Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants, who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living. Sir Philip Burne-Jones 2nd Baronet (1861-1926 was the first child of the British Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological This article is about the Revenant in Folklore For the Tzimisce Revenant Families see Revenant. In folkloric tales, the undead vampires often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were alive. Undead is a collective name for fictional beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 1800s. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe,^[1] although local variants were also known by different names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. Legends of Vampires have existed for millennia cultures such as the Mesopotamians Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of The vrykolakas ( Greek βρυκόλακας pronounced "vree-KO-la-kahss" vri'kolakas variant vorvolakas, is a harmful Undead creature in Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Strigoi is based on the ancient Greek term strix for screech owl which also came to mean demon or witch Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to what can only be called mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Mass hysteria, also called collective hysteria, mass psychogenic illness, or collective obsessional behavior, is the sociopsychological

In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures such as the chupacabra still persists in some cultures. Chupacabra (also Chupacabras /tʃupa'kabɾas/ from Spanish chupar to suck, cabra goat goat sucker) is a Legendary Early folkloric belief in vampires has been ascribed to the ignorance of the body's process of decomposition after death and how people in pre-industrial societies tried to rationalise this, creating the figure of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. Decomposition (or spoilage) refers to the break down of tissue of a formerly living Organism into simpler forms of matter Porphyria was also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited. Porphyrias are a group of inherited or acquired disorders of certain Enzymes in the Heme biosynthetic pathway (also called Porphyrin pathway

The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. " The Vampyre " is a short story written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of Fantasy ^[2] However, it is Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula which is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of Vampires The literary vampire first appeared in eighteenth century poetry The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, and television shows. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Folk beliefs 2.1 Description and common attributes 2.1.1 Creating vampires 2.1.2 Identifying vampires 2.1.3 Protection 2.2 Ancient beliefs 2.3 Medieval and later European folklore 2.4 Non-European beliefs 2.4.1 Africa 2.4.2 The Americas 2.4.3 Asia 2.5 Modern beliefs 3 Origins of vampire beliefs 3.1 Pathology 3.2 Disease 3.2.1 Porphyria 3.3 Psychopathology 3.4 Vampire bats 4 In modern fiction 4.1 Literature 4.2 Film and television 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 External links

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of the word vampire in English from 1734, in a travelogue titled Travels of Three English Gentlemen published in the Harleian Miscellany in 1745. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English The Harleian Miscellany or A Collection of Scarce Curious And Entertaining Pamphlets And Tracts as well In Manuscript As In Print Found In The Late Earl Of Oxford's Library Interspersed ^[3][4] Vampires had already been much discussed in German literature. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia in 1718, officials noted the local practice of exhuming bodies and "killing vampires". Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Oltenia ( Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions with the alternate Latin names Wallachia Minor, Wallachia Alutana, Wallachia Caesarea The Treaty of Passarowitz or Treaty of Požarevac was the Peace treaty signed in Požarevac ( Serbian Cyrillic: Пожаревац ^[5] These reports, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity. ^[5] Several theories of the word's origin exist. ^[6] The English term was derived (possibly via French vampyre) from the German Vampir, in turn thought to be derived in the early 18th century^[7] from Serbian вампир/vampir. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, ^{[8][9][10][11]} The Serbian form has parallels in virtually all Slavic languages: Bulgarian вампир (vampir), Czech and Slovak upír, Polish wąpierz, and (perhaps East Slavic-influenced) upiór, Russian упырь (upyr'), Belarusian упыр (upyr), Ukrainian упирь (upir'), from Old Russian упирь (upir'). The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries (Note that many of these languages have also borrowed forms such as "vampir/wampir" subsequently from the West). Among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *ǫpyrь and *ǫpirь. Proto-Slavic is the Proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged ^[12] Like its possible cognate that means "bat" (Czech netopýr, Slovak netopier, Polish nietoperz, Russian нетопырь / netopyr' - a species of bat), the Slavic word might contain a Proto-Indo-European root for "to fly". Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. ^[12]

The first recorded use of the Old Russian form Упирь (Upir') is commonly believed to be in a document dated 6555 (1047 AD). ^[13] It is a colophon in a manuscript of the Book of Psalms written by a priest who transcribed the book from Glagolitic into Cyrillic for the Novgorodian Prince Vladimir Yaroslavovich. A colophon in publishing can refer to A brief description usually located at the end of a book describing production notes relevant to the edition A printer's Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included The Glagolitic alphabet or Glagolitsa is the oldest known Slavic Alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by Veliky Novgorod (Вели́кий Но́вгород is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia and the administrative center of Novgorod Vladimir Yaroslavich (Владимир Ярославич (1020 &ndash October 4, 1052) reigned as prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death ^[14] The priest writes that his name is "Upir' Likhyi " (Упирь Лихый), which means something like "Wicked Vampire" or "Foul Vampire. "^[15] This apparently strange name has been cited as an example of surviving paganism and/or of the use of nicknames as personal names. Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world ^[16] However, in 1982, Swedish Slavicist Anders Sjöberg suggested that "Upir' likhyi" was in fact an Old Russian transcription or translation of the name of Öpir Ofeigr, a well-known Swedish rune carver. Öpir or Öper ( Old Norse: ØpiR / Œpir, meaning "shouter" was a Runemaster who flourished during the late Sjöberg argued that Öpir could possibly have lived in Novgorod before moving to Sweden, considering the connection between Eastern Scandinavia and Russia at the time. This theory is still controversial, although at least one Swedish historian, Henrik Janson, has expressed support for it. ^[15] Another early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise "Word of Saint Grigoriy," dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, where pagan worship of upyri is reported. Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world ^[17][18]

Folk beliefs

The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia; cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians, " Habiru " or " Habiri " Hebrew: עברים The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC However, despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th century Southeastern Europe,^[1] when verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. Oral tradition, oral culture and oral lore is a way for a society to transmit history, literature, law and other Knowledges In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but they can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire. This article is about the Revenant in Folklore For the Tzimisce Revenant Families see Revenant. Spirit possession is a concept of Paranormal, Supernatural and/or Superstitious belief in which spirits, gods, daemons Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. Mass hysteria, also called collective hysteria, mass psychogenic illness, or collective obsessional behavior, is the sociopsychological ^[19]

Description and common attributes

It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, though there are several elements common to many European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin and its left eye was often open. ^[20] It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown somewhat, though in general fangs were not a feature. ^[21]

Other attributes varied greatly from culture to culture; some vampires, such as those found in Transylvanian tales, were gaunt, pale, and had long fingernails, while those from Bulgaria only had one nostril,^[22] and Bavarian vampires slept with thumbs crossed and one eye open. Transylvania (Ardeal or ro ''Transilvania'' Erdély, see also other denominations) is a Central European region located in the eastern half of the Carpathian The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 ^[23] Moravian vampires only attacked while naked, and those of Albanian folklore wore high-heeled shoes. Moravia (Morava; Morawy Moravie Moravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. ^[23] As stories of vampires spread throughout the globe to the Americas and elsewhere, so did the varied and sometimes bizarre descriptions of them: Mexican vampires had a bare skull instead of a head,^[23] Brazilian vampires had furry feet and vampires from the Rocky Mountains only sucked blood with their noses and from the victim's ears. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. ^[23] Common attributes were sometimes described, such as red hair. ^[23] Some were reported to be able to transform into bats, rats, dogs, wolves, spiders and even moths. Shapeshifting is a common theme in Mythology and Folklore, as well as in Science fiction and Fantasy. ^[24] From these various legends, works of literature such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the influences of historical bloodthirsty figures such as Gilles de Rais, Elizabeth Bathory, and Vlad Ţepeş, the vampire developed into the modern stereotype. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Gilles de Rais (also spelled Retz) (September 10 1404 – October 26 1440 was a French noble soldier and one-time brother-in-arms of Joan of Arc ^[19][23]

Creating vampires

The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore. In Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse which was jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead. ^[25] A body with a wound which had not been treated with boiling water was also at risk. In Russian folklore, vampires were said to have once been witches or people who had rebelled against the Church while they were alive. See also Eastern Orthodox Church Structure and organization The Slavic Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure ^[23]

Cultural practices often arose that were intended to prevent a recently deceased loved one from turning into an undead revenant. Burying a corpse upside-down was widespread, as was placing earthly objects, such as scythes or sickles,^[26] near the grave to satisfy any demons entering the body or to appease the dead so that it would not wish to arise from its coffin. For the ancient Sicilian tyrant see Scythes. A scythe (ˈsaɪð from Old English siðe. A sickle is a hand-held Agricultural Tool with a curved Blade typically used for harvesting grain crop or cutting grass for Hay. This method resembles the Ancient Greek practice of placing an obolus in the corpse's mouth to pay the toll to cross the River Styx in the underworld; it has been argued that instead, the coin was intended to ward off any evil spirits from entering the body, and this may have influenced later vampire folklore. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c The obolus (or obol) is a Greek silver Coin worth a sixth of a Drachma. This tradition persisted in modern Greek folklore about the vrykolakas, in which a wax cross and piece of pottery with the inscription "Jesus Christ conquers" were placed on the corpse to prevent the body from becoming a vampire. The vrykolakas ( Greek βρυκόλακας pronounced "vree-KO-la-kahss" vri'kolakas variant vorvolakas, is a harmful Undead creature in ^[27] Other methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the tendons at the knees or placing poppy seeds, millet, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains. ^[28] Similar Chinese narratives state that if a vampire-like being came across a sack of rice, it would have to count every grain; this is a theme encountered in myths from the Indian subcontinent as well as in South American tales of witches and other sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings. ^[29]

Identifying vampires

Many elaborate rituals were used to identify a vampire. One method of finding a vampire's grave involved leading a virgin boy through a graveyard or church grounds on a virgin stallion — the horse would supposedly balk at the grave in question. ^[23] Generally a black horse was required, though in Albania it should be white. ^[30] Holes appearing in the earth over a grave were taken as a sign of vampirism. ^[31]

Corpses thought to be vampires were generally described as having a healthier appearance than expected, plump and showing little or no signs of decomposition. ^[32] In some cases, when suspected graves were opened, villagers even described the corpse as having fresh blood from a victim all over its face. ^[33] Evidence that a vampire was active in a given locality included death of cattle, sheep, relatives or neighbours. Folkloric vampires could also make their presence felt by engaging in minor poltergeist-like activity, such as hurling stones on roofs or moving household objects,^[34] and pressing on people in their sleep. (from German poltern, meaning to rumble or make noise and Geist, meaning " Ghost ", " Spirit " A mara, or a mare is a kind of malignant female Wraith in Scandinavian folklore believed to cause Nightmares She also appears in Slavic ^[35]

Protection

Apotropaics—mundane or sacred items able to ward off revenants—such as garlic^[36] or holy water are common in vampire folklore. Max Ernst ( 2 April 1891 &ndash 1 April 1976) was a German painter, Sculptor, Graphic artist, and Une Semaine de Bonté (A Week of Kindness is a Graphic novel and Artist's book composed in collage by Max Ernst, made during a three week visit Holy water can also refer to water that has been blessed, such as by a Priest, and is considered Holy. The items vary from region to region; a branch of wild rose and hawthorn plant are said to harm vampires; in Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to keep them away. Crataegus monogyna, known as Common Hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia ^[37] Other apotropaics include sacred items, for example a crucifix, rosary, or holy water. A crucifix (from Latin cruci fixus meaning "(one fixed to a cross" is a cross with a representation of Jesus ' body or corpus The Rosary (from Latin rosarium, meaning "rose garden" or "garland of roses" is a popular traditional Roman Catholic devotion. Vampires are said to be unable to walk on consecrated ground, such as those of churches or temples, or cross running water. ^[38] Although not traditionally regarded as an apotropaic, mirrors have been used to ward off vampires when placed facing outwards on a door (vampires do not have a reflection and in some cultures, do not cast shadows, perhaps as a manifestation of the vampire's lack of a soul). ^[39] This attribute, although not universal (the Greek vrykolakas/tympanios was capable of both reflection and shadow), was utilized by Bram Stoker in Dracula and has remained popular with subsequent authors and filmmakers. ^[40] Some traditions also hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited by the owner, although after the first invitation they can come and go as they please. ^[39] Though folkloric vampires were believed to be more active at night, they were not generally considered vulnerable to sunlight. ^[40]

Methods of destroying suspected vampires varied, with staking the most commonly cited method, particularly in southern Slavic cultures. ^[41] Ash was the preferred wood in Russia and the Baltic states,^[42] or hawthorn in Serbia,^[43] with a record of oak in Silesia. An ash can be any of four different tree genera from four very distinct families; most commonly in a combined form (e Crataegus monogyna, known as Common Hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin Etymology One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic people ^[44] Potential vampires were most often staked though the heart, though the mouth was targeted in Russia and northern Germany^[45][46] and the stomach in northeastern Serbia. ^[47] Piercing the skin of the chest was a way of "deflating" the bloated vampire; this is similar to the act of burying sharp objects, such as sickles, in with the corpse, so that they may penetrate the skin if the body bloats sufficiently while transforming into a revenant. ^[48] Decapitation was the preferred method in German and western Slavic areas, with the head buried between the feet, behind the buttocks or away from the body. Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head or beheading, is the cutting off of the head of a person or animal Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. ^[49] This act was seen as a way of hastening the departure of the soul, which in some cultures, was said to linger in the corpse. The vampire's head, body, or clothes could also be spiked and pinned to the earth to prevent rising. ^[50] Gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. Further measures included pouring boiling water over the grave or complete incineration of the body. In the Balkans a vampire could also be killed by being shot or drowned, by repeating the funeral service, by sprinkling holy water on the body, or by exorcism. Holy water can also refer to water that has been blessed, such as by a Priest, and is considered Holy. Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein - to adjure is the practice of evicting Demons or other evil In Romania garlic could be placed in the mouth, and as recently as the 19th century, the precaution of shooting a bullet through the coffin was taken. For resistant cases, the body was dismembered and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and administered to family members as a cure. In Saxon regions of Germany, a lemon was placed in the mouth of suspected vampires. ^[51]

Ancient beliefs

Tales of the undead consuming the blood or flesh of living beings have been found in nearly every culture around the world for many centuries. ^[52] Today we know these entities predominantly as vampires, but in ancient times, the term vampire did not exist; blood drinking and similar activities were attributed to demons or spirits who would eat flesh and drink blood; even the devil was considered synonymous with the vampire. The English word " spirit " comes from the Latin " spiritus " (breath The Devil is the ^[53] Almost every nation has associated blood drinking with some kind of revenant or demon. The Ancient Indian deity Kali with fangs, and a garland of corpses or skulls, was intimately linked with the drinking of blood. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga ^[54] Tales of vetalas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses, have been compiled in the Baital Pachisi, a prominent story in the Kathasaritsagara tells of King Vikramāditya and his nightly quests to capture an elusive one. A vetala, or baital is a Vampire -like being from Hindu mythology. Baital Pachisi or Vetala Panchvimshati (" Twenty five tales of Baital " or Vikram and The Vampire is a collection Kathasaritsagara is a famous 11th century CE collection of Indian legends fairy tales and folk tales by Somadeva. For the Gupta king see Chandragupta II Vikramāditya Vikramaditya ( Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य ^[55] Pishacha, the returned spirits of evil-doers or those who died insane, also bear vampiric attributes. Pishachas are flesh eating Demons according to Hindu mythology. ^[56] Even Egypt had its blood-drinking goddess Sekhmet. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (also spelled Sachmet, Sakhet, Sekmet, Sakhmet and Sekhet; and given the Greek name

The Persians were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated pottery shards. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Pottery is the Ceramic ware made by potters It also refers to a group of materials that includes Earthenware, Stoneware ^[57] Ancient Babylonia had tales of the mythical Lilitu,^[58] synonymous with and giving rise to Lilith (Hebrew לילית) and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) with Babylon as its capital Lilith (Hebrew he לילית is a mythological female Mesopotamian Storm Demon associated with Wind and was thought to be a bearer The ' lilin' or ' lilim' (singular 'lili' are dangerous creatures of Jewish folklore. Aggadah ( Aramaic אגדה tales lore pl Aggadot or (Ashkenazi Aggados) refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical Lilitu was considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies. However, the Jewish counterparts were said to feast on both men and women, as well as newborns. ^[58]

Ancient Greek mythology described the Empusa,^[59] Lamia,^[60] and striges (the strix of Ancient Roman mythology). Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Empusa (Έμπουσα Empousā, of unknown meaning is a Demigoddess of Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Lamia was a Queen of Libya who became a child-murdering daemon. "Stryx" redirects here This is also an incorrect spelling of the True owl Genus Strix. "Stryx" redirects here This is also an incorrect spelling of the True owl Genus Strix. Over time the first two terms became general words to describe witches and demons respectively. Empusa was the daughter of the goddess Hecate and was described as a demonic, bronze-footed creature. Hecate ( Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting") Hekate ( Hekátê Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus She feasted on blood by transforming into a young woman and seduced men as they slept before drinking their blood. ^[59] Lamia preyed on young children in their beds at night, sucking their blood. ^[60] Like Lamia, the striges, feasted on children, but also preyed on young men. They were described as having the bodies of crows or birds in general, and were later incorporated into Roman mythology as strix, a kind of nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood. ^[61]

Medieval and later European folklore

Main article: Vampire folklore by region

Many of the myths surrounding vampires originated during the medieval period. The 12th century English historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded accounts of revenants,^[19][62] though records in English legends of vampiric beings after this date are scant. Walter Map (born 1140 died c 1208&ndash1210 was a medieval writer using Latin William of Newburgh (1136? &ndash 1198? also known as William Parvus was a 12th century English historian and Augustinian canon from Bridlington, This article is about the Revenant in Folklore For the Tzimisce Revenant Families see Revenant. ^[63] These tales are similar to the later folklore widely reported from Eastern Europe in the 18th century and were the basis of the vampire legend that later entered Germany and England, where they were subsequently embellished and popularised.

During the 18th century, there was a frenzy of vampire sightings in Eastern Europe, with frequent stakings and grave diggings to identify and kill the potential revenants; even government officials engaged in the hunting and staking of vampires. ^[64] Despite being called the Age of Enlightenment, during which most folkloric legends were quelled, the belief in vampires increased dramatically, resulting in a mass hysteria throughout most of Europe. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century ^[19] The panic began with an outbreak of alleged vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Habsburg Monarchy from 1725 to 1734, which spread to other localities. East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part Habsburg Monarchy (alternatively Habsburg Empire) refers to the territories ruled by the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg, and then by the successor Two famous vampire cases, the first to be officially recorded, involved the corpses of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole from Serbia. Peter Plogojowitz ( Serbian form Petar Blagojević/Петар Благојевић (d Arnold Paole (d c 1726 ( Arnont Paule in the original documents an early German rendition of a Serbian name or nickname perhaps Арнаут Павле Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Plogojowitz was reported to have died at the age of 62, but allegedly returned after his death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the following day. Plogojowitz supposedly returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood. ^[64] In the second case, Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who allegedly was attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying. Hay is a generic term for grass or Legumes that have been cut dried and stored for use as animal feed, particularly for grazing animals like After his death, people began to die in the surrounding area and it was widely believed that Paole had returned to prey on the neighbours. ^[65]

The two incidents were well-documented: government officials examined the bodies, wrote case reports, and published books throughout Europe. ^[65] The hysteria, commonly referred to as the "18th-Century Vampire Controversy", raged for a generation. The problem was exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-claimed vampire attacks, undoubtedly caused by the higher amount of superstition that was present in village communities, with locals digging up bodies and in some cases, staking them. Although many scholars reported during this period that vampires did not exist, and attributed reports to premature burial or rabies, superstitious belief increased. Rabies (from rabies “madness rage fury” Also known as “ hydrophobia ” is a viral Zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that Superstition ( Latin superstitio, literally "standing over" derived perhaps from standing in awe used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief Dom Augustine Calmet, a well-respected French theologian and scholar, put together a comprehensive treatise in 1746, which was ambiguous concerning the existence of vampires. Antoine Augustin Calmet ( February 26, 1672 - October 25, 1757) French Benedictine, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Calmet amassed reports of vampire incidents; numerous readers, including both a critical Voltaire and supportive demonologists, interpreted the treatise as claiming that vampires existed. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French Demonlogist — in fantasy a demonlogist is a powerful Warlock who has studied Demonology, and so may conjure different Demons and deal ^[66] In his Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire wrote:^[67]

These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The Dictionnaire philosophique ( Philosophical Dictionary) is an Encyclopedic dictionary published by Voltaire in 1764 The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made this good cheer. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Etymology One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic people Moravia (Morava; Morawy Moravie Moravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Alsace-Lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen generally Elsass - Lothringen) was a territorial entity created by the German Empire in 1871

The controversy only ceased when Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician, Gerhard van Swieten, to investigate the claims of vampiric entities. Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia see also names in other languages; May 13, 1717 November 29 1780) was the Archduchess regnant Van Swietens career Van Swieten was born in Leiden. He was a pupil of Hermann Boerhaave and became in 1745 the personal physician of the Austrian Empress He concluded that vampires did not exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies, sounding the end of the vampire epidemics. Despite this condemnation, the vampire lived on in artistic works and in local superstition. ^[66]

Non-European beliefs

Africa

Various regions of Africa have folkloric tales of beings with vampiric abilities: in West Africa the Ashanti people tell of the iron-toothed and tree-dwelling asanbosam,^[68] and the Ewe people of the adze, which can take the form of a firefly and hunts children. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Ashanti, or Asante, are a major Ethnic group of Ashanti Region in Ghana. The Sasabonsam) is a Vampire -like folkloric being from West Africa. The Ewe are a people located on the southeast corner of Ghana, east of the Volta River, in an area now described as the Volta Region. The adze of Folklore is a vampiric being described in tales of the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo. FireFly is the second single by Essex Alternative rock band InMe. ^[69] The eastern Cape region has the impundulu, which can take the form of a large taloned bird and can summon thunder and lightning, and the Betsileo people of Madagascar tell of the ramanga, an outlaw or living vampire who drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles. The Impundulu (or izulu, inyoni yezulu) is a mythological creature in the folklore of the tribes of the Southern Africa including the Pondo The Betsileo are a highland clan of Madagascar, the third largest in terms of population numbering around one million Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic) is an Island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern ^[70]

The Americas

The Loogaroo is an example of how a vampire belief can result from a combination of beliefs, here a mixture of French and African Vodu or voodoo. The Loogaroo is a creature of Caribbean Mythology that is similar to a Vampire or Werewolf. The term Loogaroo possibly comes from the French loup-garou (meaning 'werewolf') and is common in the culture of Mauritius. See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to The culture of Mauritius involves the blending of several cultures from Mauritius's history as well as individual culture arising indigenously However, the stories of the Loogaroo are widespread through the Caribbean Islands and Louisiana in the United States. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America ^[71] Similar female monsters are the Soucouyant of Trinidad, and the Tunda and Patasola of Colombian folklore, while the Mapuche of southern Chile have the bloodsucking snake known as the Peuchen. The Soucouyant or Soucriant in Caribbean and specifically Trinidadian folklore is a creature that lives by day as an old woman at the end of the village Trinidad ( Spanish: " Trinity " is the largest and most populous of the two major islands and The Tunda (La Tunda is a myth of the Colombian pacific region and particularly popular in the afro-American community about a Vampire -like monster woman The Patasola or "one foot" is one of many myths in South American folklore about woman monsters from the jungle appearing to male hunters or loggers in the Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. The Mapuche are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the The Peuchen is a creature from the Mapuche and Chilota mythology pertaining to southern Chile, a much feared Shapeshifting creature ^[72] Aloe vera hung backwards behind or near a door was thought to ward off vampiric beings in South American superstition. Aloe vera, also known as the Medicinal Aloe, is a species of Succulent plant that probably originated in northern Africa. ^[29] Aztec mythology described tales of the Cihuateteo, skeletal-faced spirits of those who died in childbirth who stole children and entered into sexual liaisons with the living, driving them mad. In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo (also Ciuteoteo, Ciuateoteo or Civateteo; singular Ciuateotl or Cihuateotl, lit ^[23]

During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires was widespread in parts of New England, particularly in Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. Rhode Island ( officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. There are many documented cases of families disinterring loved ones and removing their hearts in the belief that the deceased was a vampire who was responsible for sickness and death in the family, although the term "vampire" was never actually used to describe the deceased. The deadly disease tuberculosis, or "consumption" as it was known at the time, was believed to be caused by nightly visitations on the part of a dead family member who had died of consumption themselves. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common ^[73] The most famous, and most recently recorded, case of suspected vampirism is that of nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown, who died in Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892. The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident, which occurred in 1892 is one of the best documented cases of the Exhumation of a corpse in order to perform rituals to banish an Undead Her father, assisted by the family physician, removed her from her tomb two months after her death and her heart was cut out and burnt to ashes. ^[74]

Asia

Rooted in older folklore, the modern belief in vampires spread throughout Asia with tales of ghoulish entities from the mainland, to vampiric beings from the islands of Southeast Asia. India also developed other vampiric legends. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Bhūta or Prét is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. Bhūta is a Sanskrit word that has several meanings true matter of fact reality (that which is or has been existing present being or being like anything It wanders around animating dead bodies at night, attacking the living much like a ghoul. A ghoul is a Monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places ^[75] In northern India, there is the BrahmarākŞhasa, a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood. Although vampires have appeared in Japanese Cinema since the late 1950s, the folklore behind it was western in origin. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. ^[76] However, the Nukekubi is a being whose head and neck detach from its body to fly about seeking human prey at night. Nukekubi (抜首 are Monsters found in Japanese folklore. By day nukekubi appear to be normal Human beings By night however their heads and ^[77]

Legends of female vampire-like beings who can detach parts of their upper body also occur in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. There are two main vampire-like creatures in the Philippines: the Tagalog mandurugo ("blood-sucker") and the Visayan manananggal ("self-segmenter"). The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP The Tagalog people ( Tgl: Tagalog) is the second largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. The Visayans ( Visayan, Filipino: Bisaya) are the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. A Manananggal (sometimes confused with the Wak Wak in some areas by the Filipinos) were called Penanggalan in Malay The mandurugo is a variety of the aswang that takes the form of an attractive girl by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, thread-like tongue by night. An Aswang (or Asuwang) is a Ghoul in Filipino Folklore. The aswangs are the most feared of supernatural creatures on the Philippines and are The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim. The manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings and prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in their homes. They use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck fetuses off these pregnant women. A fetus (or foetus or fœtus) is a developing Mammal or other Viviparous Vertebrate, after the Embryonic stage and Pregnancy ( Latin graviditas) is the carrying of one or more offspring known as a Fetus or Embryo, inside the Uterus of a Female They also prefer to eat entrails (specifically the heart and the liver) and the phlegm of sick people. The heart is a muscular organ in all Vertebrates responsible for pumping Blood through the Blood vessels by repeated rhythmic The liver is a vital organ in the human body and is present in Vertebrates and some other animals ^[78]

The Malaysian Penanggalan may be either a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic or other unnatural means, and is most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and The Penanggalan or `Hantu Penanggal` is a peculiar variation of the Vampire myth that apparently began in the Malay Peninsula. Black magic or dark magic is a form of sorcery that draws on malevolent powers She is able to detach her fanged head which flies around in the night looking for blood, typically from pregnant women. ^[79] Malaysians would hang jeruju (thistles) around the doors and windows of houses, hoping the Penanggalan would not enter for fear of catching its intestines on the thorns. ^[80] The Leyak is a similar being from Balinese folklore. In the folklore of Bali, the Leyak (in Indonesian, people called it 'Leak' ( le-ak)&mdashthe Y is not written or spoken is a mythological figure in the Balinese mythology is the traditional Mythology of the people of the Indonesian island of Bali, before the majority adoption of Hinduism ^[81] A Kuntilanak or Matianak in Indonesia,^[82] or Pontianak or Langsuir in Malaysia,^[83] is a woman who died during childbirth and became undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. The Pontianak, Kuntilanak, Matianak or "Boentianak" (as known in Indonesia, sometimes shortened to just kunti) is a She appeared as an attractive woman with long black hair that covered a hole in the back of her neck, which she sucked the blood of children with. Filling the hole with her hair would drive her off. Corpses had their mouths filled with glass beads, eggs under each armpit, and needles in their palms to prevent them from becoming langsuir. ^[84]

Jiang Shi (traditional Chinese: 僵屍 or 殭屍; simplified Chinese: 僵尸; pinyin: jiāngshī; literally "stiff corpse"), sometimes called "Chinese vampires" by Westerners, are reanimated corpses that hop around, killing living creatures to absorb life essence (qì) from their victims. Jiang Shi ( literally "stiff corpse " sometimes called Chinese vampires by Westerners are reanimated corpses that hop around killing living creatures Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use In traditional Chinese culture, qi (zh [[wikt氣 氣]] Pinyin qì, Wade-Giles ch'i Jyutping They are said to be created when a person's soul (魄 pò) fails to leave the deceased's body. ^[85] One unusual feature of this vampire is its greenish-white furry skin, perhaps derived from fungus or mould growing on corpses. A fungus (ˈfʌŋgəs is a eukaryotic Organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi (ˈfʌndʒaɪ WikipediaManual_of_Style#National_varieties_of_English --> Molds (or ^[86]

Modern beliefs

In modern fiction, the vampire tends to be depicted as a suave, charismatic villain. ^[21] Despite the general disbelief in vampiric entities, occasional sightings of vampires are reported. Indeed, vampire hunting societies still exist, although they are largely formed for social reasons. ^[19] Allegations of vampire attacks swept through the African country of Malawi during late 2002 and early 2003, with mobs stoning one individual to death and attacking at least four others, including Governor Eric Chiwaya, based on the belief that the government was colluding with vampires. The Republic of Malawi (məˈlɑːwi or; formerly Nyasaland) is in southern Africa. Eric Chiwaya, a member of the United Democratic Front, is the Urban governor for Blantyre, Malawi. ^[87]

In early 1970 local press spread rumors that a vampire haunted Highgate Cemetery in London. Highgate Cemetery is a Cemetery located in Highgate, London, England. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Amateur vampire hunters flocked in large numbers to the cemetery. Several books have been written about the case, notably by Sean Manchester, a local man who was among the first to suggest the existence of the "Highgate Vampire" and who later claimed to have exorcised and destroyed a whole nest of vampires in the area. The Highgate Vampire was a media sensation surrounding reports of supposed supernatural activity at Highgate Cemetery in London. Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein - to adjure is the practice of evicting Demons or other evil ^[88] In January 2005, rumours circulated that an attacker had bitten a number of people in Birmingham, England, fuelling concerns about a vampire roaming the streets. Birmingham ( ˈbɜːmɪŋəm Ber -ming-um England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland However, local police stated that no such crime had been reported and that the case appears to be an urban legend. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them ^[89]

In one of the more notable cases of vampiric entities in the modern age, the chupacabra ("goat-sucker") of Puerto Rico and Mexico is said to be a creature that feeds upon the flesh or drinks the blood of domesticated animals, leading some to consider it a kind of vampire. Chupacabra (also Chupacabras /tʃupa'kabɾas/ from Spanish chupar to suck, cabra goat goat sucker) is a Legendary Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. This is a list of animals that have been domesticated by Humans. The "chupacabra hysteria" was frequently associated with deep economic and political crises, particularly during the mid-1990s. ^[90]

In Europe, where much of the vampire folklore originates, the vampire is considered a fictitious being, although many communities have embraced the revenant for economic purposes. In some cases, especially in small localities, vampire superstition is still rampant and sightings or claims of vampire attacks occur frequently. In Romania during February 2004, several relatives of Toma Petre feared that he had become a vampire. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania They dug up his corpse, tore out his heart, burned it, and mixed the ashes with water in order to drink it. ^[91]

Origins of vampire beliefs

Main article: Origins of vampire beliefs‎

Pathology

Belief in vampires has been described as the result of people of pre-industrial societies attempting to explain the process of death and decomposition. Many theories for the origins of vampire beliefs have been offered as an explanation for the superstition and sometimes Mass hysteria, caused by Vampires Everything Pre-industrial society refers to specific social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution ^[92]

People sometimes suspected vampirism when a cadaver did not look as they thought a normal corpse should when disinterred. However, rates of decomposition vary depending on temperature and soil composition, and many of the signs are little known. This has led vampire hunters to mistakenly conclude that a dead body had not decomposed at all, or, ironically, to interpret signs of decomposition as signs of continued life. ^[93][94] Corpses swell as gases from decomposition accumulate in the torso and the increased pressure forces blood to ooze from the nose and mouth. This causes the body to look "plump", "well-fed", and "ruddy" — changes that are all the more striking if the person was pale or thin in life. ^[95] The exuding blood gave the impression that the corpse had recently been engaging in vampiric activity. ^[33] Darkening of the skin is also caused by decomposition. ^[96] The staking of a swollen, decomposing body could cause the body to bleed and force the accumulated gases to escape the body. This could produce a groan-like sound when the gases moved past the vocal cords, or a sound reminiscent of flatulence when they passed through the anus. Flatulence is the production of a mixture of gases in the digestive tract of Mammals that are byproducts of the digestion process ^[97]

After death, the skin and gums lose fluids and contract, exposing the roots of the hair, nails, and teeth, even teeth that were concealed in the jaw. This can produce the illusion that the hair, nails, and teeth have grown. At a certain stage, the nails fall off and the skin peels away, as reported in the Plogojowitz case—the dermis and nail beds emerging underneath were interpreted as "new skin" and "new nails". The dermis is a layer of Skin beneath the epidermis that consists of Connective tissue, and cushions the body from stress and strain A nail is a horn -like structure at the end of an animal's Finger or Toe. ^[97]

In some cases in which people reported sounds emanating from a specific coffin, it was later dug up and fingernail marks were discovered on the inside from the victim trying to escape. In other cases the person would hit their heads, noses or faces and it would appear that they had been "feeding". ^[98] A problem with this theory is the question of how people presumably buried alive managed to stay alive for any extended period without food, water or fresh air. An alternate explanation for noise is the bubbling of escaping gases from natural decomposition of bodies. ^[99] Another likely cause of disordered tombs is grave robbing. Grave robbing, grave robbery or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a Tomb or Crypt to Steal the artifacts (as Illicit ^[100]

Disease

Folkloric vampirism has been associated with a series of deaths due to unidentifiable or mysterious illnesses, usually within the same family or the same small community. ^[73] Tuberculosis and the pneumonic form of bubonic plague were associated with breakdown of lung tissue which would cause blood to appear at the lips. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly known as ^[101] Dr Juan Gómez-Alonso, a neurologist at Xeral Hospital in Vigo, Spain, examined the possibility of a link with rabies in the journal Neurology. For other meanings see Vigo (disambiguation Vigo is the largest city in Galicia, Spain, in terms of population Rabies (from rabies “madness rage fury” Also known as “ hydrophobia ” is a viral Zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that Neurology is a Scientific journal published by the American Academy of Neurology. The susceptibility to garlic and light could be due to rabies-induced hypersensitivity. The disease can also affect portions of the brain that could lead to disturbance of normal sleep patterns (thus becoming nocturnal) and hypersexuality. Hypersexuality is the desire to engage in Human sexual behavior at a level high enough to be considered clinically significant Legend once said a man was not rabid if he could look at his own reflection (an allusion to the legend that vampires have no reflection). Wolves and bats, which are often associated with vampires, can be carriers of rabies. The disease can also lead to a drive to bite others and to a bloody frothing at the mouth. ^[102][103]

Porphyria

In 1985 biochemist David Dolphin proposed a link between the rare blood disorder porphyria and vampire folklore. Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living Organisms It deals with the Structure and function of cellular components such as David H Dolphin (born 1940 is a Canadian Biochemist. He is an internationally recognized expert in Porphyrin chemistry and biochemistry Porphyrias are a group of inherited or acquired disorders of certain Enzymes in the Heme biosynthetic pathway (also called Porphyrin pathway Noting that the condition is treated by intravenous haem, he suggested that the consumption of large amounts of blood may result in haem being transported somehow across the stomach wall and into the bloodstream. A heme ( American English) or haem ( British English) is a Prosthetic group that consists of an Iron atom contained in the center of Thus vampires were merely sufferers of porphyria seeking to replace haem and alleviate their symptoms. ^[104] The theory has been rebuffed medically as suggestions that porphyria sufferers crave the haem in human blood, or that the consumption of blood might ease the symptoms of porphyria, are based on a misunderstanding of the disease. Furthermore, Dolphin was noted to have confused fictional (bloodsucking) vampires with those of folklore, many of whom were not noted to drink blood. ^[105] Similarly, a parallel is made between sensitivity to sunlight by sufferers, yet this was associated with fictional and not folkloric vampires. In any case, Dolphin did not go on to publish his work more widely. ^[106] Despite being dismissed by experts, the link gained media attention^[107] and entered popular modern folklore. ^[108]

Psychopathology

See also: Clinical vampirism

A number of murderers have performed seemingly vampiric rituals upon their victims. Renfield's syndrome, also called simply Renfield syndrome and traditionally known as clinical vampirism, though not currently categorized in the DSM-IV Serial killers Peter Kurten and Richard Trenton Chase were both called "vampires" in the tabloids after they were discovered drinking the blood of the people they murdered. A serial killer is a person who Murders usually three or more people with a "cooling off" period between each murder and whose motivation for killing is largely based Peter Kürten ( May 26 1883 - July 2 1931) was a German Serial killer dubbed The Vampire of Düsseldorf Richard Trenton Chase ( May 23, 1950 &ndash December 26, 1980) was an American Serial killer who killed six people A tabloid is a Newspaper industry term which refers to a smaller newspaper format per spread to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest Similarly, in 1932, an unsolved murder case in Stockholm, Sweden was nicknamed the "Vampire murder", due to the circumstances of the victim’s death. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The Atlas Vampire is the nickname given to the unknown assailant who committed the unsolved " Vampire Murder" (also known as the Vampire Murder Case) in ^[109] The late 16th-century Hungarian countess and mass murderer Elizabeth Báthory became particularly infamous in later centuries' works, which depicted her bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. ^[110]

Vampire lifestyle is a term for a contemporary subculture of people, largely within the Goth subculture, who consume the blood of others as a pastime; drawing from the rich recent history of popular culture related to cult symbolism, horror films, the fiction of Anne Rice, and the styles of Victorian England. The vampire lifestyle (or vampyre subculture is an Alternative lifestyle, based on the modern perception of Vampires in popular fiction For the term in biology see Subculture (biology. For the song by New Order see Sub-culture (song. The goth subculture is a contemporary Subculture found in many countries Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Anne Rice (born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American Author of gothic and religious-themed ^[111] Active vampirism within the vampire subculture includes both blood-related vampirism, commonly referred to as Sanguine Vampirism, and Psychic Vampirism, or 'feeding' from pranic energy. Prana (प्राण) is the Sanskrit for " Breath " (from the root prā "to fill" cognate to Latin plenus "full" Practitioners may take on a variety of 'roles', including both "vampires" and their sources of blood or pranic energy. ^[112]

Vampire bats

Main article: Vampire bat

Although many cultures have stories about them, vampire bats have only recently become an integral part of the traditional vampire lore. Vampire bats are Bats whose food source is Blood, a dietary trait called Hematophagy. Vampire bats are Bats whose food source is Blood, a dietary trait called Hematophagy. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Vampire bats are Bats whose food source is Blood, a dietary trait called Hematophagy. ^[113] The vampire bat was revered in South American culture; Camazotz was a bat god of the caves who lived in the bathhouse of the Underworld. This is a discussion of a Mayan bat god For the candy by Ambrosoli, see “ ZotZ (Candy ” Although there are no vampire bats in Europe, bats and owls have long been associated with the supernatural, mainly due to their nocturnal habits,^[113][114] and in modern English heraldic tradition, a bat means "Awareness of the powers of darkness and chaos". The Owls are an order of birds of prey. Most are Solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e Heraldry in its most general sense encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. ^[115]

As the three species of actual vampire bats are all endemic to Latin America, it is unlikely that the folkloric vampire represents a distorted association with them. Vampire bats are Bats whose food source is Blood, a dietary trait called Hematophagy. Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere During the 16th century the Spanish conquistadors first came into contact with vampire bats and recognized the similarity between the feeding habits of the bats and those of their legendary vampires. This article is about the Spanish explorer soldiers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesfor other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation A Conquistador The bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather than vice versa; the Oxford English Dictionary records their folkloric use in English from 1734 and the zoological not until 1774. Although the vampire bat's bite is usually not harmful to a person, the bat has been known to actively feed on humans and large prey such as cattle and often leave the trademark, two-prong bite mark on its victim's skin. ^[113]

Though the literary Dracula's flying shapeshifted form was originally described as merely bird- or lizard-like, it was not long before vampire bats were adapted into vampiric accoutrements; they were used in the 1927 stage production of Dracula and the resulting film, where Bela Lugosi would transform into a bat. Dracula is a classic 1931 Horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character Béla Lugosi (October 20 1882 &ndash August 16 1956 was an iconic Hungarian stage and film actor best known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the American ^[113] The bat transformation scene would again be used by Lon Chaney Jr. in 1943's Son of Dracula. Lon Chaney Jr ( February 10, 1906 – July 12, 1973) was an American Character actor, known mainly for his roles Son of Dracula is an American Horror film released in 1943. It was directed by Robert Siodmak - his first film for Universal studios ^[116] Ironically, vampire bats are small creatures and have never been used in the film industry; instead, the much larger flying fox bat (which is entirely herbivorous) is used in bat transformation scenes. Bats of the genus Pteropus, belonging to the Megachiroptera sub-order are the largest Bats in the world ^[113]

In modern fiction

The vampire is now a fixture in popular fiction. Such fiction began with eighteenth century poetry, continued with nineteenth century short stories, serial publications and plays, and culminated in the pre-eminent vampire novel of all time: Dracula by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror ^[117]

The vampire or revenant first appeared in poems such as The Vampire (1748) by Heinrich August Ossenfelder, Lenore (1773) by Gottfried August Bürger, Die Braut von Corinth (The Bride of Corinth (1797) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe^[118] and Lord Byron's The Giaour (1813). Gottfried August Bürger ( January 1, 1748 &ndash June 8, 1794) was a German Poet from Molmerswende, ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfgaŋ fɔn ˈgøːtə (in English generally ˈgɝːtə 28 August 1749 22 March 1832 was a German writer The Giaour is a Poem by Lord Byron first published in 1813 and the first in the series of his Oriental romances Byron was also credited with the first prose fiction piece concerned with vampires: The Vampyre (1819). " The Vampyre " is a short story written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of Fantasy However this was in reality authored by Byron's personal physician, John Polidori, who adapted an enigmatic framentary tale of his illustrious patient. ^{[119] [19]}Byron's own dominating personality, mediated by his lover Lady Caroline Lamb in her unflattering roman-a-clef, Glenarvon (a Gothic fantasia based on Byron's wild life), was used as a model for Polidori's undead protagonist Lord Ruthven. The Lady Caroline Lamb ( 13 November 1785 &ndash 26 January 1828) was a novelist and British Aristocrat, the only daughter See also Lord Ruthven for historic individuals with the title Lord Ruthven. The Vampyre was highly successful and the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. ^[2] Over time, some attributes now regarded as integral became incorporated into the vampire's profile: fangs and vulnerability to sunlight appeared over the course of the 19th century, with Varney the Vampire and Dracula both bearing protruding teeth,^[120] and Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) fearing daylight. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, better known as F W Murnau ( December 28, 1888 &ndash March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror is a German Expressionist film by F ^[121] The cloak appeared in stage productions of the 1820s, with a high collar introduced by playwright Hamilton Deane to help Dracula 'vanish' on stage. ^[122] Lord Ruthven and Varney were able to be healed by moonlight, although no account of this is known in traditional folklore. ^[24] Implied though not often explicitly documented in folklore, immortality is one attribute which features heavily in vampire film and literature. Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in physical or spiritual form for an Infinite length of Time. Much is made of the price of eternal life, namely the incessant need for blood of former equals. ^[123]

Literature

Main article: Vampire literature

Varney the Vampire was a landmark popular mid-Victorian era gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer (alternatively attributed to Thomas Preskett Prest), which first appeared from 1845 to 1847 in a series of pamphlets generally referred to as penny dreadfuls because of their inexpensive price and typically gruesome contents. Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood was a mid- Victorian era Gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer (alternatively Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. James Malcolm Rymer (1814-1884 was a Scottish writer of Penny dreadfuls and is one of the possible authors of Varney the Vampire (1847 Thomas Peckett Prest (AKA Thomas Preskett Prest (probable dates 1810 - 1859) was a British Hack writer, journalist and musician Penny Dreadful (also called penny number) was a term applied to nineteenth century British Fiction publications usually lurid serial stories appearing in parts The story was published in book form in 1847 and runs to 868 double-columned pages. It has a distinctly suspenseful style, using vivid imagery to describe the horrifying exploits of Varney. ^[24] Other examples of early vampire fictions exist, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge's unfinished poem Christabel and Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire story Carmilla (1871). Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher Christabel is a lengthy poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in two parts Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 &ndash 7 February 1873 was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels Lesbian vampirism is a trope in 20th century Exploitation film that has its roots in Joseph Sheridan le Fanu 's novella Carmilla (1872 " Carmilla " is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Like Varney before her, the vampire Carmilla is portrayed in a somewhat sympathetic light as the compulsion of her condition is highlighted. ^[124]

No effort to depict vampires in popular fiction was as influential or as definitive as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. ^[125] Its portrayal of vampirism as a disease of contagious demonic possession, with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in Victorian Europe where tuberculosis and syphilis were common. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Syphilis is a Sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal Bacterium Treponema pallidum pallidum. The vampiric traits described in Stoker's work merged with and dominated folkloric tradition, eventually evolving into the modern fictional vampire. Drawing on past works such as The Vampyre and "Carmilla", Stoker began to research his new book in the late 1800s, reading works such as The Land Beyond the Forest (1888) by Emily Gerard and other books about Transylvania and vampires. (Jane Emily Gerard ( 7 May 1849, Scotland – 11 January 1905) was a nineteenth century author best known for the influence her collections A member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn cult, he was keen to travel around Eastern Europe to learn about the folkloric vampires and the occult. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or more commonly the Golden Dawn) was a magical order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries practicing a form of The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine hidden secret referring to "knowledge of the hidden" In London, a colleague mentioned to him the story of Vlad Ţepeş, the "real-life Dracula", and Stoker immediately incorporated this story into his book. The first chapter of the book was omitted when it was published in 1897, but it was released in 1914 as Dracula's Guest. ^[126]

The latter part of the twentieth century saw the rise of multi-volume vampire epics. The first of these was gothic romance writer Marilyn Ross' Barnabas Collins series (1966–71), loosely based on the contemporary American TV series Dark Shadows. W E Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912 is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and Barnabas Collins is a Fictional character, one of the feature characters in the ABC Soap opera serial Dark Shadows, which aired from Dark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network from June 27, 1966 to It also set the trend for seeing vampires as poetic tragic heroes rather than as the more traditional embodiment of evil. A tragic hero is the main character in a Tragedy who makes an error in his or her actions that leads to his or her downfall This formula was followed in novelist Anne Rice's highly popular and influential Vampire Chronicles (1976–2003). Anne Rice (born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American Author of gothic and religious-themed The Vampire Chronicles is a series of Novels by Anne Rice that revolves around the Fictional character ^[127]

Film and television

Main article: Vampire films

Considered one of the preeminent figures of the classic horror film, the vampire has proven to be a rich subject for the film and gaming industries. Vampire films have been a staple since the silent days, so much so that the depiction of Vampires in popular culture is strongly based Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror is a German Expressionist film by F Dracula is a major character in more movies than any other bar Sherlock Holmes, and many early films were either based on the novel of Dracula or closely derived from it. The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years and many Films have used the Count Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 These included the landmark 1922 German silent film Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau and featuring the first film portrayal of Dracula—although names and characters were intended to mimic Dracula's, Murnau could not obtain permission to do so from Stoker's widow, and had to alter many aspects of the film. Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror is a German Expressionist film by F Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, better known as F W Murnau ( December 28, 1888 &ndash March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential In addition to this film was Universal's Dracula (1931), starring Béla Lugosi as the count in what was the first talking film to portray Dracula. Dracula is a classic 1931 Horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character Béla Lugosi (October 20 1882 &ndash August 16 1956 was an iconic Hungarian stage and film actor best known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the American The decade saw several more vampire films, most notably Dracula's Daughter in 1936. Dracula's Daughter is a 1936 Horror film, a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. ^[128]

The legend of the vampire was cemented in the film industry when Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation with the celebrated Hammer Horror series of films, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922 is a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated Saturn Award-winning English Actor The successful 1958 Dracula starring Lee was followed by seven sequels. Dracula is a 1958 British Horror film, and the first of a series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these and became well known in the role. ^[129] By the 1970s, vampires in films had diversified with works such as Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), an African Count in 1972's Blacula, a Nosferatu-like vampire in 1979's Salem's Lot, and a remake of Nosferatu itself, titled Nosferatu the Vampyre with Klaus Kinski the same year. Count Yorga Vampire is a 1970 Vampire / horror movie starring Robert Quarry. Blacula is a 1972 Blaxploitation Horror film produced for American International Pictures. Salem's Lot is a 1979 horror Television mini-series directed by Tobe Hooper, from the Paul Monash Teleplay, and starred former Nosferatu the Vampyre ( Ger. Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht, Eng. Klaus Kinski ( October 18, 1926 &ndash November 23, 1991) was a German Actor, famous for his ability to project onscreen Several films featured female, often lesbian, vampire antagonists such as Hammer Horror's The Vampire Lovers (1970) based on Carmilla, though the plotlines still revolved around a central evil vampire character. The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Polish actress ^[129] The pilot for the Dan Curtis 1974 television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker revolved around reporter Carl Kolchak hunting a female vampire in the greater Los Angeles area. Kolchak The Night Stalker is an American Television series that aired on ABC in 1974 Later films showed more diversity in plotline, with some focusing on the vampire-hunter such as Blade in the Marvel Comics' Blade films and the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Blade is a 1998 vampire Action film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories Marvel Comics is an American comic book company owned by Marvel Publishing Inc The Blade films are based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, portrayed by Wesley Snipes which begins Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 action - comedy - Horror film about " Valley girl " cheerleader Buffy Buffy, released in 1992, foreshadowed a vampiric presence on television, with adaptation to a long-running hit TV series of the same name and its spin-off Angel. Fictional narratives (and works of art exist beyond their completion e Angel is an American Television series, a Spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still others showed the vampire as protagonist such as 1983's The Hunger, 1994's Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles and its indirect sequel of sorts Queen of the Damned. The Hunger is a 1983 English language Horror film. It is the story of a bizarre Love triangle between a doctor ( Susan Sarandon Interview with the Vampire The Vampire Chronicles is a 1994 film based on the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice Queen of the Damned is a 2002 film adaptation of the third novel of Anne Rice 's The Vampire Chronicles series The Queen Bram Stoker's Dracula was a noteworthy 1992 remake which became the then-highest grossing vampire film ever. Bram Stoker's Dracula (aka Dracula) is a 1992 horror - Romance film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola ^[130] This increase of interest in vampiric plotlines led to the vampire being depicted in movies such as Underworld and Van Helsing, the Russian Night Watch and a TV miniseries remake of 'Salem's Lot, both from 2004. Underworld is a 2003 action - horror Film about the Secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Van Helsing is a 2004 American action / Horror film about Vampire hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, written and Night Watch (Ночной дозор Nochnoy Dozor) is a 2004 Russian fantasy action thriller film by the Kazakhstan Salem's Lot was a two-part miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's classic Vampire story 'Salem's Lot. The continuing popularity of the vampire theme has been ascribed to a combination of two factors: the representation of sexuality — something which has become more overt in the Internet age — and the perennial dread of mortality. Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks ^[131]

Footnotes

References

External links

• Circumcising Dracula - Vampirism and Anti-Semitism
• How Stuff Works - Vampires
• Journal of Dracula Studies
• Vampyres Only - first vampire-themed website, established 1994

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