The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Two threads made me remember this piece of local lore...the one on mental illness and vampires and the Vampire watermelons!

We have a legend here in south Louisiana that vampires, the loup garou and other creatures live among the bayous and the folks who live there. But take heart! Here's where the fun starts: If a vampire is coming after you, just leave a colander at the back door. They'll be forced to stop and count all the holes before continuing the pursuit...while you make good your escape through the front door!

There are other versions of this that involve spilling a handful of grains, etc... leading us to wonder...Vampires and OCD???

Do you have versions of this legend that you know of or other fun and interesting off-the-beaten path folklore involving our hero, the vampire?

I heard of the vampires having OCD from Eastern European folklore. Local villagers would scatter seeds on roads and paths leading to suspected lairs or graves of vampires. When they rose at night the vampire would encounter the seeds and have to stop and count every one of them.

I read also that vampires cannot cross a body of water.

I remember my son when he was younger confused garlic with onions. He was convinced if you threw an onion at a vampire it would kill him.

I always worried it was because we dumb cajuns needed that vampire to have one weakness so we had a shot at escape :)

And just imagine how completely pissed he's going to be when he gets done counting!

You know about the story in "Dracula", about having to have some of your "native earth" about the vampire to sleep. Well, the Baon Sithe, an Irish version of vampire, also need some of their native soil to retain their powers once they leave Ireland. This is true of any of the race of Sidhe, the "other" folkes of Ireland.

Great addition...thank you!

Locally we have no vampire myths, but there is the Windigo. It's portrayed as either a large man eating, werewolf like creature or a human possessed with a cannibalistic spirit. Anywho, to protect yourself you're supposed to throw water in front of your door so it will freeze. When the creature falls you make your escape.

There's the myth that if you steal a vampires sock and hide it or destroy it he will be too busy looking for it to get you highly entertainin and was once tried on me, yes i was pissed off and looked for it for a short while but i soon became pissed of and rugby tackled the offeneder i doubt any vampire's gonna spend eternity lookin for their lost sock

well what about brick dust? make a line across the doorway anyone that wants to warm you wont be able to cross it or so they say.

I had no idea there were so many. Keep them coming; they're wonderful.

My dad told me this one old tale to keep a vampire away from the door is to hang a silver horseshoe on the door. The vampire hates silver and the horseshoe (in the shape of the letter 'U') collect good luck which also aids in keeping the vampire at bay.

I stumped my dad when I asked: "What happens when the vampire tries to get in through the window?"

There were several episodes of X-Files that had vampires. In one Mulder while being attacked had thrown a handful of Sunflower seeds at the vamp, which broke off the attack and counted the seeds.

There's a cemetery down the road from my house where there are strings hanging from tombstones and bird feeders throughout the cemetery. It's "romored" that vampires frewuent this cemetery. Also there are lots of black cats that cluster there after dark.

I heard vampires can't pass up any knot without untying it first

I love these! Keep them coming!

I have also heard a lot of these folklores but i would think that after thousands of years vampires could find away around these types of tricks...

I really love to read folklore and learn of other people's superstitions. It's not really interesting, but I have heard that you have to invite a vampire in before it can come until your house, and that they can not pass over water. (I'm not really sure were I heard the last one, but I don't believe it either.)

Yea I love reading about folklore and stuff ,but I can't imagine the counting would stall for more than a few seconds seeing as they have superhuman powers and would only have to glance at the seeds to know the number lol.

I have heard the folklore about scattering seeds for a vampire to count. I have also heard the one about brickdust. There are no local legends though.

Why do you think the "vampires can't cross water" one originated? For that matter, if you have any knowledge or theories to the origin of any listed above or new ones you'd like to share, let's hear it.

same thing but tomato seeds

It just makes you wonder...many superstitions have a little basis in reality...where could some of these have originated?

To add to your question about why we think vampires cannot cross water.... while on a buggy tour around the old part of Charleston, SC, we were told about why the locals paint the ceilings of their porches a light "Carolina Blue" was to keep the vampires and bad spirits from crossing and entering their houses.

hmmm...we do that here in New Orleans, too, but our reasoning is to discourage wasps from building nests.

Asian Vampires are warded of by tossing rice. They must count each of the grains before they can continue to follow you.

That makes the vampire sound like the blonde that gets distracted by a shiney object.

MsDutchess

The story about the brick dust has to do with Hoodoo. And, no, not Voodoo, Hoodoo.

The brick dust, when sprinkled over the threshold's around the house, would prevent someone that means you harm from entering your house or room you were in.

This is also in the movie "The Skeleton Key".

British vampire stories...

LINK

My favourite is the West Indian vampire [Asema] that sheds its skin to travel around as a ball of blue light at night.

You boil washed its shed skin to shrink it, then when the vampire came back it's skin didn't fit anymore and its vulnerable ball-state was exposed to sunlight which killed it.

These are some legends I've heard (I can't remember where anymore, probably word-of-mouth):

If a vampire fills his shoes with his native earth, he can walk in sunlight.

Any holy symbol will repel a vampire, not just a cross.

If a vampire corners you and your shoes are untied, he will not attack without first tying them.

A vampire will only enter a house if there is clean water there, but will not enter a house if there is holy water there as well.

A victim of a vampire attack can be revived if you take three drops of the victim's (remaining) blood, mix it with oatmeal or porridge, and feed the victim three spoonfuls of it.

A vampire's reflection can show up in a mirror, but never in a body of water (maybe that's why vampires avoid running water?).

A vampire can't cast a shadow.

A vampire's eyes can glow in the dark, like a cat's eyes.

If you are in a room with a vampire, he must shut every open door before attacking.

And if that thing about vampires counting seeds is true, I'd be sure to be ready with a salad bowl of poppy seeds LOL!

cool link sabre i just had a look and i think i will have a proper read of that tomorrow as it has local vampyr legends from my area cool thank you x

i have heard of this before, it was most interesting to me, idosyncrasy is what this is called, a unique habit or more comonly known as OCD.

Thanks , QL.

ANOTHER LINK

and another cool one too sabre i must make time to read these they are very interesting. thank you again x

I have heard about the knots thing as well. ANd I have also heard of the rice thing adn the seeds thing...
I have also hear that if i avampire is near if you have animals they can sense it befor ethey cross the threshhold of your dwelling and it seems to ward off the vampire.

I'd like to hear more about the vampire watermelons

Ireland is full of Vampire myths..and we have the banshee (gaelic bean sidhe) and was considered to be an evil succubus and usually a vampire. :) The stories we Irish tell lol, well Bram Stoker made the best one! Btw, did you know that the novel, "Dracula" that he wrote is the second best seller world wide next only to the Bible :)

i've heard the grains of rice one, and that if you leave a torn or tangled fishing net on the vampires grave, he will not leave it until he's fixed / untangled it. i started a similar thread on this subject last year, and wondered if a rubics cube, or a jigsaw with a piece missing would work as well.

IRELAND.

DEARG DIULAI (Ireland)

Dearg Diulai is the name of a Traditional Irish Vampire , It supposedly means "Red Bloodsucker" and account's of this widely known and feared Vampire have been recorded since an early a date as 6 AD ..

Legends of the Deamhain Flhola ( Blood sucking Demons ) and Neam Mhairbh ( un-dead ) can also been found in many Irish folk tales and Legends , two usual examples make an appearance in a book called " Ancient Legends , Mystic Charms and superstitions of Ireland " By Lady Wilde, Published in 1888 , Irish Vampires Normally look like tall evil looking men , Beautiful young women or even on occasion Wolves , according to ancient tradition , the best way to prevent a vampire from being active is to pile lots of large and heavy stones on it's suspected tomb , an old Irish saying is " Let everyone throw a stone on his grave lest he return to earth " which is linked to the superstition .

(dark.rage.users.btopenworld.com )

*smiles* perhaps an Irish Vampire Folklore thread may be an idea Sabre :)

Across the ocean a little from Ireland, is Scotland..and Scotland has their own Lady Vampire Baobhan Sith. Now according to myth this lady was particularly attracted to hunters and young men out after midnight. The lady sucked the life blood out of them. Perhaps she still exists there in Bonnie Scotland :)

wasnt just one lady - the baobhan sidh were an entire species - and often hunted in packs. they would lure men into dancing with them, and would drain away their life-force, leaving them dried out husks. their weakness was iron - a bunch of them were trapped until daylight by a circle of horses wearing iron horse shoes.

another tip for ye - if you marry a sidh, never touch them with iron or strike them, for if you do, they will leave you forever

LOL I have actually heard this one. My Mama is Cajun and she used to tell us all sorts of stories when we were kids about the "creatures" that lived in the swamp.

lol, thanks Karnstein! So, guys if you marry a Scottish one make sure the ring is gold and not imitation! I am more in the Banshee theory being Irish. I remember my grandfather telling us stories of the Banshee when we were younger. He scared the bejesus out of us!

i always heard sea salt around your doors and window sills would keep dark things at bay. i personally find burning indian sage and starting at the back of the house and going forward, making sure to open all doors to run the evil spirts out works for me.

Yea, my grandmother often put salt around the door in their little farmyard house. I had often wondered about this and if anyone knows why they did this, then please could you let me know!

The local theory around here is that a vampire cannot enter a house uninvited, thus when someone hovers in the doorway we say "come in! come in!- what are you waiting for? are you a vampire or something?"

haha, thanks for the explanation. I heard it was garlic garlands that kept Vampires outside the domain. Now, I wonder where that myth came from?

hmm, i wonder if Mothman is any relative to Spiderman? I love these folklore threads, thanks Joli!

i never thought about vamp ocd lol this is quite the interesting thread, as ive never heard of folklore like this before.

I have never heard of most of this stuff, and it really is interesting.

vampire watermelons?

Vampires dont have a weakness.
a stake does about as much good as a toothpick, and garlic will just spice up the dish

I agree about loving the folklore. It's so fun to hear the different guises of the vampire spread out among local legends. I'm still curious about how the vampire not being able to cross water may have started. Not sure why, but that one appeals to me.

And yes, vampire watermelons. It's in another thread by that name. Do a search. I even think it's still active.

wow that was interesting

I heard u give a vampire a ball of string with knots in it. The theory is the vampire cant resist untying the knots..And wat about the count in Sesame Street he is a vampire and he couldnt resist counting so maybe there is something in it...

I am not sure of Lore in this area .. I have heard that if you slay sand around your home that it help to avaoid intrusion since thtey have to count every grain of sand.. Just what I heard ..I am sure there are millions of tell tales out there

these are all so interesting and kinda funny too...
my granny used to tell me that vamps couldn't cross over bodies of water...

well considering how everything has to be perfect for vampires it might be ocd