The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

In the tales of vampires there are many references to various methods of warding off, destroying, and preventing the dead from rising out of the grave as a vampire. Some are more common and widely accepted than others. In this thread I'd like to see how many different ones we can come up with and discuss whether or not they are "widely accepted" as effective methods or not.
Some of the ways of warding off vampires that I can think of off the top of my head are garlic, crosses, and mirrors.
Some of the things that I can think of that are supposed to be able to destroy a vampire are Stakes through the heart, Holy Water, immersion in running water (such as a stream or river,) and exposure to direct sunlight.
Some of the preventative measures that I have heard of for keeping a person who was killed by a vampire from rising out of grave as one themselves are driving an iron rod into the earth above the grave, placing a cross on their body in the coffin, and the gruesome act of decapitating the body before burial.
What do you think of these and do you know of any others?

ive head about throwing rice infront of one causeing them to stop and count the grians.

I've heard the traditionally crosses, holy water and garlic. To actually kill them, stakes, cutting out the heart, cutting off the head, and direct sunlight. Course I didn't get this from a vampire so I don't know if any of this really works. It's all from what I've heard.

If you believe something can kill you, then it probably will ;-)

If I decide to put a silver bullet through your heart, you'll be dead.
Problem is I can't prove then that the standard hollow point I normally use, would have brought the same result.

That's why I don't use silver bullets ;-) and I had nobody get up and walk away yet.

As for the rest I think it's the same: All in the eye of the believer....

It's like that Friday the 13th myth, for the most just self-fulfilling prophesis.

So no, I really have no data to consider anything a special weapon against a certain group.

Just a Hollywood myth, I'm afraid.

I've heard to use salt ocver the body and the surounding of the grave then burn it along witht he salt and ti should stop it fomr rising...but I dont think it is true..I am a real scpetic on these thing

The wooden stake through the heart, and the silver bullet. Everything else was a folklore. Honestly who knows?

I read (gaming but still) that holy wafers stuffed into the mouth would stop the from rising. Then theres the do not invite them in thing that vamps also have

But in real life vampires can be killed by anything a normal purson would. Well unless they are deathly allergic something. But even normal people are that.

In real life most people would get ill or at least diarrhoea from holy water.

;->

I've read that to stop vampires from coming back from the dead you have to cutt or the head feet and hands and put garlic in the neck..

Here are a list of myths that are said to ward off vampires (all hollywood tales, mind you):

1. Garlic Repels vampires
2. Crosses Repel vampires
3. Vampires are killed by driving a stake through their heart (hmmm isn't that true for anyone?)
4. Vampires burst into flames upon the exposure to the sun.
5. Holy water burns the skin or flesh of a vampire.
So there are some Hollywood tales. But, the truth is we are not immortal and can be hurt or killed by the same things as the rest of you.

Hollywood movie magic... But you know anything is possible... I believe they lead lives and die like everyone else.

i do not believe in any of that crap. you cannot ward us off. we are not harmful like stupid mortals make us out to be. we just have to feed to survive just like they have to eat to survive

Holy water shouldn't make you sick or anything... it's just water. It'll quench your thirst, though...

Your right - holy water is just water. But water left in the open for weeks, in contact with varius persons, and of unknown origin.

Go figure ...

sorry for being blunt but that is all bullshit to true vampyres of today

There is also the myth that if you don't invite a Vampire into your home, then they can't enter it. I can't remember what movie/series I saw that one in.

Hollywood has always played all these things as the failsafes to give reassurance to the "rest of the world",truth be told i like looking at a crusifix,enjoy garlic when eating Italian,and most of the time use a mirror when shaving and i think it was SarraS who mentioned a hollowpoint bullit,no you wont be getting up from a tight grouping of those,shaking the dust from your cloak and hiss thru your fangs, i promise you

well said my dear friend.

Weaknesses... please.

The only weaknesses are great strengths also... The Thirst and The Beast... and even those with practise can be controlled

Placing a stake thru the heart, and cutting off the head will cause death. Crosses and holy water will just harm the vampire.

Yeah..I think that came from fright night..the movie.About a vampire that can't come into you home unless invited by the one who owns it.Though..I don't believe that.
I have hear that Bats breath,is tied up above you door will keep them away as well.Somthing about the oils in the plant..that they are allergic to.

movies movies movies

I think they are people who had been living normal lives, and that they can only be killed by:
1.) people who knew them before they became vampires
2.)being burned alive.
3.)Contact with sunlight.
4.) weaker ones may be killed by running water, decapitation, or any other means that would kill a mortal, if done correctly.

Other than that, I don't think they ever really die. Not even if all that was left of them was was a bloody puddle. I think they would go on living as a bloody puddle, or smear, or speck, which would be a miserable existence indeed. Most people don't think about what it could mean to be immortal. I have thought it through throughly, and immortallity seems more than a little scary. Those who may have become immortal would have had to take the good with the bad in the most ultimate way.

well killing as usual, hmm I like garlic a little its not my favorite kinda repels me in clove form but cooked in Italian like HG said thats ok. Love crosses I'm catholic, Holy water hmm. I imagine if someone shot me It would piss me off and they had better cut my head off cause I'm going to kick your ass when I get up. so I don't know whatever floats your boat.
Quit watching so much TV.

Counting immense numbers like rice or seeds will slow them down..
Also untying knots.

all i have ever heard of was taking their hearts out

i know some countries believe and use garlic

I think modern-day vampyres [I think that's the correct spelling] will be killed by just about anything - from what I have learned they are not immortal.

In mythology there were lots of ways ...

The Mjertovjec of Belarus was suppposed to follow poppy seeds if they lead back to its tomb

The Blautsauger of Bosnia you scattered hawthorn flowers on its tomb

The Lobishomen of Brazil has to be crucified and stabbed

The Krvopijac of Bulgaria would need a monk to order its soul into a bottle of blood that was then burned

The Kathakano of Crete had to have its head cut off and boiled in vinegar

The Pijawika of Crotia had to have its head cut off too, but it had to be placed between its legs afterwards

The Czech Ogoljen had to buried at a crossroads, the other Czech vampire could be killed by durning its funeral shroud.

the list goes on and on, but my favourite is the Asema of the West Indies who lived as an elderly person person by day but shed its skin and changed into a glowing ball at night to drain people of their life force if it liked the taste of their blood - to kill this one you boil washed their skin while they were out to shrink it, so they couldn't get it back on when they returned.

I put most things that put off vampires or kill them in my Global Vampires articles in the members articles if you want any more mythological methods

Well said SarraS. If you fear things too much and are worried that they would kill you, it is likely they will.

As for the things listed, my belive is that it is more of a myth. I know vampires who is eating garlic with almost everything.

I think the reason why garlic is mentioned is because it is a healing herb. If you eat lots and lots of garlic you are not likely to get a cold.

Holy water is just tap water blessed by someone in a tall hat and I doubt it will kill anyone for real unless you decide to fall asleep in a tub full of it and thereby drowning if you are unlucky enough.

I have not heard about the rice infront of it. They way I have heard is that you go to a vampires grave and leaves a trail of rice from the grave to the village. The vampire is forced to pick up every single piece of rice and by doing so you have a chance to get home to safety.

Blood of a lamb over your door is also said to be effective.

I've heard the usual cliches, and quite frankly, they're garbage. The stakes, decapitations, heart removals, etc... affect humans just the same. The holy water, garlic, mirrors, sunlight have no effect. If these were true, there would be more publicity to vampire existance and it would be obvious as to who they were.

The inviting into the home thing was mentioned in "Lost Boys". As far as what will and won't damage or kill a Vampire, guess it all depends on what you believe. The power of belief is a strong thing, but a stake through the heart, decapitation, or a silver bullet is gonna kill anybody, vampire or not. As far as garlic, holy water, and crucifixes...old wives tales...meant to make the general public feel safe in the old days.

from the tales i've heard only silver daggers and water can kill vampires i thin its a load of money poop though

I love Crosses, I use Silver utensils and tools, I've never had any problems with Holy Water..

Sunlight does make me extremely uncomfortable, even if only a little bit of sunlight, so that may count.

Oh... and I LOOOOVE garlic.

So no. As far as I know, those "banes" are all Fiction fodder,

As for the killing of a vampyr in mortal form, pretty much anything will work, after all the mortal body is indeed mortal....it is a very well misunderstood concept of immortality...it is infact the soul that becomes immortal through vampyrism, and indeed not the body...the only benefit to the mortal body that being a vampyr has is longevity. As long as the vampyr is not killed, it will survive much longer than most of humankind (maybe 120 or so years).

There is no known way to kill the immortal soul of a vampyr...it is possible to bind or banish a vampyr soul (a fact i know to be true being a warlock) but it cannot be killed foreveermore.

As for the crosses/garlic/mirrors etc thing.....well it is known to me that these are all falicies created by authors and jumped on like flies to dung by the hollywood media in the creation of their vampyr myths. It would not be good for society in general to advertise the fact that a vampyr is infact a creature that will (once it's mortal coil has given up) merely jump into a nearby unborn child either at childbirth or conception and consume and envelop the soul of the infant.

As for stopping the vampyr nation from surviving, the only way to prevent it is for the human race to stop procreating and continuing their own race....and i really do not think for one minute that this will happen as the will to survive is strong within humanity.

M

tis mostly old wives tales handed down amoung generations my friend. Nothing can harm u unless u think it can...

I have heard of all of these. But one I do remember from a discovery channel show was many years ago people who were believed to be vampires were dug up after burial and their hearts were cut out and burned into ashes. The closest family members would drink these ashes in a liquid to prevent the same type of terror from happening to them.

Furthermore to the stakes thing.. it suposed to be made of rowan wood. Especially if it is an epiphyte like mistletoe... presumably with oak being the best host. Rowan was also used for magicians staves and to counter witchcraft etc.

The stake is suposed to go through the heart; the coffin; and into the earth, thus binding the soul and body to the earth and preventing it from rising.

This should be obvious since a stake is something that goes into the ground... otherwise it would be called a pale (impaling) piton, spike e&.

Ok... a lot of those of course are myths and hold no truths whatsoever. The garlic thing... have you ever smelled fresh cloves of garlic together? especially 5 or 6 strings of em in the same room? it's enough to make anyone run and hide.

Stake through the heart? that'll kill anything. duh

holy water and crosses? bullshit. It's just something religious fanatics made up to make themselves feel safe.. vampires are tied in with demons... therefore, anything holy touching them should kill them... right? lol

the mirror thing i never got.. how could a mirror kill a vamp?

the sunlight thing is bogus.... Have you ever seen anyone burst into flames just from standing outside? ha!!! if vamps couldnt go outside, they'd basically glow in the dark.... that'd make them way more noticable..... dontcha think?

then again, these are all just my opinions.... feel free to dispute them. that's all i got for now. :P

most of thous are all false silver if its true will be an iritant. if not use to it.

naaa. i love silver.. :P it's all i'll wear.

Sunlight,Decapitation,Cremation

a lot of the things mentioned i have heard of before. for example holy water, and crosses. most of these are not true. i mean a stake through the heart would kill anyone. the rest are only true in movies.

cut off there head, stab in the heart, sunlight... etc.

i have heard of most of these but i think they are mostly all false

personally i love garlic and i wear a cross and the only thing holy water does is get you wet. and not even in a cool way.

Even in this thread there's now a lot of confusion about what will put a vampire off and what would kill it.

What the original question has said would fend off a vampire is now being answered with "that won't kill one".

If we can get this confused in such a short space of time, imagine what has happened to the original myths over centuries

I do not believe that any of those things really affect vampires.

i agree...i believe that these are movie stunts to spice up the movie and cause more fear in the audience.

Things I have read about this subject:
Crosses and other Holy items only protect you if your Faith is strong.
A ring or circle of salt will protect you if you stay inside of it.
Planting either a Rose bush or a hawthorn tree on someone's grave is to keep them from rising.
Anita Blake books also mention the invite of a vampire as well

How about the old "you must invite the vampire in to your home" bit....that's of course from "The Lost Boys"...any truth in this one?

the thing about a vampire having to be invited in dates back to bram stokers book dracula I dont know about the rest of you but I dont generally go into a house without being invited. the thing about mirrors was an aversion to them because fictional vampires aren't supposed to cast a reflection. silver is for werewolves not vampires. put a stake through anyones heart they're gonna die. staking came about to keep the corpse in the grave some used wood some cold wrought iron.

all of it comes from movies. get staked, anything will die..crosses? we're a different religion so yeah we'd turn away..
so many are just movie props

some of the movie fiction has basis in ancient myths and if you study the myths you learn they came about due to the lack of understanding of what happens when a body decomposes theres 2 really good books about it out there they're both mentioned in the database "the Encyclopedia of Vampires Revamped 2nd ed." and "the Science of Vampires"

When you think about it, some have claimed that Judas Iscariot was Dracula, and that because of this link, that so many religious symbols (holy water, crosses, the sun, bibles, etc.) were used to fight vampires.

For the atheistic-vampires, none of these would work, since they don't believe in any supreme being.

The main reason for all these weapons for fighting vampires emerged, can be credited to Hollywood and other folklore, almost all of it thought up by religious persons.

I would say that a vampire is just as susceptible to being killed as any human, if they're not careful enough. :)

I've heard a few times that Vampires can also be killed through being set on fire too...The throwing rice in front of them seems a bit silly to me, lol

ok this is to help lighten up the thread ok?

It seems that two nuns were traveling through Europe in their car. They get to Transylvania and are stopped at a traffic light. Suddenly, a diminutive Dracula jumps onto the hood of the car and scratches at the windshield!

“Quick, quick!” shouts the first nun, “What shall I do?”

“Turn the windshield wipers on, that will get rid of the abomination,” shouts the second.

She switches them on, knocking Dracula about, but he clings on and hisses even more loudly!

“What shall I do now?” shouts the first nun.

“Switch on the windshield washer. I filled it up with Holy Water from the Vatican!” says the second.

Dracula screams as the water burns his skin, but he clings on and hisses again at the nuns.

“Now what?” screams the first nun.

“Show him your cross!” says the second.

So the nun rolls down the window and shouts: “GET OFF MY FUCKING HOOD!!”

thought you all could use a chuckle now and then.. my friend sent that to me

i heard white roses with the body keeps it from coming back

I heard that if you baruy them up side down they can't escape. Because they don't know which way is up or down.

wow, are we speaking of vampires the myth or current modern day vampires?

Vampire the myth... who knows

Modern day vampires..... well I believe that they are harder to kill but that they can be killed in the same way as humans.

empty a gun into them and they will die(if the right organs are injured)

cut off their head and they will die

sever an autery and they bleed to death

cremation.... and the list will go on

People die everyday under all types of situations. Vampires are no different, remeber we are humans just the same. I agree with one that said, if you believe it will kill you then it will. One has already set themselves up with a phobia. Their mind is set to that affliction.

I belive that some but not all of the "movie" devices will kill vamps but not all of them

what about nuts? you never hear of vampires being killed by nuts, but i know of at least one person who is deadly alergic to nuts. and what about cheese?

What about tanning boothes. A vampire gets stuck in one of those dark roomed contraptions and thinks he's safe, until he turns on the switchs to get light, but gets fried because he turned on the UV lights instead. :)

*sorry, I couldn't help myself with that one* lol

lol... nice one jens

I still say that theres nothing going to live without a head, and if it does, it can't see to get you.

I think all of the things listed to kill a vampyre are just myths made up by tv for a good story. The stake through the heart was as sacred said to nail the corpse to the coffin to keep it from rising that is the origin of that and the head was usually cut off and stuffed with wolfs bane to keep the body from coming back to life but they are all old superstitions

The only known as far as historically definition of Warlock is betrayer of a coven. Witches are Witches male or female. This comes from novels and movies too. Usually the Warlock was shunned and cut by the Coven...in otherwords marked as a betrayer. I believe the word comes from Scotland.

You forgot Wolfsbane. In one of the Dracula movies they used that and not Garlic. Most of this came, if not all from Bram Stoker and Hollywood. Even the word Nosferatu is an error from a book that a lady wrote which Bram Stoker extracted information from. Elizabeth Miller who is one of the foremost authorities on Bram Stoker's Dracula has written about it. It was a faux pas on the lady who wrote the book about Transylvania. There is no such word. They made a lot of these movies early on out of a studio in the UK. Many had Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee in them. It's all myth. Many of these things like the stake as mentioned would kill anyone.

I find that i am only disturbed by the sun due to its vast brightness but on the other hand i can make people that dont like me burst into flames by touching them!

it also been told about the rope if you put knots in it they have to take them out before moving on sounds like fun lol

i avent heard of anymore

Wasnt the sunlight bit misinformation? To lure the common folk into a idea that vampires arnt around during the day so that in reality vampires could gain power and connections and thus for the covens and that . without being suspected as vampires

I do believe that the original question has been answered and then some. ~ billy