The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

We all talk about Vampires and refer to books about them or to books about occultism but they are all second order literature so now comes what i seek for

does anyone know any literature from the antique or the middle age that was put down in kind of a scientific way.

i want also literature from the antique and the middleage.

i seek for this as i plan to write a paper about vampirism and i would be very thankful for your help..

Well genuineblood, some of the best references would most likely be found in the works of Nostredamus, other than that you will not find any accurate accounts of vampyrism or the "occult" in most books, the few accurate accounts are kept locked in the Vault beneth the Catholic Vatican... some secrets they don't want man to know about are kind, that and many of the original book of shadows' are kept their, most of them writin in blood by many great witches, as well as a few well known copies of the Necronomicon... which I seek

lol no i am not talkin about hundreds of years i am talkin about one in particular, it was written by Shub-Niggurath himself, last known residence was in rome, that is before rome stood there, he lived from 578bc till 1359ad.

Ok, this is delving into the wonderful world of fiction

you know there is absolutly no reason to be a smart ass about it you asked and i am telling you some of what i know

you only asked for them, not links or proof, that is mine... the work is yours tho

Good luck in your search, like the others said, it will be difficult. But I am sure there is something out there. Please keep us posted if you do find such.

Manslayer,

You need to be more considered of where and what you are posting.

I am refuting your claim and requesting that you do more to back it up. This is the nature of discussion.

nah all you were doin was bitchin about it being, and i quote "wonderful world of fiction", then you asked...

Id like to get my hands on just such litterature myself.

manslayer,
Id love to know more about everything your talking about. Id also like to hear from anyone else with knowledge or info on this. Im not writing a paper...im just curious.

GentlemanVamp,

In case you missed it, the link I provided explains a great deal about the theory given by manslayer, which we are expected to accept as an unsupported statement of fact.

Just do a Wikipedia search on "Vampirism." You will find all sorts of references to vampires in Literature.

Well this quickly turned into a heated confrontation.
...

Truthfully, I doubt that any such record of antique vampire exists. Urban legend the concept has become, and moreso evolved into a babbeling echo of which the source is undetermined in the eyes of fact.

Of course, if there is, it is probably burrowed well away from any clue of its whereabouts. ... As much as it is plausable to believe that there is, indeed, a 'Vatican dungeon', how is anyone to tell that any loose tounged watchman who has ever stood guard at the Vatican is remotely telling the truth?

... I'm sure anyone would want to get their hands on such 'literature',... but as quick as the thought dissipates, is how quick the chanse is to ever come across it.

*smiles* perhaps Sotheby's had such a book.

Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood of the thread.

This may not be what you're looking for, but rifle through The Arcana Coelestia by Emanuel Swedenborg. At the end of the chapters are what he calls "Memorable Relations" in which he documents conversations with various next-life entities...including some who could be considered vampiric. Also check out his book "Heaven and Hell." These books were written in the 1700's. Mr. Swedenborg supposedly was permitted to communicate with many in the next world. Keep and open mind and check it out. It's interesting at any rate. Some of the demons he describes and the evil spirits he talks to are unbelievable!

yeah.... godd luck gb, you may have some difficulty!

What's the matter Stabb? Did you lose your all access pass to the restricted stacks in the library at Miskatonic U.? All the books that Manslayer mentioned are right there.

Seriously though, Michaël Ranft made the first attempt to explain folk's belief in vampires in a natural way in his book "De masticatione mortuorum in tumulis" (1725).

My Dear Stabb

I hate to remind you but Vampires are Fiction

Fangor,

May I take this opportunity to remind you, that this is merely your opinion among many who believe otherwise...

lol Sabastion,

Indeed.

This is why, it is a specific description less than 300 years old.

Prior to this? It would be a rare find...

Ah Stabb, if Fangor is correct then this would not be a discussion would it? It would limit the type of literature that the poster is looking for as practically non-existent, since most of the earliest writings on vampires were probably done in folk lore (typically verbally passed down in that era) or what forms of vampires the church dealt with in a particular region, since most books of that era were done by the church.

As for looking for these types of documents, best bet is to start talking to librarians who have access to archives of older, protected books. This does not mean that you will qualify to look at them as many university libraries limit that privilege to graduate students and only within their major of study.

However they also may be able to point you to other papers that have been published that may contain some of these works as quoted texts. Good luck :)

I did miss that glaring point.

lol

The difficulty in finding such works is one reason why I've been reading Greek works that look at theories of longevity, immortality of the soul, the quest for eternal life, et al.

In ancient times, these quests would seem to be the closest I could come to actual documented evidence of immortal beings.

But even then, many are translated to Arabic first and then Latin and finally, English, which results in the 'chinese whispers' of translation.

If only I could read aramaic and ancient greek...

*sigh*

:P

i read ur convo w/ manslayer & wish to hear all i can wether there is proof or not please contact me if you find anything new...

You might want to try montrousvampires.com

Ok, here is a thought, if most of the vampire lore came from Europe, and if there was proof of it, could it be possible that the Vatican or another order of the Catholic church may have but the kabosh on it? Or destroyed all real evidence of it? Mind you, this is just a thought.

Looks like Sab when to wikipedia. One thing to point out though, is that 1725 is hardly antiquity. Searching farther back than this you could run into some translating difficulties, not just concerning language but also interpretations.

::whistling softly::wow that was a conflict right there huh? either way if there is anything i'd love to read it, interesting enough to catch me hehe

Actually, my info came from "The Vampire Encyclopidia" by Matthew Bunson
But Wikipedia is a good source as well.

H E L L A S

im glad to find out that this post started a great discussion although some of you seem to argue a bit

first of all i wan to thank those who gave me referrences i need.. you guys know who i mean..

now about the vatican... bout two years ago i lived in roma and as i am swiss i had good connection to the swiss guard.... the swiss guard is a elite group of swiss warriors that protects the vatican... as i lived there with them and as i was part of the swiss history institute i had access to all the halls and cellars of the vatican... and now i want to talk about this things you mentioned

first of all.. if someone destroyed books then not the vatican.. they burned them and tried to get rid of the stuff they didnt like, but they never forget to keep a copy for themselves.. you would be fascinated to see what kind of things are in their realms.... just marvelous and its a pitty that they are closed away from the world...

i searched there for a long time for evidence about vampires and i tell you that the nosferatu didnt exist in the vampiric lore till the medieval time... the european fear about vampires wasnt spread in western europe as vampires got famous by bram stokers dracula...

in some parts of western europe there existed vampire stories.. but they weren wide spread... the eurpean vampire center is and was romania.. the ppl from transilvania didnt call them vampir but strigoi the undeath and the first literature referring to them is written by ovid.. i forgot the title... (i will post it later).. ovid writes about prince striges.. who died as a child and couldnt find piece so he gets back as a vampire....

that i found in the vatican but nothing else... dont think that the vatican can keep so many things secret and that its walls keep the world outside... there are hundreds if not thousands of historians that get access to its realms and cellars every year.... you have just to be part of a wellknown institute

again thx to those that try to keep this thread scientistic...

reminder: i need literature for a scientistic paper... so pls post literatrue..

thank all of you

oh yea and i forgot....

i have a lot of literature and i have access to a lot of places.... just thought maybe someone of you would know bout a book i didnt put my eyes on yet...

those who have done such work know what i mean....

this is an add to my last msg...

thx for yoru support

There are actually quite a pool of books from the 13th century and beyond, which have been translated and are readily availble on many subjects, from medicin to cooking.

A quick look on Amazon will show you many.

the british library also maintains a library of works which have been scanned, coppied and are available either as PDF on line, or for purchase (I have a number myself, including a stunning 13th century medical text book which is in amazing condition!)

There is a call for such books, and they are available.

There are even scans of a number of recoved scrolls from the fires at the library of Alexandria.

Many works are available for study, all you need to do is carry reasonable credentials, have a valid reason for wanting to access them, and to ask.

By all accounts the same is true of the vatican library as well!

If you contact them, with a letter of reccomendation from a reckognised institution, and resonable credentials, their library is open for access.

It's called "Historical Research", much like using google, only the search engine is not as good and you need to actualy go there and read stuff.