(DISCLAIMER)

This is just some random garble gathered from various means on legends, myths, and lore about vampires. It is exactly -THAT- .. MYTHS....... LEGENDS........ and LORE... So don't post "oh that's so off, real vampires do this.. real vampires do that.. real vampires hit me with a wiffle ball bat".. If you are one of these people.. then expect a quick and fierce retaliatory strike of intellectual degradation directed at your pathetic, pompous, moronic, idiotic, whiny ass. (Oh.. and keep your delusions of grandeur to yourself). These articles are just that, articles. They do not reflect my personal view of "Vampires", so I don't want to hear any of you little whiners going "omg! omg! OMG! that is soooooo not true! vampires don't do that! I should know!.. I'm a vampire!.. bleh!".. blah blah etc etc. If you have anything at all to say, make it in the form of presenting your own article, as no one wants to hear some whiny bitching about what "real" vampires are, as if everyone will base their opinions of vampirism off of what you say. I do not believe I am a vampire, I do not believe in "vampires" per se, while I do believe there are a lot of people who like to taste blood and indulge in acts of bloodplay, I do not think of them as "vampires" as they generally refer to themselves, I think of them as retards that drink blood. There is nothing supernatural or otherwise about them. So said, here begin the articles and other random data; And I'll possible post more from my own books of cultural representations of vampiric manifests at a later time. (sheesh I'm long winded)


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~ The German Vampyre ~

Like in most of Eastern Europe, the vampyre and Germany have had a long history together. This country's version of the undead varies slightly from the commonly known folklore vampyre.

The most well-known German vampyre is the Nachtzeherer, which means, "Night waster." This was the vampyre of Northern Germany. In the southern part of the country it was named, "Bluatsauger" or bloodsucker. Other synonyms for these members of the Undead are, "NAchttoter" (Night Killer) and "Neuntoter" (Killer of nine).

These vampyres were created by unusual death and birth occurrences. As usual in folklore, a suicide victim would become a vampyre, but in Germany, any person who died through accidental death became undead as well. Similar to the Polish vamp, a German child born with a caulk on his head was destined to be a vampyre...especially if the caulk was blood red! A final quirky nature of German vampyres is that is a person's name is not removed from his/her burial clothing, it would rise from the dead as a vampyre!

The Nachtzehrer was also identified with epidemics and plagues, and thus could be associated with Nosferatu. When a group of people suddenly died from a similar disease, the first to die was deemed vampyre and was dispatched with. When the Nachtzehrer was found in the tomb/grave, it was known to have chewed on their own flesh and clothing, although this was most likely from rats and the like which dug up the shallow grave where there were no coffins. This type of vampyre would rise from the grave and attack the living, but unlike other vampyres...this one did not drink blood. Instead it consumed the entire body of it's victim, like a ghoul would. It would also raise from the dead a bride. This bride would be the corpse of a woman who died in childbirth. When the undead were unearthed from their coffins the Nachtzehrer would be found laying in pools of blood, because it had gorged itself to the point where it could not hold down all that the greedy vampyre had consumed. Here the vampyre was dispatched with..but not by the means we all are accustomed towards hearing. Sometimes the vampyre was destroyed by placing a clump of earth underneath it's chin. Other times a stone or a coin were placed in the corpses mouth.

Another method was to tie a white hankerchief around the vampyre's neck. And the most drastic measure of all was not the stake through the stomach, but the head was cut off and a spike was driven through it's mouth to pin the head and tongue into place. Some belief in folklore vampyre still exists in rural Germany to this day.

In the late 1980's Affons Schweiggert investigated reports in Germany that a Bluatsauger was terrorizing local villages. In these villages, the vampyre was still taken deadly serious.

Etymology

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The word vampire was first used in 1734: "The bodies of deceased persons animated by evil spirits, which come out of the graves at night time to suck the blood of many of the living and thereby destroy them."

By 1862 Vampire meant a terrible BORE of a person

And by 1911 vampire meant "a woman who intentionally attracts and exploits men" and by 1918 (July 9) the New York Times mentions a play called "The Vamp" starring Enid Bennett.

Also the Verb to vamp means "to behave seductively and exploit" (ca 1920's)

If vampires are not detected they climb into the belfry of the church and either A) call out names of villagers (who then instantly die) or B) ring the death knell and anyone who hears it dies on the spot

If a vampire goes undetected for 7 years they can go to another country or place where a different language is spoken and become human again. They can never remarry but when they die the whole family becomes vampires (kids for first time & parent(s) again)

There are 2 kinds of Vampire: the spirit of a dead person or a corpse reanimated by his own or another person (ie ethereal or physical)

In some traditions, staking a vampire must be done IN ONE BLOW to do it right

More random traditional views from mostly Eastern Europe on what kinds of things caused people or corses to become vampires.


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The 7th son of the 7th son

A cat jumping over corpse turns the corpse into a vamp (England); in Romania the same but the cure (antidote) is to put a piece of iron into the corpse's hand or place Hawthorn in the coffin

A baby born with teeth or a caul or stillborn

A dead body that has been reflected in a mirror

Someone bitten by a vamp

Suicides

People who die suddenly & violently

Those who do not receive proper burial

People who have eaten he meat of a sheep that has been killed by a wolf

Having red hair (Greece only)

By renouncing the Eastern Orthodox religion (which is why the peasants may have thought Vlad was a vampire)

By being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox church

Wild dogs jumping over a corpse

Never leave any KNOT in the coffin -- a tie or a rope since it was thought to prevent the corpse's decay and to disturb the dead person's ability to make the transition into another life

~ The Italian Vampyre ~


The vampyre first reached Italy when "the vampyre plague" hit Serbia and Eastern Europe in the 17th century. The vampyre plague is the Golden Era for the undead. Countless sightings and reports from Man, clergy, officer and doctor remain from that time about firsthand accounts of vampyres.

As the plague was beginning, a Franciscan from Pavia, Ludovico Maria Sinistrari included the vampyre in his study of demonic phenomena, "de Daemonialitate, en Incubus et succubus." He then explained the vampyre in theological terms. He believed that vampyres were a separate race from those of Adam and Eve. Vampyres had souls like those of humans, but their corporeal selves were of a different, perfect nature. I could understand this thought if he used 20th century Americanized vampyres, but back then, the vampyre was a festering fat, balding exhausted reanimated corpse munching on family and cattle. Not too romantic, and a far cry from perfection in my opinion. He also stated vampyres were creatures that were parallel human beings....not evil opposites.

A more modern view of our vampyre bloodsucker came from JH Zedler and his "grosses volstandige Universal-lexicon aller wissenschften und kunste" in 1745. He stated vampyres were just a superstition and excuse to explain diseases science could not rationalize. Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati echoed these beliefs, stating that vampyre outbreaks only occurred in rural and popular areas of the world...thus making vampirism, "The fruit of imagination" as well as ignorance, fear, superstition and to use a modern term, trendy. It became almost a fad to have a vampyre outbreaks. Hey, it got your town noticed and explained a lot of problems you were having. Besides, peasants didn't have much else to do besides mulch and die.

I'm sure this is much to the Cardinal's chagrin, but vampirism became even more widespread in the mid 18th century throughout central and eastern Europe. The first Romance to ever be published in Italy was, "IL Vampiro" by Franco Mistrali in 1869. This was preceded by an opera by the same name in 1801 by A. De Gasperini. I've never seen the opera, but I think it would be interesting. franco's tale took place in Monaco and revolved around blood and incest. His vampyre was presented in the same decadent, aristocratic manner akin to kaets, goethe, polidori and Byron. Only one real folklore work on the undead ever came out of Italy, and that
was 1908's Vampiro, by Enrico Boni. It is about the historic vampyre plague and is one of the only books ever printed about the superstitions and fear of Italy at that time of the plague.

Italy doesn't have much original works on the vampyre. It has tended to take from Western Europe and use their mythology. Perhaps this is because for the most part, as the vampyre mythos was being built up in the 1600's, the "plague" of the Undead passed over the boot shaped country until near the end of it.

Apotropaics
or
The art of Fooling and Controlling Vampires (and the dead in general)
These are methods of turning away evil:


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Take the most tortuous route home from the cemetery in order discourage ghosts from following you

Wear unfamiliar clothing (disguise)

Wear grotesque makeup (disguise)

Impaling the corpse or breaking its legs and severing its head (so it can't see and can't run ... that ought to do it!). A severed head was sometimes placed underneath the buttocks to prevent the corpse from putting its head back on

Pelt the corpse with pebbles as it's being lowered into the grave

Spread Poppy seeds on the path from the graveyard ... vampires MUST stop and pick up everyone and if you spread enough of them, by the time they have picked them up it's dawn and time to go back to bed (the graveyard)

To detect them ... take a young virginal boy or girl and put them on a horse of a SOLID colour all white, all black, all brown) and the horse must also be virgin and never have stumbled. If the horse refuses to pass over a grave then you know a vampire lies there

The wooden stake of impalement HAS TO BE made of rosebush, ash or an asp tree. Sometimes a red hot iron will do. The stake used to "kill" a vampire can also be of hawthorn or dogwood, both trees associated with the holiness of Christ. Cold iron is also useful (a carry-over from pre-Christian times), although I can appreciate the effect of HOT iron on human tissue!

All vampires have to be buried face down after they have been killed

In Romania, young women seeking to avoid giving birth to a vampire should eat salt (for its purifying powers)

Crossing the arms of a corpse

Burying the corpse with a sickle around its neck so if it sat up it would decapitate itself

Putting a thorn under the tongue to prevent it from sucking blood

Inserting a needle into the navel

Placing the heart on the head

Cutting off the feet

Cutting the knee ligaments (very common)

Staking can be accompanied by driving a sacred nail into the head

There are several other methods of arranging the vampirism-prone corpse that you didn't mention, and I don't have a list handy. If I recall, they involve several nails driven into various parts of the body, filling the mouth with various purifying substances (often accompanied by decapitation), and soaking the corpse in or rubbing it with various purifying substances. Purifying substances could include salt, holy water, garlic, other spices, ashes (especially from holy woods), and lemon juice. Burning and boiling, frequently combined with other techniques, were also prescribed

~ The Greek Vampyre ~

There are five variations of the Greek vampyre. This vampyre, like other Greek vampyres are and were not revivified corpses. Rather they were evil spirits.

The Lamiai was named after Lamia (Which is where the mistake of that word being used with vampyres comes from) who was a Libyan queen. Lamia was the daughter of Belus and Libya... the latter was was loved By Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods (But hey, back then, who didn't get it on with Zeus?). Hera, as usual, became jealous and took her vengeance on Lamia by stealing all her children that had been fathered by Zeus. Lamia retired to her cave, and being unable to strike at the Queen of the gods, used human mothers as her scapegoat and drank the blood from their children. Her actions transformed her into a hideous beast, and thus Lamia and her lamiai were born. Later Lamia became identified with the class of beings that resembled her; course ugly women with serpentine lower bodies. Their feet were totally different.

One would be brass, while the other was shaped like a goat, donkey or Oxen's hoof. The Lamiai were known primarily as demonic spirits that sucked the blood from children, as I have already said. They were, however, able to transform into beautiful woman in order to seduce men for breeding. Although the lamiai are not believed to exist any longer in Greece, they have become a method for scaring children, much the same way the US uses the bogeyman...

~ Polish Vampyres ~

A type of vampyre found amongst the Kashubian people of northeast Poland in the Vjesci, also spelled vjeszczi or vjescey. According the myths, a person who would become a vampyre was born with a caul (membrane cap) on his head at the time of birth. When such a child was born, the cap was removed, dried, ground up and fed to the person on their seventh birthday. These actions would prevent the man
from becoming a Vjesci. Otherwise...bam! Undead.

The Potential vjesci looked perfectly human, but was restless and easily excitable. He also had a ruddy complexion. At the time of his death he would renounce God. His body would cool much much slower then a normal corpse and the limbs would remain limber. The lips and cheeks would remain red and spots of blood would seep from his cheeks and fingernails. The Vjesci never actually died. At Midnight after his burial, he would awake and eat his clothing and then bits of his own flesh. He then left the grave and attacked family member, by sucking out all their blood. Not sated, he'd move on to the neighbors. There were several steps to be taken in ridding the community of the vampyre.

First all people in the town would receive a Eucharist wafer. Then a little earth was placed in the undead's coffin to prevent it from returning there. A crucifix or a coin would be placed in the Vjesci's mouth if it was till in the coffin for it to suck on. A net would be wrapped around the vampyre with the understanding that the vampyre could only untie one knot from the net a year and he could not rise from the coffin until all the knots were untied.

A bag of seeds would be placed in the coffin for similar reasons. Lastly the body would be placed face down in the coffin, so when the vampyre awoke, it would merely dig deeper into the earth instead of coming up to terrorize peasants. (Man, those polish don't mess around!).

(random tidbit)

~ Vampyre ~

One of the more famous "real vampyre" reports was that of a man who served the Lord of Alnwick Castle.

The man, who was known for being exceedingly wicked, was plagued by an unfaithful wife. Having hidden himself on the roof above his bed to spy on her, he fell to the ground and died the next day. Following his burial, the man was seen walking through the town. People became increasingly afraid and locked themselves in their houses after dark. During this time an unknown disease broke out, which of course, was blamed on the vampyre.

Finally, on Palm Sunday, the local priest assembled a group of devout residents, as well as some of the leaders of the community, and they entered the cemetery. They uncovered the body, which appeared gorged on blood and they struck it with a spade.
The body was deemed evil, set on fire and the epidemic ended.

The town went back to their happy little ways.

~ The Vampyres of Malaysia ~


The are two kinds of vampyre in Malaysia.

The first is the langsuyar. The langsuyar is a beautiful woman who reacted strongly to the loss of her stillborn baby. She flew into the trees and became a night demon who sucked the blood from other people's children. Another way to become a langsuyar is to die during childbirth. To prevent the dead mother from rising from the grave, the body would be treated with a needle in the palm of the hand, eggs under her arms, and glass beads were placed in the mouth. Sometimes the langsuyar would repent and live a normal life, marrying a new husband and having children.. Although at night she would still go off and feed from others. They also had long hair that would cover the tell-tale hole in her neck. It was through that hole which they sucked the blood.

The other vampyre of Malaysia is the pontianak. This is a stillborn child who would become a vampyre. It was similar to the langsuyar in every way though.

~ Original Vampyre's form in most Eastern European mythology ~

The original vampyre of Eastern Europe was a corpse, but a corpse notable for several uncorpselike characteristics. It's body would be bloated and swollen, thus making the skin as tight as a drum. It's fingernails would be long and hard, still growing as the creature lived it's undeath. It would be buried in the rags it was sent to the grave in. It would stink of death. The ends of the appendages might be rotting away, after all...it WAS dead. In appearance, the vampyre's visage was horrible, but not because it was monsterous...but because it was still decaying. Not to mention all vampyres in recorded history were peasants and serfs.

Try living a life of hard labor in the fields for 40 years and see how pretty you are! So, if one was to take the vampyre of recorded history and use it's appearance for a modern day vampyre, you can bet a lot of teen-age girls would daydream about one coming to visit.....

"The blood is the life"

Okay everyone and their dog has seen someone use "The Blood is the Life" with vamp literature, movies and the like. And most of you also know that it is a bible quote. Just for facts the line is Deuteronomy 12:23 and it reads, "Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." It still has the same connotations in relations towards the Undead.

Vampire names from around the world

Africa: asabonsam, obayifo
Australia: yara-ma-yha-who
Bosnia: lampir
Bulgaria: obur
China: chiang-shih
Czech Republic: upir
France: melusine, lamiai
Germany: nachtzehrer
Great Britain: vampyre
Greece: vrykolakas
Hungary: lidérc
India: kali
Italy: vampiri
Japan: kappa
Malaysia: langsuyar, pontianak
Mexico: tlahuelpuchi, chupacabra
Myanmar: thaye, tasei
Phillipines: aswang
Romania: strigoi
Russia: uppyr
United States: vampire
Thailand: pontianak

And now for a long LONG bit on Vampires... A-Z!
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Vampires A-Z: Letter A.

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Adze
A vampire spirit that dwells in tribal sorcers among the Ewe, a people inhabiting parts of southeastern Ghana and southern Togo in Africa. The Adze flies around in the form of firefly but, if caught, changes into a human. It drinks blodd, palm oil and coconut water and preys on children, especially handsome ones.


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Algul
An arabic vampire, which translated means horse leech, or a blodsucking jinn. This form of vampire is traditionaly a female demon that feasted upon dead babies and inhabited cemeteries.


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Alp
A German vampiric spirit associated with the boogeyman and the incubus, normally tormenting the nights and dreams of women. The creatures physical manifestations can be very dangerous. Long connected with the nightmare, the alp is considered male, somtimes the spirit of a recently deceased relative, most often an actual demon. Children can become an Alp when a mother uses a horse collar to ease childbirth. During the middle ages the alp was said to appear as a cat, pig, bird or other animal, including a lechorus demon dog scene in Cologne, thus linking the werewolf in with this legend. In all its manifestations the Alp is known to wear a hat. The spirit can fly like a bird, can ride like a horse and is credited with a certain gallant attitude, rarely forcing itself on its prey. The Alp drinks blood from the nipples of men and children but prefers the milk of women. Because it is so involved in terrors of the mind and sleep the Alp is virtually impossible to kill.


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Asanbosam
A vampire found in Africa, known among the Ashanti of southern Ghana and by people in areas of the Ivory Coast and Togo. The Asanbosam is belived to reside in deep forests, most often encountered there by hunters. It is of general human shape, with two exceptions: its teeth are made out of iron and its leg have hooklike appendages. Anyone walking by the tree in which it resides will be scooped up and killed.


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Aswang
A vampire from the Philippines, belived to be a beautiful female by day and a fearsome flying fiend by night. The Aswang can live a normal life during daylight hours. At night however the creature is led to the houses of its victims by night birds. Its nourishment is always blood, and it prefers to feed on children. The creature is recognized by its swollen form after feeding, it looks almost pregnant. If the Aswang licks a persons shadow it is belived that the person will die soon afterwards.

Vampires A-Z: Letter B.

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Bajang
A Malysian vampire, assumed to be male, apperaing as a cat and normally threatening children. The Bajang can be enslaved and turned into a demon servant and is often handed down from one generation to the next within a family. It is kept in a tabong(bamboo vessel) which is protected by various charms. While imprisoned it is fed with eggs and will turn on its owner if not enough food is provided. The master of such a demon can send it out to inflict harm on his/her enemy, the enemy usually dying soon after of a mysterious disease. According to traditions the Bajang came from the body of a stillborn child, coaxed out of it by various incantations.


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Baobhan-sith
A Scotish vampire that normally disguised itself as a beautiful maiden and lured its victims to there deaths. In fairy lore the Baobhan-sith usually appeared dressed in green.


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Bebarlangs
A tribe found in the Philippines that had members that practised a form of psychic vampirism. They apparently sent out there astral bodys and fed on the life forces and vitalty of individuals.


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Bhuta
A vampire from India, normally created due to the violent death of an individual. The Bhuta are found in cemetries or in dark desolate places, eating excrement or intestines. An attack by one of these creatures usually resulted in severe sickness or death.


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Brahmaparush
A vampire from India that enjoys consuming human beings. This creature would drink a victims blood through its skull, than eat the brain from the skull and finally proceed to wrap the victims intestines around its body and perform a ritual dance.


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Bruxsa
A female vampire from Portugal. The Bruxsa is normally transformed into vampiric form by witchcraft. She leaves her home at night in the form of a bird and her most frequent activity is tormenting weary lost travellers. She is said to appear as a beautiful maiden and leads a normal human life by day, bearing children which in general become her regular form of food. She is said to be impossible to kill.


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Vampires A-Z: Letter C.

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Chordewa
A witch found among the Oraons, cable of turning her soul into a form of vampire cat. It is said that if the cat licks a persons lips that they will die soon after.


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Churel
A vengeful ghostlike vampire found in India, normally a woman that died while pregnant during the Dewali Festival. She is said to hate life with her greatest spite being kept for her relatives. The Churel is said to be vile in apperance, possessing pendant breasts, thick ugly lips, a black tounge and unkept hair.


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Civatateo
A witch-vampire found among the Aztecs. Said to be a servant of various moon deities, and assummed to be noble women who died in child birth. Children were there favourite victims, dying soon after attack of a wasting disease. These vampires were said to appear with white faces, there hands covered in white chalk, and with crossbones drawn on there clothing.

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Vampires A-Z: Letter D.

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Danag
A Filipino vampire held to be very aincent as a species, responsible for having planted taro on the islands long ago. The Danag worked with humans for many years but the partnership ended one day when a woman cut her finger and a Danag sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her body completely of blood.


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Dearg-due
A dreaded creature of Ireland, whose name means "Red Blood Sucker." An aincent vampire that dates back to celtic times, it is still feared. The only way to curb its predations is to pile stones upon any grave suspected of housing such a beast. The most famous tale of the Dearg-due is the story of a beautiful woman supposedly buried in Waterford, in a small church yard near Strongbows Tree. Several times a year she rises from her grave, using her stunning apperance to lure man to there doom.


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Doppelsauger
A German vampire found in northern regions, among the Wends (a Slavic race). The idea was that a child once weaned would become a vampire if s/he should nurse again. On its passing into a vampire the Doppelsauger will eat the fleshy parts of its breast and in so doing will draw out the lifes essence from a living relative.

Vampires A-Z: Letter E.

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Ekimmu
One of the most feared of aincent vampires, found among the Assyrians and Babylonians. It is said to be a departed spirit, the soul of a dead person unable to find peace. The creature wondered over the earth waiting to attack. There were many ways in which a person could become an Ekimmu, among these were violent/premature death, unfulfilled love and improper burial.


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Empusas
A vampiric creature from Greek mythology, usually said to be in attendance to the goddess Hecate. They are described as demons which can from time to time take human form. There most common incarnation seems to have been in the form of a Phoenician woman.


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Eretica
A Russian vampire, usually considered to be a heretic who has returned from the dead. It was in general said to be a woman who sold her soul in life and then returns in the form of a ragged old woman. At nightfall a group of Ereticy would gather in ravines and perform a form of sabbat. Said to be active only in spring and autumn, it was belived that seeing the eyes of such a creature would result in a slow withering death.


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Estrie
A Hebrew spirit, always female and invaribly assuming the shape of a vampire. The Estrie is considered to be an incorperal spirit of evil that has taken the form of flesh and blood, and lives among humanity to satisfy its need for blood. Its favourite prey is said to be children, allthough no one is considered safe when it needs to feed.

Vampires A-Z: Letter F has no known (to me) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter G.

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Gayal
A vampiric spirit from India. Usually created due to the death of a man who has no one to properly perform the burial rites at his funeral. When he returns the Gayal reeks his revenge upon the sons of others and upon his on relatives. The threat of a relative returning as a Gayal usually ensures that the proper funeral rites are preformed.

Vampires A-Z: Letter H has no known (to me) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter I.

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Impundulu
A vampiric servant of a witch found in the eastern Cape region of Africa. It was usually passed down from mother to daughter and was used to inflict suffering on ones enemys. It was said to have an insatiable appetite and had to be continously let feed, it also used to take the form of a handsome man and become a lover to its mistress.


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Incubus
Without doubt one of the most famous forms of vampires, the male form of the Succubus, the Incubus used to visit women at night, make love to them and torment their dreams. It posses all the characteristic properties of the vampire, with nightly visits to its victims, draining of life and strength and extreme sexual desire. Like vampires found among Gypsy and Slavic communities it can father children.

Vampires A-Z: Letter J.

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Jaracacas
A Brazilian vampire, belived to appear in the form of a snake, it feeds on the breast of a woman, doing this by pushing the child out of the way and silencing the child by pushing its tail into the childs mouth.


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Jigarkhwar
A vampiric sorceress found in the Sind region of India. She feeds by extracting a persons liver through a piercing stare and various incantations. The liver is then cooked on a fire and eaten, at which time the victim dies.

Vampires A-Z: Letter K.

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Kasha
A Japanese vampire that feeds by removing corpses from graves or prior to cremation and devouring them.


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Kozlak
A Dalamtian vampire about whom very little is known. Prevalent among Croat beliefs


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Kuang-shi
A Chinese vampire, caused by the demonic poession of a recently deceased corpse. Said to have a terrifying apperance, as it matures it gains new skills with the older among them rumoured to have the ability to fly.

Vampires A-Z: Letter L.

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Lamia
A Libyian vampire. According to legend Lamia was a Queen of Libya and all of her children were slain by the goddess Hera, and who in revenge still roams the earth feeding on infants. She is also said to entice men into sex and then devours them in a gruesome fashion.


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Langsuir
A Malysian vampire, said always to take the form of a beautiful woman. A woman can become such a creature if she dies in childbirth. She is said to have extremely long nails, dress in green robes and have black hair which hangs down to her ankles. She generally feeds on the blood of children.


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Leanhaum-shee
An Irish fairy mistress, not actually a vampire but engaging in vampiric activities. She used her incredible beauty to lure men to her side and then used her charms to place them under her spell. The victim would then waste away as she slowly drained away his lifes essence through exhaustive love making.


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Lobishomen
A Brazilian vampire, that preys mainly on women. It does not actually kill its victims preferring instead to draw small amounts of blood. After its attack the woman begins to display nymphomanical tendencies.


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Loogaroo
A West Indian vampire said to go to a "Devil Tree" each night and remove its skin. It then flies off in search of its victims, in the form of a sulfurous ball.


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Lugat
A form of Albanian vampire, said to be reasonably harmless, only feeding briefly on its victims, not actually killing them.

Vampires A-Z: Letter M.

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Mara
A Slavic vampire, also found in the legends of the Kashube people of Canada. Said to be the spirit of an unbaptized dead girl, she is considered to be a terrible night visitor who crushes and oppresses her victims. In the Slavic legend once the Mara drinks the blood of a man she will fall in love with him and will return to plauge his slumbers till his death. She is also said to be fond of feeding on the blood of children.


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Masan
A vampire from India, said to be usually the ghost of a child, that delights in tormenting and killing children. The Masan is said to be able to curse a child that walks in its shadow. It will also follow a woman home should she allow her gown drag on the ground over his shadow.


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Masani
A female vampire from India, she is said to be the spirit of burial grounds. She is black in apperance. Her hunts are conducted by night, starting as she emerges from a funeral pyre. Anyone passing the burial site will be attacked.


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Mormo
A vampire from Greek mythology, said to be a servant of the goddess Hecate. Considered to be a terrible denzien of the underworld.


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Moroii
A living Romanian vampire. It can be either male or female, and exhibits most of the characteristics of a Strigoii.


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Muroni
A kind of vampire found in the Wallachia region of Romania. It is said to have the ability to change itself into a variety of different animal forms. While in one of these incarnations the Muroni can kill easily, with misleading signs of attack being left.

Vampires A-Z: Letter N.

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Nachzeher
A vampire found among the Kashubes of northern Europe. This vampire has the ability to kill its relatives by psychic means. While in its grave the vampire will begin to devour its shroud and then pieces of its owm flesh. This causes living relatives to begin to waste away.


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Nelapsi
A Slovak vampire, which can cause serious harm to the living. The Nelapsi is said to be able to massacre entire villages in a single visit. It also has the ability to kill with a single glance.


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Neuntoter
A German vampire, considered to be a great carrier of plagues and pestilence, traditionally only seen in times of great epidemics.


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Nosferatu
A Romanian species of vampire, said to be the illegitimate child of parents who were illegitimate. Soon after its burial the Nosferatu embarks on a long career of destruction. It delights in tormenting and engaging in wild orgies with the living. The male can father children. The vampire hates newly married couples due to its own illegitmatcy and wreaks its revenge on such couples by making the groom impotent and the bride barren.

Vampires A-Z: Letter O.

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Obayifo
A living vampire found among the Ashanti people of the Gold Coast in Africa. It is said to be a male or female human which leaves its human body at night and feeds. Said to be particualarly fond of young children, it can also cause blight in crops.


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Ohyn
A vampire from Poland, caused by the presence of teeth and a caul at birth.

Vampires A-Z: Letter P.

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Pacu Pati
A powerful vampire from India. The creature is deemed lord of all beings of mischief. It is seem at night in cemetries and palces of execution.


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Pelesit
A Malaysian spirit vampire. It invades a persons body, causing illness and death. Victims will rant and rave while under its poession.


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Penanggalan
A Malysian vampire, which flies at night with only the head and neck of its body complete and with its intestines dangling beneath them. The creature is always female and generally feeds on children or women in labour.


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Pijavica
A Slovenian vampire. It is created as a result of evils perpetrated during a persons mortal life, particularly incest which is guaranteed to cause ones return as a member of the undead. It generally feeds on relatives or descendents.


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Pisacha
A vampire from India, said to be a creature created by humanitys vices. While it is in general an evil deity, its favourite past time being the consumption of fresh corpses, it can also cure diseases if enticed too.


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Polong
A vampiric imp from Malaysia, created by bottleing the blood of a murdered man and performing certain archaic rituals over the bottle, a bond is made between the creator of the Polong and itself by allowing it to feed briefly each day on a finger. It is closely associated with Pelesit

Vampires A-Z: Letter Q has no known (to me) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter R.

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Rakshasa
A vampire from India, whose name translates as "the injurer". The female assumes the form of a beautiful woman, luring man to their death. In the newer legends the Rakhassa is said to live in trees and induces vomiting and indegestion in people who stray into its territory. A child will be transformed into such a creature if he can be induced to eat human brains.


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Ramanga
A living vampire found in Madagascar. A servant of the tribal elders the Ramanga would consume the nail clippings and spilled blood of a noble member of the tribe.

Vampires A-Z: Letter S.

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Stregoni benefici
An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires.


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Striges
A female witch-vampire which could transforn into a crow and would then drink the blood of humans. Classified among the living vampires.


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Strigoii
The infamous Romanian dead vampire. There numerous ways to become a Strigoii, including being a seventh son and suicide. Generally said to be friendly towards Gypsys.


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Succubus
A female vampire, a fiend that visits men in there sleep to torment their dreams and engage them in sex. The Succubus could render a victim totally exhausted in its pursuit of carnal pleasure.
.. Zoinks

Vampires A-Z: Letter T.

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Talamaur
A living vampire found in Australia. This creature could communicate with the spirit world, making one of these spirits its servant which it could then send among the living. One version of the Talamaur could send out its soul to drain the remaining life essence from a fresh corpse.


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Tlaciques
Vampiric witches found among the Nahuatl Indians of Mexico. They can turn into a ball of flame or into a turkey, in which form they can feed unnoticed.

Vampires A-Z: Letter U.

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Ubour
A Bulgarian vampire, created when a person dies violently or the spirit refuses to leave the body. The corpse remains buried for forty days and then arises to cause mischief. It generally won't drink blood until its other sources of nourishment are gone, and as these include regular food the attacking of humans rarely occurs. The Ubour is said to create sparks by its movement.


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Upier
A Polish vampire that is unusual in the fact that it rises at mid day and returns to sleep at midnight. It is said to have a barbed tounge and consumes vast quantities of blood. This creatures fascination with blood goes much further than normal vampires as it sleeps in blood as well.


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Upir
A vampire found in the Ukraine, that is noted for its desire to eat large amounts of fish.


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Upyr
A Russian vampire, considered to be extremely vicious. It will first attack children and then continue on to kill the parents. As with the Upier the Upyr rises during the day and sleeps at night, and in doing so has a fairly human appearance.


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Ustrel
A Bulgarian vampire that preyed exclusively on cattle. Thought to be the spirit of an unbaptisied child that has recently died.


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Utukku
A Babylonian vampire spirit, sometimes viewed as a demon. Generally belived to be the spirit of a recently deceased person that has returned from the grave for some unknown reason.

Vampires A-Z: Letter V.

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Varacolaci
A Romanian vampire that ranks among the most powerfull of all the undead. It is said to have the ability to cause both lunar and solar eclipses. They may appear as pale humans with dry skin. They can travel on an astral thread, the midnight spinning, travelling as far as need as long as the thread remains unbroken.


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Volkodlak
A species of vampire found in Slovenia, linked in some ways to various werewolf legends.


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Vourdalak
A Russian vampire, considered in Russian folklore to be a beautiful but evil woman.


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Vrykolakas
A species of vampire found in the Adriatic and Agean regions. It is created by various means including an immoral life. It travels in the dark and knocks upon doors, calling out the name of someone inside, if the person responds they will die soon after. It gains further powers as it grows older.


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Vrykolatios
A vampire species found on the island of Santorini. They are described as fiends which banquet on the living.

Vampires A-Z: Letter W has no known (to me!) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter X has no known (to me) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter Y has no known (to me) entries.

Vampires A-Z: Letter Z.

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Zmeu
A vampiric figure found in Moldavia. It took the form of a flame and entered the room of a young girl or widow. Once inside the flame became a man who seduced her.

Vampires: a history


The vampire in myth is always thought of as Count Dracula. Male, with fangs, and a suave manner. However, in different cultures around the world, the legend and the form of the vampire is as different as night and day.

And it was not often in the form of a bat. It was as different as different ethnic groups and countries have representations of them in myths in their culture.

For instance, in some Ancient Greek myths, the vampire is often a woman who has died, and is named Lamai/lamiai. She is a vampiric woman, being half woman, half serpent, and also lives in caves, where she gets sustenance from drinking the blood of children.

However, she also isn't picky, sometimes she also transforms into a very beautiful maiden and seduces young men, for their blood, which she drinks.

And the vampire itself is not sometimes a woman. In Africa, among members of the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, the vampire is known as an Asasabonsam.

It was described as a humanoid monster, living in a forest, and was very rarely seen. It was also very dangerous, living in the forest, and was very rarely seen.

It also happened to possess iron teeth, and survived by catching and destroying unwary passers-by by letting its hook shaped feet dangle from the treetops where it was sitting, and catching them with them.

The vampire also did not necessarily live in a castle as well. In Malaysia the vampire creature itself was called a Maneden and it lived in a wild panadus plant. If a human attacked the plant, the creature, angry and retaliative, would strike by attaching itself to a man's elbow, (or a womans nipple), where it sucked the person's blood untill that person gave it a substitution item, such as a nut. The vampire legend was not unknown or lost to ancient Meso-American cultures, such as the Maya and Aztec. The vampire of the Maya, known as Camazotz, was a full fledged god, and was central for the Maya agriculture, but was not respected. Instead he was feared for his blood drinking tendencies, and very fearsome appearance, which included large teeth and claws. He also dwelled in caves, where he would attack people, his victims, for their blood as well.

Among the Aztec people, the Cihuateteo was a vampire as well. This demi god and vampiric woman was often depicted like her kin in other parts of the world killing and surviving on the blood of infants.

However, they also share some characteristics with the vampires of the west. They are said to meet at crossroads, and also to wander at night. They also can't stand the sunlight, as it will kill them.

And among the gypses there are vampire myths as well. The gypsy vampire is reffered to as a mullo (one who is dead). This vampire is believed to return, do malicious things, and suck the blood of a person.

It was often a relative that caused their death, or didn't observe burial ceremonies. They also would be attacked if they kept the deceased's possessions instead of destroying them.

Female vampires were not to be kept in the coffin sometimes.

They could return, lead a normal life, and also marry, but they would exhaust their husband.

Among the Gypsies,if there was anyone who was missing a finger, had a hideous appearance, or even had animal appendages, etc. they were thought of being vampires.

And there were cases in history where there were persons who were like vampires. Elizabeth Bathory was born in the year 1560. She was from a family that had lands throughout Transylvania, and was also one of the most powerful families in the country after she was married to a very powerful count.

After sometime, she started to kill young girls in her area, so that she could preserve her youth and beauty by bathing in their blood. The rumored number that had been killed was 600.

She however could not have done this alone at all. She and her cohorts were found, tried, and all but her were killed in various ways. She was sealed alive in a chamber and could only get food and water through a slot in the door. She died there as well.

The vampire itself in myths sometimes didnt even require the sustenance of people. In Japan, the vampires (called Kappas) would dwell in water. They also attacked livestock such as cows and horses, dragging them into the water, and devouring them. So you see, even if the culture is somewhat different than the western one, there are myths that pertain to the Vampire in different cultures.

And the vampire can be as different in one form, as well as another. Which may be rather odd, but the myths themselves are as different, as night and day. And are also very unique as well too.

Something a little different.
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A Definition of the Chupacabra


For the non-Puerto Ricans among us, the Chupacabra is a creature that is currently rampaging through the island, relieving farm animals of their blood. As of yet, the Chupacabra, which translates into "goat-sucker", has not attacked humans, although no one can say for certain that this will not happen in the future. The origin of its name comes from its earliest attacks, where goats were found with their blood drained and with two peculiar puncture marks on their necks. There have been reports alleging that particular organs were missing from some of the victim's bodies, without any visible way for those organs to have been removed. Sightings have increased as the months go by, fueling paranoia and fear.

Speculation has placed the Chupacabra as a resident of another galaxy, or a half-man, half-beast vampire who roams the countryside terrorizing farm animals. Others say that the Chupacabra hops like a kangaroo and leaves a sulfur-like stench. Still others say that the Chupacabra is a panther-like creature with red eyes and a long snake-like tongue. I, for one, think that the truth may lie in the UFO area my theory being that the Chupacabra is actually the pet panther, which hops like a kangaroo, of some irresponsible aliens who let it wander around. Like obnoxious relatives who let their children rampage through the house, the aliens have overstayed their welcome in our island

(More Goatsucking!)

The Chupacabra becomes a recurring legend
San Juan (Puerto Rico) Star
6 May 1996


WASHINGTON -- The goatsucker is on the go -- with new alleged victims reported in other Caribbean countries, Mexico, Central America and Dade County, Florida. Once strictly del pais, the chupacabras, as the supposed vampire-like killer of barnyard animals is known in Spanish, has recently been spotted in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Miami.

The monster -- reptilian body, oval head, bulging red eyes, fanged teeth and long, darting tongue -- has allegedly pulled off one of the more grisly animal slaughters of late: the one-night massacre of 69 goats, chickens, geese and ducks in the heavily Hispanic Sweetwater neighborhood of South Miami. Miami police and the local zoologist say that the killer was a large dog -- but Sweetwater residents insist that the deed was done by the blood-sucking beast first spotted in the central mountains of Puerto Rico [1994].

Whatever, the chupacabras phenomenon seems quick becoming part of Hispanic -- and possibly international -- bestial lore. The goatsucker already has been tagged the Bigfoot of the Caribbean by stateside journalists. The monster made its network TV debut last week via "Unsolved Mysteries." It was the talk of the popular Miami-based gabfest, "El Show de Cristina," which is transmitted throughout Latin America. That show featured Canovanas Mayor Jose "Chemo" Soto, known to townsfolk as "Chemo Jones" for his weekly chupacabra hunts through the surrounding hills, using a caged goat for bait. Soto offered this grim warning: "Whatever it is, it's highly intelligent. Today it is attacking animals, tomorrow it may be attacking people."

Tee shirt sales are said to be booming, a video game reportedly is in the works, songs are sung to Ol' Red Eyes over South Florida radio stations (such as "Chupacabra-fragalisticexpialidotious," as in the song of a similar name from "Mary Poppins.") The beast is on the Internet, courtesy of some Puerto Rican students at Princeton University, who give tongue-in-cheek updates daily on the goatsucker's doings.

So, what have we here? Among other things, a recurring legend, especially prevalent in Latin America, according to anthropologists, Hispanic historians, and others. "There are a certain number of these legends of bloodsucking animals in South and Latin America," said Richard Grinker, an anthropology professor at George Washington University. "They are usually analyzed as anti-capitalist, an unconscious means of rebellion by country people who believe that capitalism is sucking dry the earth and their entire being. Fellow anthropologist Paul Brodwin acknowledged that blood-sucking legends pre-date quasi-Marxist analyses, but said the legends often get reinterpreted "according to social circumstances."

Take, for instance, the legend of the Loup Garou, which Brodwin has studied in the Haitian countryside. This sometime human-sometime animal being is related to the French werewolf legend, said Brodwin. But with a difference. The Loup Garou sucks the blood of its human victims.[???] The Haitian legend has been analyzed as a "collective fantasy," said the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor, of an unconscious suspicion and fear the poorer-than-poor have of their neighbors.

Marvette Perez,curator of Hispanic history at the Smithsonian Institution's American History Museum, sees deja vu once more in the chupacabras tales. Perez, a native of Arecibo, recalled the similarities between the chupacabras and both the Moca vampire and the garadiablo of island lore. A couple of decade ago, the Moca monster was sucking blood of assorted animals around that small mountain town, while the garadiablo was a devilish looking creepy crawly from the lagoon seen in local swamplands. "This seems to be a very Caribbean phenomenon, especially of the Spanish- speaking islands," said Perez. "It's part of our folklore. It's inter- esting that the chupacabras has not been found on the English-speaking islands, but has migrated only in places where people speak Spanish.

Pedro Vidal, professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at American University, remembers hearing childhood tales in his native Venezuela of a beast sucking the blood not only of animals, but also of little children. Vidal, who has done research on vampires, noted that the hemispheric roots of such entities go way back, to the Mayans, who worshipped a "vampire figure deity long before the idea of Dracula."

Bram Stoker's novel of the blood-thirsty count became a big hit in Victorian England in an age of anxiety over a syphilis epidemic, said Vidal. Now, another sexually transmitted epidemic has unsettled the populace. Puerto Rico, he noted, is among the areas in the hemisphere hardest hit by AIDS. It is entirely possible, he said, that the commotion over the chupacabras could be linked to the AIDS fear.

Unbeknownst to many, there is a real live goatsucker in captivity in the Washington, D.C. zoo. In fact, ornithologists know all about goatsuckers -- which is the name given to a family of nocturnal birds. They are described as soft-feathered with long, pointed wings, short, weak legs and feet, a very small bill, but a wide, gaping mouth, and whose eyes reflect light at night. Some goatsuckers of note are night jars, whippoorwills and the Australian frog mouth, which is on display at the D.C. zoo. Could they be...? Most unlikely, said Bob Hoage of National Zoo. The winged Goatsuckers feed almost exclusively on insects, he noted.

The Goatsucker tag comes from the Latin word, Caprimulgus. The birds are often found in the Mediterranean in places where goats graze. In a strange twist, bird-watcher-columnist Don Wilson reports in the Orlando Sun Sentinel that "the harmless whippoorwill was once viewed as a sinister creature. Superstitious country folk once believed the birds sucked the milk from goats' udders, causing them to dry up."

VAMPIRE MYTHS


Sunlight: As the "good" on the earth and the life giving warmth of early cultures it was the anti-thesis of the vampire, and thuscould destroy the vampire. Often the "good triumphs over evil" type of moral. Possibly an exaduration of the light-sensitiveness that sanguinarians do exibit. (You know how bards are) Also, in the earliest myths, vampires didn't have any problems being out in the daylight... this, like fangs, is a more recent addition to the list of "traits".


Crosses: These, along with holy water and the host, are again the "good conquers evil" background. The blessed would repel the cursed. Could also have arisin as a "focus" for holy power that repeled the evil.



Mirrors: The ancient belief was that mirrors reflected the soul, what a person was. Vampires were believed to have no souls and thus could not have a reflection. Later, mirrors were believed to reflect the goodness in a person (though only superficial) since vampires had no goodness in them (superficial or otherwise) they still cast no reflection.



Coffins: Probably dates back to the fact that vampires were believed to be "undead" or walking corpses. Since they were not truly alive the populus believed they had to return to the coffin during the day. Probably the same explaination applies to the "Natural Earth" myth.



Beauty: In order to drink from there victims, they had to get close enough to grab them. This myth has only recently appeared and been nutured by contemporary artists. The older legends speak of ugly, corpsian vampires. Again, this probably is a result of the "walking dead" thinking. Another possible theory is that being very thin and pale was a mark of beauty in the 18th century, which is when many of the modern fiction vamps are coming from. (thanks to Micholena for this idea).



Invitation: the person had to invite evil into the house, knowing that they are letting evil in. ie, one can't be tricked into evil, they have to consciously commit evil. --thanks to NightStalker


Stakes: Vampires were believed to be immortal, unless you 1) put a stake through there heart, or 2) cut off there heads, stuffed garlic in there mouths, and cut off thre ears. obviously, 1 is the simpler of the two. My best theory as to why this myth arose is that the heart was believed to be the life and wood, as a part of nature, was abhorant to the vampire. Perhaps, too, the splinters lodging in the heart prevented the healing and caused permenant death. The second way to kill I don't know how it arose, except perhaps by all that mutilation combined with the garlic myth was belived that something in it had to work.



Immortality: Since blood is linked to life, perhaps the drinking of blood is like the drinking of others life, prolonging the life of the vampire. (Thanks to mia for this connection)



Running Water: Imagery is the water is the birth force and the vampire, wizard or witch was a negative "death" force. --thanks to Moonshadow
Also, for some of the psi-vamps out there, it is said that running water pulls energy away from one, which causes weakness



Garlic: Garlics' noxious smell was believed to be a deturent to vampires as well. This may have arisin from the theory that "like repells like" and that the increased sensitivity to smells made the garlic flower more repulsive to us. Also garlic has always had certain medicinal values that people may have believed repeled the "disease" of vampires. (Thanks to mia for the idea of garlics' uses in medicine)



Silver: Though usually applied to werecreatures, I have heard it in application to vampires as well. The only reason I can think of is that silver was often used to make the crosses for priests and churches and that caused the crossover (slight pun intended )


Natural Earth: see Coffins



Retractable Fangs: Fangs in general are a hollywood invention. The earliest myths had no mention of fangs.



Salt: Mostly heard to repell the mythological witch. Salt was believed to keep evil spirits (ghosts, poltergiests, demons, etc) From entering Sacred space in a church, holy altar, convents etc. or any place deemed to be haunted, or possessed by evil spirits. The Christian Church, or more so the Christian Inqustion, described all witches and those who drink blood, vampires to be these evil spirits, demons, and posessed bodies, so they believed sprinkling salt in the corners of their holy place, would keep the evil spirit from walking at Night. They also thought Vampires and witches were the same.
However in todays wicca, wiccans/witches Use salt in their Circle casting, because Salt is seen as a Combo of the elments Earth/water/air. Salt is considered sacred in still creating sacred space.



Host (Holy Communion Bread): see Crosses



Thrall: More recient addition to the list, probably has the same roots as the Beauty myth. The general populus could not see the vampire as having people willing to donate, and so the vampire must cast some sort of thrall or spell over the victim to hold them.



Super Powers: A broad myth ranging from strength to flight. Most probably came from the same reson as thrall and beauty, a way to entrap people. The flight probably was the explaination for quick travel and escape.



Pictures: A myth that started after photographs became common was that Vampires would not appear in a photograph. I can only think this has something to do along the same lines as Mirrors.

Religious References of Vampirism

Please keep in mind, that the translation is all in the eye of the reader, not everyone will see these references quite the same, but without doubt, the possibilities are there.......

FROM THE CHRISTIAN HOLY BIBLE

Revelation 16:6
for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."

Revelation 17:6
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

Leviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.

Leviticus 17:14
because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood;

Deuteronomy 12:23
But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.


Proverbs 30:14
those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind.

Job 29:17
I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.


Zechariah 9:7
And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

Micah 7:2
The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

Lamentations 4:14
They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

Colossians 1:20
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Additions to Esther (Apocrypha) 16:5
Oftentimes also fair speech of those, that are put in trust to manage their friends' affairs, hath caused many that are in authority to be partakers of innocent blood, and hath enwrapped them in remediless calamities.

Romans Chapter 3
13: Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15: Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16: Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17: And the way of peace have they not known:
18: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Wisdom of Solomon Chapter 12
3: For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy holy land,
4: Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;
5: And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man's flesh, and the feasts of blood,

1 Chronicles 11:19
And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

1 Maccabees (Apocrypha) 7:17
The flesh of thy saints have they cast out, and their blood have they shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

Proverbs 1:11
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Proverbs 1:16
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Proverbs 1:18
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

Proverbs 6:17
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

Proverbs 12:6
The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.

Proverbs 29:10
The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Luke 11:50
That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

Luke 11:51
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

2 Esdras (Apocrypha) 15:58
They that be in the mountains shall die of hunger, and eat their own flesh, and drink their own blood, for very hunger of bread, and thirst of water.

1 Samuel 14:32
And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.

1 Samuel 14:33
Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.

Genesis 9:5
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

Genesis 9:6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Genesis 42:22
And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.

Revelation 18:24
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Psalms 9:12
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

Psalms 16:4
Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

Pslams 51:14
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

Hebrews 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Numbers 11:33
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

Micah 3:5
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

Mark 9:18
And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

Deuteronomy 32:24
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

Lamentations 2:16
All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

Daniel 7:5
And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

Daniel 7:7
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

Job 16:9
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Job 41:14
Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

Matthew 8:12
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Psalms 35:16
With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

Psalms 37:12
The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

Psalms 57:4
My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

"MAY THE GROUND NOT RECEIVE THEE"
An Exploration of the Greek Vrykolakas and His Origins
by Inanna Arthen (1998)

In the field of vampirology, few cultures in the world
have a vampire folklore tradition as long-standing, as
rich and as carefully analyzed by scholars as Greece.
Although the most famous mass panics recorded in
seventeenth and eighteenth century annals occurred in
Eastern Europe, and although Slavic countries in
general and Romania in particular have a varied and
creative tradition of vampire folklore, the
persistence of the belief in Greece surpasses that of
any other nation. For a scholar taking a broad
perspective of the phenomenon, this raises an obvious
question: why? What is peculiar to the Greek culture
and society that has led to the maintenance of vampire
beliefs and reported incidents right up to the first
half of this century? Are there more reasonable
explanations than the claim of older writers that the
Greeks are overly superstitious, or the Occam's Razor
solution that perhaps Greece simply has a lot of
vampires? An examination of these beliefs, their
ancient origins and the way in which the Greek
Orthodox church has both encouraged and discouraged
them may shed some light on the issue.

Before diving into this question, it will be helpful
to explain just exactly what is meant by the term
"vampire" as applied by English speakers to anything
related to Greece.
>
he English word "vampire" is a Slavic borrowing and
is found in almost identical (certainly homophonic)
form in Russian, Polish, Serbian, Czechoslovakian and
Bulgarian, along with similar related words. Its
origin is uncertain, but the OED suggests that it may
be related to the Turkish uber, "witch". "Vampire"
entered the English language during the eighteenth
century panics in Eastern Europe and is first cited by
the OED in 1734. Modern vampirologists now sweep under
the aegis of this term a wide variety of ancient myth,
traditional folklore, "fairy-tales" and other crafted
oral tradition, unexplained phenomena, sociology, and
occult theory. Cogent to a discussion of Greek
vampires are two particular types of being to which
the term "vampire" is applied. The first, common to
ancient myth worldwide, is the wholly inhuman,
supernatural being that preys most especially upon
infants, children, women in all stages of pregnancy
and early motherhood, and young people on the cusp of
sexual maturity and marriage. "Child-killing demons"
often are included in this category, as well as
sexually alluring creatures such as the lamia. The
second type of being is a revenant, a human who has
died and returned from the grave in physical
form--whether literally in his own corpse or in some
sort of materialized second body is open to
interpretation--to perform actions that have physical
effects on the living and their environment, including
the begetting of children and the inflicting of death.
Whether such revenants necessarily drink blood, as we
will see, is not always clear. Blood-drinking per se
is not a requirement for a "vampire". However, beings
defined as "vampires" do, in some way or another, take
sustenance or vitality from living creatures.

In Greece, belief in the second type of vampire--the
corporeal revenant who preyed upon or plagued the
living--developed only after the arrival of Slavic
immigrants beginning in 587. But although the various
themes that coalesced into that most unquenchable of
all folk vampires, the vrykolakas, are heavily
influenced by foreign concepts, they found a rich soil
in the traditions of ancient Greece. Three such
traditions clearly play a role in developing later
beliefs. First, the belief in supernatural creatures
that drank blood and attacked human beings to obtain
it; second, the belief that under certain conditions,
bodily return from death was possible, although
greatly feared; and third, that blood itself contained
power sufficient to allow the dead to cross the gulf
that separated them from the world of the living.

The Mormo and the Empusas were child-killing demons
who attended upon the Goddess Hecate (Summers 1929,
2-3). Stewart notes them in his glossary of exotica
(Stewart, 251-252) only to mention that they have not
survived into contemporary tradition except, in the
case of the Mormo, as a "bogeyman" for threatening
unruly children. Similar to them were the Gelloudes
nd the Stringla, female monsters that were said to
specifically suck the blood of children and kill them
(Stewart, 252-253). Almost every human culture has
such a myth, a personification of the unknown (to this
day, in the form of SIDS) killer of children in their
cradles at night, or their mysterious "failure to
thrive" and wasting away. Yet the horror of these
monsters lay not in their inhumanity but in their
perversion of the human. Child-killing demons are
almost invariably female, the evil mother that kills
instead of nurtures, devours instead of feeds. These
demons often are also presented as seductresses,
preying on young men as well as children. In other
words, they are not only evil mothers, but evil
wives--wanton, promiscuous and devouring. Summers
cites the well-known story from Philostratus' Life of
Apollonius of Tyana (Summers 1929, 3-5), about
Menippus, the eager suitor who is barely prevented
from marrying an Empusa, or Lamia. She is forced to
confess that she was "fattening up" Menippus, "because
it was her pleasure to feed upon young and beautiful
bodies, because their blood is pure and strong"
(Summers 1929, 5). Stringles also were sometimes
equated with the seductive Lamiae (Summers 1929, 8).

But far more fearful than these exotica were the fates
that might befall oneself during the passage from the
state of life to the state of death. Lawson examines
at great length the theme found in Greek tragedy of
corporeal return to avenge blood-guilt--a hidden theme
due to the conventions of the Greek stage, but
nevertheless clearly discernable. A detailed look at
Lawson's arguments is beyond the scope of this paper.
However, Lawson reports that oaths are found in Greek
literature binding both the speaker and others to
being rejected by the earth, being turned out of Hades
by Tantalus, and of remaining incorruptible after
death. Euripides' Hippolytus, for example, says to his
father, "in death may neither sea nor earth receive my
flesh, if I have proved false" (Lawson, 418). Lawson
proposes that, for example, Aeschylus in Choephori

presents a true climax. As the victim is to be
excluded in his lifetime from all intercourse with the
living, so in his death, by the withholding of that
dissolution without which there is no entrance to the
lower world, he is to be cut off from communion with
the dead. He is to die with none to honor him with the
rites due to the dead, none to love him and shed the
tears that are their just meed, but even in that last
doom which consumes all others is damned to be
withheld from corruption. (Lawson, 422-423).
Even a modern reader almost shudders. The importance
of proper burial rites in ancient Greece is
well-known, and the greatest shame of all was to leave
even one's enemies unburied, to "not even throw
handfuls of earth upon their dead bodies" as Pausanias
accused Lysander (Summers 1928, 83). Antigone suffered
capital punishment for fulfilling this obligation to
her kin against royal decree. But the precise
consequences of ignoring this obligation are less well
documented. Few ghosts or revenants haunt surviving
Greek literature. Lawson argues at great length that
the conventions of Greek drama permitted such return
only to be hinted at. Outside of this sphere, the sole
extant story of a corporeal Greek revenant is so
famous that it is cited in nearly all of my books: the
return of Philinnion, a young woman, for nightly
liaisons with an unwitting guest of her bereaved
parents (Lawson, 413-415, among others). Yet the
reason for Philinnion's restlessness is never
explained, she appears in no way horrific or demonic,
and in fact her poor lover is so besotted by her that
when she has been laid to final rest by cremation, he
commits suicide.

Lawson, however, argues that bodily return was tacitly
expected and feared in the case of blood-guilt and
vengence. He points out that in ancient times
murderers frequently mutilated their victims by
cutting off their hands and feet and tucking them
under the corpse's armpits, or binding them to its
chest with a band (Lawson, 435). One rationale for
this action that suggests itself is that such
mutilation prevents the murdered victim from returning
bodily to avenge itself on the murderer--who would, in
turn, become a revenant wandering cursed between life
and death. In this discussion, Lawson presents the
roots of two primary later vampire beliefs: that
vampires are fierce marauders, and that their victims
become vampires as well. He says,

the character of these Avengers approximates very
closely to that of the modern vrykolakes. True, there
is one fundamental difference; the ancient Avenger
directed his wrath solely against the author of his
sufferings...the modern vrykolakas is unreasoning in
his wrath and plagues indiscriminately all who fall in
his way. (Lawson, 458).
Lawson lists the qualities that Avengers and
vrykolakes share:
Modern stories there are in plenty, which tell how the
vrykolakas springs upon his victim and rends him and
drinks his blood; how sheer terror of his aspect has
driven men mad; how, in order to escape him, whole
families have been driven forth from their native
island to wander in exile; how death has often been
the issue of his assaults; and how those whom a
vrykolakas has slain become themselves vrykolakes.
(Lawson, 458-459)
Lawson goes on to suggest that when Aeschylus makes
the Erinyes such horrific, bloodthirsty pursuers of
Orestes, when they should have been goddesses worthy
of worship, he is casting a proxy role upon them. They
are substitutes for the actual Avenger that could not
be properly shown in Greek drama. Their qualities of
blackness, ferocity, bloodthirstyness and horror are
those of the vrykolakes.

Lawson's close comparison of the characteristics of
ancient Avengers and the Furies, or Erinyes, with the
characteristics of modern vrykolakes may not be as
revealing as he believes. He claims that these common
themes indicate that both ancient writers and modern
folklore derive from the same older tradition, while
it might be argued that the modern folklore took its
imagery directly from ancient literature and not from
some common source.

Nevertheless, the modern Greek vampire gains a rather
respectable pedigree. Long before the Slavs and Greek
Orthodoxy, the ancient Greeks recognized that with
extraordinarily bad fortune, one might be trapped
indefinitely in a liminal state in which one's soul
could not become free from one's body, one's body
could not dissolve and free itself from earth, and one
was forever doomed to roam trapped, yearning or
ravening, between life and death. The only release was
the forced "dissolution" of cremation, as was done to
Philinnion. To be left unburied was to be flung upon
the surface of the cold earth, to be cursed as
"incorruptible" (however obvious it was that unburied
bodies rotted). To be left unmourned and without
proper rites was to invite the soul to linger around
its former home and possibly reanimate it. Lawson
concludes a discussion of terminology for such
restless dead,

Thus then the problem of ancient nomenclature of
revenants is solved, and the results are briefly
these: all revenants were originally called,
alastores, "Wanderers"; but subsequently that name was
restricted only to the vengeful class of revenants, to
which the names miastores and prostropaioi had always
belonged; and for the more harmless and purely
pitiable revenants no name remained, but men said of
such an one simply, "He wanders." (Lawson, 484)
Finally, the most well-known ancient text describing
the power of fresh blood to revivify the dead occurs
in the Iliad, when Odysseus fills a pit with sheeps'
blood to feed the shade of the seer Tiresias. Once the
ghost has drunk the blood, he is able to speak. After
Odysseus has spoken with the seer, other ghosts also
drink the blood and converse with him, but when he
attempts to embrace one, the shade of his mother, she
disappears (Summers 1929, 22). For the non-corporeal,
even blood can only do so much. Nevertheless, the
results it effects in returning some powers of life to
the disembodied are profound.

The word vrykolakas itself is a borrowing from Slavic
and is derived from root words meaning "wolf" and hair
or pelt (Lawson, 377). It originally appears to have
meant "werewolf" or lycanthrope, and still carries
this meaning in isolated local regions of Greece. The
Greeks did not adopt the word "vampire" from the Slavs
to indicate a revenant, although oddly, vompiras is
occasionally found as a term of contempt. Lawson
concludes from this that the Greeks already had an
active tradition of a fierce type of revenant and
applied the new word to that. If they had borrowed the
entire concept of undead vampires from the Slavs, they
would have borrowed the name for them as well.
However, all the arguments in this area remain shakey.
It is unclear why the Greeks replaced their own words
for a fierce Avenger with a new word for werewolf, and
whether or not this represented the introduction of a
unique new folkloric tradition or the evolution of an
old one. The point made by several writers that the
transferral of the word occurred because of the
documented Slavic belief that werewolves became
vampires after death, also seems unsupported by any
evidence in Greek tradition specifically.
Occasionally, a child whose siblings died mysteriously
would be (rather cruelly) named a "vrykolakas" by its
mother (Summers 1929, 219), and there are a few
stories of "living vrykolakes" that behaved as
lycanthropes. But the etymological leap from werewolf
to vampire is obscure. Moreover, there is certainly a
broad gap in the evidential record between the ancient
texts cited above, and the first descriptions of the
Greek vrykolakas as a full-fledged and active belief.
The earliest mention of the vrykolakas is made by Leo
Allatius in 1645 (by coincidence, possibly, his work
was published just as all of Eastern Europe was about
to explode into a century of its own vampire panics).

I would like to summarize some well-known, and less
well-known, vrykolakas stories chronologically in
order to bring out some of their significant aspects.

Leo Allatius (Leone Allacci), De quorundam Graecorum
Opinationibus, 1645: According to Allatius, the word
vrykolakas derives from words meaning cesspool. The
vyrkolakas is an evil and wicked person who may have
been excommunicated by a bishop. Its body swells up so
that all its limbs are distended, it is hard, and when
tapped it thrums like a drum. For this reason it is
called tympaniaois, "drumlike". The devil animates
such bodies and causes them to roam about at any time
of day or night. On Chios, residents will not answer
until a caller has called their name twice, because
the vrykolakas is believed to only be able to call
once, and if it is answered, its victim will die
within twenty-four hours. If seen during the day, the
vrykolakas is so horrible that witnesses die of
fright--unless they speak to the monster, which
immediately disappears. If a village has an epidemic
of deaths or illness, the inhabitants open graves
searching for a body in the "drumlike" condition
described. If one is found, it is cremated. Allatius
claims to have witnessed the discovery of such a body
in a tomb while a boy in Chios, but he does not say
what was done with the body. (cited by Summers 1928,
223-229)

Father Francois Richard, Relation de l'Isle de
Sant-erini, 1657: Richard argues that the devil keeps
certain bodies incorrupt and animates them. Under his
command they are able to wander around, enter houses,
strike people mute with fear, and assault them, even
killing them. When a village is beset by such a
vrykolakas, Richard says, they huddle together all in
one house for protection, and apply to their Bishop
for permission to exhume the suspect. This is done on
a Saturday, the only day when a vrykolakas may rest in
its grave. If the body is found "fresh and gorged with
new blood", it is "exorcised" with prayer until it
dissolves before their eyes. If prayer is ineffective,
the body is cremated.

Richard tells the story of the gentle vrykolakas
Alexander, in the village of Pyrgos, who had been a
shoemaker. He returned from the grave to mend his
children's shoes, carry water for the family and chop
their firewood. Although his family's reaction to this
is not noted, his neighbors were finally frightened
enough to exhume and cremate his body, after which his
visits ceased. Other vrykolakes were reported on
Amorgos roaming fields in broad daylight, eating green
beans.

A much fiercer vrykolakas was Patino, a merchant from
Patmos who died on a buying trip to Natolia and
revived in his coffin while being shipped home. His
wife had him buried with full honors, and he then
began appearing in houses in the area, violently
assaulting people and causing damage. Prayers and
exorcisms were fruitless in stopping the haunting.
Patino's body was ordered sent back to Natolia, but
the thoroughly spooked sailors charged with its
transport stopped on the first island they passed and
burned it, which ended the phenomena. Richard notes
elsewhere that vrykolakes were commonly thought to be
unable to cross salt water, and they were often
dispatched on uninhabited islands.

Richard's final story is very similar to that of de
Tournefort [see below] in a number of interesting
respects. A "usurer" of Santorini named Ianettis
reformed in the last year of his life, and died asking
his wife to pay his remaining debts, which she did not
do. Ianettis began haunting his village with very
similar poltergeist-like activity as the Mycone
vrykolakas: yanking the bedclothes off of sleeping
people, waking up the priests for matins, emptying
wine kegs, and generally abusing and terrorizing
people. He visited the Mother Prioress of a Dominican
convent, awakened her by rolling her rosary on the
floor, jeered at her prayers and as a parting joke,
threw her shoes into the water cistern. His body was
finally exhumed, and Richard examined it and reported
that it displayed no signs of unusual incorruption,
but was badly decayed. The body was exorcised for a
full day and then dismembered and reinterred, but the
vrykolakas' activity did not stop until his wife made
good his debts. (translated and cited by Summers 1929,
229-240)

A brief timeline of vampire literature.

1800- 'Wake Not the Dead' by Johann Ludwig Tiek (first known English vampire story)
1816- 'Fragment of a Novel' by Lord Byron
1819- 'The Vampyre' by Dr. Polidori
1845- 'Varney the Vampyre' by James Malcolm Ryner
1872- 'Carmilla' by Sheridan Le Fanu
1897- Dracula by Abraham Stoker
1897- 'Dracula's Guest' by Abraham Stoker
1911- 'For the Blood is the Life' by F. Marion Crawford
1933- 'Revelations in Black' by Carl Jacobi
1951- 'Drink My Blood' by Richard Matheson
1967- 'The Living Dead' by Robert Bloch
1975- 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King
1976- 'Interview with a Vampire' by Ann Rice
1984- 'The Vampire LeStat' by Ann Rice

Vampire Evolution



The modern idea of the vampire is open to many different possibilities. What defines a vampire? And where did these traits come from?

Certain ideas about the vampire are now fixed. They almost always survives by drinking blood. They have died, and come back to life. Almost always, they are unable to be active during the daylight hours. Often, they fear holy objects such as crucifixes and blessed wafers, and is also allergic to garlic. They can be killed by means of a stake through the heart, or, sometimes, by burning.

But the vampires of Eastern Europe, whence some of the oldest traditions regarding the 'vrolock' can be traced, were not blood drinkers at all. They were reanimated corpses who killed their victims out of pure malice rather than any need to survive, and their usual means of murder was suffocation by pressing on the chest, which later developed into biting the chest. Unless appropriately treated, anyone who died in this way would go on to become a vampire.

These days, vampirism is usually considered to be contagious only when an exchange of blood occurs, when the victim consumes some of the vampire's blood. In Anne Rice's tales, almost all the blood in the body must be thus exchanged before any change can take effect. In Bram Stoker's time, it was enough for the victim merely to have tasted their attacker's blood; however, they would not necessarily die when bitten, and would not be transformed until their death occurred, often years later. If the vampire who bit them died before they did, they would be saved.

In older mythology, as Montague Summers concluded in his research on the subject, anyone who faces damnation, has been excommunicated or has traded in hir lifetime with the powers of darkness, faces the danger of turning into a vampire after the point of death. Summers warns that such creatures are wholly the possessions of the Devil, and have no real free will of their own, so that this is a foolish way for a sorcerer to attempt to prolong hir own life.

The idea of the damnation of the victim was perhaps the most terrible aspect of the curse of vampirism in past ages, and implied the connivance of the victim in the damning act. This is notably parallel to developing cultures' attitudes to rape. In primitive times, women who had been raped were often excommunicated or killed for having behaved imorrally. It was believed that the moral nature of the victim could be altered and condemned by forces wholly outside hir ability to control.

Various things could be done, in old Eastern Europe, to prevent the transformation of a corpse into a vampire occurring, and so to save the soul of the unfortunate individual. As sie was damned, the victim could not be buried in consecrated ground, but the planting of a thorn bush on top of the grave might prevent hir from rising again. After several nights had passed, a white gelding might be led into the graveyard, where it would indicate the location of a vampire's grave. The vampire could then be killed in the appropriate way. Afterwards, the body could be reconsecrated and reinterred in consecrated ground, whereby the soul could escape the clutches of hell, if the person had, in life, been appropriately good.

Anne Rice has conjectured that the mindlessness of these early vampires might well be due to their burial in the earth, and their lack of awareness of their state, so that when they came around - effectively buried alive - they would go insane with terror, like the Haitian zombies drugged into a temporary seemingness of death. Certainly, as the vampire legend developed, vampires became more intelligent, and have in modern times often been held to be of superior intelligence to the average mortals around them

Perhaps the most significant contribution to this developing evolution was Dr. John Polidori's eighteenth century novel The Vampire. The protagonist of this novel is suave, sophisticated and able to seduce almost anyone he chooses. He is charming and intelligent, but fickle in his affections, and absolutely cold hearted. Polidori wrote the piece as a satire, intending to insult Lord Byron, whom he had adored and who had recently discarded him. However, much to his horror, the public bestowed equal adoration on the Vampire figure himself, and, as Polidori drifted into obscurity, many attributed the authorship of this astounding book to Byron himself.

It was with this novel that the concept of the aristocratic vampire really took off, and a whole wave of similar tales precipitated over the following century. Sheridan LeFanu's famous Carmilla used the vampire myth to explore forbidden aspects of sexuality, and in so doing created an interesting heroine who, despite her nature, attempted to resist harming the girl whom she loved. The vampire and the human had at last become directly entwined.

Thus the vampire finally completed its progress from mindless, terrifying monster to sometime sympathetic, tragically cursed hero.

Among all these famous vampires there is one, of course, who truly stands out, and whose name will always be remembered: Dracula. Vlad 'Tepes' Dracula (the impaler) lived between 1430 and 1476, when he was reportedly killed in war. At this time, a whole variety of supernatural insults were hurled at him to emphasise the horror of his cruel treatment of prisoners - he not only impaled his victims, but also blinded, skinned, castrated, dismembered, boiled them alive and gave them to savage animals in order that he might watch them be torn apart. However, he made no pretense of immortality, and was quite definitely and finally killed - slain in battle, his head was later presented as a trophy to the Sultan of Constantinople.

It was only among the peasant folk that any real supernatural traditions regarding the Wallachian warrior persisted, and it was not until the publication of Bram Stoker's novel, centuries later, that an incarnation of Vlad Tepes was thoroughly portrayed as a blood-drinking, damned vampire.

Older stories of the actual powers and abilities of vampires differ more widely than is genuinely understood. Not all of them fear the daylight. Count Dracula could go about in the light quite safely, though his other powers would be weakened by it. In desert countries, and in some of the Ancient Egyptian traditions, vampires were active not by night, but by day. In the desert, it is the daylight hours when mortal man might rightly fear to wander. In the desert, it is the daylight hours during which people die.

Many vampires of the last three centuries were considered to have hypnotic powers over their victims, particularly if they managed to make eye contact (their eyes are often described as reddened or glowing red, though in keeping with the modern tradition, female vampires enjoy an unmarred beauty). Older tales of vampires place a great deal of emphasis on their capacity to shape-shift (most commonly into 'devillish creatures' such as bats, crows or wolves), but the modern vampire tends to lack these traits. Likewise, it is uncommon for a modern vampire to require to rest on the soil of hir own homeland during daylight, or to suffer from the old eldritch traditions of being unable to pass a threshold unless invited to do so, and unable to cross running water except at the flow or the ebb of the tide.

The ancient vampires of eastern Europe and of the desert cultures were uniformly described as ugly - they were little more than half-rotted corpses, and would be perpetually filthy from the grave where they must rest each day. In modern times, however, the image of the vampire has often been adored. Though Murnau's classic Nosferatu gave us the image of a shrivelled, impish fiend worn by the ages, more popular are the tall, dashing men and voluptuous women, usually pale skinned and dark haired, with the giveaway pointed fangs so noteably absent from their earlier incarnations.

With the decline of popular religion over the last century, less and less influence has been placed on the significance of the vampire's damnation, and it is rarely any longer considered that items such as crucifixes and holy water might be used against these creatures. Also the subject of modern hilarity are the old herbal remedies, garlic and dogroses and rowan, with which a person or a house might be protected.

In ancient times the vampire could be killed in a variety of ways, such as staking, burning, decapitating, or even striking with a blessed knife or sword. Sometimes, the evil spirit posessing what was really just a corpse could be driven out by means of excommunication. In modern mythology, only a wooden stake through the heart tends to be effective; if the head is cut off, garlic should be placed between it and the neck, and the liberal application of blessed crucifixes is desirable.

Neither does the modern vampire always feed on blood. Throughout the ages, there have been various stories relating alternative forms of parasitism on the living by the dead. In Iceland, the tradition holds that one must never put a baby to sleep in a room with an old person, because even without intending to the old person will be drawing life out of the infant and into hirself. Increasinly, vampirism is used as a metaphor used to refer to many such conditions. As some eighteenth century authors had intended, the figure of the aristocratic vampire has begun to be perceived as a satirical one; the rich man is drawing life out of the beleagured working classes.

Some modern vampires feed off the personality, or draw a kind of psychic energy out of their victim; or a sheer, unadulterated life-force. In The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, an icon is built out of society's idealised woman, a figure who always wants more, always wants you; but the horror of it is that her need for the absolute nature of her worshippers can destroy them utterly, and condemn them to the emptiness of a modern damnation.

Miscellaneous

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Rome interpreted corporeal incorruptibility as a reward for sanctity

Dhampirs are sons of vampires in Yugoslavia & the Balkans who (for a fee) would chase down their alleged vampire fathers and kill them for local villagers

Black is the European colour or mourning but it is white in China and yellow in ancient Egypt
Vampire bats are found ONLY in Mexico and Central and South America; usually feed on cattle but have attacked humans. Vampire bats were discovered and so named by CORTES in Mexico. The bat is the only mammal that can fly. Real name of the vampire bat is DESMODUS ROTUNDUS. These little guys bite and lick the spot where the blood comes out; they do not (as it were) "suck."

Many Vampires prey (at least at first) on family & loved ones usually violating a taboo

Thanatos/eros: Psychiatry says vampirism is a kind of expression of taboos of incest, necrophilia and oral and sadistic sexual desires

Polish & Russian vamps are out from noon to midnight and in Russia a vamp is the child of a witch and a werewolf

In Greece Vampires have blues eyes; in Poland they have sharp, pointed tongues

Vampires are said to have hairy palms (just as Wer-wolves)

Tradition says that GARLIC sprang up where Satan placed his left foot as he departed from Paradise after the temptation and the Fall

In ancient Babylonia and Assyria it was thought that blood baths would cure leprosy

Coffins were thought to be used originally to keep animals from digging up corpses

In vampire fiction we get the occurrence of the "native earth" theory of behaviour (ie) a vampire must return to the earth for certain periods of time.

In Southern France & Greece all revenants must remain in their graves on SATURDAYS (always a good day for vampire killing) and in Serbo-Croatia this is extended so that anyone born on a Saturday can kill a vampire but the vampire cannot kill them. Pursuant to this, there is a saying in Yugoslavia among Moslem gypsies that "a vampire can be seen by a twin brother or sister born on a Saturday, who wear their drawers and shirts inside out."

In Serbia, vampires can turn themselves into butterflies

Dogs are the hereditary enemies of vampires, probably because members of the dog family eviscerate their prey first if they can -- especially the heart, liver and lungs

The big vampire mania in Europe is from 1723-1735

It was thought that the devil came to take the skin off the corpse & inflated it

One medically inspired explanation for vampires is that they are suffering from a congenital blood disorder known as porphyria, known as iron-deficiency porphyria, subsequently dubbed "the Dracula disease". The metabolism of sufferers is very inefficient in combining iron with complex compounds called porphyrins, which are stimulated by daylight to incite a chain of reactions causing skin lesions and other disfigurements. To avoid this, sufferers tend to emerge only at night. Further increasing their vampire-like traits, another outcome of this disease is a tightening of the gums, which causes the teeth to protrude.

Bearing in mind that any haem which is present in the system of this disease's sufferers is exceedingly valuable, substances that destroy haem and thus remove precious iron from their bodies can be lethal to such people. It is an interesting coincidences that a common food containing a substance, which activates the haem-destroying enzyme, cytochrome P450 also happens to be a famous vampire-dispelling agent ........ Garlic!!!!!!!

did you mentioned something about Porphyria?

[winks]

i read part

just wondering if you heard anything about wooden stake killing vampire because wood it is the weapon of peseants (something like that)

I love mythology.

I enjoyed this very much. Thank you. If you have anymore biblical references send them to this address d_lioncourt1@hotmail.com

LOL thanks Punk :)

Actually, no.. I haven't Mikash.. mostly just references to specific types of wood, often varying from some biblical reference or another.

Me too Oblivion.

Glad you are enjoying Brat :)

Wonderful research, can tell Laz got a little bored :P I still have to finish reading this thing! But, quick question;

Question: Do you know any Miths, legends, or Lore that could describe the corpse of a vampire's body (when it's actually been killed). [ie. If it acts of human and lays there to slowly rot, or if it rapidly decomposes to show the true age of the vampire...]

-ObsidianSoul-

hey, your research is very helpful to me. but i was wondering, what do you have specifically on roman vampires? school project. i have a pretty o