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We will now delve into some of the more common and uncommon myths relating to Vampires. If you have read the other classes on this site, you know that I deal in reality NOT myths, however the love and fear of Vampires is universal. The very word Vampire brings up visions of old. So we are going to take a few minutes and discuss some of the legends, the myths, the old wives tales and church lore and learn why and how they all began and the effect they have even today on the Vampire. We will begin with some of the more common ones. And since most of these have to do with church lore, we will look at that first. I am sure you are all familiar with the following legends:
Vampires cannot exist in sunlight
• Vampires are burned and repelled by the sign of a cross
• Vampires cannot go into a church or holy place
• Vampires are burned by holy water
Every one of the above statements are the direct result of church lore and doctrine. We will now briefly look at each one beginning with ...
~ Vampires Cannot Exist In Sunlight ~
We must remember the date and times of these beliefs were many centuries ago. Vampires were believed to be servants of Satan; they were demons capable of all types of magic and trickery. They were creatures of evil who found strength in acts of darkness. The word darkness actually meant evil, such as the darkness of the soul. The sun represented light, God represented light. The sun is fire, fire purifies. Therefore, if the sun is light, God is light, God created the sun, the sun's light, light purifies, a Vampire could not stand the light of day. Because its evil would be destroyed by the purifying rays of the sun, therefore destroying the Vampire. It is church belief that no evil, not even Lucifer himself, is stronger than God. Therefore in the light of God, i.e.: in the presences of God, no Vampire could survive. This accounts for the belief that Vampires cannot enter a church, stand on holy ground, survive in the light of day, or survive in sunlight.
~ Cross and Holy Water ~
Bram Stoker was Christian, haven't you ever found it amusing to read a Vampire story where the Vampires always attack Catholics or Christians? There has been only one story I know of, well perhaps two, where the Vampire has attacked a Jewish person, or where the Vampire has been a Jewish person. Again, we come back to church lore, with the cross and crucifix as holy symbols of the Christian faith. The cross represents Christ and in most Vampire movies, Christ is a representation of God. Hence we go back to the original explanations ... the cross represents God, God represents light, light purifies, Vampires are not stronger than God, Vampires cannot be in a holy place ... therefore a cross, which represents God and purification will burn a Vampire, destroy a Vampire and a Vampire cannot look upon a cross.
As far as vampires being burned and repelled by holy water, here again we are dealing with purification. This time not fire, but water. Holy water is blessed by a priest and God. That gives it the property of extreme good as opposed to the property of extreme evil. It gives the water a cleansing and purifying nature, hence a Vampire is burned, repelled or destroyed in much the same way as if he were in sunlight; All due to purification.
And now let's look at one of the oldest legends around...
~ Reflection Cannot Be Seen In Mirror ~
Again we are going back to the foundations of good and evil and how it affects the soul. A Vampire is believed to have no soul because it is a demon. For some reason, which was never made clear, it has been a long held folk belief that a soul can be reflected in a mirror. Therefore a Vampire with no soul could not be reflected in a mirror.
I have always found this amusing especially with regard to the Catholic church's view on animals having no soul. According to the oldest beliefs of the Roman Catholic church, God bestowed souls only to humans. Animals are believed to have no soul, just as Vampires are believed to have no soul. Vampires have no soul because they are evil, animals have no soul because they are not human. And yet animals are reflected in mirrors .... interesting, is it not?
Now we will look at some folk myths, but you must keep in mind the folk myths are still originating from some form of church myths.
~ Four Ways To Kill A Vampire ~
~ Driving a Stake Through The Heart ~
Driving a stake through its heart basically evolved from medical misinformation. There is a disease which, in another day and time was called 'Consumption'. It was called consumption because it literally consumed the body. The patient lost weight, became very thin and pale, coughed and vomited blood and eventually died. These symptoms are very much like what was supposed to happen when you became a vampire's victim.
It was believed, if you did not actually PIN the corpse in its grave it would rise from the grave at night and infect its living relatives. At this time in history, there were no iron or metal nails of any kind. Furniture was put together with large sharp wooden pegs. You can see how the natural progression of a pointed wooden object which was used to 'nail' a chair together would be enlarged even further to 'nail' a body into it's wooden coffin. And that is how the stake was developed. Of course, the act of 'nailing' the corpse into the coffin was nonsense but that was the belief of the day.
In historical actuality, using any old wooden peg, or carved piece of wood would not work. It is believed, in many countries, that the wood has to be of a magical quality. And only special wood, such as Oak, Ash, Hawthorn and perhaps Box Elder, could be used for making a stake that would kill what we know as mythical vampires. In many legends involving black magick and witchcraft, and it’s not Wicca that I’m speaking of, it is believed that Hawthorn and Box Elder could be used against evil witches as well as vampires, then believed to be demons of hell.
The disease, consumption, is still with us today but it is treatable with antibiotics and long quiet rests. It is called ... Tuberculosis.
~ Drowning In Running Water ~
Drowning a Vampire in running water again takes us back to the theory of purification. We must remember the age and time when these beliefs began. It was a time of cisterns, drainage ditches and primitive water storage capabilities. Standing water, i.e.: water without movement, became stagnant. Stagnant water became fouled, impure, contaminated and unfit to drink ... often 'evil' smelling, in other words, it stank.
Running water, such as in a brook, stream, river, and ocean often was not befouled and, therefore, was more pure. It was the prevailing belief that purity always killed a Vampire. Impure was simply another term for evil. Hence the myths, Vampires could not cross running water and would drown in running water.
~ Destroying A Vampire By Burning ~
Burning a Vampire to destroy it relates directly back to the religious belief that fire purifies. Strong evil needed strong purification and at this time in history, fire was the only means of purification.
~ Beheading and Removing The Heart ~
It was also believed that Vampires could be killed, or rather destroyed (because you can't kill something that is already dead) by severing its head from its body. It was believed that the evil was manifest in the heart and the brain. If the head was severed, it would kill the vampire.
In many European, as well as Asian countries, the body if a suspected vampire was buried with a very sharp scythe around its neck, in the belief that if the body sat up the scythe would cut off its head. And this may, in some way, have contributed to the image of the Grim Reaper carrying a scythe.
In many instances the heart was cut from the corpse and the body of the vampire burned as well as beheaded. At times, the heart was burned and the ashes mixed with a liquid, usually wine, and the one believed to be the victim of a vampire, as well as living members of a Vampire's family, were forced to drink this liquid in the misguided belief it was a sort of vaccine and could prevent the take-over of the soul of the person still living.
~ Other Myths & Legends ~
The belief that garlic repelled a Vampire again relates back to the theory of purification. It was believed that a Vampire's blood was tainted and carried 'evil humors'. Evil humors meant a sort of gas in the blood. During this time, the word humor meant gas of all kinds, including 'wind' which is a very old fashioned way of saying gas from the stomach released from the body which made an audible noise and stench.
Garlic was believed to be a natural cleansing, purifying agent. It was believed to be able to drive evil from the body and was given as a remedy for gas and bloatedness. It would, actually precipitate the expulsion of gas and air from the body. Because of garlic's strong odor and medicinal benefits it was believed to be another strong form of purification.
We then return to the theory, evil cannot exist in the face of strong purification. Hence a Vampire was driven away by garlic.
There is an additional belief that mythological vampires were allergic to garlic. This allergy was believed to cause watering of the eyes, a difficulty in breathing and generally distasteful situation for a vampire. However, I feel that this just goes back to the purification theory.
Garlic was hung at entry points of a household to ward off evil. A Vampire, being evil, could therefore not enter the home. As in the written story, television and movies, people did, in fact, wear wreaths of garlic around their necks, hung it around open windows, entrance-ways, their kitchens and even went so far as to hang garlic on their livestock.
The legend that Vampires could not cross silver is very similar to that of the witch not being able to cross silver. The origin of this being, in this time in history, silver was a very precious metal; almost as precious as gold. The poor and middle class normally did not own silver jewelry. However, in poorer parishes some of the priests did have silver crosses. Silver reflects light, God is light, light destroys dark, Vampires are believed to be dark ... hence a Vampire could be destroyed by silver.
What does this have to do with a witch?
Witches were believed to be servants of Satan, brides of Satan, corrupted by Satan and evil. Pretty much the same as a Vampire. Witches were not classified as demons but they were able to summon them. Witches were the ultimate evil and witches were also destroyed by light and other methods of purification, hence witches could not cross silver. It was also believed that witches worked with sulphur. Sulphur is an element of Hell. Hell was supposed to be the place of fire and brimstone. Brimstone was, at this time, another meaning for sulphur. Witches worked with sulphur and some witches were believed to have jewelry or implements of silver, sulphur corroded silver, or the witches' evil corroded the silver. Hence witches could not wear silver or cross silver, pretty much the same as the Vampire ... who also resided in Hell, amongst the fire and brimstone.
We realize today, that the people the church saw as evil witches were no more than female herbalists, midwives, women who had money or status or other possessions coveted by someone else.
In some countries, it was also believed that not unlike a werewolf, a vampire could be killed with a silver dagger, spear, knife and such. This author finds it difficult to believe that a human could have gotten that close, if mythical vampires were real, to be able to stab one in the heart with a small dagger.
Vampires were believed to suck the blood out of a human to the degree the loss of blood caused the person's death. They were believed to feed on this blood for nourishment, in order to keep its corrupted aging body alive.
Upon the human's death the soul was believed to be corrupted and obtained by Satan, who then made the deceased a Vampire also.
There is a very ancient legend that it took three individual drainings of blood, which could be accomplished over a long period of time to actually kill the victim. As the victim fell more and more under the control of the Vampire they became increasingly evil and submissive to the Vampire's will.
~ Undead ~
The term UNDEAD meant deceased, no longer alive. However dead people don't walk about at night or try to corrupt their family members. So UNDEAD was given as the state of being of a Vampire who was believed to be really quite dead but still animated.
The ability to function while dead was a gift from Satan. A sort of 'life' but it wasn't life and it wasn't 'afterlife'... that meant heaven, so it was called 'undead' which I believe is a fictional term probably created by Bram Stoker.
~ Headstones ~
Although not totally dedicated to Vampires, headstones were originally developed not only to mark the site of a grave but to place a very heavy object on top of where the head of the deceased would lie underground in order to prevent the body from rising out of the grave.
~ Vampires Need An Invitation ~
There are two basic theories on this aside from the fact that Bram Stoker could have made it up.
Theory one: As explained by Inheritor Vampire ImortalN ...
'A household is infused with the aura or life energy of its inhabitants, past and present. This in a small part gives them greater strength and power on a defensive level. Certain Vampyres with empathic, hypnotic, or other powers like 'The Voice' are hindered by this.
Some holy, or sacred places are so strong that these amorphous abilities are actually nulled. When one invites a Vampyre or Magus or any with these powers in, one attunes this defensive veil subconsciously to the Vampyre. Thus letting him/her 'Move' freely thru this domain. Otherwise it is like having ones senses dulled, as if under murky water. One can still enter, but not 'comfortably'.
Also there is a certain etiquette built into this invite legend. Amongst those who are not renegade, we follow this as a rule. In past when those humans were more fluent in magic, to enter uninvited was to put oneself at risk of the others abilities. It was less that we could not enter but more that we refused to enter due to self preservation. It became so natural that even today we follow the rule.
Because many of the Vampyric breeds are so finely tuned to the magickal forces at such a high level, we are also more susceptible. A noted weakness, to these Aetheric powers. An actual verbalization seems necessary to attune us to the specific domain's resonant magical veil. Public domains are not as attuned to single individuals or families so the rule seems not to apply. Yet cathedrals, Indian circles and other sacred places seem to have a more unified resonance and dull the senses to almost a blindness to our other sensory abilities. It makes us jittery and sluggish.
Imagine you go to someone's home and they blindfold you or plug your ears before you enter, the feeling is quite similar since these other senses are a natural everyday ability of ours.'
Theory two: Suggested by a Classical Vampire ...
Humans of the time, being for the most part, uneducated and superstitious, were more than willing to clutch at anything that would give them a sense of comfort and or power over a situation.
When faced with a being of greater cunning, physical strength, and intelligence, with the ability to enter their very homes and prey upon them at will, these humans NEEDED something to help them at least FEEL safe.
If you did not invite the Vampire into your home, then it could not come in. Much like a child of today pulls the covers over his head to feel safe from the boogie-man, it didn't matter that they WERE NOT safe, it only mattered that they FELT safe.
~ Shapeshifting ~
It was believed that Vampires could become anything they wished. The legends mostly state they became fog, wolves, bats. Vampires were demons, demons were magical.
Vampires were predators, one of the most feared natural predators of the day was the wolf, hence Vampires became wolves.
Bats have always inspired fear in humans because they attacked cattle and sucked blood. Blood could be considered liquid life, loss of blood meant death. Vampires feed on blood, Vampires killed humans, bats feed on blood, i.e.: a Vampire could become a bat.
Smoke and vapor ... it is very difficult to capture fog or smoke. A Vampire is a demon of magic, a Vampire can do anything he wants, i.e.: a Vampire can become smoke, fog, haze, anything he wants.
~ Vampires Have Hypnotic Control ~
There are some religious and sociological reasons for these myths. The Vampire, some believe, is a metaphor for the oppression of women. The more seduced by a Vampire, the more sexually free the oppressed and repressed women of the 1800's became. And how could it be their fault that they were now entering the domain of males by the new sexual freedom, if they were under the control of a powerful and seductive Vampire?
Alternately, the belief that evil always seeks to corrupt good connected to the belief that the Vampire was a demon and demons could do anything, including hypnotize or control by magic or just their mind, is what originally gave rise to the hypnotic control of a Vampire over its prey.
~ Immortality ~
Because a Vampire was believed to be undead, it could not then die. Something that cannot die is immortal. Immortality was taken to mean staying alive far beyond the human capability of life.
To humans, the Vampire was immortal, eternal. Existing through vast quantity of time. In reality, most human beings lived to their mid-thirties during these early days. Age fifty was considered extreme old age.
Today, fifty is barely more than middle age. But in the 14th through the 17th century the human life expectancy was very short. Age 50 was extreme, age 70 was unheard of, 100 or 105 would have been considered immortal.
We can see how silly these beliefs were. To begin with, Vampires could die. We've shown several example myths showing the beliefs that Vampires could be killed. The possibility of being killed, or destroyed, shows that they were not undead or immortal.
When you go to the Reality Pages and read what Vampires really were and are we can see that all of these myths are quite silly. Undoubtedly there were real Vampires around at the time. Some of them might have been discovered as being quite old but not looking their age. This would have given rise to some of these myths and folk lore.
The founder of the order of the 'Inversed Dragon' was Sigismund of Luxembourg (R 1387-1437) husband of Mary daughter of Lajos I the Great (R 1342-1382). He has introduced Stefan Lazarevic into the order and Vlad Drakul, Drakula's father. Vlad Tepes Dracula became vojvod (Duke) after the reign of Sigismund during that of Mattias Corvinus whose daughter he married.
Dracula was not a member of the order, though he may have got hold of some of his 'fathers items'. To know more about the order, you should seek manuscripts about Sigismund. Probably you could obtain information in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria. Books •'Les Vampires' MA éditions, Paris Jean Paul Bourré, 1986 •'The Book of The Sacred Magic' by S.L. Mac Gregor-Mathers London John M. Watkins, 26 Charing Cross, S.W. 1898.
There are many more myths to explore, these are only the most wide spread. I've always found it fascinating that these myths pervade all cultures, ages and religious backgrounds and even though they come from widely diversified sources they are also similar. I now wish to personally thank the members of AOL, members of the Children of the Night board, and members of the alt.vampyres newsgroup for their input on their own favorite myths.
As always, a very special thank you to ImortalN for his knowledgeable input into all these pages.
I get many letters from people, especially young people, asking why, if I do believe vampires exists, I do not believe the vampire of myth can be real? They refer to the legends of vampires who are supposed to be spirits or servants of the devil. 'Why can't they be real, too? Don't all myths have some seed of truth?' This is the question I am asked most often. So, for all the lurkers out there who have asked this of me, here is my response.
Yes, it is true, all legend and myth may have a seed of truth hidden somewhere far in the past. But as far as the Dracula-like vampire, such as 'Forever Knight' and Anne Rice vampires are concerned, there is indeed a smidgen of truth. The problem is, it has been so embellished and/or corrupted through the generations of re-telling, that the truth has been lost.
There are real reasons as to why almost all foreign lands have similar legends; the explanation is actually quite simple. Almost all of the old beliefs in vampires, from the Japanese to the European, are based on the same thing. They are based almost completely on medical misinformation and original church lore and teachings (depending on which country you are talking about at any given time). As to the medical misinformation, we must always keep in mind the times in which these legends were formed, especially in Europe.
These legends and myths were mainly formed anywhere from the 11th through the 17th centuries. A time when the majority of the people could not read, were not well educated, and could not write. A time when candles or oil were the main means of lighting. A time when good, God fearing people were in their homes at dusk because only thugs, robbers, highwaymen, thieves and other miscreants were on the roads. Good people were indoors after dark.
This was a time, mostly, when travel was difficult, and news was passed slowly by word of mouth.
The Church was very powerful. In the beginning there was no separation between church and state. In fact, the church *was* the state. The church ruled in politics and in law. The church had tremendous powers over the lives of the people, not only in religion but in almost everything. To go against the church law or beliefs meant either death or banishment. And in both cases your property (and/or you family's property) could be taken by the church.
What had all this to do with vampires?
The church, and the human fear of death (and what came thereafter) coupled with the non-existent knowledge of medicine and biology are *the* reasons for the legends. These myths are based on unreality; the things created from these fears and misinformation are unreal and nonexistent as well. In these times, burial procedures were very minimal and simple for most people.
A family member died, they were laid out for the viewing, this meant the body was either put in a coffin or bed and placed in the church or in the home for others to view. Viewing consisted of sitting with the corpse, actually sitting in the room with it! Why? In order to show respect, to pay one's last regards. Family members took turns in doing so. In many cases, the viewing took anywhere from 3 to 14 days, sometimes longer.
Back then, corpses were not embalmed. They were just placed in coffins or boxes or simply laid out on a bed or placed in a special room or chamber in the home or in the church. Nothing was done to the body, most often, unless it was to change the clothes, close it's eyes, or in the case of the rich, do something to make it look more as if it were just sleeping. Most of the regular poor people did not have this procedure done to their dead. As you probably have learned in biology, things happen to the body when it dies and after death. We shall try not to get too graphic here, but this is indeed important to see why and how these legends of the Living Dead began.
In death, things happen like the hardening and tightening of tissue and muscle. This causes muscles to constrict and tighten. Often this results in the arms or legs twitching, moving and often in the dead body sitting up with a rapid movement. (There is now a disagreement on this point of exactly what causes bodies to sit up, we are leaving this explanation in for now but we are researching it ... updates on this point to follow) The result is a dead body sitting dead upright (no pun intended) in a very quick movement. Now I don't know about you, but even knowing why this happens, if I personally saw it happen, I would probably be scared silly for the moment.
Update: It is now believed that stomach gases, upon deterioration of the body, could cause the body to sit upright from the waist. The stomach acting as a balloon, sort of, that pulled the body upright as the gases expanded. I do not mean stomach acids, but the actual stomach gases that develop while decomposing. Such is another belief and a more modern belief as to why the body sat up, if in fact it did.
I, as author of this site, find it difficult to believe that there could be such a gaseous build up as to be powerful enough to move a body in such a manor. But such is one of the more popular modern day beliefs.
Think of what it was like for someone to see a body dead a few hours or days old do this? Would they not think it was alive? Also during normal decomposition, the body builds up gases, internal gases, making sounds just as in a living body expelling such gas. Burps, stomach rumbling, and ... how shall I say this ... passing gas, which normally makes a rude noise.
Now again, if there was a family member in the room with a corpse, which was dead for several days, and they suddenly heard these sounds, would they not think it was alive? Even though they could see that it was whitish pale, non-moving and truly dead. How could this be explained? It was explained ... the corpse was not dead. But, it was dead. So, it must be undead. Dead, yet living.
In addition, there where several medical conditions and illnesses such as catatonia and Porphyria. Catatonia was a condition whereby a person would fall into a deep coma for days at a time. Outwardly, he or she would appear to have died. Breathing was not discernable. Doctors would place mirrors in front of peoples' mouths to see if the mirror would fog up from expelled breath. It was believed that this mirror test would catch the faintest of breath and fog the glass. If it did not fog, the person was believed to be dead. Often, the heartbeat was so low and slow it could not be heard by placing one's ear to the chest of the person, as was most often done by doctors not rich enough to have a stethoscope, or prior to it's invention. The person in a state of catatonia could not feel or hear. Even stabbing them with a needle to see if they would move was pointless and just went to show the absence of life.
So, many of these people were declared dead, then laid out for viewing or placed into graves or burial chambers above ground. Often these people would become conscious days later to find themselves buried alive in coffins, or pine boxes, or locked in airless vaults. They would scream or go mad from pure terror while trying to claw their way out. Years later when someone else died and the grave was opened to add the new person, or the tomb opened, there would be the remains of the corpse usually with expressions of terror or in positions of struggle. Also giving proof that the dead came back to life.
The other illness mentioned is a blood disorder. It causes the patient to go into a coma-like sleep. Very like catatonia, but this illness also produces a blood-red rash, or cherry-red rash, about the mouth and hands. Can you feel the terror of a relative going into a child's room or a spouse's room, which is dimly lit, with candles or oil lamps to see a blood red stain about that person's mouth? The lighting is very bad; flickering shadows. Would it not look like blood, and would that not terrify the relative into running out of the room rather than trying to see if it was blood, and if this person was asleep? And if the relative tried to wake him and they did not stir during the day but was active at night? Even if the relative touched the blood and found it was not actually wet or dried blood, might they not think a large amount of blood drunk by this person had stained their skin? Another reason for the belief that vampires drink blood.
Add this to the church teaching and church law that demons drink the blood of the living, demons drink the breath and life of the living, demons possess the living, demons are evil, and demons are servants of Satan. If you did not believe this, back then, you were considered a heretic, a sinner and possibly under the very control of Satan yourself. So all good people believed these myths, for not to believe was to go against God, and the church, and that meant damnation and suffering in hell for all time. Not to mention possibly being killed yourself, getting your family killed and having all you owned taken by the church.
Most vampire myths are so similar because all dead bodies decompose in the same manner, even if Asian, European, or American. Since this is a reality, so is the similarity of all the international myths about vampires. As to the church view opposing Asian teachings ... O.K. Not the same, but even in those religions there are good gods and evil ones. All evil gods and their servants, usually called demons, in most translations, act the same way against the good, God fearing people. They trick, torture, invade, possess, etc. Hence the similarities. We did say there is a grain of truth, a seed of truth, in all these myths and they too are similar.
The seeds of truth are:
1. A vampire lives longer.
2. A vampire is much stronger.
3. A vampire stays younger longer.
4. A vampire is eternal. … eternal actually meaning a longer
life span than anyone’s experience or belief at the time.
Now, where did they get all that from?
Very simple. There were, and are, real vampires. Some were alive during those times and some were alive through these times. Inheritors, Classicals, Night-Timers, and Genetics all share some very real traits. Difficulty in being in the sun and heat. This comes down in myth as difficulty to being in daylight. This is still truth.
I personally have had several incidents, and my husband as well, where we misjudged the heat. Twice after going out in the afternoon, I was overtaken by the heat and very nearly needed hospital treatment for heat stroke. The last time, I could not even make it to my front door. I became dehydrated to a dangerous level after only 2 hours outside. I became shaky and too weak to get from the car to my home. So weak, I had to fight passing out. I know of others, in all categories, who get extensive blistering and hives from being in the sun which has put them into the hospital.
Yes, humans get these sun allergies too. I suggest there were real vampires or Night-Timers back then too. If they stayed in until it got dark or simply curbed their activity until later in the afternoon hours, or slept all day, not like their neighbors. Then, if one of their neighbors saw them so sick or so burned or affected by the heat, might they not start the legend of not being able to stand sunlight or go out during the day?
The embellishment of this belief could have lead to the myth. So it could be for all, or most of the myths, either there were real vampires around or the church and folk legends just got out of hand at times. And there is your seed of truth.
As for vampires being 10 to 100 times stronger than humans ... not so. Most are only three or four times as strong. As to the living forever, we have discussed this before.
Example: In the 1200s, the normal life span was about 30; in the 16th century, it was 50. Today it is 75, extreme old age to be 90 today or above. Many humans live will into their 80s and some past 100 or at least to 100. Recently, on the national news, they covered the celebration of a woman’s 115th birthday. Would that not seem eternal to someone who’s normal life span was 30 or 50? In this case, the extremely old woman looked extremely old.
If you were born in the 12th century and you could live to be 100, might you not consider it living eternally? Yes, it is true that vampires and Night-Timers do live longer than average humans do, but it is not the same thing. Age and time are relative to your own norm. So that is the seed for this myth.
Looking younger. Yes, again true. If you age more slowly, by nature, you tend to look younger longer. Today the actual vampire in his/her 90's or as old as late 100s looks typically 30-ish.
There are many seeds of truth planted in the ancient myth but they still remain myth. There are no undead vampires, so there are no real, undead Dracula or Lestat vampires. But there are indeed real vampires just the same.
I have always found the myths of greatest interest. Here is a sampling of vampire myths from around the world. A vampire, for the sake of these examples, is believed to be any dead person who attacks or torments the living by night, either by his own means or with the help of a demon.
In the following myths - in which the importance of geographical location with regard to the aspect and behavior of vampires is shown - information is presented only to further understand the myths of all countries, as we know a vampire is not dead, or undead, or these creatures of myth.
Russia
Species: Upierczi
How It Becomes a Vampire: Suicide, violent death or practice of witchcraft during lifetime. Causes drought, even drying the dew on plants.
Cure: Drowning in a lake or river (salt water does not seem to be indicated). If transfixed with a nail, must not be hit more than once otherwise it will revive.
European: Russia
Species: Mjertovjec
Characteristics: Has a purple face. It is active from midnight until the cock crows thrice in the morning.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes; if it is the son of a werewolf or a witch, or else if in its lifetime is has behaved as a werewolf, a sorcerer, an apostate, or if it has cursed its own father or the church.
Cure: Sprinkle poppy seeds along the road leading from the tomb to the house of the deceased. When the evil becomes apparent, transfix the Mjertovjec through the chest, nail it to the coffin or else burn it.
POLAND
Species: Upier (male), Upiercsa (female), Wieszczy
Characteristics: Has a harelip and the tip of the tongue pointed like an insect's sting.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes: when born with teeth. Special Activities: tolls bells at night and cries out the names of some inhabitants who die almost at once.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Bury it face downwards well covered by the earth;
preventive cures: (for Wieszczy): Bury it with a cross made of willow tree under the armpits, the chin and the chest; put a little earth taken from the threshold of its home on the coffin.
BOHEMIA
Species: Ogoljen
Cure: Preventive Cures: Put a little earth from the tomb in its navel; bury it at a cross-roads.
HUNGARY
Species: Farkaskoldus
Characteristics: When dying it takes on the aspect of a werewolf.
BULGARIA
Species: Krvopijac
Characteristics: Has only one nostril, to identify it while it is in its tomb, send a black foal into the graveyard, ridden by a naked adolescent of proved virginity. Where the foal refuses to be ridden, there the Krvopijac is buried.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By drinking wine and smoking during Lent.
Cure: Preventive Cures: Chain it to the coffin with a garland of wild roses; when the evil becomes apparent: a wizard, holding a small saint's image up in the air calls forth the soul of the demon inhabiting the corpse and forces it to go in a bottle of blood that he will then immediately throw into a fire.
RUMANIA
Species: Varcolaco - Murohy - Strigoi
Characteristics: Can take on the aspect of a dog, a cat, a frog, a toad, a louse, a flea, a spider, and is particularly active on St. George's and St. Andrew's days.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Generally by heredity, but also by dying un-baptized or by suicide. Special Activities. bites without leaving any signs of wounds.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Tying a thorny bush to the shroud. Suicides, particularly, should be put in running water as soon as they are dead. When the evil becomes apparent: take out its heart and cut it in two; plant a nail in its forehead; put a spoonful of quick-lime or a head of garlic in its mouth; smear it with fat of a pig killed on St. Ignatius's day; sprinkle the shroud with holy water, take the corpse far away into the mountains and leave it there. If the vampire is female, plant some iron forks in its heart and eyes and bury it in a very deep grave, face downwards.
RUMANIA (contd.)
Species: Norferat
How It Becomes a Vampire: natural causes: By being the illegitimate son of two illegitimate parents, or by being the seventh son of a seventh son.
Special Activities: Makes husbands impotent.
PRUSSIA
Species: Gierach - Viesczy - Stryz
Cure: Preventive Cure: Put poppy seeds in the grave to send it to sleep or else give it a stocking to unravel at the rate of one stitch a year, or else a fishing net to disentangle at the same rate.
BAVARIA
Species: Nachzehrer
Characteristics: When in the tomb holds the thumb of one hand with the other and always has its left eye open. Has the habit of gnawing the shroud and when it has completely swallowed it even gnaws parts of its own body, making a sort of grunting noise which can be heard at a distance.
How it becomes a Vampire: By being born with a second skin or dying from drowning.
Special Activities: The fact of gnawing its shroud helps to propagate cattle pest and sometimes even real plague in the immediate vicinity of the graveyard. When it leaves the tomb it sometimes amuses itself by tying cattle together in pairs by their tails.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Put a stone or a coin in its mouth to prevent it from chewing. For the same reason, one can also put a lump of earth under its chin or bind its jaws together with linen. When the evil becomes apparent: cut off the head of the nachzehrer with the axe used in ordinary executions.
SAXONY
Characteristics: A butterfly called Alp sometimes comes out of its mouth.
Cure: Put a lemon in the vampire's mouth.
Special Activities: The Alp settles on the chest of sleepers suffocating them and sucking up all their breath.
POMERANIA
Species: Neuntoter
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes: by being born with teeth or a silver spoon in its mouth and dying as a child.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Burning the 'silver spoon' and making it eat the ashes (while alive of course). When the child dies, cut off its head between eleven in the evening and midnight.
Special Activities: Spreads plague.
SILESIA
Species: Sriz
Characteristics: Has the habit of going up the highest church steeple in its village, where it pronounces the names of some of the inhabitants.
Special Activities: Makes those people die whose names it speaks.
WALLACHIA
Species: Strigoiu
Characteristics: Lives at night in abandoned or ruined houses.
How It Became a Vampire: Natural causes: having red hair.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Nail it to the coffin or else cover the tomb with tow and then put a certain quantity of explosive in it and blow it up
MORAVIA
Characteristics: Goes around naked, leaving its shroud on the tomb.
Cure: Take its shroud away.
MORLACCHIA
Species: Vrukolak - Vukodlak
Characteristics: It is contagious; it prefers to devote itself to relatives and friends; it shrieks when it is transfixed.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By predestination or contagion, but also when a dog or cat jumps on its bed where it died, or when it is murdered without anyone seeing the assassin.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Nailing it to the coffin by planting a nail through its heart, or else, as soon as it is dead, cutting its tendons and piercing it all over its body.
Special Activities: Profaning tombs when alive and sucking blood when dead.
SERBIA
Species: Vlkodlak
Characteristics: Has the congested face of an impenitent drunkard and blood-colored skin; always aged more than twenty and can remain active for a maximum of seven years, then becomes a man again and repeats the process in another part of the country.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By committing one of the following misdeeds in its life: murder, perjury, incest with its mother; or else following one of these two mishaps: being killed by a werewolf or else eating lamb killed by a werewolf.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Cutting off its toes and thumbs. Putting a nail in its neck. When the evil becomes apparent: piercing its navel with a branch of hawthorn and covering all its hair parts with tow, then setting fire to it with candles used for the death vigil.
Special Activities: Causing eclipses.
SERBIA (cont.)
Species: Mulo
Characteristics: It is generally a dead gypsy (but even a stallion or a lamb); it can grow after death (when it is a still-born baby) up to the age of eight; it wears very white brand new clothes, and willingly drinks even wine. Sometimes it has the aspect of a vegetable. It lives and is as active at the stroke of noon as it is at night.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes: by being still-born or else by being murdered.
Cure: To call a dhampir (degenerate son of a vampire) who will eliminate it after a hand-to-hand struggle, sustained by magic practices.
Special Activities: It boils the women it likes the most in a great cauldron in order to de-bone them more easily and make them similar to itself.
CROATIA
Species: Pijawika
Cure: Cutting its head off and putting it between the legs or under one arm.
DALMATIA
Species: Kuzlak
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being taken away before its time from the mother's breast.
Cure: To call a Franciscan monk who will transfix it with a hawthorn bough plucked high in the mountains.
Special Activities: Amuses itself by throwing dishes and saucepans in the kitchen and by moving about carts in the courtyard.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Species: Blautsauger
Characteristics: Has no skeleton and is very hairy, has very large eyes and is able to turn itself into a rat, but usually takes on the shape of a wolf.
Cure: Scatter hawthorn flowers along the road leading from its former home to the cemetery. The blautsauger will not fail to pick them up thus losing precious time.
Special Activities: Always holds a bit of earth from its tomb behind its back and tries to make sleeping peasants eat it in order to turn them into vampires.
MACADONIA
Species: Vryolakas
Characteristics: Is active from ten in the evening until the first cockcrow in the morning.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes: by having a desire for wine over its face.
Cure: By pouring boiling oil over it or else sticking a long nail in its navel. It is also worth while scattering bird seed over its tomb for it will lose time counting the seeds.
MONTENEGRO
Species: Vukodlak
Characteristics: Easily turns itself into a wolf; only goes out when there is a full moon; crows never go near its tomb.
ALBANIA
Species: Llugat - Sampiro
Characteristics: Goes around at night, wrapped up in its shroud and wears shoes with very high heels; its tomb is indicated by a will o' the wisp.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Natural causes: being an Albanian of Turkish blood.
Special Activities: Spreads death and destruction.
GREECE
Species: Bruculaco
Characteristics: Has swollen, tense and hard skin as though it had been tanned. When hit it sounds like a drum, for which reason the bruculaco is nick-named timpanita. The bruculaco has a very sonorous voice but can also emit one scream a night.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being excommunicated.
Cure: Preventive Cure: Not to excommunicate it when alive. Minor method of defense: when hearing its call at night, not to answer until repeated a second time. When the evil becomes apparent: cut its head off and bum it. At Milo, it is advised to cut the head into pieces and boil it in wine.
Special Activities: Causes the death of any who answer its nightly call; spreads the plague.
THESSALY - EPIRUS
Species: Bruculaco
How It Becomes a Vampire: By falling into cataleptics: the soul thus being momentarily separated from the body goes into that of a wolf, making it thirsty for fresh blood.
CRETE - RHODES
Species: Catacano
Characteristics: Mouth always grinning, showing very white teeth.
Cure: Burning its nails in flames, boiling its head in vinegar or isolating it behind a barrier of water, salted if possible.
Special Activities: Spits blood on its victim's skin, producing horrible burns.
IRELAND
Species: Dearg-dul
Cure: Preventive Cure: To pile large quantities of stones on its presumed tomb.
BRITTANY
Species: Moribondo
Cure: Making one's herd pass through a circle of fire, at the cost of burning a few head of cattle.
Special Activities: Particularly assaulting cattle.
SPAIN
Species: Vampiro
Characteristics: Fall prey to monstrous spirits, it has the habit of animating the first corpse it finds, giving it all kinds of shapes.
PORTUGAL
Species: Bruxsa
Characteristics: Has the form of a woman during the day, and becomes a bird at night.
How It Becomes a Vampire: Through witchcraft.
Special Activities: Sucks the blood of children.
POLYNESIA
Species: Talamaur
Special Activities: Sucks the life out of the dying, and sometimes devours the hearts of healthy men when they are asleep.
ASSYRIA
Species: Ekimmu
How It Becomes a Vampire: From not having had a proper burial.
INDIA
Species: Vetala - Punyaiama (pure race) - Veda
Characteristics: Looks like an old woman.
Special Activities: Cannibalism; sucks the blood of sleeping, drunken or mad women. Sucks the blood of sleeping persons by passing a magic thread down the chimney.
CHINA
Species: Ch'ing Shih
Characteristics: Has red staring eyes, pointed nails curved like claws, long hair, a greenish-white in color, and flies very fast, being given strength by the moon light. When burnt, emits a piercing shriek.
Cure: Make a circle of rice grains around it; thread seven pieces of Jujube on its back-bone.
VIETNAM
Characteristics: Has red antennae coming out of its nose with which it sucks. Sometimes only consists of a head.
BORNEO
Species: Buo
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being a warrior slain in battle.
LOANGO
Characteristics: Lies with its eyes open in the coffin; it becomes ten times as strong with the moon; can turn itself into a bat and if burnt, emits a long moaning.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being an ex-sorcerer.
Cure: Burn it by night when there is no moon, or else nail it to the ground with a nail. Carefully burn every little fragment, for even the smallest bit will be enough for the whole monster to be reborn again.
ASHANTILAND
Species: Asanbosam
Characteristics: There are three varieties: men, women, and children, all in human form except for a pair of books in the place of their feet.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By sucking blood from the thumbs of a sleeping person.
HERREROS LAND
Species: Otgiruru
Characteristics: Looks like a dog.
Special Activities: Makes anyone who answers its call die.
SLAVE COAST
Species: Wume
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being a criminal in life or else being the victim of a curse.
Cure: Bury it in a secret place.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Characteristics: Has a long proboscis.
Special Activities: Sucks the brain of the sleeper by putting its proboscis into the victim's ear.
MEXICO
Species: Ciuateteo ('Right honorable mother')
Characteristics: Face, arms and hands painted with whitest of chalk; knows how to fly.
How It Becomes a Vampire: By being still-born.
Cure: By offering it bread and meteorites.
Special Activities: Produces infantile paralysis.
MEXICO (contd.)
Species: Lord of the Mictlampa (male vampire) is the husband of the Mictecaciuatl; Lady of the Place of Death (female vampire)
Characteristics: A very black body and a skull in the place of a head.
BRAZIL
Species: Lobishomen
Characteristics: Small stature, stumpy and hunch-backed, resembling a monkey, but with a yellow face, bloodless lips, black teeth, bushy beard and plush-covered feet.
Special Activities: Makes its victims (all women) into nymphomaniacs.
Cure: Let it get drunk on blood in order to catch it more easily, then crucify it on a tree while stabbing it.
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