz).
Myth 3: They are found in Transylvania.
Fact: There are only 3 species of this kind of bat and they're all
found in Central and South America. They're known as the [29]Common
(Desmodus rotundus), the White-Winged(Diaemus youngi) and the
Hairy-Legged (Diphylla ecaudata) vampire bats.
Myth 4: They'll fly out of the night and attack you!
Fact: They only take blood from sleeping animals. Their brains have
evolved to be sensitive to the breathing patterns that signal that a
being is asleep. And their heat sensors mean that they can easily
detect where the blood is flowing close to the surface of a potential
host.
A combination of chemicals in their saliva means that:
1. the animal won't feel any pain when they make a cut
2. the blood won't clot
3. the blood vessel will remain open while they're feeding
It's true that they'll sometimes take blood from humans, but this is
pretty rare. Depending on species, their usual food sources are cattle,
birds, goats, horses and pigs.
SURPRISING FACTS
Did you know that...
the way their saliva stops blood from clotting is so impressive that
scientists have created a similar substance that could lead to new
medicines for people with diseases such as stroke?
these bats will share their food with other members (related or
unrelated) of their colony who weren't able to get a meal?
unlike other bats, they can also walk, hop and run? They're also
really good at taking off from the ground. They use their thumbs to
propel themselves into the air and can get to a height of 1.2 m (4
feet)!
So how are you feeling about this species of bat now? A bit better I
hope :-)
[30]Desmodus rotundus - The Common Vampire Bat
[31]Hematophagy
[32]Return from The Vampire Bat - The Myths And Facts to The Surprising
World Of Bats
__________________________________________________________________
"Real Vampires"-how can this be anything but a contradiction in terms?
We all know about vampires. Stock characters of fiction, guaranteed
box-office draws, the media vampire has been familiar to us since
childhood. Generally speaking, our blood-suckers appear with a tongue
planted firmly in one toothy cheek-from Bela Lugosi hamming it up in
the 1950's, to last summer's teenage "vamp" movies, to Count Chocula
breakfast cereal, the media seldom treat the vampire as truly fearsome.
The stereotyped vampire traits are familiar to any child: vampires have
big fangs, sleep in coffins, are instantly incinerated by sunlight, and
are best dispatched by a stake through the heart. But the most
important "fact" that we all know of course is that there are no such
things.
Of course, in terms of the mythical, literary and cinematic
conventions, we are correct: there are no "legions of the undead"
stalking the unwary. We have explained the folklore with politics,
misunderstood diseases, and hysteria, the literary and cinematic images
with psychology, history, and sociology. We of the 20th century are
confident that vampires could not really exist. But then, most of us
are never forced to think otherwise. For a number of people, the
concept of vampires becomes a critical and often lifelong concern. To
live with, love, or befriend a real vampire is to encounter a set of
problems which may demand expanding the boundaries of one's accepted
reality. To come to terms with being a real vampire oneself is to face
a lifetime's karmic challenge.
Some people reading this article already know this. The rest are
probably thinking, "Real Vampires, give me a break! Sure, there are
some pretty weird people out there, but all they need is a good
therapist." Yes, there are people who take on all the trappings of a
gothic novel: dressing in black, claiming or pretending to be
"vampires" in the supernatural sense, wearing capes, sleeping in boxes,
even getting their teeth capped. There are more frightening people who
seek to torture or kill animals or human beings in order to gain power,
emotional release or sexual thrill, and who sometimes call themselves
(or are called) "vampires". But most of these individuals are troubled
people who have been attracted by the cultural myths about the vampire:
supernatural powers (because they feel powerless), overwhelming
sexuality (because most of them have sexual issues and no true
relationships), immortality (because they fear aging and death).
Individuals like these are the most recent "explanation" for humanity's
persistent belief in vampires. But beyond and behind all the folklore,
the psychological theories, the role playing, even the traditional
spiritual assumptions, lies the real truth about vampires.
The field of vampirology is complex and mysterious. There are many
aspects to the vampire phenomenon, and they would require several books
to fully explore. One aspect of vampirism which frequently troubles
magickal, spiritual and other small groups, the most common form of
vampire, is found among living people who share with us the benefits
and disadvantages of physical existence on this plane, yet are not
quite human. These people appear on the surface to be somewhat
eccentric members of society, yet their outward idiosyncrasies only
hint at how different they are from those around them.
Each of us incarnates for a lifetime with a certain way of relating to
the physical world through the vehicle of our physical body. A vampire
is a person born with an extraordinary capacity to absorb, channel,
transform, and manipulate "pranic energy" or life force. She also has a
critical energy imbalance which reels wildly from deficit to overload
and back again. This capacity for handling energy is a gift, but the
constant imbalance of her own system is the cause of the negative
behavior patterns and characteristics which may be notable about a
vampiric person.
[batt.gif]
Real vampires do not necessarily drink blood-in fact, most of them do
not. Blood-drinking and vampirism have been confused to the extent that
for the average person, a vampire is defined as something that drinks
blood (such as a "vampire bat"). But when we look beyond casual
assumptions to the details of common beliefs, we find something quite
different. Throughout both folklore and literature, there is an
understanding that vampires require energy or life force. Many old
folktales accept that vampires suck blood, yet never describe this
actually happening. The victims slowly decline and waste away, and the
survivors assume that some evil fiend is draining them of blood. They
know that the Bible says, "the blood is the life", and anyone who was
losing their life force must be losing blood. Yet, in many instances
the vampire's "attack" does not even involve physical contact. In
others, it is clearly sexual energy which is exchanged.^1
Fresh blood is the highest known source of pranic energy (life
force).^2 Human beings have practiced blood-drinking for many reasons
throughout history, but drinking blood alone does not indicate that a
person is a vampire. Only real vampires can directly absorb the pranic
energy in fresh blood, and for this reason some real vampires are
attracted to blood and find different means of obtaining it.^3 However,
it is a rare vampire who cannot absorb energy in much more subtle ways.
This is the mechanism that causes real vampires to inflict harm on
others and themselves if they fail to recognize what is happening and
do conscious work on transforming their inner natures. Vampires are no
more likely to be either malicious or spiritually aware than the
general population, but without awareness, they can spend their lives
making themselves and others unhappy, and will continue to incarnate in
this pattern until they take action to change it.
There are a number of external symptoms of vampirism, but it is
important to realize that some of them are found in ordinary human
behavior. Real vampires are identifiable partly because they have a
majority of the symptoms, not just one or two. But more significantly,
real vampires are distinguished by a certain quality to the energy.
While anyone reading a description of the symptoms and behavior
patterns might find a few that apply to people he knows, or even to
himself, real vampires have a way of standing out vividly to everyone
who interacts with them. There are few people who do not know at least
one vampire.
Physically, vampires are usually "night people"" on a biochemical
level. They have inverted circadian rhythms, with body cycles such as
temperature peaks, menstrual onset, and the production of sleep
hormones in the brain occurring at the opposite time of day from most
people. They have difficulty adjusting to daytime schedules and
frequently work nights. They tend to be photosensitive, avoiding
sunlight, sunburning easily, and having excellent night vision. Their
vitality ranges widely, and they can be vigorous and active one day,
depressed and languorous the next.
They frequently have digestive trouble. Even those with cast-iron
stomachs have many issues with food that are rooted in their constant
hunger for energy. Contrary to the image of the vampire as thin, many
real vampires are troubled by obesity because of a hunger that makes
them food addicts, and a system that is sluggish in processing physical
food. They are also sometimes troubled by other substance addictions
for the same reasons, but since their systems are tuned to pranic
energy more than to processing physical substance, they may not be as
sensitive to drugs and alcohol as an ordinary person would be.
Emotionally and physically, vampires are unpredictable, moody,
temperamental and overwhelming. The major distinguishing characteristic
of real vampires as opposed to ordinary people who share those
qualities is the vampire's intensity. Vampires are extremely intense
people. They are frequently given nicknames such as "the black hole."
When others talk about them (usually to complain about them), vampires
are often described by such terms as "needy," "attention-seeking,"
"grandstanding," "manipulative," "exhausting," "draining," "monopolizes
the conversation," "jealous," "huge ego," and so on. A vampire's
emotions are deep, fervent, and powerful, and she usually displays
great psychic ability and has uncontrolled magickal and psychic
experiences. Vampires are also empaths, and while they remain
unconscious of their natures, they are frequently "psychic sponges" who
simply absorb vibrations from everywhere, with the expected emotional
instability resulting.
A "hungry" vampire -- one whose energy level is imbalanced to the
deficit side -- becomes an involuntary psychic vortex, drawing all
pranic energy in the area towards her. When the energy does not flow in
fast enough -- and it is typical of vampires that the energy never
flows fast enough for them -- she will begin manifesting behavior
patterns to increase the amount of conscious attention she gets from
others. For this reason, some vampires develop a pattern of being
aggressively confrontational, or of constantly antagonizing people with
whom they have relationships. Nearly all vampires, whatever ploys they
use, have a talent for attracting (or distracting) the attention of
everyone present.
Once a vampire overloads on energy, she reverses her behavior patterns.
She may become morose, silent, withdrawn and introverted. Some vampires
become maniacally cheerful when they are satiated, but even their good
moods seem to annoy others, and it is more typical for vampires to be
infamous as wet blankets. "Hungry" and "overload" phases can occur
within a few minutes or last for days at a time. Vampires are commonly
loners, in part because they feel so different from those around them,
but also because they have a need to control the degree of contact they
have with sources of energy.
[batt.gif]
Real vampires are not the demonic fiends of Christianized folklore, but
as long as they refuse to accept their inner nature, their bad
reputation is not undeserved. Unconscious vampires have a tendency to
reach adulthood with less than the average level of social skill and
general finesse, and tend to be selfish and self-centered. The demands
of their own energy systems are so distracting to them that it is
difficult for them to pay attention to the needs of others. Their
relationships tend to be disasters. Different vampires develop
different patterns according to what works best for them in their life
situation, but several patterns are common. The "femme fatale" or
"lady-killer" vampire forms a continuous series of sexual connections
with one partner at a time, dropping each unfortunate lover as they
become too exhausted (or defensive) to support the vampire's energy
needs. Other vampires form a long-term relationship with a single
person: either another vampire whose energy cycle complements their
own, or a person who derives satisfaction from being a psychic servant
or martyr. A common pattern, especially in young adults, is to
continuously join social, religious, political and magickal groups and
either blow them apart or end up being thrown out. Vampires may go
through roommates, housing situations, magickal groups, jobs and lovers
like so much Kleenex.
Many people find that they feel "creepy" or "weird" around a vampire.
This is usually due to the effects of one's own life force being drawn
towards the vampire's vortex. Most people feel uncomfortable and
distracted when their energy is pulled away from themselves. In
addition to this, a common result of such an energy drain is for the
aura to pull in tightly towards the body, and this causes a prickling
sensation on the skin -- the "creepy-crawlies."
It is no more common for vampires to be psychopaths or killers than it
is for any random person on the street. However, a prolonged, or very
involved, relationship with a vampire can put a severe strain on the
emotional and psychic energy systems of an ordinary person. Folklore
suggests that victims of a vampire become vampires themselves. In
reality, people who have been seriously "drained" -- that is, have had
their own energy pulled off balance into a deficit -- also become
psychic vortices which pull life force away from other living things.
However, they are never as powerful as a true vampire, and unlike
vampires, quickly recover and stabilize. True vampires are born the way
they are -- no one can be "turned into a vampire." However, years of
energy depletion can lead to health problems ranging from depression
and malaise to a suppressed immune system and susceptibility to serious
illnesses. Most people will break off the relationship before it gets
that far.
Many vampires are attracted to magickal paths. In a magickal working
group, their ability to wreak havoc is increased because of the psychic
openness and trust that exist there. But there can be a benefit, as
well. Some vampires become aware of their true natures and choose to
undertake serious work to transform themselves. As soon as they begin
doing so, they become more acceptable working partners and companions.
Once in control of their capacity for handling energy, they become
extraordinary magicians and healers. Their ability to hold the
attention of others gives them the potential to be fine leaders and
teachers. Ultimately, the purpose of vampires is not to plague the
universe but to facilitate its healing. Vampirism is the dark, or
unfocused, side of a certain kind of psychic talent, one which has been
developing for many lifetimes. It is destructive only when a vampire
either refuses to face the truth about herself and work with her
abilities, or when she chooses to play out a sinister role because of
the illusion of power it gives her.
Because of this, many of the vampire characteristics described above
are far less evident in the most powerful vampires, the ones who have
done considerable work on their inner selves. Many of these are poised,
pleasant, competent individuals, with great personal power. They have
come to terms with who and what they are, and no longer exhibit the
negative qualities associated with "psychic vampirism." ^4
Unfortunately, unconscious vampires are far more common than evolved
ones, and it is these troubled souls who more usually appear in
magickal groups.
There is no "generic advice" to give those who believe they may be
dealing with a real vampire. Those who are so inclined might try to
help a friend or fellow group member explore their inner nature and
come to terms with their destructive behaviors. Those who feel
victimized can choose to end the relationship. Each case is different,
and can only be judged by the individuals concerned. But it is
important for anyone involved in magickal or psychic work to understand
that vampires are a real phenomenon, and that, like all perils, they
should not be greeted with fear or anger. Nothing is evil by nature --
only by choice. Terror of discovery (followed by ridicule or rejection)
inhibits the self-development of many real vampires. When they reach
out for friendship, they are often reaching out for help.
[batt.gif]
A person who believes she may be a real vampire herself has a long and
difficult process ahead of her. The most important step on her path is
complete self-awareness: of her relationships, patterns, energy levels,
and all other personal qualities. The most challenging work may often
be summarized in the simplest of terms. Knowledge, awareness, and
control are the lessons real vampires must learn in order to harness
their abilities. If real vampires are not the immortals of fiction,
they can at least be confident of one thing: for better or worse, they
will keep the qualities they develop for many lives to come.
(The author welcomes inquiries from readers with a personal interest in
the subject of vampirism. She is available at
[3]vyrdolak@bylightunseen.net. Readers wishing for more information
about vampire lore in general are referred to the Bibliography.)
NOTES
1. For a thorough examination of traditional vampire folklore, see the
works of Montague Summers and Anthony Masters.
2. Other high sources of pranic energy include semen, fresh fruits and
vegetables, and the breath of living animals. Meat -- filled with
chemicals, long dead, refrigerated, frozen and "aged" (partially
decomposed) as it is -- contains almost none. Many real vampires,
aside from drinking blood, are vegetarians.
3. For a somewhat flawed but interesting look at blood-drinking and
vampirism, see Stephen Kaplan. Leonard Wolf explores this subject
from a more philosophical and personal viewpoint.
4. This is not to suggest that even evolved vampires are always
comfortable to be around. They remain unpredictable, intense,
emotional, and altogether overwhelming personalities. Most are
remarkable sexually, and all still draw energy, although they can
generally control this to some extent. Furthermore, this article is
not intended to mislead -- real vampires, even evolved ones, do
sometimes drink blood in order to obtain their energy. Those who
understand the many ways that life "gives way" to nurture more life
will see this as no more unnatural than eating live vegetables or
animals for food.
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
* Stephen Kaplan,Vampires Are (ETC Publications, 1984)
* Anthony Masters, The Natural History of the Vampire (Berkley
Publishing Corp., 1972)
* Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu, In Search of Dracula (New
York Graphic Society, 1972)
* Montague Summers, The Vampire, His Kith and Kin (University Books,
1960)
* Montague Summers, The Vampire in Europe (The Aquarian Press
Limited, 1980)
* James B. Twitchell, The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in
Romantic Literature (Duke University Press, 1981)
* Leonard Wolf, A Dream of Dracula (Popular Library, 1972)
* Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology
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* Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up–A self-proclaimed vampirologist (who doesn't believe in the
creatures) covers diverse beliefs about vampires and their origins,
from early accounts through to myths that persist today. Species such
as Aluka, Gaki, Ramanga, and Zemu appear in the more than 600
authoritative and clearly written A-Z entries, many of which close with
source material and cross-references. Many vampire types are not
included, for instance fictional (author-created) or cryptozoological
(legendary animal) creatures. As this encyclopedia is limited in
coverage to mythology (no mentions of Twilight here), it will appeal
primarily to readers intrigued with the broader topic of vampires.–Cara
Moffett, formerly at Cumberland University Vise Library, Lebanon, TN.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
[97]Read more
From [98]Booklist
Author Bane notes in the introduction to Encyclopedia of Vampire
Mythology that that there is no agreement about what a vampire is.
Still, she has compiled an interesting book of descriptions of vampires
and similar creatures. Europe’s vampires are most richly represented,
but vampires from India, China, Japan, the Pacific Islands, and the
Americas are described. As far as fictional portrayals go, only modern
literature’s godfather of vampires, Dracula, has an entry. Descriptions
range from a couple of sentences to almost a page. Entries have liberal
cross-references, each entry has citations, and many entries have
pronunciation guides. The book is in the dictionary format, but there
is also an index. The bibliography, almost 30 pages long and listing
both scholarly and popular books and articles along with a very few Web
sites, could be helpful for researchers. In spite of a few errors (for
example, “a grizzly sight”), this would be a good addition to mythology
and folklore collections. --Kathleen Stipek
[99]Read more
[100]See all Editorial Reviews
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Product Details
* Hardcover: 199 pages
* Publisher: McFarland; 1st edition (July 6, 2010)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0786444525
* ISBN-13: 978-0786444526
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› [125]Visit Amazon's Theresa Bane Page
Theresa Bane
Vampirologist, Theresa Bane has been featured on Discovery Channels'
"Twisted History: Vampires" as well as E!'s "10 Sexiest Vampires," and
William Shatner's "Weird or What" for her knowledge and expertise on
the undead.
Bane is the author of "Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and
Cultures," "The Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology," "Actual Factual:
Dracula," "Haunted Historic Greensboro," "Ghost Stories and Folklore of
the Piedmont, North Carolina," and numerous RPG (role-playing game)
supplements, including co-authoring the "Bare Bones Multiverse" core
rulebook. She has also written a dark humor book entitled "The
Bloodthirsty Weasels: On the Loose and Buck Wild" as well as regularly
writing content and satirical articles for on-line magazines and gaming
supplements. Recently she has delved in audio books and has been the
Associate Producer on Patricia Brigg's "Dragon Bones" and "Dragon
Blood," as well as "Vampire Empire: The Greyfriar" by Clay and Susan
Griffith, all of which are produced by Buzzy Multimedia.
When not writing, Bane travels educating audiences about the
differences between traditional mythology and horror fiction. A diehard
gamer originally from the NY/NJ area, she currently resides in North
Carolina with her husband, T. Glenn Bane. Please feel free to visit her
website at www.theresabane(dot)net.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
[134]An ideal resource for authors of vampire stories and students of
vampire lore
By [135]Midwest Book Review on August 7, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Every human culture known has some form of vampire legend, folk lore,
myth, or believe. Knowledgeably compiled by vampire mythology expert
Theresa Bane, "Encyclopedia Of Vampire Mythology" is a 207-page
international compendium of alphabetically organized and presented
vampire lore. Enhanced with an informative introduction, an extensive
bibliography, and a comprehensive index, "Encyclopedia Of Vampire
Mythology features succinct descriptions of almost 600 species and
subspecies of vampire, with each entry provided with a phonic
pronunciation guide, and supported by source references. An impressive
work of impeccable scholarship, the "Encyclopedia Of Vampire Mythology"
is a seminal and highly recommended addition to academic library
reference collections and is an ideal resource for authors of vampire
stories and students of vampire lore.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
[140]A masterful research tool
By [141]Diana Trent on July 18, 2010
Format: Hardcover
The depth and breadth of this book is simply amazing. I thought I knew
all about vampires but now understand i had just scratched the surface.
This encyclopedia spans widespread cultures and centuries of history
stretching back near the dawn of civilization. It makes for an intense
read and an awesome research tool for anyone interested in writing
vampire fiction too.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
[146]A dry book that also lacks accuracy.
By [147]Julien Bourgault on February 5, 2015
Format: Hardcover
First, it should be mentioned that a lot of creatures are listed inside
that Vampire Encyclopedia and so, a lot of work was probably needed to
write it. HOWEVER... (and sadly,) it should also be added that a lot
and a lot (most (??)) of these creatures can hardly be considered as
"vampires" and so, shouldn't most probably be listed as such. In Bane's
book those creatures are termed "vampiric witches", "vampiric fays",
etc... Various ghouls (creatures feeding on corpses) are also listed as
well as are a lot of other "fiends" that would most probably be better
described (and listed...) as werewolves, zombies, familiars, evil
demi-gods, elementals, monsters, spirits, or demons. Consequently,
these (MANY) creatures can hardly find a suitable place inside a ...
"vampire encyclopedia". So, one may easily be tempted to think that the
author proceeded - somewhat a bit carelessly - to some sort of "page
filling" while writing her book. So, regrettably, that vampire
encyclopedia should be considered (at best) only a very average one. An
encyclopedia which is too sloppy and uncritical in the choice of its
listings. And so, consequently, a work which lacks in seriousness,
accuracy, and thoroughness. Oh and finally, another (BIG) lack in that
work: the absence of pictures, making the whole experience a somewhat
dry and dull one... So, not more than 2 stars for that book.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
[152]Excellent resource for both enthusiasts and novices alike!
By [153]Mina on August 19, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Theresa Bane's passion for her bailiwick is undeniably evident in her
latest work. While worthy of its place in academia, the enthusiasm in
each entry makes it accessible to vampire "virgins", such as myself. Of
particular note is the exquisite detail (were it not for the
pronunciation guide, one can only imagine the potential damage
wrought), the exploration of the psychology behind the lore of the
vampire, and as a bit of an anatomy enthusiast, the Gray's worthy cover
illustration of the aortic arch et al. is the icing on the cake!
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[158]I have always loved vampires and this book is just what I was ...
By [159]Yenny on March 1, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I heard Theresa Bane talk on Darkness Radio and was immediately
impressed with her. I have always loved vampires and this book is just
what I was looking for!
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Vampires - Myth & Reality
Myth: Vampires cannot move about in sunlight.
Reality: Most varieties can, a few can't. Some can only do so if they've
fed within the last 24 hours, others can at will. Most lose the
majority of their abilities in direct sunlight, and all are at least
mildly photosensitive.
Myth: A wooden (or iron) stake through the heart will kill them.
Reality: Better than 50% of the time, this is true. Some are only
immobilized by it, however. Others can only be killed by beheading
and burning, some can be killed with a simple handgun. Unless they
visibly expire (most really do crumble to dust or spontaneously
combust when subjected to True Death), it's best to be safe...
Myth: Vampires are painfully allergic to garlic.
Reality: True. Not certain why, but nearly every breed is repelled
by the substance. It may have something to do with the properties
of garlic that alter body chemistry and repel blood-drinking
insects.
Myth: Vampires can be driven away with the Cross and other holy
symbols, and can even be injured by them (as with Holy Water).
Reality: Partly true. If the person wielding the holy symbol has real
faith in his religion, this will work on about 90% of vampires.
Very old vampires tend to develop an immunity to this. Some breeds
(particularly Eastern ones) seem to be more resistant to it. This
aversion to faith extends even to prayer, and sanctified holy grounds.
Incidentally, this aversion appears to be purely psychological.
There are a few vampires who retain (for one reason or another) their
religion after being turned, and aren't affected. Others simply refuse
to believe that they will be, and thus aren't.
Myth: Rain and running water will hurt, and even kill, a vampire.
Reality: Completely false. No evidence exists that any breed of
vampire can be killed, or even hurt, with running water. A very few
types can be immobilized by immersion in running water, however.
Myth: A properly performed exorcism will kill a vampire.
Reality: Nope. It might make them laugh, though.
Myth: Vampires aren't hurt by silver, only werewolves are.
Reality: Pure, undiluted silver (or nearly so) WILL hurt vampires,
in much the same way as garlic. Both used together (as in bullets)
can even paralyze the vampire injured by them, and will (at the
very least) cause crippling pain.
Myth: Vampires are much stronger than normal humans.
Reality: Partly true. Most varieties of vampire ARE somewhat stronger
than normal humans. A few, such as the European vampire, can actually
be strong enough to lift a small car with a little preparation. Others
are no stronger than a normal person.
Myth: Vampires need to drink human blood daily to survive.
Reality: Partially true. Most vampires are unable to absorb the nutrients
in food normally, getting them instead by drinking fresh blood. It
doesn't need to be human, though most vampires prefer it (for reasons
now obvious thanks to genetic research). Vampires CAN still eat normal
food, and most do (it tastes good!). A few breeds of vampire (mostly
Eastern, South American and African in origin) will devour some of
their victim's internal organs as well, perhaps for the same reason
they drink the blood.
As to how regularly they need to "eat"...Generally, depending on
their amount of activity, injuries, and so forth, a single feeding
(2-3 pints) will keep them well-fed for a few days (2-5, depending).
On occasion, an abberation (mutation, perhaps?) will pop up, ending
in a vampire that actually DOES need to feed daily.
Myth: Vampires have no heartbeat.
Reality: False. How else could the blood circulate through their bodies.
Granted, most vampires have a much slower pulse than normal humans
(on the order of 20-25 beats per minute), but their hearts do beat.
Myth: Vampires don't need to breathe.
Reality: Basically true. They don't NEED to. However, it's difficult to
talk without airflow over the vocal chords, so most do. Vampires can
stop breathing at will, however, and can go indefinitely without doing
so.
Myth: Vampires cast no reflection and don't show up in photographs or
on video, nor do they cast a shadow in bright light.
Reality: This is partially true. The European Vampire (the most common)
doesn't, in fact, cast a reflection in glass or mirrors, for reasons
no one has been able to quite determine...Because they DO cast a
reflection in water, on a metal surface, and they will appear on film
(both traditional and digital), and they do cast a shadow.
Myth: Vampires must sleep in their native soil.
Reality: False, though some older vampires take an odd sort of
sentimental comfort from doing so. Like having a security blanket.
Myth: Vampires always sleep in coffins, sarcophagi or crypts.
Reality: Again, this is partially true, because many of the more
photo-sensitive (or photophobic) vampires DO sleep in coffins.
After all, coffins are air-tight and perfect proof against sunlight.
However, an equal number of vampires retire to bed, and just draw
their curtains.
Myth: Vampires have extraordinary mental powers, ranging from hypnosis
and mesmerism, to empathy and telepathy.
Reality: True, in a staggering variety. Not all vampires have the same
abilities or the same facility with them. Demonstrated powers range
from those mentioned above, to an almost irresistable attractiveness
that may be either psychic or pheromonal. Some vampires have none of
these abilities. As with any ability, practice makes perfect.
Myth: Vampire can change their shape to that of certain types of
animals, such as bats and wolves, and can become a sort of mist.
Reality: Completely false. Some vampires have learned to use their
psychic abilities to make people THINK they've done this, but they
can't actually alter their physical form.
Myth: Vampires do not look entirely human.
Reality: Partly true. The vast majority of Vampires always have one or
two constant physical traits that give away their nature...Generally
unusually pale skin and ears that appear to be more pointed than
rounded. Some breeds have unusually long fingers (and may have an
extra knuckle on each finger!) or extreme amounts of body hair
(including on their palms).
Additionally, when Vampires manifest their powers, their human
facade tends to change to a certain extent...Canines (or incisors,
on some breeds) become longer and sharpen (for biting); eyes may
glow red or yellow; in some breeds, facial features may shift subtly
to become more animalistic (bushier eyebrows, thicker eyebrow ridge
and cheek bones, larger ears, and so forth).
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Truth and Legend: Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters of Myth
Truth and Legend: Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters of Myth
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Anthropology and History
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Photo: [18]via wikimedia
Legends of vampires and werewolves make the hairs on human necks stand
on end, wherever they are told in the world, while those of elves, and
faeries make us all smile. From trolls of Scandinavian folklore, to the
impish leprechauns of Ireland, these creatures of myth are familiar to
us all. Even Native Americans of the United States have similar
legends, but how much of it is based in fact?
Most ‘evidence’ is in the form of eye-witness testimonies, and those
who encounter elven creatures should know that to refuse their requests
for food or shelter can bring bad luck. Fortunately, elves are said to
avoid humans as much as possible, living secret lives hidden away in
deep forests, so it is said. It’s very easy to dismiss such ‘sightings’
as pure imagination, but some archaeological discoveries could make you
think again.
Leprechaun Photo: [19]via Wikimedia
In 1932, gold prospectors in the Pedro Mountains, 60 miles southwest of
Casper, Wyoming, found a 14-inch tall mummy. It was sitting on a ledge
in a small granite cave, legs crossed and arms folded on its lap. It
had a flat nose, low forehead, and a broad, thin-lipped mouth. After
intensive x-rayed analysis, The Anthropology Department of Harvard
University certified it as genuine, possibly the body of a 65-year old
man.
Dr. George Gill reportedly thought that the mummy could have been an
infant that had suffered from anencephaly, a congenital abnormality
that causes tiny adult proportions. The mummy mysteriously disappeared
sometime after, so no further research could be done. Interestingly,
Shoshone and Crow Indian tribes from the area where it was found have
legends of “little people” in their ancient folklore.
fairy Photo: [20]Alejandra Mavroski
High among the strangest finds, worldwide, was that of the late 19th
century in the Pennine hills of East Lancashire, England. Hundreds of
tiny flint tools were found, none larger than half an inch long,
including scrapers, borers, and crescent shaped knives, all of fine
craftsmanship. The finders needed a magnifying glass to see the flaking
used to bring them to a sharp point. None of these tiny tools were
really practical, so were they simply ornamental, or did they belong to
‘little people’?
Similar finds have occurred in Egypt, Africa, Australia, France, Italy,
and India. Less physical evidence exists for legends in the Himalayan
mountains of giant creatures called the ‘Yeti’ and similar American
tales of the ‘Sasquatch’, beings which manage to avoid human contact,
so how much more easily might tiny people find it to hide away?
Yeti Photo: [21]Ash Lux
We all know the spine tingling thrill of the horror movie, where people
turn into bats or wolves, hungry for flesh and blood, but we also know
that these are just fantasies, don’t we? Not everyone, it seems,
because a group of American businessmen are looking for the truth about
vampirism, wanting to exhume the body of ‘Vlad the Impaler’ – the
inspiration for Bram Stoker’s chilling tales.
Recent reports suggest that vampirism could actually be a medical
condition, believe it or not. Porphyria is a rare, metabolic disorder,
which stops those affected from producing Haemoglobin – the substance
that gives blood its red colour – and also renders them extremely
sensitive to sunlight. Gums recede, making teeth much more prominent,
and garlic only aggravates their condition – all classic signs of being
a vampire!
vamp Photo: [22]robinvanmourik
Doctors in the Middle Ages would drain blood from sufferers, finding it
to be lacking in colour, and encourage them to drink large quantities
of fresh, red blood, in the hope of curing them. David Dolphin, of the
University of British Columbia, believes that his research shows this
disease to be the cause of vampire legends.
The businessmen actively seek to discover if Vlad was a sufferer, and
Romanian papers have it that they have approached the Scottish research
centre, at Roslin – where Dolly the sheep was cloned – to make
enquiries about the possibilities for cloning the Count – though this
seems highly unlikely.
Equally, Lycanthropy might well be down to genetics. For the origin of
the myths, you need to go back to the time of the Greeks. The god
Lykaon was transformed into a wolf by Zeus, after having served him
human flesh. From that time on, the legend of the werewolf spread
around the world.
During medieval times, when fear of the supernatural was at its height,
the fact that wolves were known to attack humans, on occasion, only
added fuel to the fire, as did the legendary “Beserkers” of Norse
mythology – warriors who felt neither fear nor pain, had superhuman
strength and never surrendered. They dressed in shirts made of bear or
wolf skin. (Beserker translates as “men in bearskin coats”, and those
who wore the wolf skins were called “ulfheobar”. Once dressed in the
skins, fighters were said to take on the characteristics of the
animal.)
Strangely enough, the Germans held the wolf in high esteem, and names
like Wolfgang are still common today. The advance of Christianity meant
that belief in the supernatural came to be regarded more and more as
‘The Devil’s Work’, and those who claimed to be werewolves were
condemned as insane. The first recorded serial killer was a German
named Stubbe Peeter who, in 1589, killed and ate twenty-five people,
including his own son. He claimed to be a werewolf, and to have signed
a blood pact with Satan.
grey wolf Photo: [23]Thomas Roche
A Byzantine emperor described the Beserkers as being possessed by a
ferocity and madness seen only in wild beasts. It’s where the word
‘beserk’ came from. Have a look at the palms of your hands. Are they
hairy? If so, then perhaps it’s a sign. Do you always leave your left
thumbnail uncut – so it looks like a claw? Do you have a tattoo of a
crescent moon, somewhere on your body, and very long third fingers on
each hand? Do your eyebrows meet in the middle, on the bridge of your
nose, and do you find it impossible to sleep with your mouth open?
If you’ve answered yes to all these questions, and wake up some
mornings with cuts and bruises that you can’t account for, especially
after a full moon, then maybe you have a secret life, for all these
things are said to be certain signs of being a werewolf. Perhaps your
distant ancestors were ‘Beserkers’.
Reports of werewolf sightings are legion: in 1936, Mark Schackelman of
Wisconsin claimed to have seen a large creature – with both ape and dog
like features – which stank of dead meat. In 1989, Lorianne Endrizzi,
also of Wisconsin, saw a beast with grayish brown fur, which had large
fangs, pointed ears and human like hands. These are but two of many
thousands of sightings, yet no werewolf has ever been caught.
gm2 Photo: [24]wikimedia
The more medical science uncovers about the human genome, and its
widely varying effect on the lives we come to lead, the more convinced
are the scientists that many a myth has its foundations in previously
undiscovered medical conditions. It may be that you have leanings
toward drinking blood, of sinking your teeth into raw flesh, but those
tendencies might simply be the result of something within your genetic
makeup, and not in the least ‘unnatural’, if the whole truth were to be
told.
It is, to all practical intents and purposes, a physical impossibility
for a person to transmute into another creature, but there are no such
limits on the human mind. As long as people believe that there are more
things in heaven and earth than we have a right to know, the myths and
legends surrounding these types of beings will continue to keep us both
fascinated and entertained. Writers and filmmakers will always profit
from these ‘Dream People’, but how can we be certain that’s all they
really are? The truth, as they say, is out there.
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