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VAMPIRE MYTHs
Presentation: Prof. Mr. Maqsood Hasni (P.PhD.)
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Contents

Awakening

Vampire types

Vampires: a history

A Definition of the Chupacabra

The Chupacabra becomes a recurring legend

VAMPIRE MYTHS

SLAYERS & HUNTERS

SLAYERS & HUNTERS

MAY THE GROUND NOT RECEIVE THEE

The Animistic Vampire in New England

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Awakening
By Crimson Angel

There are many articles all over the net touching on the subject of
awakenings. But the general consensus seems to be that it can be a
very confusing and frustrating time for the individual that is indeed
awakening. It sometimes feels that you are losing your mind, or that
you are being invaded and taken over hence causing a fear of losing
control. And personally that has been the hardest part for me and
probably the hardest part for most.

The fear that you no longer have control of your mind and/or body.
Some fear this process and change so much so that they even try and
bury it deeply inside of themselves. Which in my opinion is very
dangerous, not only to the individuals’ mental and physical well being
but also dangerous to those whom they come in contact with. If this
person denying his/her true self manages to survive, what sort of life
would they have? They would constantly be feeling drained and most
likely be sick continuously. They would always be wondering what that
something is that is missing from their life. And they would be so
moody that it would make it hard and almost impossible for people to
be around them. They would always have that nagging hunger and
without the necessary nourishment that a vampire body requires they
would die, most likely at a young age.

How would one actually define an awakening?

For starters I think it to be much like that of a child being born. A

child when born instinctively knows that they are human but through
learning they come to understand what being human is all about. A
child being raised by animals would indeed learn to live as an animal
but they would always know that they were different. Through the
awakening, we as young “people”, I use that term loosely so as not to
cause any conflict, instinctively know what we are but through gaining
knowledge we learn to BE who we are. Not just exist but live the life
we are fated to live. For example: A child just learning to walk or talk
has the knowledge and knows that they are capable of this due to their
genes, but to actually be able to complete this task they have to first
be taught. So for a vampire to embrace whom they are they must be
taught what it means to be this “unnatural creature.” For it to be a
true awakening in every sense of the word you first must be
discovered. Usually someone will happen into your life that you take a
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liking to almost instantly. Through this person’s guidance you are able
to discover your true form through self-exploration. These memories,
we will call them now for the lack of a better word, are buried deep
within our minds and perhaps even our DNA. Through self-exploration
you are able to dig these out and bring them into the physical world
and into your life. Most of you are probably saying that

“I never had this kind of stranger enter into my life. And I know that I
have awakened.”

My question would be how do you know that for sure?

It doesn’t matter how strong a mind a person has, without someone to

share experiences and “symptoms” with a person would go crazy.
Especially with the brainwashing that we as a society have to deal
with. There is no doubt in my mind that I myself would have suffered
this fate without guidance….and I have always considered myself to be
pretty strong. You might ask yourself when does this awakening
happen? At what time in my life would it happen? When a vampire is
young they always “feel” or even “know” that they are different.

I think the entire awakening is happening all of your life. Your entire
growth from baby into adulthood is all part of the lesson. All part of
the process to your true existence. The entire time you are growing
up the awakening is happening. But here we are talking about the
absolute realization that you are indeed what you are. A true mental
and physical realization of that feeling of being different and what it
really means. Accepting the predatory part of ourselves. This is what I
think the community is meaning when they are referring to an
awakening. Realizing that you can eat and eat and that empty feeling
is still there. That those migraines happen when you are feeling that
hunger and emptiness. That hearing those people across the room or
the hum from the TV isn’t just a coincidence. The list can go on and
on and then again some things you may experience that are unique
just to you, but my point is the awakening happens when you are
reborn into yourself with an open mind without all the society
brainwashing.

One first has to realize that a vampire’s existence is possible and they
have to realize that what society calls a vampire is all crap. You have
to search for what being a vampire means to you, and continue to
search until you honestly feel that that answer is right for you. For one
to accept the awakening they first have to believe it in their heart that
it is possible and that it is indeed happening. For some that process is
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very hard. Depending on your upbringing and religious background it

may be almost an impossible task for some to overcome. But for
those people maybe it just wasn’t meant to be in this lifetime. Always
keep in mind that through an awakening you must have patience…and
always remember that it doesn’t just happen over night. You don’t
just wake up one day and say

“Hey, I have awakened and I am a creature of the night.”

What is a vampire?

A vampire, or vampire as it is sometimes spelled, is an individual with

a need for higher quantities of energy than can be provided by natural
food sources, and therefore, is endowed with the ability to siphon that
energy from other sources, such as blood, as is most common, and
also from the psychic plane. What I mean by the psychic plane, is the
energy that surrounds us all, the energy that is naturally prevalent
through the mysteries of the earth, and it is coincidentally, this energy
that is drawn upon by professional psychics, telepaths, and magic
users. It is a gift that all creatures are born with, and is called prana,
or pranic energy. Vampires have naturally adapted, as have many
other creatures on this planet, to sustain their needs. They, like other
creatures, have evolved into an entire different species, a race of
humans, with a difference. We are human in all senses of the word,
but generally possess many traits and characteristics that set us apart,
aside of course from the need extra prana.

Many people cannot fathom the idea that a separate species of human
might actually exist, that it is possible for a being to live on blood, but
in truth, one has but to look at nature to see that anything is possible.
For instance, there are many types of "vampires" in the animal
kingdom. Mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, spiders, bats, and leeches to name
just a few, each species existing, ENTIRELY on blood. So, as you can
see, anything is possible..........

What are some vampire characteristics?

Well, first of all, vampires are as diverse a species as humans. While

there are indeed some characteristics that tend to be a mainstay
among vampires, there are, as in everything else, exceptions to every
rule. Physically, vampires are for the most part, stronger, faster, and
our bodies do heal quickly, presumably because of the amount of
energy consumed and our amazing clotting ability. Vampires are not
immortal, although many live abnormally long lives, far beyond the
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norm in fact, and this is presumably due to the intake of not only
added energy, but an excess of essential nutrients, vital to keeping the
body alive and healthy. Mentally, vampires are normally quite strong,
intelligent, inventive, imaginative, aggressive, and at times
overbearing. Most vampires are egotistical, and crave the spotlight.
They have natural tendencies toward the Occult, usually because of
their abilities to manipulate naturally occurring energy. They quite
generally have aptitudes for literature, art, crafts, and inventions, and
can usually be found in trades such as writers or artists, sciences,
drafting, construction, teachers, tattoo artists, sculpters, and any other
career that is creative in nature.

Do vampires live in clans?

Not normally. Unless one would consider their families their clan. The
creation of the term clan has come from and been made popular belief
by Role Playing Games, most notably the game Vampire, The
Masquerade. Most real vampires do not participate in these role
playing games, and quite generally disassociate themselves from those
that do. It must be said though that many vampires crave the
company of others like them, and spend much time and go to great
lengths to find them. Usually when they find others, they find
themselves moving close, living in close proximity to others, for
companionship of someone who understands. The life of a real
vampire is not normally glamorous or glitzy, as it is portrayed in
Hollywood, but in truth is more subtle and laid back, most choosing
instead to travel and discover the many wonders of the earth on their
own, or in the company of others like them. They do not generally
advertise their nature to the communities around them, and appear as
"normal" as those around them, although clear differences can be
seen, mostly in their attitudes, confidence, and their general ability to
be leaders. Some vampires have taken their abilities, and flaunted
them, gaining cultural "status" as it were, on the premise, that, Hey,
who really believes anyway?

How do vampires feed?

Vampires in the modern world do not take "victims". They do not kill,
or maim to feed. It is true that in years past, people were "hunted" by
vampires, yes, and there were several who actually kept slaves for
feeding, and were known to the rest of the worlds as cruel. Elizabeth
Bathory, Marquis de Sade, Vlad Dracul, are but a few of the more
notable names in history who flaunted their vampirism, or thirst for
blood, and many throughout the years have tried to discount the fact
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that the possibility of them being vampires was true, due mostly to the
fact that mass panic might rear it's ugly head.

Today's vampires use a more subtle approach, and quite generally

tend to be able find those individuals that have a blood fetish, or
vampire fantasies, or quite simply just like to be bitten and nibbled
on. Once these individuals are found, they are used as willing donors
for a hungry vampire. Many vampires have more than one donor,
sometimes having as many as five or six on hand, depending on the
vampire's need for energy, and how fast he or she uses that energy.
this is true for blood vampires or psycic vampires. It also must be
noted that many vampires have more than one donor because the act
of feeding tends to weaken the donor, causing weariness, and
exhaustion, and even at times, sickness if fed on too much.

Vampires also feed unconcsiously at times, and manipulate energies

around them without even realizing it. It is for this reason that many
are not able to be around animals, electronics, and sensitive
equipment. These individuals who have not mastered control of their
needs find themselves unable to wear wristwatches, and have endless
problems with telephones, computers, alarm clocks, and even
vehicles. Animals tend to shy away from people like this, while
conversely,a vampire who has his needs under control, is a magnet for
animals, and is generally quite good at befriending those animals that
are mean tempered and/or do not get along well with others.
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Vampire types
By Aneria Romana

There are three types of human walking this planet

There are three different types of humans. The first is your Vampires;
second is your Nils (normal people); third is your half breeds or
awakened humans (your witches as a generic term for all psionic
capable humans).

Vampires are in a category all of their own, see types of vampires and
what vampires are not.

The dictionary definiyion of the word nil is nothing. Psi-vampires are

called this because of energy needs and awakened humans have a
limited energy ability(they can use it but don't feed on it). This leaves
the nil meaning they have no energy ability so they are your normal
people. The term nil is not an insult.

Nils tend to be very closed minded (like all people they don't want to
believe anyone can do anything they can't). They find it very difficult
to believe that vampires exist and can do things they fear to dream of
so they find it hard to believe that witches and vampires exist
(especially the "civilized" ones).

Superstitious people tell stories of boogy man and vampires to frighten

children. They forget that those stories are based on things that once
were very numerous and well known but due to the inquisition and
other such things have gone underground.

When a nil does realize what we are they will tend to first panic and
then try to explain it away as a trick or imagination or even forget it
totally within a day or so, unless someone is there to remind them
(how mobs were started).

In the distant past we called all half breeds Juns which became
Djun/Djunn and then Djinn and then genie and then witch or wizard
and now adays since people take offence to the term witch the term
awakened human has been coined to phrase.

Today we still use the term but in reference to someone that has
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acquired our abilities (limited version) from massive blood

transfusions. Thes Juns have one or two abilities and the
disadvantages but that is as close as them come to being one of us.
Warning all Juns are deceiptive and can not be totally trusted. We
keep them close so we can make sure they have not joined the ranks
of hunters or are trying to cause us harm on their own.

Two nils can reproduce, two awakened humans can, a vampire and a
nil can, a vampire and an awakened human can, but two fully
awakened vampires can not (it is possible if one of the vampires in a
pair is still in the latent phase when impregnation is attempted).

For a better idea of the difference in psi-vampires (us) and psy-

vampires or psychich vampires (which we are NOT) see my what's in a
name page.

Types of Vampires

There are two types of vampires roaming the planet. There are your
sanguinarians and your psi-vampires.

Sanguinarians are blood-drinkers. And unlike the myths of

vampires,they do NOT go around killing people for their blood. They
keep a ring of willing donors that willingly donate blood to them. They
do not need great amounts of blood,just a small amount,no more than
what would fill a shot glass is necessary to them.

Psi-vampires feed on life/pranic energy either by proximity or by

touch. When one awakens their body automatically starts feeding on
the energy at hand and it could take the young vampire months to
realize what they are and how to control their growing abilities. Most
prefer to feed from the strong emotions of others and not from the
person directly. It is safer for both the vampire and the person(not
victim) being drained.

It is easier to know sanguinarians than psi-vampires because you can

physically see a sanguinarian drink your blood but it is harder to know
a psi-vampire because you can not see them feed. Psi-vampires are
responsible for the myths of incubus and succubus.

Vampires falsely have a bad reputation due to myths and movies,

none of which is based on fact or reality.
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~ The Dhampir ~

The ironic thing about this part is that it contradicts most folklore.
Most everywhere, the vampyre cannot spawn children or have sex. I
mean...he's dead. His penis doesn't work. However the dhampir is
found in the same areas that spawned the legends vampyres can't
have kids. Anyway the dhampir is a child of a male vampyre and a
female Gypsy. A dhampir could not be spawned by any other human.

Very rarely the woman would become pregnant from this unholy
union. Almost always the child would be born
boneless..and thus would die quickly. However, on rare rare rare
occasions, the child would be born with bones and lives.

Always the child of this union was male. And this child had special
powers that allowed him to become a powerful vampyre hunter. He
was able to feel a vampyre just by looking at him. He was able to
destroy a vampyre without special weapons. As well, the Dhampir
could enchant a pistol and make it slay a vampyre as surely as a
wooden stake would.

The dhampir was considered a powerful member of the gypsy

community, but treated normally. They were not immortal and they
did not have powers similar to the ones Vampyre Hunter D
displays...but some dhampirs did have a semi-slippery like body due to
the fact they were normally born without bones.

The powers of a dhampir would be passed to the male offspring that

he created and that they created and so on. These abilities could only
be inherited, never learned. In the real world the dhampir was a bit
different. Someone claiming to be a dhampir would come to a village
looking for work as a hunter or else he would go to where a town
reported a vampyre problem. He would start by mentioning an unholy
stench in the air that only he could smell. He would then attempt to
find the source of this scent. He hold then take off his short and look
through the sleeve as if it was a telescope. He would then describe the
shape and appearance of the invisible undead that only he could see.
He would then engage in a dramatic fight with the undead...but
sometimes would just shoot it.

Once killed the vampyre would stink even more...and sometimes a

pool of blood would run on the ground. Most often he would not be
killed and the vampyre would flee to another town. The dhampir would
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stick around long enough to get his pay and go to the next town...and
fight the vampyre anew.

~ The Vampyres of Malaysia ~

The are two kinds of vampyre in Malaysia.

The first is the langsuyar. The langsuyar is a beautiful woman who

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

The other vampyre of Malaysia is the pontianak. This is a stillborn child

who would become a vampyre. It was similar to the langsuyar in every
way though.

~ Vampyre's form ~

No doubt most of you think of a vampyre in terms of Annie Rice, Buffy,

V:TM pictures or Hollywood films when picturing the vampyre. But that
is a more modern vampyre.

You see, the vampyre of folklore was a lot ickier than that. (Although
not as icky as Count Orlok. ew.)

The original vampyre of Eastern Europe was a corpse, but a corpse

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

peasants and serfs.

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

~ Peter Kurten: a "real" Vampyre ~

Often cited as the real thing when it comes to the vampyric, Peter
Kurten---the so-called Dusseldorf vampyre was a serial killer in
Germany during 1929-1930.

He was born in Mulheim, Germany and was one of ten children. He

was the son of an Alcoholic and a brutal father. He lived part of his
youth with the town dogcatcher and enjoyed killing the unclaimed
dogs. Kurten was 9 when he killed his first person. He pushed a
playmate into the alter and repeated the act with a second boy to
attempted to save the first. His next known attempt at homicide was 8
years later when he tried to rape and kill a young woman. He was sent
to jail for 4 years for his unsuccessful effort. He lived on the streets
after his release, but was back in the slammer a year later after a
series of thefts and burglaries. He would later claim to have killed two
of his prison mates with poison.

I in 1913, back on the streets in Dusseldorf, he killed again, this time

a 10 year old girl. He cut her throat with a knife and repeatedly
experienced orgasm as the blood spurted out.

It was not until 1929 that Kurten began his series of crimes that were
to earn him his place in criminal history. In February of that year, he
attempted the murder of one woman and succeed in the murder of 2
children, one male and one female. All died by stabbing. His attempts
at murder, often unsuccessful, did not aid police. They accused a
mentally-ill man to be convicted of the murder of the boy Kurten had
actually killed! That summer, he was more successful, killing 9 people
in August alone.

All of these crimes involved blood-drinking from the dead victim. He

continued his killing spree until the winter of 1929-1930. In may he
attempted the strangling death of a young woman, then for reasons
unknown...stopped and let her go. She identified him and he was
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arrested. During his crime spree, he confused the police by continually

changing his method of killing.

Only as he began his confession and accurately related each crime was
any doubt of him perpetrating them removed. He was convicted and
executed by decapitation on July 2, 1931.

~ The German Vampyre ~

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

The most well-known German vampyre is the Nachtzeherer, which

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

These vampyres were created by unusual death and birth occurrences.

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

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

Sometimes the vampyre was destroyed by placing a clump of earth
underneath it's chin. Other times a stone or a coin were placed in the
corpses mouth.

Another method was to tie a white hankerchief around the vampyre's

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

In the late 1980's Affons Schweiggert investigated reports in Germany

that a Bluatsauger was terrorizing local villages. In these villages, the
vampyre was still taken deadly serious.

~ The Italian Vampyre ~

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

As the plague was beginning, a Franciscan from Pavia, Ludovico Maria

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

A more modern view of our vampyre bloodsucker came from JH Zedler

and his "grosses volstandige Universal-lexicon aller wissenschften und
kunste" in 1745. He stated vampyres were just a superstition and
excuse to explain diseases science could not rationalize. Cardinal
Giuseppe Davanzati echoed these beliefs, stating that vampyre
outbreaks only occurred in rural and popular areas of the world...thus
making vampirism, "The fruit of imagination" as well as ignorance,
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fear, superstition and to use a modern term, trendy. It became almost

a fad to have a vampyre outbreaks. Hey, it got your town noticed and
explained a lot of problems you were having. Besides, peasants didn't
have much else to do besides mulch and die.

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

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

~ The Greek Vampyre ~

I will tell you there are five variations of the Greek vampyre. I would
like to start by saying This vampyre, like other Greek vampyres are
and were not revivified corpses. Rather they were evil spirits.

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

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

~ Vampyre ~

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

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

Finally, on Palm Sunday, the local priest assembled a group of devout

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

The town went back to their happy little ways.

~ The blood is the life ~

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

~ Polish Vampyres ~
 29

A type of vampyre found amongst the Kashubian people of northeast

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

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

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

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

Vampire names from around the world

Africa: asabonsam, obayifo

Australia: yara-ma-yha-who
 30

Bosnia: lampir

Bulgaria: obur

China: chiang-shih

Czech Republic: upir

France: melusine, lamiai

Germany: nachtzehrer

Great Britain: vampyre

Greece: vrykolakas

Hungary: lidérc

India: kali

Italy: vampiri

Japan: kappa

Malaysia: langsuyar,

tlahuelpuchi,
Mexico:
chupacabra

Myanmar: thaye, tasei

Phillipines: aswang

Romania: strigoi

Russia: uppyr
 31

United States: vampire

Thailand: pontianak

The following LEXICON of TERMINOLOGY is the terminology used by,

and concocted by the SANGUINARIUM and it's members. Many
members of the Vampire Community in general have adopted the use
of some of this terminology, so, in order to establish a more perfect
union amongst vampires, here it is, in all its glory.

LEXICON OF SANGUINARIUM TERMINOLOGY (BASIC VERSION)

Adra: a vampyric sponsor or mentor.

Ardetha (are-death-aa): someone who is made a vampyre through a

ritual or ceremony.

Ancients: Refers to the ancient deities and mythical/spiritual personas

such as Lilith, Set, The Ancient Vampiric Gods, Caine, Kali, etc.

Awakening: The physical and mental changes involved when one's

vampirism begins to manifest itself, if one is a latent vampire.

Beast: The primal, animalistic, bestial nature of a frustrated or

desperate vampire. It's destructive and cold, and if you don't control
it, then you will be under its control.

Beacon: A particular feeling or energy signature generated by

vampyres in general, but latent or potential vampyres in particular.
The beacon seems to exist to attract other vampyres to the potential
so that they may instigate the awakening process.

Black Swan: A non-Vampyre lover or friend who does not feel the draw
to become sanguine, but who is nevertheless favorably inclined
towards Vampyres. They may or may not frequent vampyre nightclubs
and usually understand the Vampyre-fetish lifestyle.

Black Veil: 13 tenets of common sense, ettiquite and responsibility

used by many households within the vampyre community.
 32

Blood Bond: a rite, ritual or ceremony marking a commitment to a

coven or an individual. It is also a term to reflect a vampyre marriage.

Blood Drinker: Anyone who drinks blood, regardless of motivation.

Blood Fetishist: Someone who is erotically attracted to the sight, taste

or smell of blood; they generally have no physical need to consume it,
and will usually be happy with small amounts.

Blood Junkie: A derogatory term for someone who experiences the

physical need to consume blood, a sanguinarian

Dayside: the mundane life we must all lead, paying taxes, mundane
family relations, rent, dayjob, etc.

Donor: Someone who gives/shares their blood or energy consentually.

Bloodletting: The act of cutting the physical flesh to extract blood. This
is commonly used for blood play, fetishism and feeding.

Bloodplay: Similar to bloodletting, bloodplay is the act of using blood

in sexual or fetish situations. Bloodplay can also refer to the
integration blood and bloodletting in ritual.

Cainus Lupus: a term for tribal or shamanistic members of the

Sanguinarium who related to wolves. Commonly related to werevoles.

Caste/path: one of three roles (guardian, priest & companion) used in

many Sanguinarium households started by the Kheperian Order.

Calmae (cal-may): a term refering to an initiate and formal member of

a Sanguinarium household or court, who is familiar with the Scroll of
Elorath and abides by the tenets/traditions of a household and the
Black Veil.

Chi: Chi is the Chinese term for life energy. It is also often referred to
as pranic energy or life force. Chi is the bio-electrical energy which
runs our bodies on a subtle level. Energy vampires and many psi-
vamps believe that they can manipulate chi and feed upon it to sate
their hungers. To a certain extent, blood vampires also feed upon chi,
for a great deal of this subtle energy is believed to be concentrated
into the blood.

Clinical vampirism: A psychological condition, also referred to as

 33

Renfield's Syndrome, in which the afflicted person experiences a

psychological urge to drink blood. This urge is often satisfied with their
own blood, and sufferers of Renfield's Syndrome typically bear slashes
from razors and knives up and down their arms from where they have
drawn blood from themselves. This condition is similar to a new
pathology, known as SMS, or Self-Mutilation Syndrome, which is
becoming alarmingly common in American youths.

Clutch: a small group of vampyres, who are apart of a larger

household, usually 3-13 members who gather for socialization, ritual,
initiation and training.

Coming out of the Coffin: a term for going public about one's
vampyrism.

Court: a geographicly based formal Quabal and organization with their

own ceremonies, traditions, hierarchy and memberships.

Coven: Covens are groups of individuals and organizations who

embellish the vampyre/vampire lifestyle; who band together under a
specific theme, set of ideals, traditions, common Sigil, havens,
membership requirements, hierarchy and rites.

Dhampyri: someone who was born a vampyre or awakened before

puberty.

Elder: A prominent member of the Vampyre community who is

honored and respected for their experience, accomplishments and
devotion, a teacher. Elders are often those individuals who have
helped establish a community.

Embrace: The act of turning one into a vampire by the giving of one's
blood to another.

Energy signature: Term used to indicate the unique energy-pattern,

feeling, or vibes that each individual has. Vampyres are believed to
have a particular energy signature that can be recognized by those
familiar with it. In this way, others skilled in magick and psychic
practices may identify us for what we are.

Energy Vampire: An individual who has a need to feed upon the life
force of others. Most energy vampyres feed upon chi or psychic energy
and avoid drinking blood.
 34

Family Dentist or Fangsmith: a term refering to someone who makes

dental quality fangs.

Feeding: The act of consuming pranic energy (blood) or psychic energy

(emotional and elemental energy)

Fledgling: a newly awakened, unintiated and unexperienced vampyre.

Fruitbat: a nutty or insane vamp.

Gaja (ga-jaa): a fashion vampire, one who does not embrace the
Strigoi Vii philosophy and is only focused on the aesthetic aspects of
the vampyre scene.

Golden Circle: The people around a small coven or circle, which include
black swans, vampyres, kitra, etc.

Grimoire (grim-wor): a journal and book of lessions and notes each

Sahjaza initiate should keep on their advancement of study and
involvement within the family.

Quabal (qua-ball): a gathering for socialization, ritual, initiations and

education.

Haematodipsia: A strong form of haematophilia.

Haematomania: A strong psychological craving for blood.

Haematophilia: An erotic attraction to the taste, sight (or smell) of

blood.

Haven: a vampyre gathering place. Most often a gothic nightclub, bar

or coffee house.

Household: a generic term for a family or organization within the

Sanguinarium community.

Kali: a blood-thirsty goddess from India who has been chosen by some
to be a goddess of vampirism.

Kithal: Someone who has been initiated into one or more covens.

Kitra (key-traa): in the vampyric caste system this is an initiated

member who functions as a donor, advisor, companion, watcher and
 35

altar to focus and balance energy during rituals. A mix of vampyre and
donor.

Klavasi (latent vampyre): someone who has awakened after puberty.

Human: Term used for the purposes of distinguishing those who are
not vampire. (this term is misleading because it implies that vampires
are not human.)

The Hunger: The desire to feed, also identified as the Thirst. The
Hunger is both a psychological and physical sensation. Physically, it
manifests as an intense hunger or thirst - but not for physical food or
drink.

Hunter: Someone that hunts, stalks, threatens, or does harm (whether

it be physical, psychical, psychological, or emotional) to someone
because s/he is a vampire, or because the hunter believes them to be
so. Blade applies to seriously unbalanced individuals who really are on
some sort of holy hate crusade and intend to follow through with
violence or action.

Invisable: someone kicked out of a household for violating the

traditions, black veil or rules of that family. They are stripped of any
titles, initiations and completely ignored.

Im Kheperu: The ritual of transformation used by some to induct a

new member into the vampyre community. Im Kheperu also denotes
the holy day, concurrent with the Pagan festival Samhain, when this
rite is most often performed. As a festival, Im Kheperu ushers in the
Dark Side of the Year, a time when our powers wax greatly and our
sense of our natures is heightened significantly.

Im Sekhemu: The double-power. This also denotes the holy day,

concurrent with the Pagan festival Beltane, when the last peak in
power is celebrated before the coming of the Light Side of the Year.
During the Im Sekhemu, which properly lasts over a span of days
leading up to Beltane, everything about us is heightened to an almost
excruciating degree. We feel the last swansong of power just before
the Dark Year fades, and at the same time we experience the greatest
hunger as that power heightens all of our sensations. Sekhemu can
also refer to the driving sensation brought about by this peak in
hunger and power.
 36

Latent vampire (ardetha): Someone who is already naturally a

vampire, but whose vampiric tendencies have not yet manifested.

Leech: 1.) A small, bloodsucking worm; 2.) An incredibly rude and

derogatory (well, at least disrespectful...) term to call someone who is
a vampyre.

Lilitu / Lilian: Also the Children of Lilith. This is an order or movement

within the vampyre community which promotes the idea that Lilith was
the spiritual forebear of vampyres.

The Long Night: Name for the festival celebrated on the Winter
Solstice. This night is the peak of the Darkside of the year, and many
households and covens gather together to celebrate the longest night.
This is a festival of community where everyone relaxes and socializes.
It is also the traditional night to recognize new members of the
community or to perform rites of passage, such as raising someone
from Calmae to Elder.

Mentor: The one who made you a vampire or awakened you and/or
taught/guided you.

Mortal: Term used for the purposes of distinguishing those who are not
vampire. (This term is, at best, misleading because it implies that
vampires are "immortal".)

Mradu (mra-doo): an initated "knighted" and appointed guardian and

protector in the vampyric caste system.

Mundane: Term used to distinguish those who are not vampires.

The Nephilim: A rather widespread belief within the vampiric

community which asserts that vampyres are the inheritors of the
Nephilim. The Nephilim are demi-human beings who were sired by
angels, as told in Enoch I, a book that was dropped from the Bible in
the early stages of its canonization.

Nightside: the primal nature, the AKA "the dragon" which includes the
side of oneself which is awakened during ritual, sexual arousal, artistic
creation,

Nomaj: A vampyre mystic, astrologer or user of sangomancy.

 37

of the Blood: A term sometimes used to refer to someone as being a

vampire.

Pandemonium: a term for a generally unpleasant experience which

includes but is not limited to an acute heightening of all of a vampyre's
sensitivities, a change in the person's manner, alterations in
breathing,pulse rate, and thought patterns, as their body gears up to
go out and attempt to satisfy the thirst. This phenomenon is when the
"beast" or "darkside" is very definitely felt as a real force within the
vampyre's psyche and the vampyre's self-control totters on a razor-
edge. This particular phenomenon is experienced by both sanguines
and psi-vamps alike, and it serves as a distinguishing factor between
those who are real vampyres and those who are simply blood
fetishists.

Polyamory: Refers to multiperson committed relationships, which are

not uncommon among households in the vampyre community.

Porphyria: An acute medical condition which has been postulated by

some scholars to have inspired the vampire myths of the past.
Sufferers of porphyria have pale, flaky skin and are very sensitive to
sunlight. They are also severely anemic, and some sufferers of
porphyria have been know to drink blood in an attempt to relieve the
cravings brought about by anemia.

Poser: Someone pretending or claiming to be a vampire who is not,

with the intent of deceiving others, by making false claims as to their
powers, abilities,lifespan, etc.

Prana: Like Chi, Prana is life energy. Prana is a Hindu term, and it is
strongly associated with the breath as well as the life. See also Chi and
Psychic Energy

Pranic energy: Refers to blood and sexual energy.

Primus: A vampyre, almost always an elder, who founded or is the

leader of a large family or coven of vampyres.

Psychic energy: Refers to emotional and elemental(energy of the

earth), also the life-force that surrounds and is contained in living
things.

Psychic Attack: A term used for an attack by an psi-vampire. Any

uninvited draining of one's vital energy. One is said to have
 38

experienced a Psi-vamp attack when a psi-vampire has targeted and

successfully fed from you, without your consent. Another view is that
psychic vampire attacks ONLY take the form of such draining by the
use of the psyche.

Psychic vampire: Someone who feeds from psychic energy, drains life-
energy rather than blood from others. Technically speaking in some
views, psychic vampire is a vampire who is psychic while a psi-vampire
is a vampire who feeds on energy, preferably emotional energy.

Pranic (pran-ick): to feed from the aura and chakras of consenting

donors.

Ramkht (rom-ket): an ordained vampyric priest who acts as a ritual

leader, creative director and catalyst.

Ravass Bhavatan (rav-ass bov-aton): a ceremony or ritual kick

someone out of a household, making them invisable and stripping
them of their titles.

Real Vampire: Someone who has a condition which includes but is not
limited to a physical thirst and need for blood (which is non-erotic in
nature; and in more significant quantity than is generally required or
desired by other blood-drinkers), or psychic energy (real need exists
for energy draining of others emotional energy and that of the earth.)

Real Vampire/RealVamp: A sanguine, psychic, or energy vampyre. A

real vampyre has a particular condition which includes but is not
limited to the following characteristics: a real need for blood or life
energy; heightened sensitivities; light sensitivity; a largely nocturnal
sleep cycle. The heightened sensitivities are believed by many to
include a number of psychic abilities, such as empathy, astral
projection, clairvoyance, and energy manipulation. The sensitivity to
light and the nocturnal body cycle are not so limiting that a real
vampyre cannot be up and out during the day, it is simply an effort for
them to do so.

Renfield's Syndrome: is a psychological condition in which the sufferer

has an affinity for drinking blood. Sufferers of Renfield's Syndrome
typically bear slashes on their hands and arms where they have
withdrawn quantities of their own blood to drink.

Ronin: a vampyre who is awakened and is not a member of a

household. In the Japanese feudal system , ronin were Samurai who
 39

lacked allegiance to a particular house, but who were nonetheless

honorable and skilled as samurai.

RPGer: Role-Player: One who engages in roleplaying games like VtM

and others. Sometimes RPGers are also lifestylers, others distinguish
between their 'human' life and their role and have nothing to do with
Vampires.

Safari: A form of play-hunting when a vampyre or coven of vampyres

goes out to find donors but not bring them home. Maybe a little
nibbling, but never feeding.This was used in the late 1970s to teach
fledglings how to hunt in discos.

Sanguinarium (sang-ween-are-ee-um): the vampire / vampyre

network which abides by the Black Veil.

Sanguinarian :Someone who has a physical thirst, need, craving for

blood (which is non-erotic in nature) in more significant quantity than
is generally required or desired by other blood-drinkers).

Sanguine: A term which indicates a blood-drinking vampyre. Energy

vampyres or psi-vamps, if they supplement their feeding with the
active drinking of blood, are considered to be sanguines.

Strigoi Vii: means "living vampire" in ancient Romanian and is used to

refer to the philosophy used by the Sahjaza and the condition of being
a vampyre.

Seeker: Someone who is seeking after vampires, or knowledge of

vampires, usually desiring to become one him/herself.

Setians: A belief within the vampyre community that links vampirism

back to the Egyptian God Set.

Sexual Vampirism: A relatively rare variety of vampirism that feeds

primarily from sexual energy.

Sire: A very literary term often used by Ann Rice fans and few RPGers.
Someone who is responsible for turning someone into a vampire.

Sigil: see households.

Slayer: A person that makes public and obnoxious claims of killing

people who are (or who the slayer thinks are) vampires.
 40

SMS: A psychological condition which has apparently begun to grow

among American youth. Sufferers of SMS, often known as cutters, feel
the need to cut into their flesh and watch themselves bleed. Some
sufferers of SMS also drink the blood drawn out this way, although this
is not standard for the disease.

Source: Someone from whom a vampire will get blood.

Solitary: a vampyre who chooses not to be involved with a coven and

has little if any interested in going out in the scene. See also Ronin.

Somnusium: to take a brake from the Sanguinarium, scene or the

vampyre philosophy and lifestyle.

Starseed Vampires: a tradition or movement within the vampyre

community which asserts the extra-terrestrial origins of the vampyre
race.

Incubus / Succubus: A vampyre who feeds only while having sex or

purely through sexual energy. In Medieval folklore, a Succubus was a
female demon who appeared to people, often in dreams, and seduced
them.

Thirst: The craving, need, desire, urge to drink blood, experienced as

an intense thirst-sensation or withdrawal.

Turned: Refers to the "making" of a vampire, another role play term.

Twilight: to maintain a consistant balance between the Dayside and

the Nightside.

Vampire: A much-disputed term with many meanings, depending upon

who you're talking to. It can include psychic vampires, energy
vampires, emotional vampires, sanguines, blood-fetishists, and the
kind of vampire you find in fiction or on the Silver Screen. Here, it is
used to encompass all of the above-listed groups into a general
category, ie may refer to both real and non real vampires.

Vampire bait: A poser or wannabe who is just screaming for a vampire

to come after them.

Vamping out: Experiencing an acute flare-up of the thirst, involves a

change in the person's manner, breathing, pulse rate, thought
 41

patterns, etc.

Vampiric Community: The community of people who identify with or

have been identified with the label "vampire".

Vampyre vs vampire: "Vampyre" is the older spelling of the word

"vampire" used in the 17th & 18th centuries, thus "Vampyre" is used
to refer to people who are really into the scene or lifestyle. The more
modern "vampire" is most often used to refer to Hollywood, myth and
fiction.

Vampyrecrafte: In general, this is the magick practiced by vampyres.

Many vampyres are pagan and follow the old ways, and the ways of
magick are an integral part of their beliefs. Most vampyres practice
numerous techniques associated with energy manipulation. Many also
practice some form of magick, most often ritual magick or chaos
magick.

Vampyre lifestyler: Someone who incorporates fictional vampire

imagery and trappings into his/her personal life, often cultivating a
"Vampyric" physical appearance and forming alternative extended
families and social structures modeled on the "covens" or "clans" of
vampire fiction and role-playing games, and utilizing that terminology.

Wannabe: Derogatory term for someone who wants to become a

vampire, usually with unrealistic expectations of what it would be like,
and usually without consideration of such practical matters as how one
would find sources.

White Swan: Someone who cannot tolerate the Vampyre lifestyle and
proves antagonistic to the Scene. In general, White Swans are still a
part of the Gothic or fetish scene, which often brings them into contact
with the vampyre community despite their disgust of vampirism.
 42

Vampires: a history
Author unknown

The vampire in myth is always thought of as Count Dracula. Male, with

fangs, and a suave manner. However, in different cultures around the
world, the legend and the form of the vampire is as different as night
and day.

And it was not often in the form of a bat. It was as different as

different ethnic groups and countries have representations of them in
myths in their culture.

For instance, in some Ancient Greek myths, the vampire is often a

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

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

And the vampire itself is not sometimes a woman. In Africa, among

members of the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, the vampire is known as an
Asasabonsam.

It was described as a humanoid monster, living in a forest, and was

very rarely seen. It was also very dangerous, living in the forest, and
was very rarely seen.

It also happened to possess iron teeth, and survived by catching and

destroying unwary passers-by by letting its hook shaped feet dangle
from the treetops where it was sitting, and catching them with them.

The vampire also did not necessarily live in a castle as well. In

Malaysia the vampire creature itself was called a Maneden and it lived
in a wild panadus plant. If a human attacked the plant, the creature,
angry and retaliative, would strike by attaching itself to a man's elbow,
 43

(or a womans nipple), where it sucked the person's blood untill that
person gave it a substitution item, such as a nut. The vampire legend
was not unknown or lost to ancient Meso-American cultures, such as
the Maya and Aztec. The vampire of the Maya, known as Camazotz,
was a full fledged god, and was central for the Maya agriculture, but
was not respected. Instead he was feared for his blood drinking
tendencies, and very fearsome appearance, which included large teeth
and claws. He also dwelled in caves, where he would attack people, his
victims, for their blood as well.

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

However, they also share some characteristics with the vampires of

the west. They are said to meet at crossroads, and also to wander at
night. They also can't stand the sunlight, as it will kill them.

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

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

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

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

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

And there were cases in history where there were persons who were
like vampires. Elizabeth Bathory was born in the year 1560. She was
from a family that had lands throughout Transylvania, and was also
one of the most powerful families in the country after she was married
to a very powerful count.
 44

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

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

The vampire itself in myths sometimes didnt even require the

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

And the vampire can be as different in one form, as well as another.

Which may be rather odd, but the myths themselves are as different,
as night and day. And are also very unique as well too.
 45

A Definition of the Chupacabra

By Tito Armstrong 1996

For the non-Puerto Ricans among us, the Chupacabra is a creature

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

Speculation has placed the Chupacabra as a resident of another galaxy

(see the truth behind the Chupacabra), or a half-man, half-beast
vampire who roams the countryside terrorizing farm animals. Others
say that the Chupacabra hops like a kangaroo and leaves a sulfur-like
stench. Still others say that the Chupacabra is a panther-like creature
with red eyes and a long snake-like tongue. I, for one, think that the
truth may lie in the UFO area my theory being that the Chupacabra is
actually the pet panther, which hops like a kangaroo, of some
irresponsible aliens who let it wander around. Like obnoxious relatives
who let their children rampage through the house, the aliens have
overstayed their welcome in our island
 46

The Chupacabra becomes a recurring

legend

San Juan (Puerto Rico) Star

6 May 1996,
by Robert Friedman

WASHINGTON -- The goatsucker is on the go -- with new alleged

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

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

Whatever, the chupacabras phenomenon seems quick becoming part

of Hispanic -- and possibly international -- bestial lore. The goatsucker
 47

already has been tagged the Bigfoot of the Caribbean by stateside

journalists. The monster made its network TV debut last week via
"Unsolved Mysteries." It was the talk of the popular Miami-based
gabfest, "El Show de Cristina," which is transmitted throughout Latin
America. That show featured Canovanas Mayor Jose "Chemo" Soto,
known to townsfolk as "Chemo Jones" for his weekly chupacabra hunts
through the surrounding hills, using a caged goat for bait. Soto offered
this grim warning: "Whatever it is, it's highly intelligent. Today it is
attacking animals, tomorrow it may be attacking people."

Tee shirt sales are said to be booming, a video game reportedly is in

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

So, what have we here? Among other things, a recurring legend,

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

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

Marvette Perez,curator of Hispanic history at the Smithsonian

Institution's American History Museum, sees deja vu once more in the
chupacabras tales. Perez, a native of Arecibo, recalled the similarities
between the chupacabras and both the Moca vampire and the
garadiablo of island lore. A couple of decade ago, the Moca monster
 48

was sucking blood of assorted animals around that small mountain

town, while the garadiablo was a devilish looking creepy crawly from
the lagoon seen in local swamplands. "This seems to be a very
Caribbean phenomenon, especially of the Spanish- speaking islands,"
said Perez. "It's part of our folklore. It's inter- esting that the
chupacabras has not been found on the English-speaking islands, but
has migrated only in places where people speak Spanish.

Pedro Vidal, professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at

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

Bram Stoker's novel of the blood-thirsty count became a big hit in

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

Unbeknownst to many, there is a real live goatsucker in captivity in

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

The Goatsucker tag comes from the Latin word, Caprimulgus. The
birds are often found in the Mediterranean in places where goats
graze. In a strange twist, bird-watcher-columnist Don Wilson reports in
the Orlando Sun Sentinel that "the harmless whippoorwill was once
viewed as a sinister creature. Superstitious country folk once believed
the birds sucked the milk from goats' udders, causing them to dry up."
 49

VAMPIRE MYTHS
compiled and posted by SARASVATI..

Please visit her site the SANGUINARIAN, you'll find lots of info there.

• Sunlight: As the "good" on the earth and the life giving warmth
of early cultures it was the anti-thesis of the vampire, and
thuscould destroy the vampire. Often the "good triumphs over
evil" type of moral. Possibly an exaduration of the light-
sensitiveness that sanguinarians do exibit. (You know how bards
are:) Also, in hte earliest myths, vampires didn't have any
problems being out in the daylight... this, like fangs, is a more
recent addition to the list of "traits".
Also: "Many vampires aren't so much hurt by the sun touching
them as looking at it, many Romanian and Irish vampires this
applies to can be seen in the sunlight as long as the sunlight is
filtered by such means as sunglasses even." {Thanks to Mr.
Tiernen for the information addition :) }

• Crosses: These, along with holy water and the host, are again
the "good conquers evil" background. The blessed would repel
the cursed. Could also have arisin as a "focus" for holy power
that repeled the evil.
 50

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

• Coffins: Probably dates back to the fact that vampires were

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

• Beauty: In order to drink from there victims, they had to get

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

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

• Stakes: Vampires were believed to be immortal, unless you 1)

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

• Immortality: Since blood is linked to life, perhaps the drinking of

blood is like the drinking of others life, prolonging the life of the
vampire. (Thanks to mia for this connection)
 51

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

• Garlic: Garlics' noxious smell was believed to be a deturent to

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

• Silver: Though usually applied to werecreatures, I have heard it

in application to vampires as well. The only reason I can think of
is that silver was often used to make the crosses for priests and
churches and that caused the crossover (slight pun intended :)

An addition from Chrysanthia: I wears silver rings,pure sterling

silver and i wear a Sterling Silver ankh always paired with an
ameyhst amulet (both helps increase psychic projection,as i am
both sanguine/psyvamp). However one night i was reading
something online,and i was toying with my ankh,and i was
running it across my lips,for some odd reason,LOL I think i went
to scratch an itch with the hand that was holding the ankh.well I
felt a Power surge from it,so i was Curious "If I put it in my
mouth,will i be able too feed off it like i would pranic-chi
energy?" well,I Put it in my mouth,and I did feed off it,and It
also Burnt my tongue and the roof of my mouth.
I have been wearing the rings and necklaces since i was 19 and i
am 21 now,and i never had a reaction to silver before like that.
Well I was Curious would my rings burn too,because i was
curious and skeptial it could have been a chemical reaction
mixed with soap of some kind. Nope.I Tryed my rings as
well,and They burnt my mouth too. It was not instant
burning,smoke did not come out of my mouth and i did not have
an ankh shaped mark on my tongue,but it felt as if it were
literally burning into my tongue and the roof of my mouth.
I was still skeptical,that it could have been a chemicial reaction
of some sort,but i normally do not wear Perfume on my neck
where my necklaces are,so a few months ago i tryed it again.
 52

Same Reactions... I have also heard that Gold itself is supposed

to weaken vampyres in general,that it drains off their aura,and
drains their energy making them weak. I do not know if this is
true because i quit wearing gold.I know I have a distinct dislike
to stay away form it and not wear it.

• Natural Earth: see Coffins

• Retractable Fangs: Fangs in general are a hollywood invention.

The earliest myths had no mention of fangs.

• Salt: Mostly heard to repell the mythological witch...unsure of

why it was applied to the vampire (blood is rather high salt
anyway)

An addition from Chrysanthia:Salt was believed to keep evil

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

• Host (Holy Communion Bread): see Crosses

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

• Super Powers: A broad myth ranging from strength to flight.

Most probably came from the same reson as thrall and beauty, a
way to entrap people. The flight probably was the explaination
 53

for quick travel and escape.

• Pictures: A myth that started after photographs became common

was that Vampires would not appear in a photograph. I can only
think this has something to do along the same lines as Mirrors.

On the mythological origins of vampires:

Contrary to popular mythology this planet didn't start out as a

paradise, for untold millenia demons roamed the earth making it
their home, their hell. Some dinosaurs are believed to be what
was left of these. What ended their reign is still unsure we think
that it was a meteor, did you ever see Mario Bros. the movie?
The meteor hit the earth and with the impact and the burn
created a paralleldimension into which all of the demons were
sucked, one demon was supposed to hold the key between the
two dimensions, he has not yet passed through.

When a "normal" vampire is changed the human soul is torn out

and sent to hell whilst the demon which you are assigned upon
conception (a bti like a social security number) takes the human
"carcass" and possesses it, thus inheriting the brain's memories
and functions.
Thanks to Tim Tiernan for this information :)

SLAYERS & HUNTERS

By Sebastion

HUNTERS

Allow me to start by stating that there is an enormous difference

between a hunter and a slayer. A person who calls himself or herself a
hunter is usually hunting strictly vampyre or what they think is a
vampyre. Most of the time they can only catch the posers and role
players and never come anywhere close to discovering a true vampyre
psi or sanguine. Usually these hunters are self proclaimed agents of
god, Heavily into the Hollywood vision of vampires such as buffy the
 54

vampire slayer, and Angel. Normally they are harmless and never get
pass mildly aggravating a few Goth kids. However I do say this treat
all hunters as emotionally unstable and potentially armed and
dangerous people. Hunters vary in age and run the entire spectrum
from the confused teenager looking for the escape from reality to the
middle aged mid life crisis and let us not forget the most dangerous of
all the religious fanatics and emotionally disturbed. These people have
found the insanity able to justify their despicable acts in a number of
ways. The most common is that the real vampyre are the spawns of
Satan and are here to prey on the good god fearing faithful. Temp
them into losing their immortal souls, and bring about the inevitable
end of the world but there are an immense amount of other reason
and as individual as the hunter themselves. Spotting a hunter is not
very difficult they are usually very inexperienced and stick out like a
sore thumb. Normally wearing all black and a long coat constantly
looking over their shoulder, sweating like a pig, and they reek of fear.
Just picture a scene out of Blade or Buffy and you pretty much have
three quarters of the hunters out there. Fortunately most are not
organized offline and the web sites are not updated regularly
sometimes for months even years and the information in them is rants
from people who wouldn’t know a real vampyre if they bit him in the
ass! Now this is important if you remember nothing else from my
articles remember this. THERE ARE REAL HUNTERS OUT THERE THOSE
WHO HAVE SEEN REAL VAMPYRES AND DID NOT UNDERSTAND AND
GAVE INTO THE IGNORACE OF FEAR. WHAT THEY DO IS ILLEGAL IN
BOTH OURS AND THEIR WORLD AND SHOULD BE HANDLED WITH
CAUTION!!!

SLAYERS

Allow me to start this section with this SLAYERS ARE NOT HUNTERS!.
This part may come under attack but is a necessary part to fully
explain the whole concept of how there is some necessity to
slayer/hunter organization. I am going to state a personal belief and
theory. Vampyres are a part of nature it is said humans are at the top
of the food chain and have no natural predator beside themselves.
This has never before happened in nature and is certainly not true
humans have predators and we are not the only ones who feed off
them. As we try to keep their population down, they must also
instinctively try to survive. While we are not out to exterminate the
human race merely, sustain ourselves. I do not speak for all but I
would like to see us restored to our former nobility and honor. Now for
the info on the slayers. These men and women are dedicated and well
 55

trained to fight both physically and magicaklly. Only a few actually

believe in the Christian god and fight for that reason. Most others are
of eclectic faiths and magickal backgrounds It is important that you
know they do not seek to eliminate any race merely keep the balance.
They slay Demons, werepeople, cults, apocalypsians (those that would
force the end of this world before its time), and yes even vampyres.
Now realize all have a place and a role in the cosmos. There are good
and bad vampyres just as there are good and bad in anything else that
exist and a balance of light and dark. Good and evil must always be
maintained less we destroy all that has been created. The best of the
Slayers are very organized, communicate, and meet frequently. There
are Slayers of every race human, vampyre, demon, etc. Not all
understand the need for balance for if they did the slayers would not
exist. There is no prequalification to become a slayer but few become
slayers if they are not chosen. It is a hard and dangerous existence,
they rarely have friends other than other slayers, and it is very rare to
find one with a family. Because of their work, they possess physical as
well magickal abilities that surpass many of those who have trained for
years. Slayers are a secretive community and DO NOT accept
applications for membership but they do have a series of tests that
you must pass in order to even be considered for membership the first
one of course is to find a slayer! To my knowledge they have never
been in the media in any way and not usually heard of. Due to their
secretive nature they have a bad reputation and are unfortunately
grouped in the same category as the insane hunters. A slayer will
never refer to himself or herself as a hunter. There are no credible
sites on the net right now and I do not think there will be simply
because they do not want publicity or attention. Not all who know
about slayers are slayers they do have friends and allies outside of
their community but these are few and privileged. In closing to those
that wish to become slayers think long and hard about what you are
asking. It is a life altering decision and very dangerous work and you
must be totally devoted to the cause that drives the slayers. If this is
what you are set on the only thing I can say is work and train hard
and maybe you will catch the attention of the right people but you are
more likely to catch the attention of the wrong ones!

Here's an interesting topic people. After many suggestions to do some

research on the subject, we did. And the subject being......

Religious References of Vampirism

 56

Compiled by the membership of the Vampire Legacy

Society..specifically, Crimson Angel, Ruby Stained Fangs,
IndieVampire, Lord NightWalker, Tattunigma

Please keep in mind, that the translation is all in the eye of the
reader,ot everyone will see these references quite the same, but
without doubt, the possibilities are there.......

FROM THE CHRISTIAN HOLY BIBLE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zechariah 9:7
And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations
from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for
 57

our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a

Jebusite.

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

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

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

Additions to Esther (Apocrypha) 16:5

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

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

Wisdom of Solomon Chapter 12

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

1 Chronicles 11:19
And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink
the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with
 58

the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not
drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

1 Maccabees (Apocrypha) 7:17

The flesh of thy saints have they cast out, and their blood have they
shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 Esdras (Apocrypha) 15:58

They that be in the mountains shall die of hunger, and eat their own
flesh, and drink their own blood, for very hunger of bread, and thirst of
water.

1 Samuel 14:32
 59

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hebrews 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
 60

might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Job 16:9
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me
with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
 61

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

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

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

Psalms 37:12
The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth.
Psalms 57:4
My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on
fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and
their tongue a sharp sword.

"MAY THE GROUND NOT RECEIVE

THEE"
An Exploration of the Greek Vrykolakas and His Origins
by Inanna Arthen (1998)

In the field of vampirology, few cultures in the world have a vampire

folklore tradition as long-standing, as rich and as carefully analyzed by
scholars as Greece. Although the most famous mass panics recorded
in seventeenth and eighteenth century annals occurred in Eastern
Europe, and although Slavic countries in general and Romania in
particular have a varied and creative tradition of vampire folklore, the
persistence of the belief in Greece surpasses that of any other nation.
For a scholar taking a broad perspective of the phenomenon, this
raises an obvious question: why? What is peculiar to the Greek culture
and society that has led to the maintenance of vampire beliefs and
reported incidents right up to the first half of this century? Are there
more reasonable explanations than the claim of older writers that the
Greeks are overly superstitious, or the Occam's Razor solution that
 62

perhaps Greece simply has a lot of vampires? An examination of these

beliefs, their ancient origins and the way in which the Greek Orthodox
church has both encouraged and discouraged them may shed some
light on the issue.

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

In Greece, belief in the second type of vampire—the corporeal

revenant that preyed upon or plagued the living--developed only after
the arrival of Slavic immigrants beginning in 587. But although the
various themes that coalesced into that most unquenchable of all folk
vampires, the vrykolakas, are heavily influenced by foreign concepts,
they found a rich soil in the traditions of ancient Greece. Three such
traditions clearly play a role in developing later beliefs. First, the belief
 63

in supernatural creatures that drank blood and attacked human beings

to obtain it; second, the belief that under certain conditions,
bodily return from death was possible, although greatly feared; and
third, that blood itself contained power sufficient to allow the dead to
cross the gulf that separated them from the world of the living.

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

But far more fearful than these exotica were the fates that might befall
oneself during the passage from the state of life to the state of death.
Lawson examines at great length the theme found in Greek tragedy of
corporeal return to avenge blood-guilt--a hidden theme due to the
conventions of the Greek stage, but nevertheless clearly discernable. A
detailed look at Lawson's arguments is beyond the scope of this paper.
However, Lawson reports that oaths are found in Greek literature
binding both the speaker and others to being rejected by the earth,
being turned out of Hades by Tantalus, and of remaining incorruptible
after death. Euripides' Hippolytus, for example, says to his
father, "in death may neither sea nor earth receive my flesh, if I have
proved false" (Lawson, 418). Lawson proposes that, for example,
 64

Aeschylus in Choephori

presents a true climax. As the victim is to be excluded in his lifetime

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

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

the character of these Avengers approximates very closely to that of

the modern vrykolakes. True, there is one fundamental difference; the
 65

ancient Avenger directed his wrath solely against the author of his
sufferings...the modern vrykolakas is unreasoning in his wrath and
plagues indiscriminately all who fall in his way. (Lawson, 458).
Lawson lists the qualities that Avengers and vrykolakes share:
Modern stories there are in plenty, which tell how the vrykolakas
springs upon his victim and rends him and drinks his blood; how sheer
terror of his aspect has driven men mad; how, in order to escape him,
whole families have been driven forth from their native
island to wander in exile; how death has often been the issue of his
assaults; and how those whom a vrykolakas has slain become
themselves vrykolakes. (Lawson, 458-459)

Lawson goes on to suggest that when Aeschylus makes the Erinyes

such horrific, bloodthirsty pursuers of Orestes, when they should have
been goddesses worthy of worship, he is casting a proxy role upon
them. They are substitutes for the actual Avenger that could not
be properly shown in Greek drama. Their qualities of blackness,
ferocity, bloodthirstyness and horror are those of the vrykolakes.

Lawson's close comparison of the characteristics of ancient Avengers

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

Nevertheless, the modern Greek vampire gains a rather respectable

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

Thus then the problem of ancient nomenclature of revenants is solved,

 66

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

The word vrykolakas itself is a borrowing from Slavic and is derived

from root words meaning "wolf" and hair or pelt (Lawson, 377). It
originally appears to have meant "werewolf" or lycanthrope, and still
carries this meaning in isolated local regions of Greece. The Greeks did
not adopt the word "vampire" from the Slavs to indicate a revenant,
although oddly, vompiras is occasionally found as a term of contempt.
Lawson concludes from this that the Greeks already had an active
tradition of a fierce type of revenant and applied the new word to that.
If they had borrowed the entire concept of undead vampires from the
Slavs, they would have borrowed the name for them as well. However,
all the arguments in this area remain shakey. It is unclear why the
Greeks replaced their own words for a fierce Avenger with a new word
for werewolf, and whether or not this represented the introduction of a
unique new folkloric tradition or the evolution of an old one. The point
made by several writers that the transferral of the word occurred
because of the documented Slavic belief that werewolves became
vampires after death, also seems unsupported by any evidence in
Greek tradition specifically. Occasionally, a child whose siblings died
mysteriously would be (rather cruelly) named a "vrykolakas" by its
mother (Summers 1929, 219), and there are a few stories of "living
vrykolakes" that behaved as lycanthropes. But the etymological leap
from werewolf to vampire is obscure. Moreover, there is certainly a
broad gap in the evidential record between the ancient texts cited
above, and the first descriptions of the Greek vrykolakas as a full-
fledged and active belief. The earliest mention of the vrykolakas is
made by Leo Allatius in 1645 (by coincidence, possibly, his work
was published just as all of Eastern Europe was about to explode into a
 67

century of its own vampire panics).

I would like to summarize some well-known, and less well-known,

vrykolakas stories chronologically in order to bring out some of their
significant aspects.

Leo Allatius (Leone Allacci), De quorundam Graecorum Opinationibus,

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

Father Francois Richard, Relation de l'Isle de Sant-erini, 1657: Richard

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

Richard tells the story of the gentle vrykolakas Alexander, in the

village of Pyrgos, who had been a shoemaker. He returned from the
grave to mend his children's shoes, carry water for the family and
chop their firewood. Although his family's reaction to this is not noted,
his neighbors were finally frightened enough to exhume and cremate
his body, after which his visits ceased. Other vrykolakes were reported
 68

on Amorgos roaming fields in broad daylight, eating green beans.

A much fiercer vrykolakas was Patino, a merchant from Patmos who

died on a buying trip to Natolia and revived in his coffin while being
shipped home. His wife had him buried with full honors, and he then
began appearing in houses in the area, violently assaulting people and
causing damage. Prayers and exorcisms were fruitless in stopping the
haunting. Patino's body was ordered sent back to Natolia, but
the thoroughly spooked sailors charged with its transport stopped on
the first island they passed and burned it, which ended the
phenomena. Richard notes elsewhere that vrykolakes were commonly
thought to be unable to cross salt water, and they were often
dispatched on uninhabited islands. Richard's final story is very similar
to that of de Tournefort [see below] in a number of interesting
respects. A "usurer" of Santorini named Ianettis reformed in the last
year of his life, and died asking his wife to pay his remaining debts,
which she did not do. Ianettis began haunting his village with very
similar poltergeist-like activity as the Mycone vrykolakas: yanking the
bedclothes off of sleeping people, waking up the priests for matins,
emptying wine kegs, and generally abusing and terrorizing people. He
visited the Mother Prioress of a Dominican convent, awakened her by
rolling her rosary on the floor, jeered at her prayers and as a parting
joke, threw her shoes into the water cistern. His body was finally
exhumed, and Richard examined it and reported that it displayed no
signs of unusual incorruption, but was badly decayed. The body was
exorcised for a full day and then dismembered and reinterred, but the
vrykolakas' activity did not stop until his wife made good his debts.
(translated and cited by Summers 1929, 229-240)

"The Animistic Vampire in New

England"

By George R. Stetson
from The American Anthropologist, Vol. IX, No. 1,
January, 1896

The belief in the vampire and the whole family of demons has its origin
 69

in the animism, spiritism, or personification of the barbarian, who,

unable to distinguish the objective from the subjective, ascribes good
and evil influences and all natural phenomena to good and evil spirits.

Mr. Conway remarks of this vampire belief that "it is, perhaps, the
most formidable survival of demonic superstition now existing in the
world."

Under the names of vampire, were-wolf, man-wolf, night-mare, night-

demon--in the Illyrian tongue oupires, or leeches; in modern Greek
broucolaques, and in our common tongue ghosts, each country having
its own peculiar designation--the superstitious of the
ancient and modern world, of Chaldea and Babylon, Persia, Egypt, and
Syria, of Illyria, Poland, Turkey, Servia, Germany, England, Central
Africa, New England, and the islands of the Malay and Polynesian
archipelagoes, designate the spirits which leave the tomb, generally in
the night, to torment the living.

The character, purpose, and manner of the vampire manifestations

depend, like its designation, upon environment and the plane of
culture.

All primitive peoples have believed in the existence of good and evil
spirits holding a middle place between men and gods. Calmet lays
down in most explicit terms, as he was bound to do by the canons of
his church, the doctrine of angels and demons as a matter of dogmatic
theology. The early Christians were possessed, or obsessed, by
demons, and the so-called demoniacal possession of idiots, lunatics,
and hysterical persons is still common in Japan, China, India, and
Africa, and instances are noted in Western Europe, all yielding to
the methods of Christian and pagan exorcists as practiced in New
Testament times.
The Hebrew synonym of demon was serpent; the Greek, diabolus, a
calumniator, or impure spirit. The Rabbins were divided in opinion,
some believing they were entirely spiritual, others that they were
corporeal, capable of generation and subject to death.

As before suggested, it was the general belief that the vampire is a

spirit which leaves its dead body in the grave to visit and torment the
living.

The modern Greeks are persuaded that the bodies of the

excommunicated do not putrefy in their tombs, but appear in the night
 70

as in the day, and that to encounter them is dangerous.

Instances are cited by Calmet, in Christian antiquity, of

excommunicated persons visibly arising from their tombs and leaving
the churches when the deacon commanded the excommunicated and
those who did not partake of the communion to retire. The same writer
states that "it was an opinion widely circulated in Germany that certain
dead ate in their tombs and devoured all they could find around them,
including their own flesh, accompanied by a certain piercing shriek and
a sound of munching and groaning."

A German author has thought it worth while to write a work entitled

"De Masticatione mortuorum in tumulis." In many parts of England a
person who is ill is said to be "wisht" or "overlooked." The superstition
of the "evil eye" originated and exists in the same degree ofculture;
the evil eye "which kills snakes, scares wolves, hatches ostrich eggs,
and breeds leprosy." The Polynesians believed that the vampires were
the departed souls, which quitted the grave, and grave idols, to creep
by night into the houses and devour the heart and entrails of the
sleepers, who afterward died.1

The Karems tell of the Kephu, which devours the souls of men who
die. The mintira of the Malay peninsula have their water demon, who
sucks blood from men's toes and thumbs.

"The first theory of the vampire superstitions," remarks Tyler2, "is that
the soul of the living man, often a sorcerer, leaves its proper body
asleep and goes forth, perhaps in visible form of a straw or a fluff of
down, slips through the keyhole, and attacks a living victim. Some say
these Mauri come by night to men, sit upon their breasts, and suck
their blood, while others think children alone are attacked, while
to men they are nightmares.

"The second theory is that the soul of a dead man goes out from its
buried body and sucks the blood of living men; the victim becomes
thin, languid, bloodless, and, falling into a rapid decline, dies."

The belief in the Obi of Jamaica and the Vaudoux or Vodun of the West
African coast, Jamaica and Haiti is essentially the same as that of the
vampire, and its worship and superstitions, which in Africa include
child-murder, still survive in these parts, as well as in several districts
among the Negro population of our southern states. The negro laid
under the ban of the Obi or who is vaudouxed or, in the vernacular,
 71

"hoodooed" slowly pines to death.

In New England the vampire superstition is unknown by its proper

name. It is there believed that consumption is not a physical but a
spiritual disease, obsession, or visitation; that as long as the body of a
dead consumptive relative has blood in its heart it is
proof that an occult influence steals from it for death and is at work
draining the blood of the living into the heart of the dead and causing
his rapid decline.

It is a common belief in primitive races of low culture that disease is

caused by the revengeful spirits of man or other animals--notably
among the tribes of North American Indians as well as of African
negroes.

Russian superstition supposes nine sisters who plague mankind with

fever. They lie chained up in caverns, and when let loose pounce upon
man without pity.3

As in the financial and political, the psychologic world has its periods of
exultation and depression, of confidence and alarm. In the eighteenth
century a vampire panic beginning in Servia and Hungary spread
thence into northern and western Europe, acquiring its new life and
impetus from the horrors attending the prevalence of the plague and
other distressing epidemics in an age of great public moral depravity
and illiteracy. Calmet, a learned Benedictine monk and abbé of
Sénones, seized this opportunity to write a popular treatise on the
vampire, which in a short time passed through many editions. It was
my good fortune not long since to find in the Boston Athenaeum
library an original copy of his work. Its title page reads as follows:
"Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les
revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, etc. Par le R. P. Dom Augustine
Calmet, abbé de Sénones. Nouvelle edition, revisée, corrigie, at
augmentie par l'auteur, avec une lettre de Mons le Marquis Maffei, sur
le magie. A Paris; Chez debure l'aine quay des Augustins à l'image S.
Paul. MDCCLI. Avec approb et priv du roi."

Calmet was born in Lorraine, near Commercy, in 1672, and his chief
works were a commentary and history of the Bible. He died as the
abbé de Sénones, in the department of the Vosges.

This curious treatise has evidently proved a mine of wealth to all

modern encyclopedists and demonologists. It impresses one as the
 72

work of a man whose mental convictions do not entirely conform to

the traditions and dogmas of his church, and his style at timesm
appears somewhat apologetic. Calmet declares his belief to be that the
vampires of Europe and the broucolaques of Greece are the
excommunicated which the grave rejects. They are the dead of a
longer or shorter time who leave their tombs to torment the
living, sucking their blood and announcing their appearance by rattling
of doors and windows. The name vampire, or d'oupires, signifies in the
Slavonic tongue a bloodsucker. He formulates the three theories
then existing as to the cause of these appearances:

First: That the persons were buried alive and naturally leave their
tombs.

Second: That they are dead, but that by God's permission or particular
command they return to their bodies for a time, as when they are
exhumed their bodies are found entire, the blood red and fluid, and
their members soft and pliable.

Third: That it is the devil who makes these apparitions appear and by
their means causes all the evil done to men and animals.

In some places the spectre appears as in the flesh, walks, talks, infests
villages, ill uses both men and beasts, sucks the blood of their near
relations, makes them ill, and finally causes their death.

The late Monsieur de Vassimont, counselor of the chamber of the

courts of Bar, was informed by public report in Monravia that it was
common enough in that country to see men who had died some time
before "present themselves at a party and sit down to table with
persons of their acquaintance without saying a word and nodding to
one of the party, the one indicated would infallibly die some days
after."4

About 1735 on the frontier of Hungary a dead person appeared after

ten years' burial and caused the death of his father. In 1730 in Turkish
Servia it was believed that those who had been passive vampires
during life became active after death; in Russia, that the vampire does
not stop his unwelcome visits at a single member of a family, but
extends his visits to the last member, which is the Rhode Island belief.

The captain of grenadiers in the Regiment of Monsieur le Baron

Trenck, cited by Calmet, declares "that it is only in their family and
 73

among their own relations that the vampires delight in destroying their
own
species."

The inhabitants of the island of Chio do not answer unless called twice,
being persuaded that the broucolaques do not call but once, and when
so called the vampire disappears, and the person called dies in
a few days. The classic writers from Socrates to Shakespeare and from
Shakespeare to our own time have recognized the superstition.

Mr. Conway quotes from the legend of Ishtar descending to Hades to

seek some beloved one. She threatens if the door is not opened--

"I will raise the dead to be devourers of the living; Upon the living
shall the dead prey."5

Singularly, in his discourse on modern superstitions De Quincey, to

whom crude superstitions clung and who had faith in dreams as
portents, does not allude to the vampire; but his contemporary, Lord
Byron, in his lines on the opening of the royal romb at Windsor,
recognizes this belief in the transformation of the dead:

"Justice and death have mixed their dust in vain, Each royal vampire
wakes to life again."

William of Malmsbury says that "in England they>believed that the

wicked came back after death by the will of the devil," and it was not
an unusual beliefm that those whose death had been caused in this
manner, at their death pursued the same evil calling.
Naturally under such an uncomfortable and inconvenient infliction
some avenue of escape must, if possible, be found. It was first
necessary to locate the vampire. If on opening the grave of a
"suspect" the body was found to be of a rose color, the beard, hair and
nails renewed, and the veins filled, the evidence of its being the abode
of a vampire was conclusive. A voyager in the Levant in the
seventeenth century is quoted as relating that an excommunicated
person was exhumed and the body found full, healthy, and well
disposed and the veins filled with the blood the vampire had taken
from the living. In a certain Turkish village, of forty persons exhumed
seventeen gave evidence of vampirism. In Hungary, one dead thirty
years was found in a natural state. In 1727 the bodies of five
religieuse were discovered in a tomb near the hospital of Quebec, that
had been buried twenty years, covered with flesh and suffused with
 74

blood.6

The methods of relief from or disposition of the vampire's dwelling

place are not numerous, but extremely sanguinary and ghastly.
In Servia a relief is found in eating of the earth of his grave and
rubbing the person with his blood. This prescription, was, however,
valueless if after forty days the body was exhumed and all the
evidences of an archivampire were not found. A more common and
almost universal method of relief, especially in the Turkish
provinces and in the Greek islands, was to burn the body and scatter
the ashes to the winds. Some old writers are of the opinion that the
souls of the dead cannot be quiet until the entire body has been
consumed. Exceptions are noted in the Levant, where the body is cut
in pieces and boiled in wine, and where, according to Voltaire, the
heart is torn out and burned.

In Hungary and Servia, to destroy the demon it was considered

necessary to exhume the body, insert in the heart and other parts of
the defunct, or pierce it through with a sharp instrument, as in the
case of suicides, upon which it utters a dreadful cry, as if alive; it is
then decapitated and the body burned. In New England the body is
exhumed, the heart burned, and the ashes scattered. The discovery of
the vampire's resting-place was itself an art.

In Hungary and in Russia they choose a boy young enough to be

certain that he is innocent of any impurity, put him on the back of a
horse which has never stumbled and is absolutely black, and make him
ride over all the graves in the cemetery. The grave over which the
horse refuses to pass is reputed to be that of a vampire.

Gilbert Stuart, the distinguished American painter, when asked by a

London friend where he was born, replied: "Six miles from
Pottawoone, ten miles from Poppasquash, four miles from Conanicut,
and not far from the spot where the famous battle with the warlike
Pequots was fought." In plainer language, Stuart was born in the old
snuff mill belonging to his father and Dr. Moffat, at the head of the
Petaquamscott pond, six miles from Newport, across the bay, and
about the same distance from Narragansett Pier, in the state of Rhode
Island.

By some mysterious survival, occult transmission, or remarkable

atavisim, this region, including within its radius the towns of Exeter,
Foster, Kingstown, East Greenwich, and others, with their scattered
 75

hamlets and more pretentious villages, is distinguished by the

prevalence of this remarkable superstition--a survival of the days of
Sardanapalus, of Nebuchadnezzar, and of New Testament history in
the closing years of what we are pleased to call the enlightened
nineteenth century. It is an extraordinary instance of a barbaric
superstition outcropping in and coexisting with a high general culture,
of which Max Müller and others have spoken, and which is not so
uncommon, if rarely so extremely aggravated, crude, and painful.

The region referred to, where agriculture is in a depressed condition

and abandoned farms are numerous, is the tramping ground of the
book agent, the chromo peddler, the patent-medicine man and the
home of the erotic and neurotic modern novel. The social isolation
away from the larger villages is as complete as a century and a half
ago, when the boy Gilbert Stuart tramped the woods, fished the
streams, and was developing and absorbing his artistic inspirations,
while the agricultural and economic conditions are very much worse.7

Farm houses deserted and ruinous are frequent, and the once
productive lands, neglected and overgrown with scrubby oak, speak
forcefully and mournfully of the migration of the youthful farmers from
country to town. In short, the region furnishes an object-lesson
in the decline of of wealth consequent upon the prevalence of a too
common heresy in the district that land will take care of itself, or that
it can be robbed from generation to generation without injury, and
suggests the almost criminal neglect of the conservators of public
education to give instruction to our farming youth in a more scientific
and more practical agriculture. It has well been said by a banker of
well-known name in an agricultural district in the midlands of England
that "the depression of agriculture is a depression of brains." Naturally,
in such isolated conditions the superstitions of a much lower culture
have maintained their place and are likely to keep it and perpetuate it,
despite the church, the public school, and the weekly newspaper. Here
Cotton Mather, Justice Sewall, and the host of medical, clerical and lay
believers in the uncanny superstitions of bygone centuries could still
hold high carnival.

The first visit in this farming community of native-born New

Englanders was made to ------, a small seashore village possessing a
summer hotel and a few cottages of summer residents not far from
Newport--that Mecca of wealth, fashion, and nineteenth-century
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culture. The ------ family is among its well-to-do and most intelligent
inhabitants. One member of this family had some years since lost
children by consumption, and by common report claimed to have
saved those surviving by exhumation and cremation of the dead.

In the same village resides Mr. ------, an intelligent man, by trade a

mason, who is a living witness of the superstition and of the efficacy of
the treatment of the dead which it prescribes. He informed me that he
had lost two brothers by consumption. Upon the attack of the second
brother his father was advised by Mr. ------, the head of the family
before mentioned, to take up the first body and burn its heart, but the
brother attacked objected to the sacrilege and in consequence
subsequently died. When he was attacked by the disease in his turn,
------'s advice prevailed, and the body of the brother last dead was
exhumed, and "living" blood being found in the heart and in
circulation, it was cremated, and the sufferer began immediately to
mend and stood before me and hale, hearty, and vigorous man of fifty
years. When questioned as to his understanding of the miraculous
influence, he could suggest nothing and did not recognize the
superstition even by name. He remembered that the doctors did not
believe in its efficacy, but he and many others did. His father saw the
brother's body and the arterial blood. The attitude of several other
persons in regard to the practice was agnostic, either from fear of
public opinion or other reasons, and their replies to my inquiries were
in the same temper of mind as that of the blind man in the Gospel
of Saint John (9:25), who did not dare to express his belief, but
"answered and said, Whether he was a sinner or no, I know not; one
thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see."

At ------, a small isolated village of scattered houses in a farming

population, distant fifteen or twenty miles from Newport and eight or
ten from Stuart's birthplace, there have been made within fifty
years a half dozen or more exhumations. The most recent was made
within two years, in the family of ------. The mother and four children
had already succumbed to consumption, and the child most recently
deceased (within six months) was, in obedience to the superstition,
exhumed and the heart burned. Dr. ------, who made the autopsy,
stated that he found the body in the usual condition after an interment
of that length of time. I learned that others of the family have since
died, and one is now very low with the dreaded disease. The doctor
remarked that he consented to the autopsy only after the pressing
solicitation of the surviving children, who were patients of his, the
father first objecting, but finally, under continued pressure, yielding.
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Dr. ------ declares the superstition to be prevalent in all the isolated

districts of southern Rhode Island, and that many instances of its
survival can be found in the large centers of population. In the village
now being considered known exhumations have been made in five
families, and in two adjoining villages in two families. In 1875 an
instance was reported in Chicago, and in a New York journal of recent
date I read the following: "At Peukuhl, a small village in Prussia, a
farmer died last March. Since then one of his sons has been sickly, and
believing that the dead man would not eat until he had drawn to
himself the nine surviving members of the family, the sickly son,
armed with a spade, exhumed his father and cut off his head." It
does not by any means absolutely follow that this barbarous
superstition has a stronger hold in Rhode Island than in any other part
of the country. Peculiar conditions have caused its manifestation and
survival there, and similar ones are likely to produce it elsewhere. The
singular feature is that it should appear and flourish in a native
population which from its infancy has had the ordinary New England
educational advantages; in a State having a larger population to the
square mile than any in the Union, and in an environment of
remarkable literacy and culture when compared to some other sections
of the country. It is perhaps fortunate that the isolation of which this is
probably the product, an isolation common in sparsely settled regions,
where thought stagnates and insanity and superstition are prevalent,
has produced nothing worse.

In neighboring Connecticut, within a few miles of its university town of

New Haven, there are rural farming populations, fairly prosperous, of
average intelligence, and furnished with churches and schools, which
have made themselves notorious by murder, suicides, and numerous
instances of melancholia and insanity.

Other abundant evidence is at hand pointing to the conclusion that the

vampire superstition still retains its hold in its original habitat--an
illustration of the remarkable tenacity and continuity of a superstition
through centuries of intellectual progress from a lower to a higher
culture, and of the impotency of the latter to entirely eradicate from
itself the traditional beliefs, customs, habits, observances, and
impressions of the former.

It is apparent that our increased and increasing culture, our

appreciation of the principles of natural, mental, and moral philosophy
and knowledge of natural laws has no complete correlation in the
decline of primitive and crude superstitions or increased control of the
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emotions or the imagination, and that to force a higher culture upon a

lower, or to metamorphose or to perfectly control its emotional nature
through education of the intellect, is equally impossible. The two
cultures may, however, coexist, intermingling and in a limited degree
absorbing from and retroacting favorably or unfavorably upon each
other--trifling aberrations in the inexorable law which binds each to its
own place.

The most enlightened and philosophic have, either apparent or

secreted in their innermost consciousness, superstitious weaknesses--
negative, involuntary, more or less barbaric, and under greater or
lesser control in correspondence with their education, their present
environment, and the degree of their development—in the control of
the imagination and emotions. These in various degrees predominate
over the understanding where reason is silent or its authority
weakens.

Sónya Kovalévsky (1850-1890), one of the most brilliant

mathematicians of the century, who obtained the Prix-Bordin from the
French academy, "the greatest scientific honor ever gained by a
woman," "whose love for mathematical and psychological problems
amounted to a passion," and whose intellect would accept no
proposition incapable of a mathematical demonstration, all her life
maintained a firm belief in apparitions and in dreams as portents. She
was so influenced by disagreeable dreams and the apparition of a
demon as to be for some time thereafter obviously depressed and
low-spirited.

A well-known and highly cultured American mathematician recently

said to me that his servant had seven years ago nailed a horseshoe
over a house door, and that he had never had the courage to remove
it.

There is in the Chemnitzer-Rocken Philosophie, cited by Grimm, a

register of eleven or twelve hundred crude superstitions surviving in
highly educated Germany. Buckle declared that "superstition was the
curse of Scotland," and in this regard neither Germany nor
Scotland are singular.

Of the origin of this superstition in Rhode Island or in other parts of

the United States we are ignorant; it is in all probability an exotic like
ourselves, originating in the mythographic period of the Aryan
and Semitic peoples, although legends and superstitions of a
 79

somewhat similar character may be found among the American

Indians.

The Ojibwas have, it is said, a legend of a ghostly man-eater. Mr.

Mooney, in a personal note, says he has not met with any close
parallel of the vampire myth among the tribes with which he is
familiar. The Cherokees have, however, something analogous. There
are in that tribe quite a number of old witches and wizards who thrive
and fatten upon the livers of murdered victims. When some one is
dangerously sick these witches gather invisibly about his bedside and
torment him, even lifting him up and dashing him down again upon
the ground until life is extinct. After he is buried they dig up his body
and take out the liver to feast upon. They thus lengthen their own lives
by as many days as they have taken from his. In this way they get to
be very aged, which renders them objects of suspicion. It is not,
therefore, well to grow old among the Cherokees. If discovered and
recognized during the feast, when they are again visible, they
die within seven days.

I have personal experience of a case in which a reputed medicine-man

was left to die alone because his friends were afraid to come into the
house on account of the presence of invisible witches.

Jacob Grimm8 defines superstition as a persistence of individual men

in views which the common sense or culture of the majority has
caused them to abandon, a definition which, while within its limits
sufficiently accurate, does not recognize or take account of the
subtile, universal, ineradicable fear of or reverence for the
supernatural, the mysterious, and unknown.

De Quincey has more comprehensively remarked that "superstition or

sympathy with the invisible is the great test of man's nature as an
earthly combining with a celestial. In superstition is the possibility
of religion, and though superstition is often injurious, degrading and
demoralizing, it is so, not as a form of corruption or degradation, but
as a form of non-development."

In reviewing these cases of psychologic pre-Raphaelitism they seem,

from an economic point of view, to form one of the strongest as well
as the weirdest arguments in favor of a general cremation of
the dead that it is possible to present. They also remind us of the
boutade of the Saturday Review, "that to be really Medieval, one
should have no body; to be really modern, one should have no soul;"
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and it will be well to remember that if we do not quite accept

these demonic apparitions we shall subject ourselves to the criticism of
the modern mystic, Dr. Carl du Prel, who thus speaks of those who
deny the miraculousness of stigmatization: "For these gentleman the
bounds of possibility coincide with the limits of their niggardly horizon;
that which they cannot grasp either does not exist or is only the work
of illusion and deception."