Infectious Bite | Revenant Blog

Vampire roommates

2010-07-07T00:02:00.005+01:00

Want to shack up with a vampire? You wouldn't be the first. Being Human, a BBC drama, introduces the idea of a ghost and werewolf as suitable housemates for a vampire, but before that supernatural nonsense vampires taken (and kept) roommates, who are distinctly non-vampires.

In fiction, the idea proliferates. Marius, of Rice's Vampire Chronicles, adopts hordes of mortal mates. In the Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Harris, vampires keep mortal pets. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In), a Swedish horror, a child vampire chooses human males, who loyally help her procure blood. These roommates act also as servants and help the young vampire to remain safe during the hostile day.

Can the vampire not find sustenance for herself? Of course, she can. Does she need the human to protect her. He is more than likely to betray her. Is a mortal pet a mere convenience--fresh, warm blood just a room away--or is it something else?

Well, it could be all of those things. Adhering to social rules is not stipulated by the vampire's existence, but conforming to the norm yields certain advantages. No one wants nosy neighbors, prying police, or suspicious solicitors. A mortal can deal with these nuisances and let a vampire rest in peace.

In recent news, I've taken a roommate...a very live roommate. It's a solution, of sorts. I'm residing in a basement, and I need someone to make the home look inhabited. One human resident should do the trick. No?

Anyway, a roommate wipes the possibility of starvation right off the plate.

Cheerio,
Ana

Ring out the old

2010-06-16T20:59:00.004+01:00

So, you survived.

You made it through the first year. Not all are so fortunate. Count yourself among the lucky ones.

For a year, you’ve written to vampires. For a year, you’ve read about us. For a year, you’ve fed vampires tidbits of information on your whereabouts and your scheduled activities. It’s a wonder that you’re still alive, really.

You’ve learned enough about me to make yourself into a threat. If shrewdness were my virtue, then I’d do away with you. Moral rectitude is dead, and I'm not sure it'll resurrect.

Yet, you’ve been safe. I’ve even bumped into a few of you over the course of last year. Did you notice? Did I scare you? No. You wrote me off as a strange little woman…maybe even a girl…and moved on with your life. And, I let you.

A select few of you resisted. You dared to threaten. You challenged. You postured. What came of all that bluster? Nothing. I’m still here. There are those who slung insults as sharp as wooden stakes, but they missed the heart.

Then, there are others who have ignored my warnings. Ambitiously, they’ve pursued my heart…not for blood, but for love. One day, your foolhardy brashness may lead to your demise. But, so far, you’ve entertained.

Finally, there are those who long for death. You search for death. You beg for death. Why have I ignored you? Because, I know better than you. Death is not your friend, and you’re no good to me dead. So, despite your best efforts to seduce, bargain, and cajole, you remain alive.

For a year, you’ve survived in my good graces…if I have any. Will you make through next year? Perhaps, not everyone is so lucky. You survived, but last year over 800,000 people died from malaria. Did you do something to stop it? No, well, let’s hope I’m as good-natured this year as last.

Ciao,
Ana

Vampire charities

2010-05-15T02:29:00.002+01:00

A warning: Beware of vampires.

That should go without saying, right? Everyone knows that some people cannot be trusted. But, when it comes to charities that warning often goes ignored.

Philanthropy kindles warm feelings and encourages humans toward noble goals. Simply put, charities inspire people to be, well, charitable. Unfortunately, not all charities are what they appear to be. Among the noble charities, vampires lurk. These vampires (defined as "people who prey ruthlessly upon others; extortionists") put on masks, obscure their motives, and siphon money from those who wish to help the misfortunate. Beware of vampire charities.

This is not a witch hunt. I will not reveal the names of the suspected. If you're concerned about the reputability of a malaria-relief organization, then just ask me. I bite, but I won't bite you if you're trying to help stop malaria. I'm vicious but not unreasonable.

Some things you should know about Infectious Bite:
* Infectious Bite is an organization of individuals. We are not affiliated with any government-accredited or certified charity.
* Infectious Bite encourages you to donate directly to malaria-relief organizations. You may find links to authorized non-profit organizations throughout our site.
* Infectious Bite is an awareness project. It is not our goal to raise money; although, we are grateful for all donations and contributions. We do accept donations. Donations are used to run the Infectious Bite project. We donate a portion of our profits to malaria-relief organizations. If you are skeptical, then please donate directly to certified non-profit organizations. We prefer your advocacy over your money.

Sincerely,
Ana Revenant

Malaria-relief organizations that we trust:
(This is not an exclusive list.)
*Malaria No More
*Nothing But Nets
*CDC Foundation
*Roll Back Malaria

What you shouldn't say to a vampire

2010-04-28T15:33:00.008+01:00

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time entrenched in human society. It's not all bad, but I could do with a conversation devoid of trivial annoyances. For example: say "bite me", "suck me", or anything similar, and you may get what you wished for...of course, it won't be served in a pleasant manner. For your benefit (and mine), I'm compiling a list of things you shouldn't bring up in a conversation with a vampire.
Responses may vary depending on the individual and his hunger-level.

"How do I know you're real?"
What you don't know can't hurt you. Okay, I lied. It can hurt you, but you won't see it coming.

"I will slay you!"
Slay me with what--boredom? Killing me is a little redundant. Don't you agree?

"Grow up!"
I would if I could.

"It's daytime. You should be asleep in your coffin. Don't you guys explode in the sunlight or sparkle or something?"
Look around. Do you see any fireworks?

"Want to go for a bite?" (This includes "How about a drink?" & "Want to grab some dinner?")
Sure.

"What's your favorite food?"
Er...I thought that was obvious.

"Are you from Transylvania?"
No. Are you from the Garden of Eden?

"Oh, you're a vampire! Do you know Edward/Dracula/Lestat?"
Oh, you're American! Do you know George Costanza/Jefferson Davis/Tom Sawyer?

"I want to be a vampire. Will you change me?"
No. Do you really think I like you enough to have you tagging around after me forever? Bah!
Anyway, I'm not entirely sure how that happens. Any ideas?

Green Vampires

2010-04-22T16:10:00.003+01:00

Why don't vampires obsess about climate change, global warming, or whatever you're calling it now? If someone is going to fret about the future of the planet, shouldn't it be the creatures who will witness its demise?

Well, it's not that I don't care. It's that I have absolute faith that you can handle this on your own. (I don't say things like that often, so there must be a catch.) Once everyone feels the threat of extinction, technology will suddenly offer a way out of the dilemma. Panicked people will scrabble against each other for self-preservation. From the maelstrom of competition, a solution will emerge. Humans are creative creatures, even if they are dim-witted and slow to act.

In the meantime, I will continue not living my green lifestyle. Anyway, I have a comparatively low carbon footprint. Don't believe me? Consider this:

I'm comfortable in low-level lighting, so other than powering my laptop and charging my phone, I use very little electricity. Along the same lines, I don't feel the need to power the energy-draining appliances in my home: the refrigerator, the stove, the dishwasher. Who needs those? Mine are unplugged.

I rent an apartment. That's an Earth-friendly residence, and it has the added bonus of discouraging angry mobs with burning torches and pitchforks. Speaking of which, put out those torches! Don't you know better than to start unnecessary fires? You're trying to kill yourself with smoke, aren't you?

Moving on: I have the tendency to reuse items instead of dispose of them. Why? Well, I remember when raw materials were hard to find and everything was handcrafted. Along that same line, I don't need an automobile. I existed years-upon-years without one. It's true: I don't fly like the vampires of certain stories. If I did, then I would certainly win a prize for green traveling.

Finally, I consume one of the biggest threats to the Earth, and the best part is that I don't need to cultivate my food. My food source grows wild. It's free-range, and I prefer it to be pesticide-free. Furthermore, I almost always shop locally for my dinners.

Pirkano oka yan,
Ana

Care for some claret?

2010-04-12T00:01:00.006+01:00

"I never drink. . . wine." The character, Dracula, utters this famous line in the 1939 movie. "The scene created a use of wine, the blood of the grape, as a metaphor for human blood," (Melton 779).

Dracula is hardly the only fictional work that associates wine with human blood. Anne Rice's Lestat reports sitting in taverns clasping a cup of wine while drinking in the vision of human life, in the book The Tale of the Body Thief. In the film rendition of Interview with a Vampire, the same character is shown draining the blood of a rat into a wine glass to serve to thirsty Louis. At times, vampiric characters may imbibe wine in an attempt to placate their desire for the other red drink. "Unlike Bela Lugosi's Dracula. . ., Varney enjoys a good glass of claret, 'for it looks like blood and may not be it'" (Jenkins 83).

Similarity in color encourages the association of blood and wine, but symbolism makes the correlation irresistible. Buried in vampire legend are elements of Christianity. Vampire fiction is imbued with Christian symbolism, dogma, and mysticism. It is no wonder that writers have translated the Eucharist into their vampiric stories. Jesus calls the Passover wine his blood, and so the vampire calls the blood his wine.

Anyway, it makes for a convenient cover-up. Doesn't it? A wine glass in hand doesn't scare away dinner guests like a bleeding heart does.

Cheers,
Ana

Sources:
Jenkins, Mark Collins. Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend.

Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Encyclopedia.

Vampire Vineyards. www.vampirevineyards.com [photo]

Old Maids and Easter Nudity

2010-04-06T16:14:00.002+01:00

Did you attend Easter mass naked? --No? Well, it's for the best.

Albanian folklore speaks of the mysterious Shtriga, who is a witch that loves "to eat human beings, especially young boys," but in a crunch she will also eat anyone whom she dislikes. "Though any woman, young or old, can be found to be a shtriga, they are usually ugly old hags [read: 'old hags' as unmarried twenty year-olds] who live in hidden places in the forest and have supernatural powers" (Elsie).

But, how will you know if the woman you suspect is a Shtriga or if she is just weird? Well, "if a woman's hair turns white when she is twenty, this is a sure sign that she is a shtriga" (Elsie). Young men should be wary of this woman. She is a heartbreaker. She will tear out a man's heart [literally] and "fry it for dinner" (Elsie).

Derived from Latin 'striga', meaning witch, these creatures will "often plot to eat one another's sons" should more than one striga exist within the same village. When afflicted women fall asleep at night, "their souls wander off, leaving their lifeless bodies in bed. On the night before Ash Wednesday, they fly down their victim's chimney and drink his blood, whereupon the victim dies" (Elsie). However, there is hope for avoiding death by Shtriga. "If you catch the shtriga in time, you can save the victim's life by forcing the shtriga to spit into his mouth" (Elsie). Furthermore, you can create a "grim safeguard . . . against Shtrigas, but it is hard to get. You must secretly and at night track a woman you believe is a Shtriga." If she was sucking blood, then she will venture "out stealthily to vomit it, where no one sees. You must scrape up some of the vomited blood on a silver coin, wrap it up and wear it always," (Durham 64).

A striga's spirit must return to her body through the mouth. "Should someone have turned the bodies over in their absence, the shtrigas will cause great commotion in their attempt to get back in. Equally, if you turn a sleeping woman around so that her head is where her feet were, and then wake her up, she will die on the spot if she is a shtriga because the spirit cannot find its way back into her body."

"One can prevent shtrigas from entering a house at Shrovetide [the days preceding Lent] by placing a sack in the chimney." A resourceful hunter may also trap the Shtrigas in the church on Easter Sunday by nailing a piece of old pork [leftover from Shrovetide] to the cross or by forming a crucifix from pig bones. Do this, and the Shtrigas attending Easter mass will be caught inside the building. On he who traps them may release them, and if "they are caught, they will pay handsomely for their release." (Elsie).

Surely the Shtriga will pay, for in order to release them from the church the trapper must enter the church naked and wash off the cross" (Elsie). And what vile woman wouldn't pay to have their young hunter enter the church nude during Easter mass?

Lamtumire,
Ana

Sources:
Durham, M Edith. High Albania. P 64.
Elsie, Robert. A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology, and folk culture. P 237.

Vampire brides

2010-03-24T00:55:00.006Z

While sloshing through chilly rain in search for a convenient bite, a thought occurred to me. It's spring. Do you know what spring brings? No, not flowers...It brings bloody brides in white dresses.

Spring is the season for weddings; although, I can't imagine why. Let's face it: if you wanted to get your pretty dress all muddy, then you should have just married your beau in a pig farm and not waited for the April showers...or in this case, March showers.

But, who am I to judge? Weddings aren't my specialty...which is kinda my point. In recent vampire fiction, including film productions, vampire brides are a common motif. Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is cited as the source for such characters, but are the enchanting women his wives, his pets, or his daughters? You draw your conclusions; I'll draw mine.

The harem of women, who swoon over Dracula, drags behind it the notion of immortal romance and relative fidelity. Edward pines over Bella, anguishing about choosing between his solitude and her damnation. "What choice have I?" he asks. "I cannot be without you, but I will not destroy your soul."

He hardly needs to worry about her soul, according to John Melton, who says that the "idea of the vampire brides emphasized the sexual nature of the vampire's relationship to his victims. The vampire attacked his victims and then tied them to him in a slavelike structure in which love played little or no part." And, fidelity?--Forget it!

I'm not saying that I agree with Melton, but his notion puts to rest the idea of trading an eternal soul for an eternal body. Romance is not part of the equation in his interpretation. How could it be? Would you love someone if they nagged you for hundreds of years?

Look at an old couple. More often than not, they're at each others throats. And, that idiom becomes literal if translated into an eternal, vampire relationship.

So, if you're dreaming of a white wedding, then take my advice and schedule it for noon on June 21st. Leave O-neg off the menu, and let your dinner guests choose between chicken or fish.

Until death do us part,
Ana

...Go ahead and ask. I know you want to.
"What about Lucius?" Eh...

Vampires in Ireland

2010-03-17T13:25:00.005Z

What is Saint Patrick's Day without the mention of a leprechaun? These little, red-headed creatures are vicious mischief-makers, and, although we have that in common, I know little more about the leprechaun than what you can find in Wikipedia, if you commit the obligatory Saint Patrick's Day search.

So, instead of speaking about miserly sprites who dress in green (or red depending on the date of your book), I write about the more mysterious and more beautiful Dearg-Dul.

"Throughout the islands of the United Kingdom, particularly Ireland and the Isle of Man, there are countless tales of ghosts, spirits, and faerie folk", but Ireland is also the home of "the deadly Dearg-Dul. This ancient vampire's name, 'red blood sucker,' reveals its nature" to all who are wary. "Legends disagree as to whether the Dearg-Dul is a revenant or a kind of eternal faerie." Certainly, he "does not appear as moldering corpse, though [he] does sleep in graves" (Maberry 94-5).

"The Dearg-Dul is not a hideous monster, and in fact most stories agree that both the male and female Dearg-Dul appear as beautiful and sexually appealing figures whose charismatic aura is utterly compelling. They use their irresistible charms to lure potential victims to trysting places--where they attack and kill them." Into a stupor, they lull their victim through the use of spells, but they also possess supernatural strength. "The Celtic druids have battled these creatures for a thousand years and have devised a number of clever ways of defeating them. The most common way is to locate the grave of a suspected Dearg-Dul and then erect a heavy cairn of stones over it, sealing the stones with prayers and placing sprigs of holly between the rocks." The holly zaps their strength so that they are unable to break their rock prison. "Trapped in their graves, the vampires will eventually degenerate into dust." Yet, according to another legend, "should the stone ever be removed the vampire would walk the earth again" (Russo 38).

The Dearg-Dul is also a skilled trapper. Though both male and female variants exist in legend, the female is more cunning and more vicious. She "holds her victim captive, drains every ounce of his blood, boils it in a crimson cauldron in which she brews her special magic, and makes potions for herself that imbue her with her eternal and ageless beauty" (Maberry 96).

One enchantress (Dearg-Dul/Dearg-Due) "makes an unholy pact with a mortal man" to serve as his creative muse in exchange for eternal love. The pact is made, and the creature imprisons her lover in an underwater palace. Great songs and works of literature flow from his pen, infused with her inspiration, but no one will ever read them. The creature "drains her constant lover of all energy and vitality", taking his life-essence instead of love and "revealing this member of the species to be a kind of essential vampire." Without a tear of farewell, she casts his withered corpse to the side and hunts again for a new "eternal love" (Maberry 95).

Sources:
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings…
Russo, Arlene. Vampire Nation.

Batvamp

2010-03-14T15:51:00.005Z

"Look at Dracula, squint a bit, and you see the Batman." --O'Neil

After sunset, Batman emerges from his lair. Outside of the law, he rounds up his enemies. Dressed in a black cape, he soars through the night sky. He is the Batman, a gothic creature who lurks in the streets of the city as the "popularized image of the bat." The development of Batman, "one of the most popular late twentieth-century super-heroes, (a DC Comics character) . . . must be credited", in some extent, "to Dracula, the 1897 book by Bram Stoker." Similarities between the two characters are undeniable. But, for the most part, Batman is "a human hero with human resources" (Melton 39).

Traditional super-villains in the Batman comics (Joker, Two Face, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, etc) were humans who befell tragedy. However, Batman also encountered vampires throughout the decades. The first vampire appeared in 1939 in a two-part story in issues No. 31 and No. 32 of the Detective Comics. In that story, a vampire took "control of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, unaware that Wayne was Batman." Batman tracked the vampire "to his home in Hungary, which was also the home of his allies, the werewolves. Batman eventually found the vampire and his vampire bride asleep and killed them with a silver bullet fired into the coffins" (Melton 38-9).

"Batman's next encounter with a vampire, Gustav Decobra, occurred in the January 1976 Detective Comics (No. 455). Stranded by car trouble, Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred entered a seemingly deserted house only to find a coffin in the center of the living room. As they searched the house, the vampire emerged from the coffin. After Wayne saw the vampire, he changed into Batman. In the ensuing fight, Batman rammed a stake into the vampire's chest. However, this did no good because Decobra had cleverly hidden his heart elsewhere. . . By the time of their next confrontation, [Batman] figured out that Decobra had hidden his heart in the grandfather clock at the house. When Batman impaled the heart with an arrow, Decobra died" (Melton 39).

Another character, Man-Bat, also brings vampires into the story of Batman, although he is not originally a vampire bat. "In 1982, immediately after the conclusion of the first episode with Man-Bat, where he was cured of the condition that had turned him into a bat, Batman. . . now squared off against vampires again. An unsuspecting Robin was captured by his girlfriend, Dala, who turned out to be a vampire. . . Robin was bitten and then allowed to escape. Because the only way to save Robin was with a serum made from the vampire's blood, Batman went after the vampires. Unsuccessful in his first encounter, Batman was bitten and also became a vampire." In a second confrontation, "he was able to obtain the necessary ingredients to return himself and Robin to normalcy" (Melton 39).

The next encounter with a vampire involves "an altogether different Batman" (Melton 39). "As Batman crusaded for good causes, he also showed his darker side, which found its ultimate expression in a trilogy of graphic novels published between 1991 and 1998. . . DC had toyed with this idea before, but writer Doug Moench and horror artist Kelley Jones grabbed it by the throat and drained all the juice out of it in three increasingly outrageous Elseworld books: Red Rain (1991), Bloodstorm (1994), and Crimson Mist (1998)" (Daniels 173). In these stories, "vampires were a major threat and Batman turned vampire to stop Dracula" (Greenberger 34).

In the first book, Batman heroically battles Dracula, "but ends up infected by vampirism". In the second book, "when readers might have expected a fortuitous cure, the hero turns predator; in a story full of blood puncture wounds, both Batman and Catwoman end up impaled and destroyed. This looked like the end of the story, but in the third book Batman was revived as a loathsome, putrescent monster, ravenous to ravage all his old enemies before finally giving up the ghost himself. Conjuring up some of the most disturbing images in Batman comics or any others, Jones provided a graphic demonstration of what Bruce Wayne might have become if he had chosen vengeance rather than justice as his guide. "It's a pretty vicious story," said Jones. "Like a three-act opera, it ends in tragedy" (Daniels 173).

Batman is a cultural icon, who combines elements of darkness with social morals, into a creature that terrifies and seduces. Like Dracula, he is able to adopt a guise that allows him to blend in with humans; however, in the dark, he stands outside of normal society. Batman can easily transform from a super-hero into a super-villain; however, unlike Dracula, he most frequently chooses the path of heroism, even sacrificing himself for humanity.

I ask this: Would Batman fight a super-villain called Malaria? I think he might.

Sources:
Daniels, Les. Batman the Complete History.
Greenberger, Robert. The Essential Batman Encyclopedia.
Melton, John. The Vampire Book.
Yug. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bat-shadow.svg [Image, Note: this is not the official Batman logo, which is copyrighted]

Home is where you hang your cape

2010-03-02T21:48:00.005Z

If a man's home is his castle, then a vampire's castle is his home. Hardly a vampire story passes into fiction without the description of a palace, mansion, or some grandiose house.

Who can forget Jonathan Harker's first sight of Castle Dracula?

"Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moon-lit sky" (Stoker 13).

Gone is the time of the folkloric revenant, who passed daylight hours in a water-logged caves or crawled from the graveyard beds at first signs of night. Nowadays, even the vegetarian vampires have a veritable palace, albeit it's made largely of glass, which won't help at all to hide their sparkly skin in the noon-day sun. On the plus side, it's easy to see a mob of angry villagers with torches and processional crosses approaching.

But, before the Cullens decided to prettify vampire imagery, the residence of the vampire was depicted as large, dark, and well-secured. Anne Rice describes countless mansions, palaces, and island fortresses that serve as nighttime dwellings for her immortal characters. The castle may change according to the standard of the time, but her vampires often live well. At times, the image of the vampire is nearly inseparable from the spooky fortress that encloses him.

Even one of the oldest of vampire fictions, Varney the Vampire, touts a large manor as an important issue to the vampire. I'd like to be more specific with this example, but I am not able to wade through the bloated dialogue of that ridiculously long penny-dreadful looking for an acceptable quote to back my claim, at the moment. So, take my word for it, or read it yourself.

"Why is Ana so busy?" You may ask...and inevitably someone will.

I'd like to respond, "Writing little blog articles to explain the intricacies of vampiric existence is not the most entertaining or important use of my time", but I should refrain. So, I will tell you that relocation has rendered me too busy to re-read the melodramatic series in the hope of finding the source of the vampire castle. Yes, I have relocated, and that is precisely my point.

You see, castles are horribly impractical for the vampire. Limelight living is not something for which vampires aspire. Let's face it, ostentatious dwellings draw attention. I know. We've all met Sunday drivers who decide to pass their time gawking at and yearning for the homes of the rich as they drive two miles per hour through residential streets. Who wants this sort of attention? Frankly, I don't.

Anyway, once a vampire has hung around the neighborhood long enough, the locals will notice strange habits and feel snubbed by the repetitious refusal of dinner party invitations. All this doesn't even consider the expected life-cycle of a human. Moving away for half a century only to return, claiming to be the grandchild and namesake of the previous occupant, won't work. Why?--paperwork.

Boil it all down, and I'd prefer a cozy little crypt over a palace. But, since graveyards are full of decaying bodies, I'll settle for an inconspicuous little hovel with thick walls and a low security deposit--just in case I have to skip town in a hurry.

Oh, and obliging landlords with few questions certainly make things easier.

Greetings,
Ana

Night Vision

2010-03-01T04:43:00.003Z

"According to Abraham Van Helsing, the voice of authority on vampires in Dracula, the vampire can see in the dark" (Melton 755). This little perk of vampirism comes in handy as the blood-drinker lurks in a shadowy recess waiting for his prey to stumble by him.

Vampiric night vision is a logical assumption, "because vampires [are] nocturnal creatures who [move] freely in the darkness of the evening hours" (755). In order to feel comfortable and secure a creature should be able to use all available senses, so a vampire must be able to see at night. But, let's be honest, you can see at night, too. You just can't see very well.

Nocturnal creatures cannot perceive an environment that is totally dark, either, unless they employ another means of navigation. The bat, for instance, uses sonar. The viper utilizes infrared. Often the vampire is compared to both of these creatures, but can a vampire truly see when the world is devoid of light?

Before we continue further, I will admit that I have rather poor eyesight. I mean, it's probably still better than yours, but I shouldn't brag. Once again, I am an unreliable source of information. My eyes are not equipped with infrared sensors, x-ray emitters, or sonar receivers...but, I really wish that they were; that'd be cool.

Anyway, let's examine what fiction and folklore have to say. Then, we'll discuss the scenario as I...ahem...see it.

In folklore, vampires emerge at night, and in some tales cannot withstand the solar rays. However, vampires are rarely afforded a narrative voice in folklore, and we cannot assume that they possess heightened night-vision just because they are nocturnal.

So, we'll turn to fiction. Certainly, Stoker bestows keen nocturnal sight on his undead characters. Human narrators describe dark scenes through which the vampire navigates flawlessly. In more modern fiction, nearly always vampires are ascribed preternatural sight, including powerful night-vision.

Nina Auerbach points out that Rice's vampires "do little, but they are superb spectators. When they are not killing, they flex their highly developed vampire sight" (154). Not only do Rice's vampires see well in very low light, but they also see well in illuminated scenes. Louis notes how his vision changes--he sees the world through new, vampiric eyes--when he transforms from human to vampire. Armand, as Amadeo, records how lights glow brighter after his death, and paintings seem to come alive. Colors are also bolder, and patterns are more distinguished.

When I argue with Anne Rice, readers of my blog become disgruntled. You'll be happy to know that I'm not contradicting your vampire-guru author...well, I'm not contradicting her overtly, anyway. Vampiric vision relies on acute perception, which is sensing and mentally translating the environment, instead of sonar, infrared, or any other seemingly magical catalyst of night vision. Vampires are nocturnal and are therefore more accustomed to the dark version of the world than diurnal humans. Looming shadows fail to startle the vampire, who realizes that they are nothing more than inanimate objects. Small movements register sharply in the peripherals of the vampire's vision, and he knows to react to these tremors.

So, does a vampire have night vision? Of course, he does. And, unlike you, he understands what he sees.

See you soon,
Ana

Note: Hey, it could be worse. I could have babbled on about the natural bleaching of rods and cones and the regeneration cycles of cells...just think about that.

Sources:
Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires.
Melton, J Gordon. Vampire Book.

So, you're in love with a vampire?

2010-02-14T03:48:00.007Z

Dear human,

I've told you countless times that vampires don't love you as anything other than a tasty treat. I'll be honest: I don't care if you believe me. Your propensity to cling to the romantic notions perpetuated by vampire fiction makes my continued existence just a little bit cushier. After all, dinner is so much easier to woo if it thinks that you mean no harm. So, why do I insist on extinguishing your dreams of vampire romance? I guess it's because I prefer to play with my food, but I don't always like it when my food plays back.

Now that I've cleared the air, I'm going to tell you what you really want to know...
(I know that you do, because it is the most asked...and therefore the most ignored...question that I receive)

How can I attract a vampire?

Really, you don't need to do anything other than be human. Your little beating heart, your warm blood, and your sweet life will be enough, should a vampire be lurking around. But, how can you make him (or her) pick you over all the other little lamb chops in the market?

Rules for attracting a vampire (as defined by Ana)
1. Be disease free.
This is a no-brainer, right? You don't like tainted food, either...Do I have to mention the swine flu (if I hear H1N1 one more time...bah), the pandemic bird flu, or mad cow disease? So...wear a condom, don't drink each other's blood in vampire role-play, and, for everyone's sake, wash your hands.

2. Eat well, and eat often.
I like my food well fed. Forget pale, skinny, and generally undernourished specimens. That look may be all the rage with Twilight lovers, but real vampires like a meal with a little meat to it...even if liquids are preferred over steak. It should go without saying, but eat healthy food...please (I must really mean it if I bothered to write 'please').

3. Don't ask a lot of stupid questions.
No one likes that about you.

4. Stop whining.
Bella, Elena, and Sookie have the whiny-little-human down pat. Come whining to me, and our relationship will last less than ten-seconds...five if Lucius is around.

5. (On the same note) Don't be bossy.
Let your elders do the bossing. Seriously, if you don't want to be told what to do, then avoid relationships with vampires...like I told you to do in the first place.

6. Be interesting.
This is harder than it sounds. I've met a lot of people; most are dull. I've seen a lot of things; most are ordinary. I've heard a lot of remarks; most have been said before. If you want a vampire to take interest in you, then give him something in which to be interested.

That's it. That's how you attract a vampire. Curiously enough, all of those seduction techniques also work on humans. So, why don't you just go and get yourself one of your own kind? ...at least until a vampire decides to take you out for a quick bite.

Finally, I'm sure that you want to know why I tell you all this...
It's Valentine's Day, that's why. And, I'm a firm believer that Valentine's Day just isn't the same without a little bloodshed.

Pucker up,
Ana

Eat dirt

2010-02-10T17:09:00.004Z

"[W]e call ourselves vegetarians," Edward says ominously (Meyer 188).

We've all heard the jokes (or made them); they're impossible to resist. There is a moment when you tilt your head to the side, scowl, and speak out loud to the character: "Edward, dear, Bambi is not a vegetable."

However, taxonomic confusion is not the point of this tirade. A question has been raised repeatedly. Can vampires feed on animal blood?

For my answer, I will pilfer the dialogue of Edward Cullen...again. "If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn't you?" (Meyer 207). Add in the condescending tone for authenticity's sake, and then contemplate the following. A vampire can consume animals, just as you can consume human blood. But, the ability to ingest a substance does not equip that product to be a diet staple.

Before you panic and ask a load of questions, I will pause and address this one: Can humans drink blood? My answer is: Yes, of course they can. Many do. Now, I don't know whether or not drinking blood makes a human sick. Certainly, I've seen humans vomit after consuming blood, but this may very well be the result of a mental reaction to consuming a taboo substance. I don't know, but I don't suggest doing it. You already know that I'm wary about the spread of disease; consequently, I've never explored the subject of human consumption of blood in a scientific manner. Ask someone else.

Now, I'll refer you back to my point. A human can drink blood, but that doesn't mean that a human can live by consuming blood alone. It lacks the nutritional value that humans receive from a varied diet. Humans are omnivores. Vampires are sanguivores...not vegetarians. Humans are generalized (not strictly adapted). Vampires are specialized (physiologically adapted to a specific function). While a vampire may derive some sustaining value from animal blood, it lacks the specialized ingredients that the vampire needs.

The staple of the vampiric diet is human blood. Live with it or die by it. It really doesn't matter to me. But, if you keep asking me to try a diet of animal blood, then I will insist that you try a diet of dirt and see how you fare.

Bah,
Ana

Sources:
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. Little, Brown and Company 2006.

Vegetable Art. [Photo]
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YRHyDLnGwC4/SSyVli9wscI/AAAAAAAAAe4/sWpN31GZGk4/s1600-h/vegetable_art%2520%288%29.jpg

Faster than the human eye

2010-01-23T17:38:00.004Z

Flurrying fingers script the newest stories. Vampire fictions explode from the presses, and novels pile up in bookstores. Tales of blood drinkers are spun rapidly in unrelenting succession. The question is: Can vampires keep up?

Before innumerable writers invaded the genre, one novelist pumped out vampire novels, and she did so at a tolerable rate. Those days are gone, and there is no hope for a mortal to read every page written about vampire lore (prove me wrong; I dare you), but could a vampire? According to Anne Rice, vampires "read at preternatural speed", but such proficiency is to be expected, since her undead creatures tend to sprint faster than the human eye can follow (Armand 386). And, if a vampire can move faster than a human, then it's logical assume that he can read faster, too.

But, how fast are vampires, anyway? Marius' claim to "travel so fast that the world itself become a blur" is surely an exaggeration (169). Isn't it? Rice consistently raises the idea that vampires move quickly, swiftly, and abruptly. It's startling.

In the video version of Interview with a Vampire, Daniel pitifully asks "How did you do that?", referring to Louis' speed. "The same way you do it. A series of simple gestures," Louis answers with astonishing accuracy. "Only I moved too fast for you to see. I'm flesh and blood, you see," he continues. He's only flesh and blood?...I'd buy that. But, he claims to move faster than a human can perceive…Well, at least he doesn't dawdle.

Isn't that a terrifying thought?--A silent, invisible killer who brings death with a bite. If only I could get my hands on one of those vicious blood-drinkers.

Sere,
Ana

Sources:
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Armand, Interview with the Vampire, & Blood and Gold.

Stake your life on it

2010-01-07T01:08:00.007Z

In this exposition, I generally steer clear of certain topics. Chief among the taboo subjects is: How to kill a vampire. Having said that, I would like to discuss the stake.

"What brought about this change of heart?" you may ask. Others among you may be angered that I am exposing such a delicate subject. Let's face it: the idea that staking a vampire will kill him (permanently) is not a hidden secret. "The most well-known way to kill a vampire" is to stake "it in the heart", so we're all familiar with this morbid practice (Melton 645).

However, you may not know the history or extent of staking. "The idea of staking the corpse of a suspected vampire or revenant was quite an ancient practice. It was found across Europe and originated in an era prior to the widespread use of coffins" (Melton 645). Presumably, these ancient people had trouble keeping track of their corpses. Vacant tombs were attributed to vile, demonic forces because it was more reasonable that an unseen evil had kidnapped a body than that wild animals had eaten someone's beloved. The practice of staking the bodies of "persons suspected of returning from their graves" was developed "as a means of keeping them attached to the ground" (Melton 645). You might note that in the ancient legends, the stake did not destroy the vampire, it simply restrained it.

"Once coffins were in popular use, the purpose of staking changed somewhat. Where previously the object of the staking was to fix the body to the ground, the purpose of the staking became a frontal assault upon the corpse itself." Instead of restraining the vampire to his grave, the goal become to rid the world of the vampire. In Bram Stoker's famous story, Dracula, the idea of staking a vampire to terminate its existence is seen in the destruction of Lucy. "Lucy's three suitors and Van Helsing enter the undead Lucy's tomb and truly kill her, driving a stake through her heart..."(Dracula xvi). Eventually, the practice was prescribed as a preemptive strike against a possible revenant. "By attacking the heart, the organ that pumped the blood, the bloodsucking vampire could be killed" (Melton 645).

So, does it work? I won't say.
But, I will warn you of this:
While you may not land a lucky strike with a pointed stick, a vampire can quite easily slay you with the same weapon you drive against him.

Sources:
Melton, J. The Vampire Book
Stoker, Bram. Dracula.

Vampires in uniform

2009-12-20T22:44:00.004Z

If a vampire were to choose a profession, what should it be? Fiction has offered many options: vampires adopt the roles of skilled artists, nightclub owners, and medical doctors. Only one of these professions has viable roots.

Vampires in colonial Africa were nearly indistinguishable from witches. And, the witch could be a revered medium or a "cannibal who consumes the life-force of victims". It often occurs that "accusations of witchcraft arise from incidents of sickness and death" (Stewart 81).

In colonial Africa, "rumors tended to fix on allegations that the European colonists used indigenous minions to collect blood from Africans, which they then consumed to augment their own life-force. Europeans in this image were therefore seen as similar to vampires. The clusters of rumors that formed around this theme fall under the category of urban legends. A central feature in these legends is that firemen in Nairobi, who traveled in red trucks, were ordered by their superiors to catch victims and bring them to fire stations where they were suspended over pits and drained of their blood." This practice created "the terrifying image of draining blood from people as if they were carcasses of meat" (Stewart 81).

Researchers suggest that these rumors originated from a linguistic confusion. The term for 'fireman' existed in Swahili before the institution of the fire brigades. Bestowed upon the health department personnel "in charge of yellow fever control", the term wazimamoto carried with it a "connotation of blood-extractor or vampire". According to researcher Luise White, these rumors serve as a "fairly obvious metaphor for state-sponsored extraction" (White 18). In this way, it is easy to see how vampires became associated with European immigrants and health professionals. "The image of the vampire...straddles the connection between medicine and violence and between indigenous ideas of the supernatural and introduced kinds of scientific technology such as dealing with public health and hospital procedures of taking blood donations" (Stewart 81).

"Vampire rumors purported to unmask the true malevolent intent behind colonial public services" (Stewart 81). It should be mentioned that the term 'vampire' was used loosely, and that neither "Europeans nor their supposed minions were thought directly to suck blood or other bodily fluids, hence the emphasis on the professionalized image of the wazimamoto, as vampires in uniform" (Stewart 81).

What career should a vampire choose? It's a question that even after all these years I cannot answer for myself. If I were to mold myself into a folkloric vampire, I would be forced to walk in the fictive footsteps of Stephenie Meyer's Doctor Cullen. But, we all know that's not going to happen. So, I am left torn between two positions: that of an elf in Santa's workshop (he's a vampire, you know) and that of a totalitarian dictator. Which is more discrete?

Baasi,
Ana

Sources
Stewart, Pamela. Et al. Witchery, Sorcery, Rumors and Gossip.
White, Luise. Rumor and History in Colonial Africa.

Mistaken Identity

2009-12-07T14:42:00.007Z

But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race... (Byron)

"Eight decades before anyone had heard of Dracula, the vampire Lord Ruthven" was unleashed "the world in the first vampire short story, 'The Vampyre,' published in 1819." Initially attributed to Lord Byron, 'The Vampyre' "was an immediate popular success" (Polidori vii). The true author, John Polidori had "accompanied Byron on a continental journey" and modeled his story after that sojourn. Lord Byron became Lord Ruthven, "a mysterious stranger who entered London society" and was eventually revealed to be a vampire.

Described as "the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre", 'The Vampyre' "took the crude entity of European folklore and transformed it into a complex and interesting character, the first vampire in English fiction" (Frayling, Melton 589). The story "exploited the gothic horror predilections of the public" and helped establish a literary fascination that would last centuries (Polidori vii).

In 'The Vampyre', the creature exploded from the folkloric mold. "No longer was the vampire simply a mindless demonic force unleashed on humankind, but a real person--albeit a resurrected one--capable of moving unnoticed in human society and picking and choosing victims. He was not an impersonal evil entity, but a moral degenerate dominated by evil motives, and a subject about whom negative moral judgments were proper" (Melton 589).

In his story, Polidori transforms Lord Byron, the poet, into Lord Ruthven, the vampire, and he transposes the vampiric being from the scapegoat for natural and moral ills to the embodiment of evil. In this case of Polidori's tale, who is the victim of the greatest misidentification? Is it Polidori himself, whose initial glory was usurped by the name of Byron? Is it the romantic poet who was equated with a devilish creature? Or, is it the vampire who was forever transformed into Evil incarnate?

So long,
Ana

Sources:
Byron, George Gordon. "The Giaour."
Frayling, Christopher. Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula.
Melton, J Gordon. The Vampire Book.
Polidori, John. 'The Vampyre'.

How many vampires does it take?

2009-11-30T16:47:00.006Z

Warning: this article includes vampire jokes that have been adapted from Polish jokes. Don't be offended; at least no one sparkles.

How do you get a one-armed vampire out of a tree?
--Wave to him.

"The Polish vampire is a variety of the Slavic vampire," but due to the power of Roman Catholicism in Poland, "many of the beliefs about death and burial that pervaded the mythology of the southern Slavs were absent from Polish folklore".

In Poland, the "future vampire was destined to its fate from birth. Infants born with a membrane cap (caul) on their heads would become a vjesci and those born with two teeth would become a upier/upierzyca". The "vampiric career of the future vjesci could be diverted by removing the cap, drying it, grinding it into a powder (or burning it), and feeding it (or its ashes) to the child when he or she was seven years old". If that process did not scar the child emotionally, the barrage of jokes that followed might.

"Those destined to become vampires led otherwise normal lives," all things considered, "but they were noted to have a hyperactive personality and a red face." The saying "as red as a vampire" was used to describe those whose faces flushed with anger or embarrassment during life.

The vampire accepted his destiny at "the critical period, the time of...death" when "the future vampire would refuse final rites." The body of an individual "suspected of becoming a vampire had to be watched carefully, for it was believed that the person did not truly die." It was believed that "the body cooled very slowly, retained its color, and did not stiffen. Spots of blood often appeared around the face and/or fingernails."

After midnight, the vampire "awakened and began to eat its own clothes and flesh." Then, the vampire would visit relatives and consume their blood. Finally, it would enter "the local church and ring the church bell. Those who heard the bell were destined to be the vampire's next victims."

In Poland, a vampire could be prevented from rising by the presence of a crucifix or coin in the mouth, and a block under the chin. These foreign objects prevented the vampire from eating himself. Furthermore, sand or seeds could be added to the coffin. The belief that a vampire must count all the seeds or sand grains before continuing is echoed in this practice. Nary a vampire could succeed alone in this task, for only a genius knows the number that follows ten.

Should the vampire be exceptionally gifted, the community would dispose of him immediately. The tomb was opened and the body was laid to a final rest. Since the heart could be difficult to find, the slayer drove a nail through the forehead of the vampire. Alternatively, the corpse was decapitated, "after which the severed head was placed between the corpse's feet. At the time the head was severed, blood from the wound would be given to any who had fallen ill as a result of the vampire's attack. The blood caused their recovery", unless the individual had died of some infectious disease, in which case...well...oops.

Na razie & przepraszam,
Ana

Source:
Melton, J Gordon. The Vampire Book: The encyclopedia of the undead.

Breast implants

2009-11-25T16:34:00.005Z

I was asked a ridiculous question the other day. Can vampires get breast implants?

Photo source

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. I imagine that the answer to the question is yes, but let's examine the circumstances closer. If our vampire pal was sculpted from Anne Rice's imagination, the feat of enhancing one's breasts would be impossible due to the unnatural ability to heal from all natural wounds. In Blood and Gold, Mael looses his head (literally), but regains it by supernatural graft. "The gush of blood was appalling, and I could swear that I heard the ripping of preternatural flesh...[the helper] laid the head down in the gushing blood, pushing it ever closer to the gaping neck, until suddenly the head seemed to move of its own volition, the ligaments once more like so many little snakes as the made to meet with those of the trunk, and the whole body gave another lurch and the head was firmly fixed as it should have been" (101). Rice attributes this dramatic healing process to all changes of vampiric body after death, including those that are purely cosmetic. Who can forget the scene in the film version of Interview with a Vampire in which young Claudia discovers that her hair will quickly regrow to its former length, despite lopping it off in the preceding scene? In Rice's vampiric world, breast implants may simply ooze from the animated corpse as it heals itself to its former figure.

But, we don't exist within Anne Rice's imagination, and there are other sources of vampire fiction. In Varney the Vampire, magical properties of moonbeams heal the undead creature, and without his lunar salve the vampire will remain injured. According to the author, the European vampire is a "being which can be killed, but is restored to life again by the rays of a full moon falling on the body...and that the hideous repast of blood has to be taken very frequently, and that if the vampire gets it not he wastes away, presenting the appearance of one in the last stage of consumption, and visibly, so to speak, dying" (71).

To my knowledge, I've never expounded on the notion of vampiric, rapid healing or need to feed. Why should I bother to explain such things? But, in this discussion, I find it necessary to review. The general belief is that vampires heal more quickly than humans. Some believe in the magical restoration of the corpse to the initially undead form, while others believe in a more natural, but still supernaturally quick, restorative process.

In stories in which vampires exhibit a rather natural healing process, foreign objects enter the vampiric body and are then expelled. Humans have a similar healing process when it comes to foreign objects, albeit it happens much slower and on a smaller scale than the expulsion in vampire movies. In humans, a foreign object (think of a splinter) in the flesh may be removed by the shedding of dead skin, the rejection of the foreign object by the body, or by the body's response to an issuant infection. However, when a human receives breast implants, the body reacts by producing a particular variety of cells that encapsulate the implant in order to protect the body from the foreign object. The "persistent presence of a biomedical implant, splinter, particulates, or other foreign bodies inhibits full healing" within humans. "Rather than the resorption and reconstruction that occurs in wound healing, the foreign body reaction is characterized by the formation of foreign body giant cells, encapsulation of the foreign object, and chronic inflammation" (UWEB).

If that is what happens with humans, what happens to vampires who are the recipients of breast implants? Logic may rule out predicted paths. I might assume that the vampiric body reacts in a similar way that the human body would, only faster; however, the human body's reaction requires the construction of a new type of cell. Would the vampiric body produce "foreign body giant cells" in a location where they did not previously exist? Truthfully, I have no idea.

Maybe the vampiric body would reject the breast implant, leading to a rather gruesome expulsion of silicone from the chest. But, I would say, that is the risk a vampire would have to take in order to enhance her cup size. So, if a doctor wants to peel back the pallor flesh and flush out the chest with a pair of silicone beanbags, I don't see why the medic should fear. It isn't as if a vampire is likely to sue for malpractice, anyway.

Tata,
Ana

My twitter followers may already know that I am not well-endowed in certain regions, yet I have not felt the need to dabble in cosmetic surgery. It's just not that important to me. Instead of reading this dribble about vampires and breast implants, visit the blog site of gals who are actively raising awareness of breast cancer. It is important to them.

Talamaur

2009-11-11T19:56:00.005Z

Gathered beside the funeral fire, friends of the dead man whisper. Was that noise real, or is imagination playing tricks with their grieving minds? There it is again: an eerie scratching like the talons of a hawk grasping at bare bones. With a vicious growl, the corpse's brother blindly hurls a stone into the dark. Wounded, the darkness shrieks. The obstructed missile thuds to the spongy ground.

As dawn burns the charcoal sky into the ashy grey of morning, the skittish guards examine the dead. Along the ribs of the corpse, a new wound has opened as if by magic. Wailing, the watchers alert their neighbors, who clamor to spew their judgment. In the back of the crowd, a wrinkled woman feebly clutches her arm. She narrows her dark eyes at the brother of the deceased and rubs the swollen strike of his stone weapon. Dread falls heavily upon the crowd, quieting them into a stifled silence. Returning the glare, the distraught relative recalls a threat issued the evening before: On this, the very night of his death, I will feast upon his body.

"Talamaur," he groans. "What power have you gained over my brother?"

"The talamaur was the vampire[-]like creature of the Banks Islands in the South Pacific... described as a soul or tarunga," this creature "went out and ate the soul or life still lingering around the body of the corpse of a recently deceased person" (Melton 664).

"R.H. Codrington, the main source of information on the creature," reported one woman who "bragged that she would visit and eat the corpse" of each dead neighbor on the evening of his death (Melton 665). Individuals such as this woman are regarded as mediums "who possess the ability to speak with the dead" (Codrington 275). Codrington explains that the people of the Banks' Islands believe "in the existence of a power like that of Vampires. A man or woman would obtain this power out of a morbid desire for communion with some ghost, and to gain it would steal and eat a morsel of a corpse. The ghost then of the dead man would join in a close friendship with the person who had eaten, and would" afflict anyone "against whom his ghostly power might be directed" (Codrington 222). "If people in the village felt afflicted" or if they "developed a sense of dread in the presence of one of their neighbors, that neighbor would be suspected of being a talamaur" (Melton 664).

"To be a Talamaur is not a crime, and some even advertise this service in order to make a living. However, being a Talamaur is risky because whenever something unlucky or disastrous occurs in a villagers the Talamaur is generally blamed, fairly or not, which results in the somewhat traditional throng of angry villagers with torches and pitchforks...Those Talamuar who work for the good of their fellow men are in the minority, however, and the darker-natured ones use this otherworldly ability to contact the dead in order to control them and enslave them, using these servant ghosts to do all manner of mischief" (Maberry 275).

Read about another fiend in this region.

Mbae mi lukem yufala,
Ana

Sources:
MELTON, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book.
MABERRY, Jonathan. Vampire Universe
CODRINGTON, Robert Henry. The Melanesians

Full Moon

2009-11-02T15:01:00.003Z

"As the moonbeams, in consequence of the luminary rising higher and higher in the heavens, came to touch the figure that lay extended on the rising ground, a perceptible movement took place in it. The limbs appeared to tremble, and although it did not rise up, the whole body gave signs of vitality" (Rymer, chapter 5).

In the early vampire fictions, the moon called the vampire from the ground and restored animation to its corpse. "Because the vampire is a nocturnal creature," it was expected to have "special relationship to the moon" (Melton 469). Moonbeams contained restorative powers, and the magic salve of lunar light healed all wounds.

In John Polidori's story The Vampyre (c.1819), "the vampire was killed in the course of the story" (Melton 469). After the "first cold ray of the moon that rose after his death" struck his body, the vampire revived (Polidori).

James Malcolm Rymer built vampiric healing on the same principle as Polidori in Varney the Vampyre (alternatively attributed to Jonathan Preskett Prest; published 1845-47). In this penny dreadful (a pulp-fiction story that was published as a series of short articles), the moon is so pivotal to healing that vampires "always endeavor to make their feast of blood, for the revival of their bodily powers, on some evening immediately preceding a full moon, because if any accident befalls them, such as being shot, or otherwise killed or wounded, they can recover by lying down somewhere where the full moon's rays will fall upon them" (Rymer, chapter 4).

Your logical question is: Does it work? And, for that I say: Bah. I've never been the type to howl at the moon imploring it to save me from my ailments. Full moon equates more light than normal, and superior luminescence encourages humans to risk nocturnal strolls. I harbor no ill-will against the moon goddess, but I'll leave the lunar worship to the wolves.

After Bram Stoker associated the moon with Dracula's "command over the wolves", "the moon became much more associated with werewolves" than with vampires in fiction (Melton 469).

Salud y vida,
Ana

Sources:
Melton, J. The Vampire Book.
Polidori, John. The Vampyre.
Rymer, James Malcolm. Varney the Vampire.

Scholomance

2009-10-27T02:32:00.004Z

What do Harry Potter and Dracula have in common? For starters, they both attended wizardry school.

Dracula learned the secrets of nature and magic at the Scholomance, an occult school that is described to lay nestled "amongst the mountains over Lake Hermannstadt, where the devil claims" every "tenth scholar as his due" (Stoker 383).

"In the novel Dracula...Dr. Van Helsing says that Count Dracula...studied at a school run by the devil himself known as Scholomance" (Stevenson 4). The "Scholomance was an occult school situated in a labyrinth of underground caves where men would make a pact with the devil to gain occult knowledge" (Ramsland 19). The headmaster was paid with the flesh and soul of one pupil who would become a servant to his evil ways. This sinister school remains "hidden at an unknown location variously said to be located in the mountains, the underground, or the other world" (Melton 604).

The scholomance reference in Stoker's Dracula "is important because it associates Dracula, hence Slavic vampires, with witchcraft and Satan, as well as with occult philosophical learning...In her papers, folklore researcher Emily de Laszowska-Gerard talks about the Scholomance as a school where people learned 'the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all magic spells,' as taught by the devil" (Ramsland 20).

"Very little is known of the" origins of the "Scholomance legend. Bram Stoker read about it in a book about Transylvania called Land Beyond the Forest (1888) by Emily Gerard." Some scholars suggest that Gerard misunderstood the term 'Solomonari' as "spoken by a local with a German accent." Was this a case of a foreigner miserably failing to grasp the clear diction of the local region? Perhaps...If the assertion is true, 'scholomance' "is a misnomer." Its appearance "in no other known source, nor in Romanian folklore" leads me to believe that the fantastical label was conjured by the befuddled mind of Gerard (Ramsland 19-20).

Regardless, some society of magical tradition existed, and from the mists of enchantment surrounding the magic men, Gerard spun her article. "Traditional Romanian society recognized the existence of solomonari, or wise ones, considered successors of the biblical King Solomon and bearers of his wisdom...The solomonari were basically wizards whose primary ability was affecting the weather, which they accomplish[ed] through their power over the balauri, or dragons. By riding the dragon in the sky they [brought] rain or drought. The solomonari were thus the Romanian equivalent to shaman" (Melton 603).

A solomonari is recognized as a "large person with red eyes," [possibly permanently swollen from ceaseless studying for the impossible final exam] "and red hair and a wrinkled forehead. He will wear white clothes and will arrive in a village as a wandering beggar. Around his neck will be the 'bag of the solomonari' in which he keeps his magical instruments, including an iron ax (to break up the sky ice thus producing hailstones), a bridle shaped from birch used to capture the dragon, his magical 'book' from which he 'reads' the charms used to master the dragons" (604).

"Legend has it that the Scholomance would admit students ten at a time", and that some of these would become solomonari. "Upon acquisition of the devilish insight" nine would be freed from apprenticeship and one would be retained by the Devil as payment (Leatherdale 107). The students' "final examination involved copying all that they knew about humanity into the Solomonar's book" (Ramsland 20). "Students received their own 'book' at the end of their training, described as a stone talisman with nine mysterious letters in it. In any given situation, the solomonari concentrates on the book, and from it discerns what he should do" (Melton 604). Once initiated, they become full-fledged alchemists with the power to maintain the balance of nature and to preserve order" (Ramsland 20). Stoker's Dracula boasted such powers. Mina Harker writes in her journal, "he can, within his range, direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder, he can command all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat, the moth, and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small, and he can at times vanish and become unknown" (Stoker).

Pa,
Ana

Sources:
Leatherdale, Clive. Dracula: the novel & the legend
Melton. The Vampire Book.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.
Stevenson, Jay. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires.
Stoker. Dracula.

Loogaroo

2009-10-19T02:13:00.005+01:00

Feature this: A dark, dank, fetid, widly overgrown place dominated by alligators and snakes, by tall tupelo trees marching on stilts that, on closer inspection, turn out to be exposed roots. Imagine a dripping, insect-humming monotony of sound that's eerily akin to the uneventful stillness of a mausoleum. This is a place where death is lazy, primitive and anonymous, and thus, vastly more terrifying in its pitilessness (Jakubowski 107).

This is an excerpt from a fictional account of the habitat of a loogaroo in the story Cry of the Loogaroo by John Edward Ames. Loogaroos are "old women, who [have] made a pact with the devil. In return for certain magical powers, they [agree] to bring the devil some warm blood each night" (Melton 431). "The loogaroo is a vampire...Each night she rids herself of her skin, hides it under a tree, and flies off in search of blood, flames shooting from her armpits and orifices, leaving a luminous trail through the sky" (Welland 66).

This "vampire entity [is] found in the folklore of Haiti and other islands of the West Indies, including Grenada. The word loogaroo is a corruption of the French loup-garou, which refers to werewolves. The loogaroo " is a mixture of French demonology and African vampirology. "The loogaroo [is] quite similar to the obayifo of the Ashanti and the asiman of Dahomey" (Melton 431).

The loogaroo "can take on different forms and gain entry" to a home "through the slightest crack, but she has...a weakness: she is an obsessive counter" (Welland 66). Although loogaroos could enter any dwelling, some protection was afforded by scattering rice or sand before the door." Like many other folkloric vampires, the "loogaroo, supposedly, had to stop and count each grain before continuing on its way" (Melton 431). "Compulsive counting appears to be a traditional failing of vampires in a wide range of cultures--presumably Count von Count from Sesame Street is not simply a play on the word" (Welland 66)."

Read the article about malaria in Haiti

Orevwa,
Ana

Sources:
Jakubowski, Maxim. The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book.
Welland, Michael. Sand: The Never-Ending Story

Homosexuality

2009-10-14T05:09:00.005+01:00

Previous articles expounded upon the topics of sexuality and the female vampire and cross-dressing vampires. Following that train of thought, we reach the topic of homosexuality and the vampire.

In literature, the vampire "mixed elements of horror and sexuality. To many, it became a symbol of the release of the powerful emotional energies believed to be bottled up by restrictions on sexual behavior common to many societies" (Melton 341). Samuel Taylor Coleridge introduces the lesbian vampire relationship in his poem "Christabel". In the following verses, we read how "Geraldine leapt upon the bed, and with sudden vehemence enfolded Christabel in her arms".

She took two paces and a stride
And lay down by the maiden's side
And in her arms the maid she took (Coleridge 10).

In the short story "Carmilla", Sheridan Le Fanu draws out the idea of lesbian vampires: "Sometimes after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion would take my hand and hold it with a fond pressure, renewed again and again; blushing softly, gazing in my face with languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous respiration. It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, "You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever" (Le Fanu, Ch 4).

These early works introduce female homosexuality into vampire fiction; however, nearly a hundred years pass before male homosexuality rears its head. "Not until the sexual revolution of the 1960s did a male homosexual vampire appear...During the 1970s several...titles with gay vampires appeared," but "only Tenderness of Wolves was released to the general public. The movie was devoted to the case of Fritz Haarmann [Graphic violence warning], a homosexual serial killer who murdered a number of young boys and drank their blood" (Melton 342).

After the 1970s, homosexual vampires became common place. Most vampires were regarded as ambiguous in gender and sensual in nature. The product of these notions is the homosexual or bisexual vampire. However, the "most significant expression of a vampiric gay relationship" may be contained within Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, in which vampires are unable to consummate sex. Their sexual expression is translated to the sharing of blood, which is, according to Rice, "far superior" to sexual intercourse.

Whether or not blood transfer is more pleasing than a purely sexual connection, I will not say. However, it is important to note how the vampire in literature spearheads the evolution of social norms. The vampire rejects society's taboos and acknowledges alternative lifestyles. The creature of the night, who is considered dark and dead, acts as a guiding light for liberal lives.

Kisses,
Ana
I acknowledge that the above post contains a (quite obvious) pun. It's not meant to be offensive. I'm trusting that you have and exercise a sense of humor in the same way that I laugh off the stereotypes that seek to constrain me.

Sources:
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Christabel"
Le Fanu, Sheridan. "Carmilla".
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book.

Cross-dressing vampires

2009-10-10T16:41:00.004+01:00

"I saw her as if she were a vision when I looked up--a flawless young boy with porcelain cheeks...Oh what a divine guise it was--Bianca as the young nobleman known to the few mortals who mattered as her own brother" (Rice).

The act of cross-dressing exemplifies the mixing of gender roles, whereby one individual trades the socially-conscripted role for the reverse, through the guise of the opposite gender. The previous article [Sexuality & the Female Vampire], discussed how the vampire exemplifies what is taboo in the society. In traditional society, the woman should be a submissive wife or daughter and a sacrificing mother. The converse of the woman's role is that of the female vampire--the sexually aggressive, dominant, and powerful female who not only fails to be a mother but is also accused of destroying children. The female vampire of folklore and literature does not fulfill the social role of the woman; instead, she is the perfect antithesis.

"Many writers realize that it is not enough to reverse the gender roles: the roles would remain the same, only the ascribed gender would change" (Hamilton 7). Females would be as males, and males would be as females, but the dualism of gender roles would still exist. Therefore, literary vampires are described to "transcend gender when they leave humanity behind" (Hamilton 7).

Janet Golding comments on this dissolution of gender in regard to Anne Rice's Louis and Lestat by saying, "I don't think they're so male- or female-looking. I think they sort of cross both lines" (Williamson 157). "Rice voices this directly in the tale of Gabrielle...When Gabrielle becomes a vampire, she turns her back on the social expectations. She also shows her freedom in appearance by dressing up in male clothing, commenting to her son, Lestat: 'But there's no real reason for me to dress that way anymore, is there?'" (Hamilton 7). In truth, there is not. The vampire exists outside or on the fringes of normal society, so there is no reason that a vampire should conform to the physical manifestation of a gender as mandated by society.

Once social skins peel away, the vampire is free to become the pure predator. Blood drinking is a physical pleasure that replaces or accompanies sexual relations. "As sucking is gender-neutral, sexuality becomes freed from gender rules and heterosexual norms. Therefore,...what was the ultimate social evil--crossing genders--has become the ultimate act of liberation" as exemplified by the vampire (Hamilton 7).

Dos besos,
Ana

[Note: Examples of cross-dressing vampires in literature are most poignant in Anne Rice's -Vampire Chronicles-. I have used examples from Rice's work exclusively, but this is not to mean that she is the only author to use this convention.]

Sources:
Hamilton, Richard Paul; Margaret Sonser Bree. This thing of darkness: perspectives on evil and human wickedness

Williamson, Milly. The lure of the vampire

Rice, Anne. Blood and Gold.

Sexuality and the female vampire

2009-10-06T18:34:00.007+01:00

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide, ...
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside--...
So some of him lived but the most of him died--
"The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling

Vamp, "a term coined in the 1910s to refer to a woman who uses her sex appeal to seduce and exploit men", "is derived directly from vampire. The image of a wily woman "sucking the blood...out of her unknowing, naive victim is an enduring misogynist trope of twentieth-century popular culture" (Winokur 345). But, we know that the idea far predates the development of this term.

A majority of the traditional vampires were female. Lilith, Lamia, the Langsuyar, and others make up the legions of female vampires in traditional tales. The Aztec ciuateteo and Greek empusa stand as other examples of how the female vampire victimizes males. These creatures would wait by the roadside to prey on the male travelers who might pass. They may also seduce young men into their beds by promising sex and delivering death. The "female vampire illustrates...cultural anxieties about women and hunger, in which hunger is symbolically related to women's predatory sexuality and aggression" (Silver 117).

"Some post-Freudian theorists have suggested that the vampire signals an end to gender distinctions" (Willimason 157). "The gender of the vampire is ambiguous, he is male and female at once" (Lorey 264). However, the issue of gender and the vampire is more complex than the simple abandonment of gender roles. The vampire "represents what lies beyond the norms and strictures imposed by conventional society and culture" (West-Settle 19). The female vampire contradicts motherhood and the passive female role in sex and relationships. "In addition to their anti-maternal proclivity for feeding upon children, female vampires are overtly and aggressively sexual, using their beauty and seductiveness to prey on both men and other women; in each case, the female vampire's hunger is inseparable from her sexual desire" (Silver 117). In folklore, the female vampire is a tool that can be used to reinforce traditional roles through the fear of disgrace and rejection.

Just as the vampire can be used as a scapegoat for social ills, it also provides an image of the taboo or socially rejected. "Strong, independent vampire women do not suffer dominant males gladly" (Hamilton 9). When applied to society, the "vampire is a subversive borderline figure", who "problematises representation and destabilises the boundaries of gender" (Williamson 157). To encourage socially appropriate behavior, the strong female is aligned with evil, thereby encouraging women to repress their own desires to break free from their gender. Even in the Victorian era literature, vampires "can be male or female, but, except for the figure of Dracula himself, the female vampire, not the male, dominated the late nineteenth-century literary imagination, thereby placing female hunger at the center of literature of horror" (Silver 117).

In the age after the sexual-revolution (socio-political movement in the 1960s and 70s), the Western world has embraced the vampire. Humans are allured by the sexually aggressive vamp; they idolize the vampire for the ability to reject social norms and to live outside the constraints of tradition. What was once feared for being different is now admired and romanticized.

Ta-ta,
Ana

Sources:
Alternate Film Guide. http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/a-fool-there-was-theda-bara-frank-powell/ [PHOTO]

Hamilton, Richard Paul; Margaret Sönser Bree. This thing of darkness...

Lorey, Christoph; John L. Plews. Queering the canon: defying sights in German literature and culture.

Silver, Anna Krugovoy. Victorian literature and the anorexic body.

Williamson, Milly. The lure of the vampire: gender, fiction and fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy

Winokur, Mark, & Bruce Holsinger. The complete idiot's guide to movies, flicks...

Vrykolakas

2009-10-02T04:42:00.005+01:00

A curse upon your enemy: "May the earth spew you forth."
Many of the creatures commonly considered as vampires from Greece "were not vampires in the same sense as those of Eastern Europe. They were spirit beings rather than revivified corpses. The ancient Greeks, however did have a class of revenants, vrykolakas, which would develop into true vampires" over the years (Melton 305).

Leo Allatius "described the vrykolakas, the undecomposed corpse that has been taken over by a demon, and noted the regulations of the Greek Church of the discernment and disposal of a vrykolakas" (Melton 9). In the earliest legends, the identity of the vrykolakas was known, and cremation of the body could stop its nocturnal visits. "It was necessary to burn up the vrykolakas entirely" in order to ensure its permanent riddance of the creature (de Tournefort).

"The ancient revenant was, however, not yet a vampire, or even an object of much fear. The revenant often returned to complete unfinished business with a spouse, a family member, or someone close to him or her in life...In later centuries, stories would be told of....vrykolakas who resumed life in the family. Occasionally, there would be a report of a revenant who...remarried and fathered children" (306).

"Early in the twentieth century, John Cuthbert Lawson spent considerable time investigating the vrykolakas in Greek folklore. He noted its development in three stages, beginning with that of pre-Christian times." In the ancient stories, "the return was by divine consent for a specific purpose," and at times, the "revenant status" was "punishment for human failure." Some myths note instances "when people were cursed with an incorruptible body, meaning that in death the individual would be denied communion with those on the other side of the grave."

After the rise of Christianity, and the development of the Greek Orthodox Church, the idea was framed in the context of religion. The "church taught that a curse could ...prevent the natural decay of the body which at the same time became a barrier to the progress of the soul....[A]s the church came to dominate Greek religious life, it proposed that the dead might become vrykolakas if they died in an excommunicated state, if they were buried without the proper church rites, or if they died a violent death...To these it added two other causes: stillborn children or those who were born on one of the great church festivals" (307).

As the Eastern Orthodox Church spread into other lands, foreign beliefs entered Greece "and began to alter...the understanding of the revenant, transforming it into a true vampire. The significant concept was that of the werewolf...Some Slavic people believed that werewolves became vampires after they died." Scholars argue that "the Slavonic term came into Greece to describe the werewolf..., but gradually came to designate the revenant or vampire" (307). Although it's a point of contention, most believe that the term vrykolakas "was derived from the older Slavic compound term vblk'b dlaka, which originally meant wolf pelt wearer" (305). This compound word is still in use as "the exact equivalent of our 'werewolf'...[T]he reason for the transition of meaning" from 'were-wolf' to 'vampire' lies "in the belief current among the Slavonic peoples...that a man who has been a were-wolf in his lifetime becomes a vampire after death" (Lawson 378).

As the Greeks adopted the Slavic word, they also "absorbed a Slavic view of the possible vicious nature of vampires. The ancient Greek revenant was essentially benign...on occasion it committed an act of vengeance, but always one that most would consider logical. It did not enact chaotic violence" (308). The bloodthirsty and wonton vampire of the Slavs was contrary to the passive Greek revenant. "Gradually, the view that vampires were characteristically vicious came to dominate Greek thought about the vrykolakas" (308).

Xaire,
Ana

De Tournefort, Pitton. Vrykolakas.
Lawson, John Cuthbert. Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion...
Melton, J Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia...

Hypnotic powers of vampires

2009-09-28T02:42:00.005+01:00

"I watched [the vampires] with a sense of soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me...I felt myself struggling to wake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I was becoming hypnotized" (Stoker 44).

Dracula, by Bram Stoker, "contains countless instances of vampires using hypnosis to overpower their victims" (Abbot 39). "The vampire's hypnotic hold on a person" intensifies and evolves after a blood exchange (Melton 357). "In Dracula, it becomes clear that after Mina is bitten, she has a subliminal awareness of her attacker's whereabouts. Under hypnosis, she can describe what she sees and hears as if she were inside the monster" (Ramsland 73). Van Helsing, the vampire hunter, dabbles with "hypnosis but in comparison with the vampire's inherent mastery of these forces, he is a novice." (Abbot 39). Exploiting the hypnotic link between vampire and victim, Van Helsing "hypnotized Mina, and while in a trance she was able to give him information on Dracula's progress on the return trip to his castle" (Melton 357).

"All of Dracula's characteristics" including "his use of telepathy and hypnosis...are products of a nineteenth-century reexamination of science and the supernatural, and suggest the entrance of scientific study into a period of extraordinary science where all systems of belief are challenged and anything is possible" (Abbot 40). Mind-control defied the autonomy of the individual and terrified in the populace by threatening to use their own bodies against themselves.

Approximately a hundred years before Stoker wrote his novel, the public heard the early whispers of hypnotic induction. "Franz Anton Mesmer late in the eighteenth century...first brought hypnosis to popular awareness," although scholars and a majority of the masses regarded it as quackery. In 1843, "John Braid coined the term hypnosis...in reference to Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep." (Ramsland 74). Around the time that Stoker wrote Dracula, the medical community investigated hypnosis as a possible alternative or supplement to medical procedures and as a treatment for psychiatric disorders.

However, "the use of hypnosis as a tool of a vampire" may not have originated "with Stoker. Many eastern European vampire legends suggest that the vampire could hypnotize the living in order to overpower their victims" (Abbot 37). Whether the idea of forced sleep or mind control is an authentic element of the folklore, or if it was attributed to the legends post-eighteenth century, is a mystery. Some experts assert that true "hypnotic powers were not evident in the accounts of the folkloric vampire," instead claiming that since the vampire "often attacked at night while its victims slept" hypnosis was not necessary. Victims who reported sleep-walking or waking with "the vampire hovering over them" may have simply been in deep, natural sleep.

To my loyal followers and faithful readers:
If you are brazen, take a stab at the answer to this question: Do I lure people with hypnosis?

Adeu,
Ana

Sources:
Abbot, Stacey. Celluloid vampires: life after death...
Melton, Gordon J. The Vampire Book: The encyclopedia of the undead.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula.
Ramsland, Katherine. The Science of Vampires.

Vampires in Belarus

2009-09-23T16:08:00.001+01:00

"In films a vampire and werewolf are distinctly different monsters, but in folklore they are sometimes very much alike" (Maberry, Vampire 313). An interesting case emerges in Belarus with the Mjertovjec. Fabled to be the son of a werewolf, a witch, or a dead bridegroom, this creature "has qualities of both monsters" during its prolonged existence (May 10. Maberry, Vampire 213). Apart from birth and death, an individual can transform into a Mjertovjec by following the path of "an apostate...[someone who deliberately abandons faith or defies the church], heresy, or [commits] other crimes against God." (213)

"At the core of the legend is one of the strangest and most frightening twists of supernatural folklore: In Belarus, when a werewolf or witch dies, the spirit does not dissipate or 'move on'; instead it returns to Earth" "as a vampire" (Maberry, Vampire 213, Maberry, Bad 248). This is not an ordinary vampire, but a very powerful one who terrorizes people from midnight until morning. "The Mjertovjec is a night-hunter and must return to its grave once a rooster has crowed three times. If it does not, it loses its ability to fly and then flops to the ground, where anyone with a torch and some kindling can kill it" (Maberry, Vampire 214). The creature is only susceptible to fire, but a sharpened iron spike driven through its heart can immobilize it in the grave for a short while.

"[N]ot all of the Mjertovjec rises from the grave: Only its head and upper chest tear free of the corpse and float through the air to hunt for blood. This peculiarity is rarely seen...among vampires of Europe" although, it is a common phenomenon in other parts of the world, particularly in Asia (214).

Curiously, "the Mjertovjec does share in" the quintessential "obsessive-compulsive need to stop and count seeds left outside" (214). Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie reports that the way approaching the grave in Small Russia [Belarus] is covered with seeds, which the vampire (Mjertovjec) must pick up before it can return.

Der Weg zum Grabe wird in Kleinrussland mit Mohnkornern bestreut, welche der Vampyr (Mjertovjec) aufzulesen hat, ehe er wiederkommen kann (Berliner 143).

Among other European vampires, the Mjertovjec is particularly grotesque with a purple face and a mutilated body. During all stages of its existence, it proves itself to be an enemy to the Church and to the populace, and it continues to curse the villages even after its mortal death.

Sources:
Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, et al. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie.
Maberry, Jonathan. Bad Moon Rising.
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings...
May, Heinrich. Die behandlungen der sage von Eginhard und Emma.

Malay Vampires

2009-09-15T23:44:00.003+01:00

Pain from child birth crumples the face of a young woman. Sweat saturates her glossy hair, matting it into stringy, dark locks. Shuddering, she lets out a final groan before collapsing from exhaustion.

The midwife whispers, "The child is already dead."

Malay vampires emerge into the world through sorrowful suffering like this. "The vampire has two manifestations in Malaysia: the langsuyar [langsuir] and the pontianak" (Bush 195). These 'undead' creatures are intimately related, and often confused in the folklore of Malaysia and the surrounding regions.

"Any woman giving birth who died upon discovering that her child was stillborn was thought to become" a langsuyar (Konstantinos 24). The original "langsuyar was a very beautiful woman who had a stillborn baby. The woman flew off into the trees. She is denoted by her ankle-length black hair, green robe and her long fingernails, a Malaysian indicator of female pulchritude" (Bush 195). "The langsuir was not described as having fangs like other vampires, rather," she "sucks the blood of infants through a hole in the back of her neck, hidden by her copious hair" (Konstantions 24, Bush 195).

Malay folklore provides a way that the langsuir "can be captured and cured of her curse in such a way that she can once again live an almost normal life" (Konstantinos 8). This revival may be "accomplished by a mortal who would cut the vampire's nails and hair, and stuff them into the hole in her neck" (24). The task is not easy, but it will return the woman to the mortal condition prior to her miscarriage and subsequent transformation into a langsuyar.

"The pontianak is curiously complimentary to the langsuyar. It's a stillborn child that transformed into an owl-like creature" (Bush 195). "In the Malay Peninsula the Pontianak (or Mati-anak) is usually distinguished as the ghost of a child who has died at birth." This ghost may take possession of living humans and impart impossible powers upon them. "There are many references in Malay literature to the flying performances of Malayan heroes" who were supposedly under the influence of the childlike creatures (Folklore 135).

"Before we move away from Malaysia, one more vampire (not a species, but an individual, legendary creature) deserves mention--the penanggalan. That creature was also believed to be female; a woman who was interrupted in the middle of a penance ceremony. From her great shock and rapid movement, her head became separated from her body and flew off as an evil spirit. The creature was later heard whining on the roofs of houses where children were being born. She apparently wished to get inside the houses to drink the children's blood." (Konstantinos 24). They are also known to be "evil spirits that take possession of women and turn them into predatory witches" (Stevenson 96).

"Just to confuse matters, it is also believed that sorcerers can often raise bodies from the dead and command them to do their bidding...such beings could drink blood or spread disease. Malaysia was a case in point for many of these vampires" (Curran128). Vampires in Malaysia are terrifying and mournful creatures. "Such demons may have served in part to frighten women into upholding the responsibilities of wifedom and motherhood, lest they, too, become monsters" (Stevenson 84).

Kopiruba kawagu,
Ana

Read the blog article about Malaysia, monkeys, and malaria.

Sources:
Bush, Laurence C. Asian horror encyclopedia: Asian horror culture in literature...
Curran, Bob. Vampires: a field guide to the creatures that stalk the night.
Folklore Society (Great Britain). Folklore.
Konstantions. Vampires: the occult truth.
Stevenson, Jay. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires.

Vampire hunters

2009-09-10T15:04:00.007+01:00

Preface:
A reader requested this topic. I am not an expert on vampire hunting, and I do not know the 'secrets' associated with the -sport-. The tradition of the vampire hunter is as complex and detailed as vampire lore. I can only give you a brief glimpse at this sinister world. Undoubtedly, someone will respond that vampire hunters and blood-drinkers are fictional. To that dear one I say: I wish you were right.

"Into each generation a slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a chosen one. One born with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers" (Buffy). Aficionados of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recognize this legend, but vampire hunters are much older and much more prolific than you may imagine.

"The vampire slayer is cut from the same cloth, is the product of the same social or religious violations, as the vampire" (McClelland 107). "The vampire and the vampire slayer are similarly marked as 'non-Christian'; they are in a sense related to each other and in all likelihood reenact a mythological struggle that pre-dates Christianity. In other words, where Christianity finds the vampire, it also finds his slayer" (105). "The notion of a vampire slayer has a very ancient precedent, which existed in a time and place where it was socially more useful to produce a vampire as a guilty criminal than to incriminate one's friends and neighbors" (29).

As is often the case, the vampire is the scapegoat for socially shunned actions, ills, and evils. "Ordinarily, no one would admit to being a vampire of any sort (since to do so would be to acknowledge one's marginal or negative social status, as well as to confess that one was in fact dead)"; however, the same is not true for the vampire hunter (104). Like the vampire, the slayer operates outside of society and is not inhibited by law, yet often, the slayer is excused from immoral or questionable activities by the virtue of their abilities. Furthermore, "while the vampire slayer is marked by a connection to the demonic, this special status is not something that must be hidden" (104).

Surely, there are those hunters who prefer to hide their identity to maintain safety and sanity, but nondisclosure is not conscripted. Generally, vampire hunters know and abide by the rules of society provided that they do not interfere with their mission. Educated or well-trained individuals set the bench-mark for vampire hunters in fiction. Van Helsing appears "to represent the epitome of the vampire hunter: an older man experienced in both science and the occult who knows what to do but who remains fairly secretive" (157). Anne Rice transforms the idea of a vampire hunter into a semi-secret society that studies vampires--the Talamasca. In Rice's Vampire Chronicles, "the idea of the vampire hunter...is rather curiously inverted: it is the vampire protagonist who must tell the vampire hunter" (in the case of Interview with the Vampire, "the reporter-narrator-interlocutor) of his actions and therefore his evil identity" (28). The would-be hunters are not slayers in traditional sense, so much as they are watchers.

The notion of a watcher, who is very familiar with the legends and histories of vampires, resurrects in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here, the watcher fulfills the "wise old-man" role from Van Helsing. Buffy takes on the aggressive violent role and "restores some sense of the original power relationship between vampires and vampire slayers by establishing a fairly simple superhero who acts outside the rule of law...the structure also mimics the centuries-old folkloric idea that only someone who possesses special powers can see or destroy a vampire" (28).

Vampire hunters go by many names in folklore. Some of the more common are the dhampir, the glog, the vampirdzia, and the sabotnik. Each individual of these types has the possibility of becoming a vampire. The dhampir, glog, and vampirdzia are the hybrid offspring of humans and vampires. The individuals can awaken to their vampiric nature by consuming blood or they can transform into a "vampire hunter who had extraordinary powers" that are "derived from the vampire" (Ramsland 161).

The sabotnik is not necessarily the child of a vampire. These individuals are distinguished by the day of their birth. "Saturday, especially the Saturday before Easter, is a dangerous time to be born: if the native does not become a vampire, (s)he may become a sabotnik" (McClelland 100). A sabotnik is a seer of vampires. Often, these individuals regard their gift-of-sight as a curse.

All vampire hunters in folklore "can recognize vampires" easily and are in that way predisposed to acting as slayers, although they are often regarded as sinister individuals by average society (Handeland 131). "In order to quell the dead intruder without reinforcing the deceased's alienation, a special person is identified to take care of the social problem. That person becomes a vampire hunter or slayer, a surrogate and mediator who battles violence with counteractive violence" (McClelland 29).

An intriguing duality between the vampire and the slayer emerges in folklore. A vampire is brought into the world by violence, whether it be a violent death, the rape of a human mother, or the grisly bite of vampiric monster. Once the revenant exists in the mortal world, it can only be disposed of through violence by the hand of the slayer, "who has the capacity to become a vampire" by virtue of birth. In essence, the slayer "ritually reverses the vampire's coming into existence by reenacting the violent scene that promoted a victim to a villain" (McClelland 98).

In this dualistic scenario, who represents Evil, and who represents Good? Is the vampire, who struggles to survive against all odds, evil? Is the hunter, who tortures and murders an already abused victim, good? Obviously, I may be slightly biased...

Vaarwel,
Ana

Sources:
Celebrity Wonder. (image)
Handeland, Lori. Doomsday Can Wait.
McClelland, Bruce. Slayers and their vampires: a cultural history of killing the dead.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.

Commercial Break

2009-09-08T15:53:00.006+01:00

Consider this a public service announcement that interrupts your normally scheduled programing. [Don't worry; I will not use the disturbing routine of a ghastly, child narrator who was killed by a drunk-driver.]

It has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions that my ambiguous identity arouses suspicion. My face is obscured in photos for security. I interact with people on a daily basis, and I cannot have my neighbors holding exorcisms outside my house.

However, my choice to remain partially hidden should not be interpreted as trickery. I connect with you on twitter for a single purpose (Read it here). I am NOT a role-player. I do not operate multiple twitter accounts in the attempt to drum up extra support.

Also, I am not @WhoisJonathon8, @MTMK102, @CalistaThan, @LucRevenant or @LordBarren. I cannot tell you their whereabouts, current dispositions, political ideology, or speak with authority on whatever other concerns they pose to you. Sure, the voices in my head are often contentious, but I do not air my internal dialogue on twitter [read with sarcasm].

Furthermore, if someone other than @AnaRevenant is tweeting under my name, then they are doing so without my permission, and they should consider choosing a more reputable individual to impersonate. Seriously, you won't get far by using my name.

One more thing: Don't take this message too harshly, if you were one of the individuals who asked if I maintained multiple online-personalities. The question has been posed several times by several different people. You are not alone, but do not make the same mistake again.

Dic mihi solum facta,
Ana

Vampires in Guyana

2009-09-05T21:29:00.004+01:00

In April of 2007, "A crowd of Guyanese villagers lynched an elderly woman," who "they accused of being an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies." She was beaten to death after authorities handed her over to villagers "who apparently believed she was an 'Old Higue' --the equivalent of a vampire in the local Obeah religion that blends folk magic with African rituals" (Guyana).

The "Old Higue are women, and...It is believed that Old Higue starts to roam at the time when people have settled in for the evening and thus the place is quiet" (Gibson 28). Some Guyanese "expressed surprise at the persistence of [the] belief in Higues, a creature said to take the shape of an old woman who can shrink herself to enter victims' homes through a keyhole" (Guyana).

"The word higue ['haig] derives from the English word hag, here meaning a 'witch'" (Le Page 97). The Old Higue most frequently sucks blood from the back of the neck of young boys and babies. "Dressing a child in blue nightclothes is said to be a means of repelling an Old Higue attack" (Gibson 28).

A Creole poem, transcribed by Martin Carter, explains some strange attributes of the Old Higue and reveals her critical weakness.

Old Higue in the kitchen
peel off her skin--
mammy took up old higue skin
and pound it in the mortar
with pepper and vinegar.
"Cool um water cool um
cool um water cool um."
Old Higue come back to the kitchen
"Cool um water cool um"
She grab the skin out of the mortar
"Cool um water cool um"
She danced meringue when the pepper
burn up her skin--
dance meringue when the pepper burn up her skin
"skin skin you na know me
skin skin you na know me"
she danced meringue when the pepper
burn up her skin. (Gray 27)

Shibuye ba,
Ana

Read also: Malaria & Antibiotics in Guyana

Sources:
Gibson, Kean. Comfa religion and Creole language in a Caribbean community.
Gray, Cecil. Bite in 1.
"Guyana woman accused as vampire lynched." WorldWide Religious News. 30 April 2007.
Le Page, Robert Brock. Tabouret-Keller, Andree. Acts of identity: Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity.

Vampires in South Florida

2009-09-02T03:54:00.007+01:00

Miami: "The happy hunting ground of the devil."

South Florida sets an idyllic stage for quite a few vampire dramas in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. "Miami beckons;" she offers "victims just waiting" to be ensnared(Rice: Queen; 491). It is "the vampires' city".

What an attractive opening scene is "South Beach at sunset, in the luxurious warmth of the winterless winter, clean and thriving and drenched in electric light, the gentle breeze moving in from the placid sea, across the dark margin of cream-colored sand, to cool the smooth broad pavements full of happy mortal children" (Rice: Tale; 9). South Florida provides a paradise for all who dwell near the Atlantic shore. Vampires stroll beneath the fronds of coconut palms, silhouetted in the moonlight. From perches in al fresco cafes, they watch the scantily-clad humans as they march down the promenade. Translucent sarongs cling to the oiled thighs of women from every nation. Men, fresh from the gym and glazed in sweat, gawk at halter-bound breasts as their bearers bounce between bars and nightclubs. Miami Beach is a market for flesh--in more ways than one.

"Most people have no idea how many vampires are out there" (Mooney). In South Florida a "community of vampires" thrives. These individuals "sometimes spell [the word] vampyre to differentiate" themselves "from the fictional...forms. They identify with the lonely, torn spirits in vampire stories, but these folks are not your typical goth kids. Nor are they role playing. Some of them claim to be psychic vampires with an ability to drain energy with their minds. And some are sanguine - vampires who lust after and feed on human blood."

The community in South Florida "consists of circles of like-minded vampires and donors, often called 'black swans,' who are willing to let a vampire drink from them." And, wherever vampires thrive, vampire hunters lurk. These "slayers" are "deranged individuals who sometimes try to harm or kill the vampires" (Mooney). Inspired by tales like Van Helsing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, these glory-seekers arm themselves with arsenals of ridiculous weapons and gallop off, unthinking, like tragic heroes. But, the "slayers" are not heroes and the vampires are not demons incarnate.

"As vampires become pop-culture icons...it's important for the public to understand the truth about this large, mostly unknown segment of society." Vampires are not necessarily devil-worshipers. "There are a lot of Christian vampires. There are Jewish vampires, Buddhist vampires, vampires of every religion. It's just about a philosophy on energy" (Mooney). "It's not Satanism, and we are not evil," declares Evan Christopher, who hosts a Vampire Gathering in Florida. In truth, most vampires of South Florida do not believe themselves to be evil, and they adhere to a strict code of ethics that protects the individuals and the community.

In Miami, the curtain opens in the real "Theatre Des Vampires," but whether you attend a comedy or a tragedy is a matter of perspective (Rice: Vampire).

Sources:
Mooney, Michael J. "South Florida's underground vampires lust for more than your heart." New Times. 03 Feb 2009.

Rice, Anne. The Tale of a Body Thief.

Rice, Anne. The Queen of the Damned.

Vampires & The Tibetan Book of Death [Graphic]

2009-08-27T04:23:00.006+01:00

He "will tie a rope around your neck and lead you away. He will cut off your head, rip out your heart, pull out your guts, lick your brains, drink your blood, eat your flesh, and gnaw your bones." He is Shinje, the Tibetan Lord of Death, who is also called Yama in nearby regions (Thurman 175) [Excerpt from the Tibetan Book of Death].

In the article about vampires of India, I mentioned the wrathful deities of Tibet and Nepal. You will recall that these deities were among the first named vampiric creatures (Konstantinos).

"Vampire qualities" may have first appeared "in the fang-like teeth of the carved images of...the Tibetan devil Yama" (Varma 13). "Stories of these weird gods who subsisted by drinking the blood of sleeping persons originated with the Hindus of ancient India. And Tibetan manuscripts concerning vampires were held in such high regard that they were embalmed to increase their sanctity...The vampire motif is an anthropomorphic theme, a human-animal, life-death configuration. The vampire kills and re-creates. He is the Destroyer and the Preserver, for the passive vampires of life turn into active ones after death" (Stuart 13).

In Tibet, "vampire folklore...followed their religious beliefs"(Konstantinos 24). Shinje is maintained as a true deity in Tibetan religion. "The King of Existence is also the Lord of Death, Shinje, the husband of Kali. Shinje drinks human blood as well as consumes both human and horse flesh. It is said he 'rests on the great flames of existence and subdues even the tortures of hell', thus Shinje is both dark and light" (Ford 86). The Tibetan incarnation of this god possessed a green body and carried the Wheel of Life in his clawed hand. He is also considered the Judge of the Dead.

However, Shinje is not the only vampiric entity to reside in Tibet. "Tibet, like India and China, possessed a rich pantheon" of "Wrathful Deities who appeared in The Tibetan Book of the Dead" (Melton 852). "In it fifty-eight blood-drinking deities are described. Those Wrathful Deities, as they were called (actually the description in the Tibetan Book of the Dead makes them seem more like entities than deities), inhabited the land of the dead. The Tibetans also believed that the spirits of the dead could inhabit corpses and cause them to rise and attack the living." (Konstantinos 24-25).

A dead body became a liability to neighbors, who often could not bury the body because the ground was "frozen hard during the winter" (Bell). Timber and other fuel was also in short supply, so bodies may have been dismembered to prevent them from changing into a dakini (also called khandro or khandroma in Tibet), which is "a type of Tibetan vampire" (Muses). Measures were taken to ensure complete destruction of a corpse after death. "Excarnation would seem one of the more effective methods of body disposal...In Tibet the process is particularly gruesome: the flesh is separated from the bones of the body by workers with knives rather than the birds that consume the flesh." "Here we see what an eternal embarrassment corpses can be" (Barber 171).

As in many vampire legends, the name, Dakini, may have originally referred a single entity, which was "the feminine energy principle, associated with knowledge and intelligence". This force could have been "either destructive or creative." The lofted Dakini was paired with Vidyadhara, as in this poetic passage: "Vidyadhara...will appear, white in colour, with a radiant smiling face, embracing his consort the White Dakini, dancing with a crescent knife and a skull full of blood, gesturing and gazing at the sky" (Purjavadi 107). "Iconographic representations tend to show the dakini as a young, naked figure in a dancing posture, often holding a skullcup (kapala) filled with menstrual blood or the elixir of life in one hand, and a curved knife (kartika) in the other. She may wear a garland of human skulls, with a trident staff leaning against her shoulder. Her hair is usually wild and hanging down her back, and her face often wrathful in expression, as she dances on top of a corpse, which represents her complete mastery over ego and ignorance" (Campbell 138).

Eventually, the image of dakini morphed to include a number of blood-drinking individuals. Legends describe "countless crowds of dakinis...wearing the six bone-ornaments, with drums, thigh-bone trumpets, skull-drums, banners made from the skins of youths, canopies made from human skin, ribbons of human skin and incense made from human flesh...filling all the regions of the universe so that they rock and tremble and shake" (Purjavadi 54-55). The dakinis are called Khandroma, which "means Sky-goer or Sky-dancer" (Nus-Idan-rdo-rje 224). They move in the air and cover the earth, spreading with them the tales of vampires. "Westerners have" often "viewed vampire lore as a fascinating but unsolved enigma, but the origins of" these myths may "lie in the mystery cults of Oriental civilizations" (Stuart 13).

Tingla thugen,
Ana

Sources:

Barber, Paul. Vampires, burial, and death: folklore and reality

Bell, Charles. Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery: Trepan, Hernia, Amputation, Aneurism, and Lithotomy. (1821)

Campbell, June. (1996). "Traveller in Space: In Search of the Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism". George Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-1406-8 p. 138

Ford, Michael W. Adamu. Luciferian Tantra and Sex Magick.

Konstantinos. Vampires: the occult truth.

Melton, J Gordon. The vampire book: the encyclopedia of the undead.

Muses Realm. Vampires. 27 August 2009.

Nus-Idan-rdo-rje, Stag-sam. Sky dancer: the secret life and songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel.

Purjavadi, Nasr Allah. Peter Lamborn Wilson. Kings of love: the poetry and history of the Ni'matullahi Sufi order

Stuart, Roxana. Stage blood: vampires of the 19th century stage.

Thurman, RAF. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, trans, of Padma Sambhava.

Varma, Devendra. Varney the Vampire

Which one of these things...

2009-08-26T15:27:00.010+01:00

Which one of these things is more likely than the other?
1. a vampire that teaches you grammar
2. a vampire that teaches you to count

Blood Tears

2009-08-24T19:58:00.007+01:00

Calista is exasperated by the barrage of questions about vampiric bodily fluids.

I say:
People, that's gross! And, leave Calista alone. She doesn't want to answer these ridiculous questions.

I absolutely refuse to discuss the finer points of vampiric digestion [EVER]. It's not going to happen, so get over it. Having said that, I will address a trait that frequently arises in modern fiction--the myth of blood tears.

In Interview with a Vampire, Anne Rice effortlessly describes "the stain of tears, tinged with mortal blood" (Rice 258). The reader cannot help but envision a pale, porcelain cheek striped with the trails of crimson tears. The imagery is beautiful.

Rice is not the only author to describe blood-tainted tears. Raven Hart's vampire narrator says, "One of my tears fell onto her fine skin. The tear was tinged pink with the blood that animates my body" (Hart 212). Cecilia Tan's vampire feels the need to explain his clear tears "If I had been feeding on people, they would be blood tears," he says (Tan).

Like most dramatically romantic characteristics, "the notion that vampires cry blood tears" is a "new and unique development, but not one that makes biological sense. Presumably, vampires" must "have other fluids inside their bodies" and if tears were affected, then liquids like "saliva would be blood as well" (Ramsland 66-7).

Can you imagine every drop of sweat, snot, and saliva being reduced to blood? You would be left with no other way to describe a vampire than to say that he is "a bloody mess." It's not a pretty picture anymore, is it?

"Why the ingestion of blood would produce blood tears any more than the ingestion of wine would make [humans] weep red zinfandel is a mystery" of fiction (Ramsland 67). Certainly some authors have tried to make excuses for this medical marvel. Erin McCarthy offers this solution: "the vampire trait of crying blood tears...is usually chalked up to sinus infections" (McCarthy 164). While bacterial conjunctivitis can cause an individual to cry blood-stained tears, you can't believe that vampires have perpetual sinus tract infections. What an existence that would be!

Now, I'm not saying that Haemolacria [definition: physical condition whereby a person produces tears which are partially composed of blood (wikipedia)] is impossible; I am saying that it is not a trait that arises from vampirism. If haemolacria and vampirism were linked, then you would certainly no longer see vampires as the sexy, suave creatures of modern fiction.

That is all,
Ana

Sources:
Abstract Desktop Nexus. Tear for a vampire. [Picture]
Hart, Raven. The Vampire's Seduction.
McCarthy, Erin. High Stakes.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.
Rice, Anne. Interview with a Vampire.
Tan, Cecilia. A Taste of Midnight: Sensual Vampire Stories.
Wikipedia. "Haemolacria". 24 August 2009.

Vampires in Ethiopia

2009-08-21T04:17:00.005+01:00

I prefer to write parallel articles for the malaria and revenant blog whenever I can, but in Ethiopia I found a problem. There are certainly blood-drinker legends that circulate in Ethiopia, but few are of "true" vampires. Instead, we have the Bouda, which "is a hard creature to classify because its evil qualities are many and they overlap. For example, it is a living vampire, and a shape-shifter, a bloodsucker, and a flesh-eater" (Maberry 51). They are rumored to live in the "Devil's Cave, somewhere near Nek'emte, in the Welega division of Ethiopia" (Eberhart). They are "unique among the world's theriomorphs" as they take the form of a "were-hyena". Originally from Morocco, this creature is "also found in Tanzania". It "is a living vampire--a bloodsucker that has the nature while still alive, as opposed to one who becomes a monstrous predator after rising from the grave. The Bouda is also a deliberate theriomorph and uses sorcery to transform itself." "Most Boudas are blacksmiths by trade, and they labor in their forges to make amulets and charms of enchanted metals that will enhance their own inherent preternatural strengths" (Maberry 51).

"Without the charm two things happen: first, the Bouda is unable to regain human form, and second it eventually becomes a true hyena, losing all of the human cunning it...possesses even when in animal form". "Though fierce, the Bouda does not possess supernatural strength and has no powers of invulnerability, and can therefore be killed by any ordinary means either in human or animal shape" (Maberry 51).

With the legends of Bouda, we find the myths of an Ethiopian vampire bat that is "said to feed on the blood of animals and humans, causing puncture wounds and debilitating sickness" (Eberhart). The myths of Bouda and mysterious vampire bats intrigued Byron de Prorok, who in the 1930s "explored a cave said by the locals to be haunted by hyena-men and a death bird. The hyenas proved real enough, and so did the death birds, in the form of a huge swarm of bats." In truth, "the only known sanguinivorous bats are found in Mexico, Central, and South America," yet Prorok referenced illness in relation to them and the cave he explored (Eberhart). Eberhart speculates that "infected bites from parasites carried by the bats might be mistaken for bat bites" themselves.

As any reader of my blog knows, parasites can cause particularly debilitating illnesses. Ethiopia has not yet escaped the blight of parasites and is still contending with the assault of malaria.

Dehna hunu,
Ana

Sources:
Byron Khun de Prorok, Dead Men do tell tales.
Eberhart, George. Mysterious creatures: a guide to cryptozoology.
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings...
Wikipedia. Spotted Hyena [Photo].

Vampires in Nigeria

2009-08-17T13:54:00.004+01:00

"In pre-colonial Africa, among the polygamous Yoruba in Nigeria, the vampire tale took the form of witch-wives. These women were described as jealous witches who secretly sucked the blood of their husbands and of the children of the other wives. The local folklore even said women could be turned into bloodsucking witches against their will if they were tricked into eating human flesh or drinking human blood" (Tyree). "Indeed in Nigera, the main type of vampires is an obeyifo [also obayifo] who is a living person dwelling in the local community who uses his or her vampire powers against neighbors" (Curran 174). "The Obayifo is a living vampire, usually a sorcerer or witch, who actually sheds its skin at night and rises into the air in the form of a blazing fireball. The Obayifo is born with these abilities rather than being the result of a curse; and the sorcerer-vampire revels in the vast powers it possesses. The Obayifo is malicious and though it is a blood-drinker, it apparently also feeds off of the pain and misery caused by its attacks, making it an essential vampire as well" (Mayberry 238).

"The Obayifo only takes a small amount of blood, but either its bite is poisonous or its saliva carries disease germs. The loss of blood is marginal, but the onset of disease is often fatal" (Mayberry 239). "To this end, the effects of diseases such as tuberculosis are put down to malefic and vampiric witchcraft" (Curran 173-4). "If a village suspects that the Obayifo is preying on the children, spells and charms can be used to seal the house against invasion; and denied its food the Obayifo can bide its time by feeding on fruits and vegetables. Apparently it does not need blood for its survival, and the Obayifo is a patient monster" (Mayberry 239).

"Besides sucking the blood of victims, they are supposed to be able to extract the sap and juices of crops" (Williams 175). "To amuse itself it may wither the plants and bring on a crop blight that will do as much harm as the blood-borne disease would have done" (Mayberry 239). "Drowning or strangulation were the preferred methods of execution, so as to avoid spilling the 'contaminated' blood of the obayifo" (Allman 260).

"It was even held that if a man but looked upon a corpse he established that mysterious psychic connexion which would render him liable to be attacked by the spirit of the deceased. Among the Ibo people in the district of Awka, Southern Nigeria, one of the most important taboos which has to be preserved by the priest of the Earth is that he may not see a corpse, so terrible is held to be the spiritual contagion. Should he by an unlucky chance meet one upon the road he must at once veil his eyes with his wristlet" (Summers 269). "The Ibgo people of southern Nigeria wear a protective bracelet that binds the soul to the body and thus prevents an evil spirit taking possession" (Glenday). "This wrist-band or bracelet is a most important periapt or charm since it is regarded as a spiritual fetter keeping the soul in the body, and to bind such a talisman upon the wrist is particularly appropriate, since many peoples believe that a soul resides wherever a pulse is felt beating" (Summers 269).

"Obayifo are essentially at enmity with the priests"(Alleyne 46). "It was as a matter of fact, the exalted religious spirit that principally gave to the various tribal units the cohesive power that formed the Ashanti into a warlike people, and tended to crush down the antagonistic magic of the Obayifo" (Williams 210).

"In Ashanti, the Okomfo [priest with political power] openly combated the Obayifo as a matter of principle, and he had the whole force of Ashanti religious traditions and public sentiment to support him" (Williams 145). "Deaths were often attributed to the watchful god, with the deceased identified either as an obayifo or someone who otherwise had contravened the laws of the cult. To suspicious outside observers, however, the 'sacred water' was believed to be a poison targeted at preordained victims." So strong was the political power of the priest that in 1931 "the deity identified the queen mother as an obayifo responsible for the death of members of the local adontenbene's family" (Allman 129).

"The Yoko people of Nigeria...believe that disembodied witches (sometimes travelling as spheres of burning light) could draw the heart and liver from sleeping victims, or that witches, perched on the roof of a house, could draw up and devour the heart of an individual, simply by magic." "Alternatively, if a witch can obtain a specimen of a prospective victim's excrement, he or she can use it to draw the vitality from that person, leaving them a pale and withered husk" (Curran).

"The obayifo is discovered by a process analogous to the 'smelling out' of witches among the Zulu, i.e. the 'carrying of the corpse'." Some meat is placed at the entrance of the village. If an individual eats but does not offer some to the neighboring priest or passerby, then he/she is an obayifo. "When prowling at night they are supposed to emit a phosphorescent light from the armpits and anus. An obayifo in everyday life is supposed to be known by having sharp shifty eyes, that are never at rest, also by showing an undue interest in food, and always talking about it, especially meat, and hanging about when cooking is going on, all of which habits are therefore purposely avoided" (Williams 175).

Ka odi,
Ana

Sources:
Allman, Jean Marie. John Parker. Tongnaab: the history of a West African god.
Alleyne, Mervyn C. Roots of Jamaican culture.
Curran, Bob. Ian Daniels. Vampires: a field guid to the creatures that stalk the night
Glenday, Craig. Constantine Gregory. Vampire Watcher's Handbook.
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings...
Summers, Montague. The Vampire, His Kith and Kin.
Tyree, Omar. Omar Tyree Donna Hill. Dark Thirst.
Williams, Joseph. Voodoos and Obeahs: Phases of West India Witchcraft.

Vampires in Britain

2009-08-13T05:37:00.008+01:00

Great Britain is the home to many vampire stories. So many accounts exist that it would be ludicrous to repeat (or even mention) them all in this blog article. "The island nation had few original vampire traditions but nevertheless made significant contributions to the development of the vampire" fictions of modern times (Bunson 85).

"Let us look first at general information about vampires that would have been available in the late nineteenth century" (Day 3). During this time, Stoker was writing his famous (or infamous) book Dracula and the idea of romanticized vampirism was born. "In 1847 was published Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood...a very lengthy but well written and certainly exciting romance..." by Thomas Preskett Prest (Summers 103). "Prest definitely states that his romance is founded upon incidents which were alleged to have taken place in England in the last years of the reign of Queen Anne [circa 1712-1714]. No such record has been traced, but if the statement be correct it is exceedingly interesting to find a case of vampirism in England at this date where the tradition had almost, if not entirely, died out". "It is quite possible, of course, that Prest threw out these suggestions to give his work an extra spice, but, however that may be, he has certainly studied the Vampire legends and traditions with some care, and he introduces into his chapters several telling touches which can be authenticated by parallel circumstances in vampire legends" (105).

Legends of vampires were not completely unknown in England during this time. Certainly remnants of ancient tales existed, and imported stories most likely peeked native interest. In fact, "the word "vampyre" entered the English language in 1732, its first appearance (in a London periodical) occasioned by a rash of vampire sightings documented in several parts of central and eastern Europe" (Day 3). It is more likely, however, that vampires were considered unreal and archaic during the period of enlightenment and industrial revolution. "Pieces of folk-lore in the remoter countries, half-forgotten oral tradition (now almost entirely dying out), and the persistence of a few old customs,...which are casually maintained owing to some vague idea of thereby warding off some indefinite ill-luck...afford evidence of a widespread and deeply-rooted belief in Vampires, even if such manifestations were comparatively few in number" (Summers 78).

Ralph Shirley wrote, "It may be doubted, indeed, in spite of the lack of records, whether vampirism in one form or another is quite as absent from the conditions of modern civilization as is commonly supposed. Although we are not to-day familiar with the Slavonic type of vampire that sucks the blood of its victims, producing death in two or three days' time, strange cases come to light...the vampire in these cases being an entity in human form who indulges in intercourse with someone of the opposite sex" (Summers 115). Whatever the truth, by the 19th century interest in vampires and the occult revived.

"A curious case was reported in the Gentleman's Magazine, July, 1851, belongs to the reign of King Charles I, but this concerns the old idea that a dead body if touched by the murderer will bleed, and cannot strictly be said to be pertinent to Vampirism" (Summers 99). Over a few decades, this general resurgence of occultism morphed into new vampire legends which spread through Britain and to Ireland. The Irish author, Patrick MacGill wrote "In my sleep I had gone with the dead man from the hut out into the open. He walked with me, the dead man, who knew that he was dead. I tried to prove to him that it was not quite the right and proper thing to do, to walk when life had left the body. But he paid not a sign of heed to my declamation." MacGill's work shows the social constraints of the time and how they affected vampire fiction. "Like a vampire the dead man walks 'when life had left the body.' The phrase 'right and proper' demonstrates an anxiety to reassert boundaries and borders and the narrator risks his own life in order to bury the dead man....he recounts a stinking corpse "'uggin' me, kissin' me" inevitably suggesting the threatening embrace of the vampire" (Day 71).

The vampire had become a creature that could exist both within and outside of society. Ancient and Slavic accounts do not conscript the vampire to social norms or regulations, but during this period in the British isles vampires were given a place in society. Stoker's Dracula repeats this idea in the sentence, "I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is" (Stoker 28). "With this statement, Dracula not only expresses his desire to go to London but to share in the experience of the modern city, suggesting that in this novel, Stoker sought not simply to relocate the gothic tale to a new location but rather to reconfigure it for the modern world. Dracula yearns for more than blood but the 'whirl and rush of humanity.' Since Stoker's novel, vampires, particularly on film, have been increasingly attracted to cities in which they are free to hunt amongst the crowds." (Day 125).

Vampires were not always city dwellers. "William of Newburgh [1136? - 1198?] and Walter Map [born 1140, died c. 1208-1210]...note thence how prominent was the belief in earlier times" (Summers 92). In their time, they had most frequently appeared in small rural villages. In more ancient legends, "when a Vampire revisits some unfortunate town...his ravages are, owing to the appalling fetor of the corpse, in every case apparently followed by an outbreak of the plague" (Summers 88). "William of Malmesbury [c. 1080/1095-c. 1143] says that in England it was commonly supposed and indeed certainly known that evil men returned to walk in the world after they are dead and buried, inasmuch as their bodies are re-animated by the Devil, who energizes them and compels them to act as he desires: nequam hominis cadauer post mortem daemone agente discurrere" (78). Vampires and revenants at this time acted contrary to society not within it. The conflict between vampires and social norm, then mandated by the Church, was so strong that a supposed revenant would be exhumed, burned, and disposed of in a manner that is not fitting of a Christian parishioner.

In this period, vampires were evil creatures who were considered the enemy of the Church and of God, and they returned to animation in order to harass the living or unleash plague. "Walter Map has...narratives which ...nearly resemble the Vampire [Slavic] stories...and which show the idea of a re-vitalized dead man returning to molest the living" (92). In harmony with Eastern tales, the vampire most frequently visited and coupled with his former spouse. Clearly, this notion may indicate one way that a lonely widow could explain away the child born after her husband's death, and throughout history the vampire has served as the scapegoat for many social sins.

Whether the vampire is blamed for sin or created by sin, it is clear that a line was drawn between the Church and the revenants that walked the earth. Their graves were disturbed and their bodies were relinquished to be the subject of rites that resembled witchcraft. "If the living were haunted by the constant return of the dead, who vampire-like refused to remain dead, there was also a sense in which the dead were haunted by the living, refused the possibility of a final peace" (Day 73).

Beoedh ge gesunde,
Ana

Sources:
Bunson, Matthew. The vampire encyclopedia.
Day, Peter. Vampires.
MacGill, Patrick. The Great Push. 118-9.
Map, Walter. De Nugia Curialium.

The dangers of fiction

2009-08-08T03:34:00.008+01:00

Reader, attend! whether thy soul
Soars Fancy's flights beyond the pole,
Or darkling grubs this earthly hole
In low pursuit;
Know, prudent, cautious, self-control
Is wisdom's root.
[Robert Burns]

Fantasy is fiction, and reality is something different. I've been telling you what angers me about vampire fiction, and now I will share why it is so dangerous.

"On 11 December 2002, 22-year-old Allan Menzies killed 21-year-old Thomas McKendrick in Fauldhouse, West Lothian, Scotland" (Pile 190). The two were childhood friends yet Menzies "bludgeoned Thomas McKendrick...about the head with a hammer and stabbed him 42 times" (Roberston). What could lead a young man to such a gruesome crime? Well, he blamed Akasha.

"Menzies told the courts that he was under instructions from the female vampire Akasha, a character in the Anne Rice novel (and film of the same name) Queen of the Damned" (Pile 190). "On the day of the killing...McKendrick had made an insulting, sexual remark about Akasha, the heroine of the film, and had asked: 'You don't really believe in vampires, do you?'" Menzies "told the jury" that Akasha "had been standing beside him in his kitchen when Mr McKendrick insulted her" (Robertson).

He asserted that the decision to defend Akasha's honor was easy because he had already "been 'ordered' to kill" a human so that he could become an immortal vampire (Robertson). "Menzies claimed" that Akasha had previously "visited him in his bedroom and promised him immortality if he killed people" (Judge).

After slaughtering his friend, Menzies "drank the blood of his victim and ate part of his head" (Robertson). He "then buried the body in a shallow grave" (Russo 64). After this "savage and merciless attack, involving gratuitous and sustained violence of a most horrific nature," he asserted that he was a "vampire and would be rewarded with immortality 'in the next life'" (Robertson).

This "man who claimed to be a vampire was branded an evil psychopath" and "he was jailed ...for the 'abominable' murder of a childhood friend" (Robertson). "During his trial, he declared he was now immortal and a vampire" (Pile 190). "The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Menzies had a sadistic trait and enjoyed violence. As a 14-year-old, he was given a three-year sentence for stabbing a fellow pupil in front of classmates." Furthermore, "Menzies was said to have a vivid fantasy life, involving Nazis, serial killers and vampires." Some psychologists blame aggravated schizophrenia for the strange and morbid hallucinations, but regardless Menzies was considered "an evil, violent and highly dangerous man" (Robertson). He was "sentenced to a minimum of 14 years" (Pile 190). In November of 2004, "Alan Menzies, the so-called 'vampire killer'," was "found dead in his cell at Shotts Prison. It is believed he took his own life" (Judge).

Was Menzies mentally unstable? The answer is clear. Characters from fantasy novels do not appear in your bedroom to deliver sinister messages, and you cannot gain immortality by following orders...it's simply not possible.

Do not blame the authors, for they only write according to their readers' demands. Instead, remember that the books are stamped -fiction-, and that authors only write snippets of their wildest imaginations. And, if you happen to run across Lestat de Lioncourt in a dark alley, walk away slowly and check for Tom Cruise's latest whereabouts.

Baidh,
Ana

Sources:
Burns, Robert. "A Bard's Epitaph."
Judge, Ben. 'Vampire killer' found dead in cell. News.scotsman.com. 15 November 2004
Pile, Steve. Real cities.
Roberston, John. "Vampire case man jailed for 18 years." News.scotsman.com. 09 October 2003.
Russo, Arlene. Vampire Nation.

Vampires in Cambodia

2009-08-06T03:00:00.006+01:00

A severed head floats alone through the night air. It is a horrifying sight, with blood-shot eyes and antennae protruding from its nose, but the unwary victim rarely spots the ghoul before the feast of blood begins. "In Vietnam and parts of Cambodia" blood-drinkers are not limited to a fully resurrected revenant. "Parts of the body, it seems, can be almost as virulent as the entire body itself" (Curran 127-128).

In Cambodia, "the idea of a 'living vampire' prevails. Vampirism and the drinking of blood is strongly associated with witchcraft, and it is thought that some magicians either travel in the guise of animals or else send parts of their body in order to fulfill their evil designs" (Curran 128). There are various types of threatening blood-drinkers and associated creatures in Cambodia.

The Kampuchean (natives of Cambodia) are superstitious. They believe in a type of revenant called khmoch-long and the khmoch-preay, which are goblins that appear to the living in the form of a ghostly light (will-o-the-wisp). Also, there are the smel who are werewolves (paraphrased from Revue Scientifique).

Les Cambodgiens sont superstitieux. Ils croient anx khmoch-long qui sont des revenants, aux khmoch-preay qui sont des farfadets qui apparaissent aux vivants sous forme de feux follets, aux smel qui sont des loups-garous.

Khmoch can be used to describe a "corpse as well as revenant. Khmoch are nearly classic reanimated corpses with rotting skin, sunken eyes, a foul odor, and a taste for human flesh and blood" (Mayberry 175). In general, a khmoch is a cadaver but a khmoch-long is a revenant--a reanimated corpse.

khmoch, defunt, mort, cadavre
khmoch long, revenant
(Moura 70)

These beings were evil and "could drink blood or spread disease" (Curran 128).

Recent reports of vampirism have risen in Cambodia. In 2007, blogs reported that a boy developed enlarged canine teeth, but failed to produce any incisors or molars. These reports also claimed that the child preferred a diet of live meat and blood. I can find no official report of this child nor can I establish his relationship or similarity to vampires. I caution you against believing this account, but welcome any reputable sources regarding that particular individual.

One verifiable case of vampiric behavior in Cambodia was reported by the Associated Press in 1999. "A Cambodian man" who was "accused of killing people and drinking their blood in the belief it would cure him of AIDS" was arrested and accused of murder. "Described as a 'vampire' by local villagers, Pheach Phen, 20, was arrested ...after allegedly killing a 5-year-old boy...The suspect allegedly slashed the boy with a machete and then sucked his blood, according to the report...Pheach Phen, who is HIV positive, told police that a traditional healer convinced him" that "he could halt the onset of AIDS and prolong his own life if he killed people and drank their blood." Perhaps this man did not consider himself a vampire, but his actions and the villagers reactions indicate that the notion of vampirism is still alive in Cambodia.

Read the blog article about an even more threatening blood-drinker in Cambodia.

Juab khnia thngay kraoy,
Ana

Sources:
Associated Press, The. "Cambodia Cops Arrest Vampire." Phnom Penh. 15 Dec 1999. http://www.aegis.com/news/ap/1999/AP991212.html
Curran, Bob. Ian Daniels. Vampires: a field guide to the creatures that stalk the night. 2005.
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe.
Moura, Jean. Vocabulaire français-cambodgien et cambodgien-français.
Revue Scientifique. V 32. Paris. 30 Jun 1895.

Vampires in Russia

2009-08-02T01:07:00.005+01:00

A week ago I wrote an article about malaria in Russia, but I forgot to write the corresponding article on vampires in Russia...me ineptum.

In 1047 AD, a Russian priest penned the term Upir' Likhyi in reference to a Novgorodian prince. This is widely believed to be the first mention of the term 'vampire'. "There is a host of ideas about the origin of vampires. The most common is that sorcerers, witches, werewolves, excommunicates, and those who died unnatural deaths (such as suicides and drunkards) become vampires at their death. People can, however, be destined from birth to become vampires" (Dundes 50). In Russia, "The Upir [is] described as a vampire or werewolf and connected in folklore with wise women and witches" (Hubbs 16).

"The tendency to confuse vampires with werewolves is noticeable...in Russia, as indicated by a curious piece of information pertaining to vampires" (Dundes 50). Felix Oinas reported a "belief in Russia that while a dead vampire destroyed people, a live one, on the contrary, defended them. Each village had its own vampire, as if it were a guard, protecting the inhabitants from his dead companions." Kretzenbacker also "reports that the Russian villages are said to have two kinds of vampires--one bad and the other good" (Green 842). "The tendency of people to believe in good werewolves who counteract the reign of evil [vampires] through their powers of good" is indicated in these accounts. Another possible explanation is that of the dhampir (Balkans), which is an offspring of a human and a vampire. Often, a dhampir is a vampire hunter that protects humans by destroying vampires yet cannot fully assimilate into the human society.

In recent centuries, the term Upir has become almost unheard of in Russia; however, vampires still lurk in the country. "Father Gabriel Rzaczynski...in 1732, affirms, that in Russia...dead bodies, actuated by infernal spirits, sometimes enter people's houses in the night, fall upon men, women, and children, and attempt to suffocate them; and that of such diabolical facts his countrymen have several very authentic relations" (Green 8). In 1889 in Russia, the corpse of an old man who was suspected of being a vampire was dug up, and many of those present maintained that they saw a tail attached to its back" (48). Furthermore, reports of a vampire epidemic are prevalent beginning in "the late seventeenth century" in Russia. "One case from Belgrade in the 1720s involved an individual named Arnold Paole who "died an accidental death, after which several people died suddenly of what had been traditionally viewed as 'vampirism'. Forty days after his burial, Paole was exhumed:

[It was found] that he was complete and incorrupt, also that completely flesh blood had flowed from his eyes, ears, and nose...since they could see from this that he was a true vampire, they drove a stake through his heart, according to their customs, whereupon he let out a noticeable groan and bled copiously.

During this 'epidemic' "numerous cases of the mishandling of corpses believed to be vampires have become known" (50). In Russia, "the treatment of the revenant was somewhat different" from other corpses. "Vampires were apt to be disposed of in a desolate area, but not buried, and often were thrown into a body of water." This does not have to do with the idea that water restricts the vampire, instead it is "derived from the vampire's habit of causing droughts."(Barber 37). This superstition indicates the belief that the dead "influence the weather" and the vampires are particularly powerful with the gift of drought (34).

As in many other countries, "suicides, murder victims, people who drowned, and even victims of stroke were particularly at risk" for becoming vampires (Barber 34). Furthermore, there is an interesting belief about fatal communicable diseases that circulates in Russia. The tale indicates that "the first victim of a disease is a vampire" and will then cause the deaths of others in its vicinity (37).

"There are clear indications that the beliefs in vampires have deep roots among the Slavs and obviously go back to the Proto-Slavic period. These beliefs are...well documented among the early Russians" (Dundes 54). Countless stories exist, and I cannot tell them all here, but I will explain some other references that may be of interest to you. Creatures related to vampires in Russia are the Erestun, Eretiku, and the Kornwolf. The Kornwolf most obviously refers to a werewolf. And the Erestun and Eretiku (also known as Xloptuny; male and female respectively) is the "spirit of an evil sorcerer--one who has either learned to split his soul into separate but functional halves, or one who through some great misfortune has lost his mortal body" and possessed the body of "a person at the brink of death." Erestun attacks the friends and family of the host and "takes only a little blood, leaving the victim alive but weakened." Also, the Erestun can be killed by being "staked, beheaded and burned" (Maberry 113). These methods of eradication still echo in the vampire fictions of modern day. Is there truth behind it, or is it simply legend?

Do svidanja,
Ana

Sources:
Barber, Paul. Vampires, burial and death: folklore and reality.
Dundes, Alan. The Vampire.
Green, Thomas A. Folklore.
Hubbs, Joanna. Mother Russia.
Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe.

Flying vampires in fiction & lore

2009-07-30T03:33:00.006+01:00

"The air sparkled with glitter. Out of that scintillating cloud a vampire floated...I had seen vampires fly before, but not like this." I am quoting from Laurell Hamilton's Danse Macabre (Hamilton 442). The idea of floating or flying vampires is not a not a singular notion of Hamilton. Many vampire fictions include some form of floating or flying as a mode of transportation for vampires. Anne Rice creates the term 'Cloud Gift' to describe the ability of some vampires to levitate or soar.

Martin Riccardo asserts that "the novel Dracula first associated the undead vampire with the power to fly in the form of a bat, an ability not a part of the old legends," but this is not precisely true (Riccardo 38). While flying may not have been a popular attribute for pre-Dracula vampires, the ability was present in some folkloric accounts from various regions.

Most folklore involving flying vampires includes some element of transformation (or shape-shifting). "Vampires fly through the night in the shape of birds or bats; some can also cover great distances by changing into a mist, fog or storm" (Kamir 76). In Serbia, vampires can take the form of a butterfly. This insect also can represent the soul of a departed individual. The Adze from West Africa may appear as a firefly (Calista will write more about this topic). The tlahuelpuchi of Mexico take the form of a bird and fly while hunting (Vampires in Mexico). The head of Nukekubi from Asia can detach and soar through the night searching for human prey. Similarly, the Mananangall can split its torso and utilize the wings of a bat in order to fly.

However not all flying vampires take the form of an animal. The chiang-shih of China have the "ability to fly without the necessity of transforming into a bat" (Bush 193). "Vampirologists ascribe such accomplishments to supernatural vitality, a term that creates the vampire as a phantom" (Frueh 302). Konstantinos agrees with this notion, claiming that the "secondary power of the spectral [phantom] vampire is its ability to fly or levitate" (Konstantinos 9). Yet, "the European vampire, unlike the spectral vampires of antiquity, is an actual corpse in flesh and bone on the move" (Day 214).

Budai-Deleanu a Romanian author "introduces the female vampire, Strigoaica, in his plot" and according to him these "vampires fly" (Eminescu 19). The Strigoaica are usually considered Strigoi mort (dead/blood-drinking vampires), but some may claim that they are Strigoi vii (live witches/psychic vampires).

Witches themselves are often ascribed the ability to fly. "It was widely held (at least since the fourteenth century) that a witch could fly. She did not necessarily have (Artemis's) wings, but (like Lilit) she had other means to soar through the air...Like nocturnal predators, for example the owl, she flew mostly at night, when her powers were at full strength" (Kamir 53). Whether you believe them to be live 'witches' or 'reanimated' blood-drinkers, phantoms or physical bodies, there are plenty stories of airborne vampires.

But, can vampires fly? Answer this: Why should I give you that answer?

Horas ma ate,
Ana

Sources:
Bush, Laurence C. Asian Horror Encyclopedia.

Day, Peter. Vampires.

Eminescu, Mihai. Jean Carduner, Lucian Rsu, University of Michigan Dept of Romance Languages, Karl Natanson. Eminescu, the evening star of Romanian poetry.

Frueh, Joanna. Monster/beauty: building the body of love.

Kamir, Orit. Every breath you take.

Konstantinos. Vampire.

Riccardo, Martin V. Liquid Dreams of Vampires.

Vampires: The Reality

2009-07-28T02:11:00.013+01:00

It's finally happened. Someone has challenged us on our blog. To that unnamed guest: Thank you for raising this topic.

So, now is the time to speak about vampires: their reality and their depiction in fiction & folklore. I could fill books with this subject, but others have done this before me. So, I will pose generalities here and point you to sources for further research.

Vampires in Folklore:
In folkore "we find many kinds of 'vampires.' We might limit the discussion to a particular type of Slavic revenant...but there are similar creatures in Europe". "European scholars have commonly referred to these, and to the undead" in non-European cultures"--for example China, Indonesia, the Philippines--as 'vampires' as well. There are such creatures everywhere in the world, it seems, in a variety of disparate cultures: dead people who, having died before their time, not only refuse to remain dead but return to bring death to their friends and neighbors...They bear a surprising resemblance to the European vampire" (Barber 2).

"Many cultures...have folklore about vampires of one kind or another." It is difficult to assign a particular taxonomy for these creatures, so often they are lumped together under the term "vampire". However, in folklore "not all vampires drank blood...Some ate flesh either from the living or from the dead. Some took in a kind of spiritual essence or energy--whatever that meant. All took something from their subjects, usually not caring how they injured the subject" (Butler 43).

Though it varies by region and time period, "vampire lore proves to be, in large part, an elaborate folk-hypothesis designed to account for seemingly inexplicable events associated with death and decomposition" (Barber 3). Folkloric vampires may have been based on real individuals, although some claim that they are completely fabricated. Most importantly, "vampires in folklore were feared, hated, and hunted" (Butler 43).

Vampires in Fiction:
"The vampire of fiction," is "a figure derived from the vampires of folklore but now bearing precious little resemblance to them." When thinking of a vampire, most people envision "a tall, elegant gentleman in a black cloak." The classic example is Count Dracula. But, this individual "was not Slavic: he lived in Transylvania and was based, more or less, on Vlad Tepes, a figure in Romanian history who was a prince, not a count, ruled in Walachia, not Transylvania, and was never viewed by the local populace as a vampire." Unfortunately, we have been saddled "with a burden of false data from the fiction industry" regarding vampire lore, history, and nature(Barber 2).

"Indeed, vampire fiction is peculiar in this sense: although it is flexible in so many other ways, it depends upon the recollection and acting out of certain quite specific 'lores' for its resolution--that vampires must be invited into the house before they can enter, that they are repelled by garlic, that they cannot cross rivers, that they need their own earth to sleep on and so on. Some recent vampire fiction, of course, depends on the frustrating of the kinds of 'lore' one assumed would work against them: modern vampires can thus themselves have a disillusionary function, moving around in the daylight and not fearing crucifixes any more. The fiction now uses 'lore' as a point of reference, trading on the reader's familiarity with it--taking 'seriously', even exaggerating its use and effects" (Gelder 35).

Of course, this evolution of the fictional vampire is natural. Humans are inclined to beautify, romanticize, and adulterate the myths of old. The vampire is not the only ancient concept to befall such a fate. The mermaid of ancient myth was a vicious and meddlesome siren who drowned sailors by squeezing them into an inexorable grip and dragging them into the ocean [See Note]. Thankfully, "the vampires of folklore, novel, and film reside in an area of the imagination largely dissociated from rationality and objective, cause-effect logic" and are therefore, permitted to change with time and popular demand (Heldreth 188).

Real-'life' vampires:
Vampires are not limited to folklore and fiction. At least "27% of the US population thinks vampires live, move, breathe and suck their victims dry" (Russo 22). It is very tedious to argue the point of existence with non-believers. I refuse to do it, but I will point to some dates of interest in modern vampire history, explain "types" of vampires, and provide links to community sites.

Interesting dates:
1985 Folklorist Norine Dresser encounters "a private group of practicing vampires. Small, isolated groups are springing up around the country at this time, primarily on the East and West Coasts. The vampire community begins to develop as a distinct movement within the Gothic subculture and is especially concentrated in New York City and Los Angeles" (Belanger 261)

1992 "700 Americans claimed to be real vampires and in Los Angeles alone there were 36 registered human blood drinkers" (Russo 22)

2004 SciFi channel (now ScyFy) features Don Henrie "as one of its alternative lifestylers in the reality TV show Mad, Mad House. As a result of unprecedented cooperation among disparate groups within the community, the largest gathering to date of elders, organizers, and community leaders is planned for the annual Endless Night festival" (Belanger 263).

Types of Vampires:
"For centuries, an underground society of vampires has thrived in darkness, hidden from the public gaze and forever shrouded in secrecy" (Russo prologue). Vampires that are separate from any group or community also exist, but unaffiliated vampires are difficult to discuss. So, we will dwell on the major subcultures that survive within modern society.

"The Sanguinarium is a network of individuals, organisations and nightclubs who share a like-minded approach to the vampire aesthetic and scene, and claim: 'The goal of the Sanguinarium is to bring to life the vision of the Vampire Connection as found in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, which is a network of 'vampire bars' and 'safe-houses' in which vampires can be open about who they are'" (Russo 22). Pandora (Winnipeg, Canada) explains that blood drinkers were forced to "hide in fear of being locked in the asylum at the first mention of being a vampire" (Russo 28). Vampires can now emerge safely and find like-minded individuals who share their 'lifestyle'. "The vampire communities are in a way very tolerant...other scenes like the Gothic scene, the S&M scene and others can come into very close contact with the vampire community, and frequently they intermix" (Russo 25).

However, there is a rather strict (and sometimes contentious) division between blood-drinking vampires [sanguinarians] and psychic vampires. "A psychic vampire is unable to produce the energy needed to survive for themselves. This life energy, also known as pranic energy, is naturally created by the body, and so psychic vampires have to feed off others to keep their levels of pranic energy stable. Although this energy exists in its highest form in blood, psychic vampires prefer to feed from non-blood sources" (Russo 88). Katharina Katt has said: "Psychic vampires do not feed on blood for the same reason that sanguinarians do not feed on energy. Basically they can't! Psi vampires feed on energy. They have no 'blood lust' or craving for blood...Now there ARE some mixed vampires who are partly psi and partly sanguinarian, but they are usually separate" (88).

"Some view psychic vampires and blood vampires as two different races. Just as a sanguinarian vampire does not usually have psychic abilities, a psychic vampire naturally possesses psychic abilities and feeds psychically because it feels natural to do so. There are often arguments between both categories of vampires, one category believing itself to be superior over the other" (88-89). Here, I will cease my descriptions of modern vampire societies, least my own opinions taint this article. Please, visit the web sites of vampire communities and explore the sources listed below for more information.

With respect,
Ana

Links to vampire societies where you can gather your own information (alphabetical order). Links to other communities are welcome [Please post in comments, I will review for validity then post to this list].
The Atlanta Vampire Alliance: http://atlantavampirealliance.com/
Psychic Vampire Resource: http://psychicvampire.org/
Sanguinarian / Strigoi Vii: http://www.sanguinarium.net/
Silken Shadows Vampire Community: http://vampirecommunity.com/
Vampire Voices: http://www.veritasvosliberabit.com/

Sources:
[Some of these books have been written by self-proclaimed vampires]
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death.
Belanger, Michelle A. The Psychic Vampire Codex.
Butler, Octavia E. Fledgling.
Gelder, Ken. Reading the Vampire.
Heldreth, Leonard G. The Blood is the Life.
Konstantinos. Vampires.
Russo, Arlene. Vampire Nation.

[Note: I will never address the existence of mermaids in this blog. I have no authority or education on that subject.]

Fritz Haarmann

2009-07-24T04:58:00.014+01:00

We have written case studies about Lamia and the Chupacabra, but other blood-drinkers have been immortalized in rumor and popular stories, also.

Referred to as "The Vampire of Hanover" (also Hannover), Fritz Haarmann (also Haarman) is the subject of a well-documented case of vampirism as perceived by the law enforcement community. Fritz Haarmann was a "military man turned vampire". He was born in 1879 but did not enter the world of the vampire until the early 1900s (Konstantinos 69).

"Haarmann was institutionalized during the late nineteenth century for mental instability, but he escaped" and "became a homeless vagrant." While on the streets, "he learned to butcher meat, but his growing interest was in molesting young boys" (Ramsland 149).

"Sometime around 1917 or 1918, Haarmann met a male prostitute named Hans Grans, who would become his partner in some sadistic and vampiric crimes." The duo would lure young men to their house with the promise of dinner, alcohol, and possibly a home. Satiated and lulled into a stupor, these young men became the perfect victims. Haarmann would attack the lethargic youth, "seize him and bite into his neck, sucking on his blood until the helpless victim died."

"He would kill them after the fashion of a vampire" (Summers 192). "It is estimated that Haarmann vampirized some fifty young men." After drinking their blood, Haarmann and Grans "chopped the bodies into steaks and sold them on the streets as beef. That 'underground' meat market went on from 1918 to 1924" (Konstantinos 71). The meat he sold, but the bones were disposed of in the Leine canal, and ultimately, this act lead to the downfall of the pair. "Skulls floated to the surface in 1924. The police were already suspicious of Haarmann because of his" psychotic and criminal "history and went to question him about the cases of missing men from the area" (Konstantinos). "In 1924, the police investigated the disappearance of one boy and caught Haarmann assaulting him. They arrested Haarmann, but what they did not realize was that he had the head of another missing young man right there in the room...He'd been committing crimes of this kind for several years" (Ramsland 149).

"Haarmann eventually confessed to the crimes and became known as the 'Vampire of Hanover.' He was sentenced to death, and...decapitated" (Konstantinos 71). "Certainly in the extended sense of the word, as it is now so commonly used, Fritz Haarmann was a vampire in every particular" (Summers 193). But, was he simply a "disturbed individual...imitating fictional vampires," or was he "acting on some monstrous instinct"? (Konstantinos 71).

Bis dann,
Ana

Sources:
Konstantinos. Vampires.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.
Summers, Montague. The vampire his kith and kin.

Vampire Respiration

2009-07-22T02:15:00.005+01:00

This article is more sarcastic than my recent articles...mostly because I find this topic incredibly stupid. If you don't feel like reading my rant, then you can mosey on over to our malaria blog; it is very factual. I assumed that you needed no explanation of vampire respiration. I thought that anyone with common sense could clearly perceive the answer. Either I was wrong or the world is full of unthinking humans.

Stories about vampire breath (or lack of it) have puzzled the populace, and discrepancies between stories have created confusion about whether vampires can and do breathe. The short and simple answer is: Yes, vampires do breathe. But, of course, a more complicated answer exists.

Let's start with the fictions and then move to the facts. Novels often address the topic of vampire breath and respiration, but the reports of kind of breath, reasons for breathing, and even the ability to breathe are wildly different. In Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, vampires do not need to breathe. They can swim very fast under water because they never need to take a breath, but they must remember to breathe in order to look human. Don't put too much faith in Meyer's version of vampires...they also glitter in the sun.

Meyer is not alone in her creation of anaerobic [anaerobic: active in the absence of free oxygen] vampires. In his book 13 Bullets: A Vampire Tale, David Wellington asserts that "Vampires didn't breathe, of course." Of course, why would "dead things" breathe? (Wellington 242).

If vampires are dead things and therefore do not breathe, then why are fictions filled with reports of rancid breath from the mouths of vampires? In a description that I vehemently resent, Matthew Bunson describes the foul odors a vampire. "Its stench from the dried blood of victims was almost as horrible as its hideous breath, described as the smell of a charnel house" [charnel house: a vault where corpses are stored] (Bunson 9). "Vampire bad breath is a trait noted by others as well. Montague Summers in The Vampire: His Kith and Kin asserts that a vampire's breath is 'unbearably fetid and rank with corruption, the stench of the charnel'" (Stoker 354). The idea of putrid breath proceeds unchallenged through fiction for so long that eventually it morphs into a ridiculous weapon. Darren Shan says that "vampires can breathe out a special kind of gas, which makes people faint" (Shan 12). Let me tell you, a vampire will only exhale a noxious gas if it is first inhaled.

But sometimes, the "vampire's breath is quite different from the unalloyed halitosis of Dracula" and similar stories (Stoker 81). Like all romanticized stories of vampires, the vile weapon transforms into an enticing and alluring attribute. Sometimes it is gentle, beautiful, and warm (we'll have to discuss the oral temperature of vampires at a later time). Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat says, "We breathe the light, we breathe the music, we breathe the moment as it passes through us" (Rice 273). You wrote quite a poetic line, Ms. Rice, but it would be a mighty trick for a vampire to breathe light or music.

Michelle Belanger adopts the idea of breathing the energy of the moment and translates it to the concept of a psychic vampire. She says, that the "vital energy" of a victim or a scene is "processed by the subtle body just as oxygen is processed by the physical lungs. In this way, breathing sustains the organism on both the physical and subtle levels". "Such an inhalation can seem to be sustained almost indefinitely, and there is clearly more to the process than simply acquiring air" (Belanger 111). So, psychic vampires breathe, but what about more sanguinarily-inclined vampires? Belanger indicates that "in most energetic systems," including vampires, "breathing brings vital energy into the body, just as it brings in air" (111). She claims that vampires do breathe and, in fact, need to breathe.

"Of course vampires breathe...You can't speak without breath," and very few vampires are completely mute (Hill 125). Very simply, without breath a vampire would have no voice. Voice is created by air moving across the vocal chords as it is propelled by the lungs. Every song, every syllable, every groan requires air.

So, do vampires breathe? Obviously, they either breathe or they all speak entirely in clicks. Which is more likely?

Hamba Kahle,
Ana

Sources:
Anonuevo, Rechelle S. The Moonlight Serenade.
Belanger, Michelle A. The Psychic Vampire Codex.
Bunson, Matthew. The vampire encyclopedia.
Hill, Joey W. The Vampire Queen's Servant.
Rice, Anne. The vampire Lestat.
Stoker, Bram. Leslie S Klinger, Neil Gaiman. The new annotated Dracula.
Wellington, David. 13 Bullets: A Vampire Tale.

Vampires in China

2009-07-21T04:16:00.003+01:00

"In China red-eyed vampires with green hair prowled the night" (Krensky 8). "The name kuang-shi (or chiang- shi) was used to describe the most feared vampire type...a demon distinguished by its glaring red eyes and sharp" fangs (Bunson 46). "Chinese vampires resemble the classic Nosferatu with" their "long claws and fiercely glaring eyes." They "often acquire the ability to fly without the necessity of transforming into a bat" (Bush 193).

China is home to horrifying vampires that rival Western counterparts in their descriptions. "The Chinese Vampire lacks few, if any of the horrible traits he exhibits in Greek and Slavonic superstition" (Summers 237). "When Western scholars began to gather the folklore of China in the nineteenth century, they very quickly encountered tales of the ... the Chinese vampire" (Vampire Book). "It was reported that vampires existed there in 600 B.C." (McNally 117). These myths offer "a curious parallel to that of the Slavs" (Hastings 590).

"The chiang-shih lacked some of the powers of the Slavic vampire. It could not, for example, dematerialize, hence it was unable to rise from the grave, being inhibited both by coffins and the soil. Thus their transformation had to take place prior to burial, an added incentive to a quick burial of the dead. The Chinese vampires were nocturnal creatures and limited in their activity to the night hours. The chiang-shih had trouble crossing running water." "The chiang-shih arose following a violent death due to suicide hanging, drowning, or smothering. It could also appear in a person who had died suddenly, or as a result of improper burial procedures. The dead were thought to become angry and restless if their burial was postponed for a long time after their death. Also animals especially cats, were kept away from the unburied corpse, to prevent them from jumping over it, lest they become vampires" (Vampire Book). The rise of a vampire is particularly likely "should the sun or the moon be allowed to shine fully upon an unburied body." In this case, it will "acquire strength to issue forth and obtain human blood to build of the vitality of the vampire" (Summers 237). The "sunlight and moonlight give the chiang-shi strength. It needs the yang energy of the light to reanimate the whole corpse" (Vampire Book).

"In China, vampire-like beings" and evil spirits "are called kuei." These evil creatures are created by the lingering of a soul after death. "A human has two souls, a superior, hun, and an inferior called, po. The hun (yang energy) usually leaves the body on death, but the po (yin) remains behind, especially if the deceased has unfinished business on Earth" (Bush 193). The persistence of the po within the corpse prevents the otherwise inevitable decay. Consequently, "the chiang-shih appeared normal and was not recognized as a vampire" until it acted strangely or unless someone knew the individual had already died. "However, at other times it took on a hideous aspect and assumed a green phosphorescent glow. In this form the chiang-shih developed serrated teeth and long talons" (Vampire Book).

"The chiang-shihs were very strong and vicious. Reports detailed their attacks upon living people, where they ripped off the head or limbs of their victims. This homicidal viciousness was their most often reported trait. They usually had to surprise their victims because they had no particular powers to lure or entrance them. Besides their homicidal nature, the chiang-shih might also demonstrate a strong sexual drive that led it to attack and rape women. Over a period of time, the vampires gained strength and began to transform to a mobile state. They would forsake the coffin habitat, master the art of flying and develop a covering of long white hair. They might also change into wolves" (The Vampire Book).

"Suspected corpses were allowed to decay in the open air before burial, or when buried, were often exhumed and burned. In the absence of the corpse from a grave, the coffin-lid was removed, thus letting in fresh air, which prevents the body from re-entering it. When the corpse was roaming about, rice, red peas, and pieces of iron were strewn round the grave; it could not pass these, and was found stiff and dead on the ground and could be burned" (Hastings 590). "Vampires are...believed to have a powerful fascination with counting: if a vampire should come across scattered seeds, it will begin counting them, not stopping until it has finished" (Kronzek 283). In addition to counting seeds, the Chinese vampire is reported to have several other weaknesses. "Garlic an almost universal medicinal herb, kept vampires away. Salt was believed to have a corrosive effect on the vampire's skin. Vampires were offended by loud noises, and thunder would occasionally kill one. Brooms were handy weapons with which a brave soul could literally sweep the vampire back to its resting spot. Iron filings, rice, and red peas created barriers to the entry of the vampire and would often be placed around a vacant coffin to keep a vampire from taking it as a resting place" (Vampire Book).

Restless vampires were created by disturbances of the body after death. "With the hopping or jumping vampires, a different mythology about dealing with vampires evolved. They could be subdued with magical talismans" (Vampire Book). "By far the most common cause of a vampire in contemporary folklore is the random ritual infelicity of a cat or animal jumping over the corpse while it is lying in state...In such cases, the association is between evidence of a vampire attack and a recent death that was otherwise natural, except for the postmortem intrusion into the sacred space around the deceased's body" (McClelland 94). In these myths, "holding one's breath would temporarily stop" the vampire. "Eating sticky rice was an antidote to a vampire bite. By creating a separate vampire myth, the Chinese movies have built a new popular image of the vampire in the Orient much as the Dracula movies created one in the West" (Vampire Book).

Zai jian,
Ana

Stories of Chinese Vampires:

Sung-lings, P'u. The Resuscitated Corpse.
Liaozhai. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Mei, Yuan. Tzu Puh Yu.

Sources:

Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial and Death.
Bunson, Matthew. The vampire encyclopedia.
Bush, Laurence C. Asian Horror Encyclopedia.
Hastings, James. John Alexander Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
Krensky, Stephen. Vampires.
Kronzek, Elizabeth. The Sorcerer's Companion.
McClelland, Bruce. Slayers and their vampires.
McNally, Raymond T. Radu Florescu. In search of Dracula
The Vampire Book: Vampires in China. http://www.answers.com/topic/vampires-in-china

Lamia: the demon enchantress

2009-07-18T13:19:00.017+01:00

She seem'd, at once, some penanced lady elf,
Some demon's mistress, or the demon's self.
...
Her head was serpent, but ah, bitter-sweet!
She had a woman's mouth with all its pearls complete:
And for her eyes: what could such eyes do there
But weep, and weep, that they were born so fair?
...
Her throat was serpent, but the words she spake
Came, as through bubbling honey, for Love's sake,
(Keats 55-66)

In his poem, entitled Lamia, Keats describes Lamia as "an enchantress in the form of a serpent" who is transformed "into a lovely maiden" by Hermes as he searches Crete island for the most beautiful nymph of the forest(MacDowell 2). Lycius, a mortal man, is entranced by her beauty and impressed by her grace. But, in the end "Lamia again assumes the form of a serpent...and Lycius is found lifeless" (2). "The tender-person'd Lamia" has melted "into a shade" (Keats Pt 2).

The examples of a romantic Lamia are many. Thomas Hood writes a play with Lamia cast in the romantic role. Others follow the footsteps of the great authors, transfiguring Lamia from a demon into a nymph or glorious goddess. But, like all such ancient stories of archaic fiends, the Lamia that rears her head in myth greatly differs from the one who steps lightly through literature.

Is she a beautiful nymph or is she the "dreadful wild beast called a Lamia" that Plutarch asserts (Plutarch 139). Plutarch describes Lamia in some similar language--creating her a judge. However, "Upon this acccount, Diodorus tells us, that this Lamia became a bugbear to children" (Plutarch commentary by Langhorne). The ancients described her as ghoul or a goblin that scared and tormented children at night. She was an object of dread.

Homer and Hesiod called Lamia Hekate or Echidna. She was a goddess and frightful one at that. She traveled the world, but "the commonest legend of Lamia places her in Libya" (Fontenrose 100). "In Libya there once lived a beautiful queen. Since Zeus loved her and made her his mistress, she aroused Hera's jealousy and hatred. In consequence Hera destroyed every child that was born to Lamia, until from great grief she turned ugly in body and soul." In other words, her despair transformed her into a monstrous creature with evil and vile intentions. "Because she envied other women their children, she went about seizing infants and killing them. Some say that she tore them to pieces or ate them. Finally she became literally a beast and went to live in a cave. Hera sent insomnia upon her too, but Zeus in pity granted her the power to remove her eyes, which she placed in a basket when she wanted to sleep" (Fontenrose).

"Lamia in myth is Scylla's mother, also another name for Hecate, or Echidna, meaning viper, seen in her snake form" (Alban 95). These attributes vary between tales, and Lamia is also called the mother of Sibyl Herophile. In any case, this "frightful woman [Hecate, Lamia, Echinda] was spectre, ogress, vampire, snake, sea monster, several kinds of beast and various mixtures of them" (Kabitoglou 311). Like all ancient monsters, Lamia has been given many names of the millennia. Other names include Sybaris and Gerana. In Latin, her name means witch or vampire and this is what she is (Latin wordlist). She is not a giggling nymph or romantic enchantress, although her human form may be entrancing. She is a vile, disgusting, serpent-woman who tears children apart and drinks the blood of many.

I could speak for days on Lamia, for I know her better than all the other creatures that crawl the earth. (Don't worry, although Calista is dear to me, you needn't fear--she is not the Lamia--but, a predator of a different sort.) I fear that I already bore you with such descriptions, so take this information with you. Lamia adopts many forms and names, and she is closer than you imagine. Time has subdued her raging heart, but she still morns the loss of her children, and at times her anger overpowers her. Beware of the lady with a beautiful face and graceful body, for in her core may beat a heart of evil.

Xaire,
Ana

Requested by @Twilightmyst.
Sources:
Fontrose, Joseph Eddy. Python.
Hood, Thomas. Lamia.
Kabitoglou. E. Douka. Plato and the English romantics.
Keats, John. The Poetical Works of John Keats. "36 Lamia: Part 1 and 2." 1884.
Plutarch, John Langhorne, William Langhorne. Plutarch's Lives.

Chupacabra

2009-07-16T04:01:00.004+01:00

"A shepherd wakes at dawn to find that his flock has been devastated by what at first appears to be a wild animal. Usually, the victims are entirely drained of blood" (Carson 107). After closer examination, the animals appear to have small puncture holes resembling teeth marks. The Chupacabra has reappeared.

A question regarding Chupacabra was posed in response to one of our blog articles. I have no personal experiences about the Chupacabra to relate, and I do not know if one really exists. Still, the creature is interesting to discuss.

While not considered "a true vampire", "the tale of the Chupacabra seems eerily akin to vampire legends, making the creature all the more mysterious and frightful" (Carson 106). But, "to the folks living in this region," stretching from South America to the United States, "the "Chupacabra" is more fact than fiction," It is "the south-west's answer to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster"(106).

"Chupacabra stories are relatively recent phenomena" (Koven 73). "The reputed creature has been part of local lore for hundreds of years, but only recently has begun to garner more public attention" (Carson 106). "The first recorded incident occurred in the turn-of-the-century (19th-20th) New Mexico, although rumors of a strange animal date back to early 1800's" (Carson 106). However, the majority of Chupacabra reports come from the past decade. "No one knows why it suddenly began to make regular appearances in the early 1990s, but since 1995 the Chupacabra has been blamed for the deaths of over 2,000 farm animals, and has been reported as far away as Russia and Hawaii!" (Ho 68).

Reports of the Chupacabra range "from Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and even Russia. After an intensive two-year period [1994-1996] of goat sucking, the creature seemed to disappear from Puerto Rico and everywhere else" (O'Keefe 292).

The name, Chupacabra, literally means "one sucks goat" or "goat-sucker". While this name sounds rather funny to us, it is very descriptive because the Chupacabra is the monster responsible for draining the blood of livestock, particularly goats, in the Americas. Some sources credit Silverio Perez, a Puerto Rican entertainer & entrepreneur, with coining the name. He noted the creature's propensity to drink the blood of goats in 1987 (Wikipedia). Other sources claim that "the term "Chupacabra" was first coined" in Mexico where "Goat-herding is a vital part of the economy" (Carson 107). Regardless of its origin, "most of the stories" associated with the Chupacabra "are basically the same" (Carson 107).

"Much of the information we have on the Chupacabra's appearance has been pieced together from eyewitness accounts. Allegedly ranging from three to six feet in length, the creature is said to have a sleek, hairless body with a tail that varies in size. Grayish-blue skin is usually complimented by huge, red eyes that peer out from a slightly oversized head. The most striking characteristic is undoubtedly the row of razor-sharp spikes that protrude from the animal's spine, rivaling its claws in sharpness"(Carson 106). "A typical chupacabra weighs about 30 or 40 pounds" (Morton). "Some reports have listed slightly different attributes" but "most are remarkably similar" (Carson 106).

The Chupacabra hunts at night and does not harm humans unless provoked. There is only a single report of a diurnal Chupacabra from Canovanas. This tale describes a "Chupacabra walking in the street in the middle of the afternoon! When [the spectators] approached it, the creature ran away" (Ho 68).

There have been several instances when authorities have attempted to discredit the tales of the Chupacabra or blame the instances on other sources. "The discovery of a 'vampire cult' in eastern Arizona" prompted an investigation into the Chupacabra stories. "In March of 1998, several cult members were convicted of stealing cattle and sheep...for their 'religious practices'" The carcasses recovered from the 'vampire cult' were "grossly mutilated, with large holes punctured in the torsos to facilitate the blood-letting. However, in the Chupacabra cases, the bodies have almost always been relatively intact, with the sole sign of injury being small, nondescript puncture wounds" (Carson 110). Another group sought publicity from the Chupacabra and fabricated an animal for display. The "Ghastly Cattle-Vampire" corpse starred in a traveling sideshow in the early 1990s. This creature was revealed to be a hoax--a corpse assembled from body parts of various animals including a crocodile and monkey. (109).

So where does the Chupacabra come from?
"In some circles, it is speculated that perhaps the elusive creature is in fact a real animal, a remnant from another geological period" (Carson 110). Other people believe the creature to be an extraterrestrial. The glowing red eyes make it appear other-worldly. The theory of an alien Chupacabra is particularly popular in West Texas and Arizona where reported UFO sightings are more commonplace than in other areas of the world. These are good theories, but to the Mexican "village folk...the Chupacabra" is "the Devil incarnate or...one of his demons" (110).

Hasta luego,
Ana

Note: We will not be discussing aliens, the Montauk monster, or any monsters not related to the vampire in our blog. Of course, you are welcome to bring them up in discussion topics/comments, but we will not formally address the topic of such creatures.

Sources:
Carson, Kyle. Sacred.
Ho, Oliver. Josh Cochran. Mysteries Unwrapped
Koven, Mikel J. Film, folklore, and urban legends.
Morton, EW. Out for Blood.
O'Keefe, M Timothy. Caribbean hiking.
Wikipedia. "Silverio Perez". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverio_P%C3%A9rez

Vampires in Mexico

2009-07-15T02:35:00.003+01:00

Mexico possesses "some notable vampire lore because of the cultures that once inhabited the region" (Konstantinos 32). Vampires in Mexican folklore "are believed to be linked to Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec god" (Universal). "Tezcatlipoca, whose name means 'Lord of the Smoking Mirror', is widely regarded as the supreme god of the Mesoamerican pantheon" (Willis 239). He was a hideous creature and considered "the god of hell". "Tezcatlipoca was also known as Yaotzin, "The Enemy" and in a thousand horrid phantom shapes he haunted the woods during the dark hours" (Summers 261).

"The Aztecs had a belief in female vampire beings called the cihuateteo" (also written civateteo & ciuateteo). "Like many other female vampiric entities, a cihuateteo was created when a woman died in childbirth. The vampires would roam and attack children, as did the lamiae of Greece" (Konstantinos 32). "These vampire-witches held Sabbaths at crossroads and were believed to attack young children and mate with human men, producing children who were also vampires" (Universal). These creatures exhibit behavior common to the vampires of Ancient Greece--the lamia and empusa.

Another named variety of vampire in Mexico is the Tlahuelpuchi. The tlahuelpuchi is a "living vampire," which "makes a strong case for the existence of psychic vampires. This was a person who could somehow transform him or herself and feed off others" (Konstantinos 32). This vampire lives with his/her "human family, is able to shapeshift and sucks the blood of infants at night" (Universal).

"The tlahuelpuchi is born with their curse and cannot avoid it. Sometime around puberty they first learn of what they are. The vast majority of tlahuelpuchi are female and the female tlahuelpuchi are more powerful than the male" (Universal). "These vampires have a glowing aura and they "change form by detaching their body from their legs." They usually hunt in the form of a bird, and before the attack they fly over a house from the North to the South while maintaining the shape of a cross. "Garlic, onions and metal repel Tlahuelpuchi. Sometimes the metal is represented by a pair of open scissors", which is also usual in much of Eastern European lore (Universal). "The tlahuelpuchi have a form of society. Typically they each have their own territories" and they remain close to their human families. Family members usually protect the tlahuelpuchi, and if a family member reveals the identity of a tlahuelpuchi, "the curse will be passed down to that family member" (Universal).

Some scholars argue the source of vampire myths in Mexico. They claim that vampires did not descend from the Aztec god, citing the similarities of myths with those from Europe. John Kraniauskas suggests that vampires in Mexico rose amid the "themes of contemporary culture and global capitalism" and "introduces vampires into the cannibal scene." There is a progression from "ferocious man-eating" creatures of "mythic borderlands and colonial fantasy to the more refined and civilised sipping of blood." He asks, "Is vampirism a simultaneously aristocratic, modern and popular European form of cannibalism...recoded through the displacements of the 'civilising process'?" (Barker 31).

Other scholars assert that vampire bats are the source of the legends. Mexico is the home to one of the "two kinds of...blood sucking bat in the world: Desmodus rufus". The range of this bat is from "Southern Mexico to Argentina" (Gadow 441). These bats are feared for their blood-sucking nature and their ability to spread disease. Possibly, existing vampire lore was perpetuated by the aggravation created by vampire bats.

Whether scientific, political, or religious, stories of Mexican vampires are prevalent and persistent. However in recent times, Mexico has made advances against a different sort of blood-sucker. Read about the near-eradication of one type of blood sucker in Mexico.

Ca ndyi,
Ana

Sources:
Barker, Francis. Peter Hulme, Margaret Iversen. Cannibalism and the colonial world.
Gadow, Hans. Through southern Mexico, being an account of the travels of a naturalist.
Konstantinos. Vampires: The Occult Truth.
Summers, Montague. The vampire his kith and kin.
Universal Vampire: http://vampires.monstrous.com/universal_vampire.htm
Willis, Roy G. World Mythology.

Vampires in Malawi

2009-07-13T03:32:00.004+01:00

"Rumours of people being attacked for their blood have swept southern areas of Malawi. Terrified villagers have left their fields untended," they are "scared of becoming the next victims of the mysterious blood-suckers" (Tenthani). A recent "Malawi vampire panic started with people who said they had been attacked by bloodsucking vampires. Many of the victims were women and children. One woman said that the vampire had used a needle, not its teeth, to take her blood" (Steloff 68).

Villagers turned on outsiders and accused their leaders. "In January 2003," governor Eric Chiwaya "was attacked and nearly killed by a mob that claimed that the government was helping vampires prey on the people" (Stefoff 68). Although, "the president of Malawi...said that there were no vampires," and that these rumors "had been started by political enemies," frantic violence erupted (69). "Strangers" were the "victims of vigilantes and villagers" were "wary of anyone who" was "not known in their area" (Tenthani). "One man...was stoned to death" after angry mobs claimed that he was a vampire or was "working with the vampires" (68).

This is not the first vampire-panic in recent times. In the 1950s and 60s, "the assumption...that many Europeans were vampire-men who sucked the blood and ate the flesh of innocent Africans" was prevalent (Lewis 90). "Luise White discusses" the origins of these fears "at length in her study Speaking with Vampires". In "Southeast Africa the charge of blood-sucking was routinely levelled...at European colonial and post-colonial authorities and the Africans who worked for them. Often, advanced technologies figured in these stories of imperialist vampirism--those who had access to the technologies and understood their use were often suspected of using them for nefarious purposes" (Day 164).

Perhaps the European colonists appeared malicious to the native populations; however, no evidence exists indicating their connection to vampires. In the same way, I can find no evidence that supports the idea that vampires maintained any political objective in Malawi during the early 2000s. Most certainly, Malawi is not vacant of blood-drinkers, but the angry mob mentality will not protect the citizens from their pernicious bite. [Read about blood-drinkers in Malawi].

Tionana,
Ana

Sources:
Day, Peter. Vampires
Lewis, I.M. Religion in context.
Stefoff, Rebecca. Vampires Zombies, and Shape-Shifters.
Tenthani, Raphael. BBC News. "'Vampires' strike Malawi villages". 23 Dec 2002.

Indian Vampires

2009-07-11T03:20:00.005+01:00

The people of India "believed in vampire-like beings several millennia ago. In fact, the people of the Indus River valley...were the first to believe in the concept of vampire gods" (Konstantinos 22). "There were all sorts of flesh-eating vampires, evil and cunning goblins, the ghosts of the deceased who were all too willing to roam the earth and take vengeance on anyone they believed had done them wrong, as well as the demons who spoiled sacrifices, ate the flesh of the recently dead and possessed babies who would then die" (Walsh).

Evidence of ancient vampires is found in "pieces of art, which date back about five thousand years" (Konstantinos 22). These images "depict hideous creatures with green faces and fangs. Those beings are believed to be the first vampire gods" (22). From the Indus Valley, the ideas of vampirism spread throughout the region. Eventually the creatures acquired specific names and horrifying descriptions.

"The first" to be named "was the Nepalese Lord of Death...The god seems to have taken his sustenance from blood and death." The Tibetan Lord of Death "had similar features to the vampire gods...and was considered a creature who lived off the blood of humans" (23).

In India, the Pacu Pati is a powerful vampire who is "deemed as the lord of all beings of mischief. It is seen at night in cemeteries and places of execution" (Remains). "A more recently worshiped vampire-like deity is Kali" (Konstantinos 22). Although, "Goddess Kali is clearly not a" traditional/human "vampire...she does drink blood, and certainly has a relationship with divine thirst...a nocturnal force of nature, she is also sometimes represented with fangs, and is an avatar of destructive beauty" (Wikipedia).

The vampire gods of of India vary dramatically from the modern concept of vampires. These creatures were regarded strictly as deities. They were superhuman and divine. "In addition to the mythology of vampire deities, beliefs in vampire-like creatures in India and surrounding areas developed over the years" (Konstantinos 22).

Pacu Pati developed into a flock of vampiric creatures also called the Pisacha who, "were a race of flesh eaters" (Remains). The Pisacha were not alone. "A particularly vicious species of vampire was the raksashas or raksashis...those creatures were described as having fangs, five legs, and bodies soaked in blood. To add to their vampiric traits, the raksashas and raksashis...have been described in many texts as 'blood drinkers'" (Konstantinos 24). "The Rakshasa was a powerful Indian vampire and magician. They like to confuse those around them by appearing either in human form with animal attributes (claws, fangs, slitted eyes, etc.) or as animals with human features (feet, hands, flattened nose, etc.). The animal side is very often a tiger. They are known to eat the victim's flesh in addition to drinking their blood." The sole motive of these creatures was "to steal the elixir of immortality." "The Rakshasa were no longer human but still possessed a physical nature, they loved to prey upon the helpless." (Remains)

"Other Indian vampires include the vetalas, which have appeared in various forms. Of particular interest is the old hag who sucks blood...hags are associated with vampirism in other countries as well" (Konstantinos 24). Similar are the Churel (or Churail), these are "vicous vengeful ghost-like vampire(s) found in India. It is normally a woman who died while pregnant during the Diwali festival or while unclean at any time...They preyed upon young men, keeping them captive and slowly draining their life forces until they become withered old men." (Remains).

A few other creatures may be of interest to you. The Hantu saburo "is a being who commands dogs and uses them to hunt humans. When the animals catch the prey, the vampire feeds." (Konstantinos 25). The Hantu dodong "resides in caves and lives off the blood of animals," and the Hantu parl "looks for wounded individuals and drinks their blood when they are helpless to stop it" (25).

Vampire are prolific in India. The tales of ancient vampire gods may be the oldest stories of blood drinkers, and are certainly among the most interesting.

Alavidha,
Ana

Consider reading our Malaria blog article entitled Malaria in India

Sources:
Konstantinos. Vampires.
Remains of the Desi: < http://remainsofthedesi.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/vampires-of-indiafor-the-blood-is-the-life/ >. 10 July 2009.
Walsh, John. Magic in Ancient India. "Monsters, Ghosts and Vampires in the Imagination". 1 Nov 2007.
Wikipedia: "Vampire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire

Vampire heartbeat

2009-07-09T05:33:00.005+01:00

Does a vampire have a heartbeat?

Some sources "say that since [the vampire is] dead, he has problems with blood circulation" (Ramsland 224). Certainly, a dead creature would have circulatory problems. Death would inhibit the signal from the brain to the heart in order to keep it pumping in a regular fashion. Furthermore, after death the blood would congeal and "the veins" would "become clogged, preventing the circulation of blood" throughout the body (Barber 43).

If there is no circulation, then "how does the body of the creature function--when it ingests blood, is that blood circulated? In other words, does its undead heart beat?" (Konstantinos 99).

A vampire is a creature that moves. Since there is the capability to move, there is no reason to believe that the heart would not beat. "Certainly,...one of the reasons staking was first implemented" as a method of vampire disposal was because "driving a stake through the organ and leaving it there would obviously disrupt the heart's ability to beat" (Konstantinos 99).

It is also worth considering that "the physical vampire of folklore was not pale. In fact, most documents indicate that the skin color of an undead typically had a reddish tinge, as if the blood it ingested infused every cell of its body" (Konstantinos 4). The blood would not move throughout he body without some type of circulatory system. Since a circulatory system functions, and the vampire is capable of movement, there is no reason to believe that the heart of a vampire is still.

Tsedesutyun,
Ana

Sources:
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death
Konstantinos. Vampires.
Lyle, DP. The Lab: Articles: Timely Death. http://www.dplylemd.com/Articles/timelydeath.html
Ramsland, Katherin M. The Science of Vampires

Vampire venom and infection

2009-07-08T04:30:00.009+01:00

Reports of vampire venom are prolific, and it is easy to see why. Like the fanged snake, vampires are reported to inject a poison or infection into their victims. The attributes of the poison vary between accounts from anesthetic capabilities to fatal results.

Some sources claim that, when the "vampire poison gets into your blood, it numbs you, knocks you out" (Massy 521). The effects of vampire poison resemble that of snake venom and are "partly local, partly central. The blood is also deeply affected" (Sollmann 421). "Snakes that inject venom use modified salivary glands. Venom is a modified form of saliva and probably evolved to aid in chemical digestion" (Emedicine). If vampires do inject some form of venom, it is likely that it would server the same purpose as snake venom--after all, both creatures are natural predators.

However, venom is not the only poison associated with vampires. "We find in countless examples of vampire fiction drawing on metaphors of infection" (Day 32). Some sources indicate that the vampires "inject thousands of tiny parasites" into the bloodstream (Feehan 298). According to Montague Summers,"the subsequent consequences" of a vampire bite are "the terrible anemia and Hemoplegia which may result in death followed by the vampire infection" (Summers 177).

The notion of an infectious vampire bite is closely tied with the idea of reproduction via the bite. The idea is that "unless the most drastic and immediate remedies are applied, a person who is attacked by a vampire and whose blood has been sucked will become a vampire in turn imbued with a craving to pass on the horrible pollution" (Summers 168).

"Various sources of fear represented by the late nineteenth-century vampire and its best known manifestation in Dracula- fear of degeneration, fear of infection," and "anxiety about ...preservation" (Day 68). These mortal worries are inescapable, and aggravated by the religious powers. "It could well be argued that the Church spread the vampire-infection" (Masters 187). If the threat of excommunication did not keep parishioners inline, then perhaps the fright of becoming a vampire would.

In our blog article on Vampire Reproduction the idea of spreading vampirism through a simple bite was refuted. If a vampire bite was enough to create a new vampire, then a "child" would be made every time a vampire fed. Since the world is not overpopulated by vampires (although it may seem so if you browse the young adult section of a bookstore), this is most likely not the method of reproduction.

However, we cannot disprove the existence of poison or infection in the vampire's bite. As mentioned in the previous blog post, a vampire bite can certainly transmit any blood-born illness such as malaria or HIV.

Neither can we empirically refute vampire venom. Yet, when we look at venomous snakes we see that "envenomation is completely voluntary," and "all venomous snakes are capable of biting without injecting venom into their victim" (Gold 347). It is logical to assume that venomous vampires possess the same capability. Furthermore, there are plenty of snakes that do not inject venom with their bite. It is possible that the bite of a vampire is innocuous with the exception of its blood-letting capability, yet infection through a vampire bite has been the source of great fear.

Unfortunately, "Even to-day (1929) in certain quarters of the world, in remoter districts of Europe itself, Transylvania, Slavonia, the isles and mountains of Greece, the peasant will take the law into his own hands and utterly destroy the carrion who--as it is yet firmly believed--at night will issue from his unhallowed grave to spread the infection of vampirism throughout the countryside" (Summers xxi). Furthermore, animals suspected "of vampire infection" were "exhumed, chopped into pieces, and burned" (Bunson 303). "It seems that the most dangerous infection...is not vampirism but the infectiousness of violence itself" (Day 198).

Nasvidenje,
Ana

Sources:

Banks, L.A. The Wicked.
Bunson, Matthew. The Vampire Encyclopedia.
Day, Peter. Vampires.
EMedicinehealth.com http://www.emedicinehealth.com/snakebite/article_em.htm Snake Bite
Feehan, Christine. Dark Possession.
Gold, Barry S.; Richard C. Dart, Robert A. Barish (1 April 2002). "Bites of venomous snakes". The New England Journal of Medicine 347 (5): 347–56. ISSN 00284793. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/347/5/347?ijkey=/Romzox5/Yq3A&keytype=ref&siteid=nejm. Retrieved on 2009-06-25.
Massy, Brandon. Dark Corner.
Masters, Anthony. The natural history of the vampire.
Sollmann, Torald Hermann. A Manual of pharmacology and its applications to therapeutics and toxicology.
Summers, Montague. The vampire his kith and kin.

Vampire fangs

2009-07-07T04:05:00.003+01:00

When an image of a vampire is conjured, it most frequently boasts pale skin, long fingernails, and fangs. From that point onward, accounts differ. Sometimes the fangs are in the upper teeth, other times they are only in the lower teeth. Occasionally, the fangs retract so that the vampire can pass as human. Fangs can be large or discreet, "or even the special pricklike needle hidden under the tongue that Suzy McKee Charnas has her vampire in The Vampire Tapestry," regardless, "the convention that arose in" vampire-related "literature was the possession of fangs" (Ramsland 36).

The reason for the development of vampire fangs in literature is twofold. First, it solves the problem of how the vampire extracts the blood from the victim. "To get the blood, the vampire needs a way to pierce through skin and veins or arteries. While it could as easily have been a sharpened fingernail or a weapon," fangs were chosen because they are identified as predatory. The second reason that fangs developed in literature is that such a dental abnormality identifies the individual as a vampire and associates "the vampire with predatory creatures like snakes, rats, and wolves" (36). "Predators were identifiable by their fangs, and victims by two little holes in their neck" (Auerbach 52).

Fiction is not consistent on the existence or type of fangs. Some fictitious vampires have no fangs at all. In Hollywood Gothic, "Dracula has no fangs, long nails, blazing eyes, or other vampire accoutrements" (90). Yet, sometimes fangs are so well developed and integrated into the story that they seem to be inherent to the vampire.

Folkloric accounts of vampires and fangs are nearly as muddled as fictive stories. In Malaysia, "the Hindus told of a vampire called the langsuir. Any woman giving birth who died upon discovering that her child was stillborn was thought to become one of those creatures. The langsuir was not described as having fangs like other vampires, rather it supposedly had a hole in the back of its neck that it used to suck blood" (Konstantions 24). However, in The Vampire in Legend, Lore and Literature, "Professor Devendra P. Varma describes paintings and carvings found in the Indus Valley. The pieces of art, which date back about five thousand years, depict hideous creatures with green faces and fangs. Those beings are believed to be the first vampire gods" (Konstantinos 22).

A vampire's possession of fangs is among the oldest traditions. The widespread notion of fangs may result from the examination of dead bodies by people fearing vampires. If a body was exhumed and examined for vampirism, the investigator may discover that the teeth appeared larger or longer than they had in life. This is due to the recession of the gums after death. As the gum tissue decomposes, it shrinks away from the teeth and exposes more of the tooth. The teeth of a deceased individual may appear to have grown after death.

Is the notion of vampire fangs a development only fiction? It appears that it is not. Few individuals can refute evidence from five thousand of years ago. Clearly, the idea of fangs is entrenched in the legends and imagery of vampires. But does a vampire always have fangs? A predator in fiction is easier to spot than one who chooses to hide in plain sight.

Phir milenge,
Ana

Sources:
Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves.
Konstantinos. Vampires: The Occult Truth.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.

Extraction of blood and vampires

2009-07-06T02:44:00.004+01:00

"In most fiction about vampires,...the vampire looms over his victim dramatically, then bites into her neck to such her blood" (Barber 32). The victim wilts and the vampire rears his head to expose his bloody mouth. While very impressive, this display is something that rarely departs from the arena of horror films. This blog entry will discuss the manner in which vampires extract blood from the supplier (who we will identify as 'victim' or 'donor'), and refute some common notions.

"When vampires and revenants in folklore suck blood" they "bite their victim somewhere on the thorax. Among the Kashubes, it is reported that they choose the area of the left breast; among the Russians, they leave a small wound in the area of the heart" (32). "Cremene adds that...the bite is never at the jugular but usually over the heart, the blood of which is in demand" (Waltje 47). The thorax (the upper torso) has a rich supply of blood, and is relatively easy to access. The problem with the thorax is that there are few arteries and veins near the surface. Depending on the victim, the vampire might bite into muscle or breast tissue. The lack of exposed veins does not deter the vampire. In fact, occasionally, "the victim is bitten between the eyes" in folklore (Barber 33).

The reason why most vampires choose not to bite the jugular is because in doing so they loose control over speed of discharge and blood loss. With the jugular there is "the chance of a mess, since the high-pressure arteries spurt when punctured" (Ramsland 33). The vampire may choose instead to bite a small vein, as "low-pressure veins are less likely" to gush (33). This is purely a practicality. A bite at the jugular will cause significant blood loss, and that is a waste according to all parties. A more gradual flow of blood is easier to control.

It is not conscripted that the vampire kills the victim while feeding. Furthermore, "the vampire's bite needs to neither spread vampirism nor be unpleasant" (Love 265). Because the death of the victim is not completely necessary, the idea of "Pomme de Sang" developed (Hamilton 265). In other words, a vampire does not need to kill the victim. If the vampire chooses, he/she can survive by taking small amounts of blood from many willing donors.

When many victims/donors are involved, it is important to note that infectious diseases may spread. Many communicable diseases can be spread through blood. Even if the vampire is not affected, one donor may become infected by a disease from another donor, transmitted through the vampire. Examples of these diseases include HIV and Malaria.

While most people think that malaria can only be spread via mosquito bite, there are other methods of transmission. Most common methods of malaria transmission (other than through the mosquito) are congenital, blood transfusion, and needle stick injury. Just as HIV can be transmitted on a object such as a needle, so can malaria. It follows that a bite from a vampire may transmit malaria between victims and donors. Furthermore, "following an attack of malaria, the donor may remain infective for years" (Malaria).

Alweda,
Ana

Infectious Bite strongly suggests that no humans engage in vampiric activities, and that extreme caution be used when handling blood.

For more information on the infectious disease of malaria, please visit our Malaria Blog.

Sources:
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial and Death.
Hamilton, Laurell K. Danse Macabre.
Love, Kathy. Fangs for the Memories.
Malaria Site: Transmission of Malaria. 5 July 2009.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.
Waltje, Jorg. Blood obsession: vampires, serial murder, and the popular imagination.

The Evil Quality of Vampires

2009-07-03T03:21:00.005+01:00

The topic of vampires and evilness is laden with controversy. Lucius and Calista are not in complete agreement with me on this subject. I write what I believe, and they can augment or contradict my arguments as they feel necessary. Please respond with your own opinions.

Recent literature has depicted vampires as altruistic and empathetic creatures. The Twilight saga takes this notion to the extent of creating a family of "vegetarian vampires" who risk their well-being for that of a single human. Prior to this fantasy, vampires were subject to a slow progression from the vile Undead to the mystic Immortals. So now the question arises, Are vampires evil?

Although legends of vampires appear throughout the world in many cultures, the Western culture will be the focus of this discussion. Similarly, the religious definition of "evil" will be that of the Christian doctrine.

The traditional position of the vampire is as the enemy of The Church. Prior to the development of organized Christianity and in places where other religions prevail, the vampire is the enemy of the earth. The Church excommunicates the vampire, and "Mother Earth rejects the unclean dead" (Barber 151).

Originally, the vampire was a scapegoat for misfortunes. Death of children, by illness or infanticide, was a common problem to the ancients. The most ancient blood drinkers--the empusa and the lamia--were accused of the slaughter of children and youth, who might have died at the hands of the adults they trusted.

During the move of the vampiric tradition from the Balkans and Eastern Europe into Western Europe (early 18th century), there was a "transfer of the Vampire from a folkloric entity to a symbolic literary type, capable of embodying metaphorically a host of shifting contemporary concepts and social evil." Vampires were deemed intrinsically wicked when the importers misunderstood the "scapegoat" attribute of the vampire and "presumed [the] evil as authentic" (McClelland xiv).

"In Poland, the Roman Catholic clergy have laid hold upon this superstition [of the vampire] as a means of making war upon the great enemy of the Church," (Satan) "and there the vampire is merely a corpse possessed by the Evil Spirit, and no longer the true Vampire of the ancient Slavonians." The difference is clear when compared with the original notion (as seen in Bulgaria) that the vampire is not "a dead body possessed by a demon, but a soul in revolt against the inevitable principle of corporeal death" (Summers 816).

"Christians regard death as the penalty of sin, the divinely appointed punishment of the crime in Eden" (Cavendish 55). All humans are saddled with sin from the beginning; even "infants contract original sin" (Augustine 420). If all individuals--human and not-so-human--are sinful by nature, then how can humans consider vampires -more- evil than themselves?

In Christian theory, "Christ's life and death on earth had broken Satan's inexorable grip on mankind and had brought back to men the possibility of immortality which Adam had forfeited" (Cavendish 55). Therefore, humans who claim the salvation of Christ are saved from slavery to Satan and their natal sin.

Lucius (@LucRevenant) asserts that because vampires have redeemed themselves from the grave, they have not accepted the salvation of the Christ, and are therefore still blanketed with sin. The sin that the vampire bears may be that of the original humans, although Calista (@CalistaThan) claims that vampires are a different species than pure humans, or it may be the sin that they accumulate from violating their conscience by continuing to kill. With the exception of some modern fantasies, vampires continue to kill humans for sustenance even when they feel guilty for their actions. "The vampire's nature is fundamentally conservative--it never stops doing what it does" (Gelder 141).

Vampires are predators. They are not intentionally sinful parishioners. Without blood a vampire cannot persist. Is it a sin for an individual to intentionally starve himself to death? Sins against one's own body are forbidden in both the Old and the New Testament.

Could it be that vampires are only following nature's guide when they kill? Vampires are "condemned as 'against nature'" and against humanity, but their condition "proves to be a phenomenon of the natural realm" (Heldreth). Vampires cannot help but kill humans. It is a requisite of their condition, and should not be conscripted to evil.

But even without religion, aspects of the culture associate the inescapable nature of the vampire with evil in the minds of humans. Original tales of vampires were all told from the point of view of the prey. Folkloric tales were used to explain away ill-fated events and warn against misdoings. When vampires are granted a legitimate voice in stories, humans become enamored with them. For evidence of this, look to Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles or Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint Germain. In these stories, vampires are adored by their human companions. They are perceived as creatures that blend supernatural powers with the capacity for human emotion.

So, we return to the incipient question. Are vampires innately evil? It is my opinion that if vampires are intrinsically wicked, then humans must be also. Drinking of blood is the original sin of the vampire--it is a necessity of the condition. If humans are in need of salvation, then so are vampires, but vampires are not the devil incarnate. Blood drinkers are not bodies possessed by evil spirits; they are simply predators and humans are the prey.

Dovizhdane,
Ana

Sources:
Heldreth, Leonard G. Mary Pharr. The blood is life.
Gelder, Ken. Reading the Vampire.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire in Lore and Legend.
McClelland, Bruce. Slayers and their vampires.
Cavendish, Richard. The powers of evil in Western religion, magic and folk belief.
Augustine, Maria Boulding, et al. Answer to the Pelagians: Volume 1. Version 23.

Vampires and water (Part 2): Holy water

2009-07-02T04:33:00.008+01:00

The previous blog post addressed ancient superstitions regarding salt water and flowing water in relation to vampires. This entry will discuss blessed or holy water.

Water "is perhaps humanity's oldest symbol of life". To humans, it is sacred. If water can wash away dirt and grime, it can also be used for spiritual cleansing. "Ritual bathing, also known as ablution" exists in the oldest of religions (Altman). "It follows ...that water blessed by a priest--holy water--should have added potency as a weapon against evil" (Gregory 126). In the eyes of probable victims, blood-drinkers are evil. Vampires are amoral, and they are enemy of The Church. Therefore, they should be vulnerable to the holy symbols, incantations, and curses.

The idea behind holy water is that "thus anointed...water can...be thrown in the face of a vampire, where it will have the effect of burning like acid" (Gregory 127-8). Not only does the notion fuel the morale of would-be-victims, "the efficacy of...holy water against [vampires] proves the existence of God" (Paulson 172). Peasants turned to The Church for protection against their fears. "Russians would pour holy water on the upyr [definition: vampire/witch] when they found it in the coffin" (Konstantinos 31). By declaring blessed water a weapon against evil, The Church reinforced its grip on the congregation.

The Church declared war against the vampire and developed its own arsenal of holy weapons, including holy water and the crucifix. "Like the crucifix, holy water appears to have been introduced at sometime around the fourth century" (Gregory 126). Nearly all "Post-Stoker vampires" in fiction "are vulnerable to human products: rosaries and holy water" (Auerbach 36). Yet, "modern-day vampires scoff at some ancient superstitions, especially those concerning crosses, holy water and garlic" (Renoux 32). They say: "There is nothing to fear in the sign of the Cross, nor the Holy Water, nor the Sacrament itself" (Rice 225-6).

Why do modern vampires disregard holy water? Well, they believe that their blood is more ancient than the spiritual symbols, and therefore more potent. However, unlike the crucifix, "water, the universal solvent, is the oldest symbol of purification and cleansing" (Gregory 126). And, supposing that the creator deity listened to the pleas of the priest as he blessed the water to make it holy, then there is no reason to believe that the ancient purifying symbol would not retain the power of the god. Of course, if blessed water had the ability to scald a vampire, it would also abrade any human who is not a faithful devotee to that deity. I suppose that the potency of holy water depends on the faith of the one who speaks the benediction and the one who wields it as a weapon.

But, after examining the modern-day church, I see that vampires have no need to fear the faith of the clergy or the parishioners. Can you attest otherwise?

Do svidanja,
Ana

Sources:
Auerback, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves.
Gregory, Constantine. Craig Glenday. Vampire Watcher's Handbook.
Konstantinos. Vampires: The Occult Truth.
Paulson, Ronald. Sun and Evil.
Renoux, Victoria. For the Love of Garlic.
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Lestat.

Vampires and water (Part 2): Holy water

2009-07-02T03:52:00.001+01:00

The previous blog post addressed ancient superstitions regarding salt water and flowing water in relation to vampires. This entry will discuss blessed or holy water and its affect on vampires.

Vampires and Water (Part 1)

2009-07-01T03:14:00.002+01:00

The protective qualities of salt water and running water are among the most ancient superstitions associated with blood-drinkers. Scholars assert that "the Vampire cannot cross salt water. Running water, too, he can only pass at the slack or flood of the tide" (Summers Kith 187). Salt water seas are reputed to be the most successful bodies of water at ceasing the advance of vampires since they combine both transient and saline attributes.

Ancient "Greeks would disinter suspected revenants and bury them on remote, uninhabited islands" (Gregory 123). Superstitious people believe that "running water dissolves all charms" (Summers Europe 308). The reason for this superstition is that "Water--and in particular, fast flowing water--has always been used to flush away wickedness and evil" (Gregory 126). Similarly, salt is a substance associated with purification and preservation.

In age of Christianity, this notion of purifying water evolves into the sacrosanct practice of baptism. All sins are washed away by the water (traditionally, of the Jordan River) and the participant emerges from the water fully cleansed. King James believed that vampires developed because they refused the holy traditions of The Church. He claims that "the water shall refuse to receive Them into her bosom, that have shaken off the sacred water of baptism."

Witch trials of the past millennium often employed the method of iudicium aqua--trial by water--to distinguish a pure human from an evil entity. The accused was vindicated if successfully drowned, but if the accused floated, he/she was considered a witch, vampire or other revenant. Murgoci supports this idea by claiming that "vampires never drown, they always float on top." His idea keeps in line with the physical truth that "dead bodies do in fact become extremely buoyant" (Barber). Since vampires were (and still are) considered dead, it is a logical designation between living and dead flesh. The spiritual significance of this is that "the water chooses not to take [the revenants] in, much as...Mother Earth rejects the unclean dead" (Barber 151). Supposedly, the vampire has risen from the grave--out of the earth. To superstitious peasants, this must seem as though the earth is casting out the vampire because of some fault. If the earth cannot restrain vampires, then why would the sea be able stop them?

Xaire,
Ana

NOTE: This is part one to a three part series on water and purification in regard to the vampire. In the near future, we will discuss Holy Water and the "wickedness" of blood-drinkers.

Sources:
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial and Death.
Summers, Montague. Vampire in Europe.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin.
Gregory, Constantine. Craig Glenday. Vampire Watcher's Handbook.

Vampire reproduction

2009-06-29T00:42:00.010+01:00

According to L.A. Banks in The Awakening, "Vampires can't breed...their seed is dead...They make more [vampires] through the bite" (P163). As previously mentioned, this argument is fallacious. The world is not overpopulated by vampires; therefore, they must not reproduce through a bite (Read more: turning a human into a vampire).

So, how do the 'undead' reproduce?
If you've seen the movie Van Helsing, your mind probably conjures up the image of giant cocoons and exploding monster-bats. This is Hollywood at its best. I guarantee you that vampires do not create cocoons or have bat-children.

But, they do reproduce. After all, vampires surface in all time periods and all parts of the world. Some manner of reproduction occurs. In humans, reproduction most commonly happens through sex. Vampires are also capable of sexual intercourse. The Empusa, generally believed to be among the oldest blood drinkers, seduced men into bed and drained their blood after weakening them with sex. Female vampires are still often depicted as "ravenous succubae that take more than just blood from their male victims" (Ramsland 225).

Male vampires are also physically capable of having sexual intercourse. If a male vampire is feeding, he should have adequate blood to achieve an erection in the same manner as humans. Circulation of blood should not be squabbled about, because "the discovery of corpses with erections" is "not [an] uncommon occurrence" (223).

Furthermore gypsies, the source of much vampire folklore, "believed that vampires left the grave at night to have sex with their spouses" (223). Vampire-Human copulation seems possible, right? After all, the anatomy does correspond. But, what about reproduction? "Poppy Z. Brite's vampires can have children with mortals, and dhampirs are the result of such a union" (224). "Usually a dhampir has a vampiric father and mortal mother" (Belanger 116). According to the supporters of the dhampir idea, a male vampire can copulate with a female human and may produce a viable offspring, which is "physically indistinguishable from ordinary humans" and is considered a sub-race of humanity (Morton). Reportedly, "dhampirs can recognize vampires" easily, and although their particular traits vary by legend, they do not usually possess supernatural powers (Handeland 131). Since dhampirs share the same traits as humans, it is logical to assume that they can live a normal existence without ever realizing their vampiric nature. However, if "they share the blood...then they become more vampire than human" (132).

What does this mean? Well, the idea of a dhampir indicates that vampires may reproduce and that the hybrid-offspring will become a vampire if it begins to consume blood. This falls in line with the modern vampire community's assertion that vampires gradually become aware of their vampiric nature as they reach maturity.

If you buy into the possibility of a dhampir, then you may question whether female vampires can produce children. Like all vampiric mysteries, the topic is debated. Among the mythological "lamie, styrges, empuse; children were the objects of their envy and thus their hatred" (Levi 90).

For a single case study, let's examine Lamia. "Lamias were creatures which made love to sleeping men and also killed and ate their children". To understand why, we should look to the "original Lamia" who "was said to have been a beautiful Libyan queen...Hera was bitterly jealous and murdered Lamia's children. Lamia went mad with grief...and in desperate revenge she stole and devoured other people's children" (Cavendish 100). Clearly, Lamia had children, but that was prior to the moment when "her beauty changed to bestial ugliness", or in other words, she become evil (100). This idea of a childless female snatching the children of women develops throughout the legends as "the adulteration of familial bliss by a vampire or monster presence" (Principe 99). Of course, if a female vampire stole a human child the child would still be human, which does not solve the problem of reproduction. Some sources assert that the spirit of the vampire enters child of a dead mother, whether killed by a vampire or deceased in childbirth (Poe 16). However, this idea "dictates the precept of monogenesis--that is,...the descent of an entire race from the vampiric Progenitor" (Principe 94).

Is there a single vampiric ancestor from whom all blood-drinkers descend? --I suppose that there must be, but I have never met a blood-drinker who has knowledge of vampiric origins. Do vampires reproduce? --Yes, but I will not say how. Some questions cannot be answered, and I refuse to answer others; however, you are welcome to voice any opinions and provide knowledgeable sources on the matter.

Sziasztok,
Ana

Sources:
Banks, L.A. The Awakening.
Belanger, Michelle. Sacred Hunger.
Cavendish, Richard. The powers of evil in Western religion, magic and folk belief.
Dundles, Alan. The vampire.
Handeland, Lori. Doomsday Can Wait.
Levi, Eliphas. Alphonse louis Constant. Arthur Edward Waite. The history of magic.
Morton, EW. Out for Blood.
Poe, Edgar Allen. Morella. 1836.
Principe, David Del. Rebellion, Death, and Aesthetics in Italy.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.

Turning a human into a vampire

2009-06-28T20:50:00.010+01:00

It's a question riddled with problems, and it's one I've been asked several times this week.
How can I become a vampire?

The most often repeated answer is: You can't.
I imagine that is not the answer for which you search, so I will draw out some explanations in this blog entry. Anyway, that answer is not precisely true in every case.

Again, we will turn first to Bram Stoker's Dracula. "Evolutionary theory in Dracula is a nineteenth-century jumble of social Darwinisim, speciation and a pre-Darwinian Lamarckism" where an individual can "obtain prolonged life through 'the blood'" (Pue 235). Much of this jumbled theory has continued into the modern ideas of vampire creation, but little can be proven or supported with research or scientific fact.

Nevertheless, over the centuries, many methods of making a vampire have been developed in folklore and fiction. The ways that a vampire is created can be broken down into three sections: the individual becomes a vampire after death, the individual becomes a vampire because of his/her evil deeds, the individual is a vampire at birth.

The most popular method in modern time is the notion of an infected bite. In other words, a vampire bites a mortal human thereby 'infecting' the human with whatever attribute causes vampirism. In Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, a vampire bite releases venom into the blood stream, and that venom will eventually affect change within the victim. The specifics of this change vary by account. In the novel Bite, "It takes three bites to become a vampire,...and they all have to be from the same vampire. You can't become one in a single night, and you can't become one if you're just being casual with more than one" (Hamilton 5). Explained the most simply, the vampire's " bite grants, at least to some, eternal life, enhanced strength and sexualised beauty" (Pue 235). "While this scenario has a wealth of problems attached to it, notably that the earth would soon be choked with vampires, it does imbue the vampire with an interesting infectiousness and an inability to control its "procreative" powers" (Ramsland 90). Since the world is not over-populated with vampires, the claim of an infectious bite is clearly not true.

To accommodate the issue of scarcity of vampires, some authors claim that a simple bite is not enough. The 'victim' must accept the gift of the vampiric blood in order to transform into a new creature. This idea echoes the traditions of Christianity--it is only by receiving the blood, and thereby willingly dying to the world, that the human enters a new type of existence. The main advocate of this method of transformation is Anne Rice. In her Vampire Chronicles, a new blood drinker is made by draining a living human of blood "to the very threshold of death", and then the dying mortal must drink the blood of the vampire in order to survive and pass into immortal existence (Rice. Vampire 19). Marius says to his fledgling, Amadeo: "You'll die now to live forever, as I take your blood and give it back to you. I won't let you slip away." (Rice. Blood 302). This idea of blood exchange, also carries with it the idea of infected or magical blood. In order for this to work, the "vampire substance", whether it be disease or magic, must "be able to outdistance the mortal immune system" and be able to disable or change the "genetic process" (Ramsland 94). It is logical. Many diseases overpower the human immune system, but this idea leads to the association of vampirism with diseases such as Rabies, Porphyria, and other disease that produce life-altering side-effects. We will discuss the association of vampirism with disease in a later blog entry.

"It is true, however, that in folklore as well as in fiction, the vampire's bite tends to cause the victim to become a vampire as well" (Barber 32). However, folklore also provides many other alternate methods of creating a vampire including: a supernatural curse, an unusual death, a variety of sin, and spirit possession. Alan Dundes sums up the various methods that Romanians believe a vampire is made in his book The Vampire.

The causes of vampirism are various. Roumanians think that a man born with a caul [remnant of the amniotic sac] becomes a vampire within six weeks after his death; similarly people who were bad and had done evil deeds in their lifetime. When a child dies before it is baptized, it becomes a vampire at seven years of age...Men who swear falsely for money become vampires six months after death...If a vampire casts its eye on a pregnant woman, and she is not disenchanted, her child will be a vampire. If a pregnant woman does not eat salt, her child will be a vampire...When there are seven children of the same sex, the seventh will have a little tail and be a vampire

Furthermore, "a dead man becomes a vampire, if a cat jumps over him, if a man steps over him, or even if the shadow of a man falls over him" (Dundes 20). This idea is also reported in cases of Asian vampires, where any animal (but particularly a dog) can instigate the change by jumping over a dead body. To all educated, modern individuals it is clear that these "methods" are merely superstitions created by a populace that feared vampires and all that strayed from the norm.

In the modern world, there are still some who claim a human can be turned into a vampire. Some subcultures of vampires engage in initiation acts, that may resemble one or more of the processes of 'turning' a human into a vampire as described in fiction or folklore. While the participants may feel differently because of these initiation acts, no speciation (the process of one species separating into two) occurs. Humans still have human DNA after these rituals. They are still affected by human diseases, and they are still bound by physical requirements of the human body.

So, can a human turn into a vampire? "The majority of the vampire community believe it is impossible for anyone to be turned...Many believe we are born vampires and gradually become aware of our natures" (Voices of the Vampire Community). Others insist on the exchange of blood is the path to immortality. The truth is a closely guarded secret.

Erteng körüshkönchö,
Ana

Sources:
Banks, L.A. The Awakening.
Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death.
Dundes, Alan. The Vampire. P 20
Hamilton, Laurell K. Charlaine Harris, Angela Knight, Mary Janice Davidson, Vickie Taylor. Bite.
Pue, W. Wesley, David Sugarman. Lawyers and vampires.
Ramsland, Katherine M. The Science of Vampires.
Rice, Anne. Blood & Gold.
Rice, Anne. Interview with a vampire.

Using garlic against vampires

2009-06-26T14:13:00.008+01:00

Congratulations, humans, you've gotten something right...in a manner of speaking.

You impressed me, for a moment. I thought that you understood the correct correlation between blood drinkers and garlic because "In almost all vampire literature and movies, garlic is used by peasants to ward off vampires" (Gresh 135). "Myth has it that" vampires "abhor...garlic", and "in vampire lore, garlic has always played the role of protector"(Renoux 30-1). Garlic draped on transoms is used to keep vampires outside the home. Garlic necklaces protect the wearer, and a diet heavy in garlic discourages vampire attacks. This is (nearly) true.

I know better than to claim that all vampires maintain a disgust for garlic, for it is most certainly incorrect in some cases. Claudia Varrin says that the "garlic myth is a huge joke among modern vampires, it makes them double over laughing at us, the silly humans who wear garlic as protection against vampire attacks. Garlic does not ward off vampires but it does make potential victims easier for the vampire to smell. And, after the vampire has fed,...the garlic makes for a nice marinade for humans" (229). I do not know what sources for vampircal knowledge Varrin has, but in my experience most vampires prefer to avoid garlic.

So, I believed humans understood the 'power' of garlic until I investigated further.

Again, I stumbled into the dark recesses of human ignorance in the claim that vampires have "some form of an allergy ... to the chemical composition of garlic...like the fatal reaction that some humans have to the sting of a bee" (Liberty 147). But fear not, it gets worse. In the book, Vampire State Building there is an entire chapter devoted to the idea that "if a vampire eats garlic it [the vampire] shrivels up" (Levy 45). I must agree with Varrin at this point, how ridiculous!

Vampires are not inherently allergic to garlic. Can you imagine a vampire that is allergic to garlic, sunlight, silver, iron, holy water, crucifixes...that poor creature would need to exist solely within a bubble. No, there is no universal allergy. Neither is garlic successful at warding off a vampire because, "garlic, being a blood purifier, is harmful or fatal to most of the world's many species of vampire" (Maberry 45). Why wouldn't a vampire want pure blood?

The reason for garlic avoidance is simple: Garlic reeks. Perhaps the vampiric nose is more sensitive than that of the human, but I hardly think that you could be oblivious to the potent odor of garlic.

If you've ever been around someone who ate a meal heavily seasoned with garlic...you already know that allicin (the most important active ingredient in garlic) shows up on the breath and in the sweat glands for quite some time after the garlic has been eaten (Greer 50).

Personally, I find the scent revolting. Would it stop me from eating?--absolutely not. But if given the choice, I would always prefer a meal that is not laden with garlic.

Think (but only briefly, lest I get angry) of vampires as rather large mosquitoes, which by the way, are also repelled by garlic. A mosquito is less likely to drink your blood if you smell repulsive--obviously, you know this, because humans make mosquito repellent from very smelly liquids. And the same is true for vampires. But no matter your scent, don't assume you are safe from the nibble of a hungry blood drinker. If a mosquito will still bite even when you are slathered in repellent, then why wouldn't a vampire just hold his/her nose and drink quickly?

Sciao,
Ana

Read more about mosquitoes and garlic.
Sources:
Greer, John Michael. Monsters. 50.

Gresh, Lois H. The Twilight Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series. P 135.

Renoux, Victoria. For the Love of Garlic.

Levy, Elizabeth & Sally Wern Comport. Vampire State Building. P 45.

Liberty. Dark Revenge. 147.

Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe. P 45.

Varrin, Claudia. Female Dominance. P 229.

Vampire Reflections

2009-06-25T13:29:00.005+01:00

A circulating rumor claims that a vampire casts no reflection or shadow. While this creates startling imagery in movies, it is completely untrue. Really, have you ever met a vampire without a reflection...or shadow? I have not.

First, let's talk about where this idea originated:
"Once again, Bram Stoker has much to answer for, as it was he who conceived the idea of the vampire having no reflection. Jonathan Harker witnessed Dracula hurling his shaving mirror out the window, the vicious Count angered by his lack of reflection, a cruel reminder of his abhorrent, undead state" (Gregory 125). "The traditional vampire's lack of reflection implies the absence of soul" and "exemplifies the void he finds at the core of his identity" (Heldreth 121).

The power of mirrors is not limited to revealing a vampire. "In China it has been believed, "that mirrors can repel evil forces"...and in Nigeria the Ibo trick "evil spirits seeking to attack the souls of men...into fighting the 'soul' reflected in glass" (Gregory 125). According to these legends, mirrors reflect the soul and repel evil forces or energy. Along these lines of ration, a vampire should have no reflection.

Why this is problematic:
The idea of a physical vampire not casting a reflection is "problematic from a physics standpoint. All material objects should have a reflection, because all matter interacts in some way with light" (Ouellette 15). If nothing else, a vampire is material. If the creature were immaterial (and therefore not obligated to cast a reflection), the being would also not be able to interact with other material objects--like humans. Vampires are not spirits--they are physical beings and will therefore cast a reflection and a shadow. Soulful or soulless, a vampire sees himself in the mirror.

K'an ben sini,
Ana

Sources:
Heldreth, Leonard G. and Mary Pharr. In the Blood is the Life: Vampires in Literature

Gregory, Constantine & Craig Glenday. Vampire Watcher's Handbook.

Ouellette, Jennifer. The physics of the Buffyverse.

Crosses & Crucifixes

2009-06-24T03:29:00.007+01:00

Crosses and crucifixes are so entrenched in vampire legend, that we have a hard time imagining a story without them. In Bram Stoker's Dracula, the crucifix has the power to dissolve a vampire's anger:

When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.

"And against the vampire there is no more potent a device than the crucifix -- representing the cross that bore the crucified body of Christ" according to Constantine Gregory & Craig Glenday in Vampire Watcher's Handbook. This "Handbook" goes on to declare:

Alone, the cross is invaluable as an anti-vampiric; not only is it the most ancient and universal of all symbols, but, unlike other religious imagery, it can be quickly improvised with anything from stakes and swords to sticks and fingers. It can even be drawn in the air or across the chest to provide the vampire hunter with instant divine protection.

The major fallacy with this argument is that the crucifix is not the most ancient of symbols. Truly, tales of vampires and blood drinkers resonate from times long before the invention of the crucifix or its association with the Christ. What of these archaic vampires? Are ancients felled by the crucifix--it's unlikely.

There are two disparate arguments regarding the crucifix. The first is that its power is determined by the faith of the bearer, and the other is that the power comes from God and has effect over any vampire whose former life was contained within the Christian society. The question that arises is: Will other symbols have similar effect? Will a Durga effigy in the hands of a Hindu smite a vampire? And what about vampires that were never of the Christian faith--will the crucifix affect them?

Is there any innate power of the crucifix or is it merely a lucky charm to ease the fears of the bearer?

Do svidanja,
Ana

So you're coming over for dinner?

2009-06-23T20:29:00.003+01:00

I am Calista Thanasimos. My name fits me as smoothly as a satin dress. If you know a bit of Greek, you'll realize I'm beautiful but lethal. People have called me many things, most often Empusa, but I prefer to obscure my identity with an indefinite veil.

Perhaps the way I toy with mortal men before well...dinner...is a bit cruel, but we all have our hobbies. Though sired what seems like aeons ago in Greece, I'm always traveling and looking for new, challenging conquests. Head-games are my favorite. The look that washes over a man's face when he realizes he isn't the actual pursuer keeps me in stitches.

Just because I may have slightly colder motives doesn't mean I don't have philanthropic, pet causes. For example, malaria is utterly destroying my menu. Malaria must be eradicated to maintain a tasty food supply.

Vampires' aversions to metals

2009-06-23T13:39:00.008+01:00

Silver amulets protect individuals against vampires, right? Well...

In the television show True Blood vampires are severely allergic to silver--so much so that it burns their skin and even small chains can immobilize the vampire. Is there any truth behind the silver allergy or is this just a myth?

According to Rosalyn Green, "Silver is one of the few metals that is assigned spiritual qualities." She maintains that the "etheric counterpart of silver can injure etheric forms, while merely physical bullets can pass right through" (Magic of Shapeshifting, 105). In other words, silver harms the vampirical essence that resides within the reanimated corpse. Holding to this idea, if a bullet or stake were fashioned out of silver, then the silver should render the vampire powerless and the bullet or stake should kill the body.

Paul Barber cites Wlislocki in the claim that

In fiction, a vampire may be killed with a gun, but only if the bullet is silver. In folklore, guns may either kill or scare away vampires and revenants, even without silver bullets. One account by a Serbian immigrant states that a silver coin with a cross on it could, if broken into four pieces and loaded into a shotgun shell, be used to kill a vampire (Folklore Archives, UC Berkeley)

Silver is assigned a magical property. It represents purity and healing. Silver amulets and coffin nails are reported to prevent evil from rising out of the grave. Would a silver bullet kill a vampire? Perhaps, but no more easily than any other bullet.

Silver "is certainly not the only substance thought to have magical efficacy against the vampire--iron, for example, is often cited as well" (McClelland, Bruce. Slayers & Their Vampires). "Surprisingly, silver was not as traditional a protective metal as supposed in popular fiction - iron was the material of choice. Iron shavings were placed beneath a child's cradle, a necklace with an iron nail was worn, and other iron objects were placed strategically around the place needing protection" (Whyte, Lesa. Vampire).

According to Pliny in his Natural History, "iron has valuable attributes as a preservative against harmful witchcrafts and sorceries", and consequently "iron and steel are traditional charms against malevolent spirits and goblins" (Sacred Texts). Around the world, iron is assigned magical properties that far extend the power of silver in more modern myth. From Japan to Westphalia, and from Ireland to Egypt iron has the ability to ward off evil spirits. Theories about the origins of such myths include disparity of ages (evil was ancient, hence from the stoneage, while iron was a new metal and therefore superior to the weapons of the evil creature) and its relation to primitive surgery. You can read more folklore surrounding iron and its magical properties in Sacred Texts.

Now, the question is: does silver or iron harm vampires? Are vampires allergic to either/both? Far be it from me to reveal vampiric secrets or dispel your protective myths completely, but do your research before you charge after a vampire with a silver crucifix, hoping that it will save you.

Senebti,
Ana

Vampires in the Sunlight: The sun is shining

2009-06-22T14:11:00.006+01:00

With the exception of Meyer's Twilight Saga, most vampire novels feature creatures of the night that cannot emerge into the daylight for fear that they will burst into flames.

Anne Rice says this in The Vampire Armand:

The morning came down in its thunderous white-hot light, rolling over roofs and curdling the night in a thousand glassy walls and slowly unleashing its monstrous glory...My flesh was burnt black already, shiny, sealed to the sinews of my body, collapsed to the intricate tangle of muscles which encased my bones...I was on the way to my own death, and this seemingly endless torture was nothing, nothing. I could endure all things, even the burning in the eyes, the knowledge that they would soon melt or explode in this furnace of sunlight, and that all that I was would pass out of flesh.(p300-301)

Stephenie Meyer presents an alternative solution in Twilight:

[A vampire] in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn't get used to it, though I'd been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface. (p260)

In the Historia Rerum Anglicarum writen in 1196 by William of Newburgh, vampires prefer to hunt at night, assaulting their former loved ones in the evening and retreating in the daylight.

Nec facile discerni poterat uter illorum esset sol verus, nisi ex solito processu, alius vero palo elevatior quasi sequi videbatur; malorum forte quae subsecuta noscuntur praesagus.

Jonathan Mayberry explains (source):

The whole thing about sunlight effecting vampires was not in folklore and it wasn't in the book Dracula either. It was invented by a movie director named F.W. Murnau for the movie Nosferatu. They needed a way to kill the vampire at the end of the film so they figured it was a creature of darkness, why not kill it with sunlight. But that wasn't part of the folklore either.

Like many predators, vampires are often nocturnal. It is easier to catch prey when it is lethargic or disoriented by lack of light. However, this doesn't mean a vampire is allergic to sunlight...does it?

Valete,
Ana

Summer solstice

2009-06-21T13:10:00.005+01:00

What does the longest day of the year mean for us? Well, it doesn't mean much except for delayed hunting parties and perhaps a couple Midsummer Night festivals to "attend". It's a pagan holiday, after all.

Humans in the Northern Hemisphere: enjoy your lengthy days.

Vi ses sénare,
Ana

Infectious Bite Website

2009-06-20T15:37:00.002+01:00

The Infectious Bite website is now up and running. Cordial greetings to our new participants. A couple of individuals joined within a few hours of the site going online.

Please, join and post your opinions in the Guestbook, and share your experiences and knowledge in the Wiki.

Calista is still roaming outside the region. We hope to commune with her soon. Certainly, she will have updates and extra information for the site.

For now, m'a ssalama,
Ana

Hello (From Lucius)

2009-06-19T21:12:00.004+01:00

Well unlike Ana I am more of a keep to myself kind of well ....something. People in the modern days have a vast amount of free knowledge to share with each other. I hope to see that it is applied to good use and to rid this world of infections such malaria. You want us around then help us help you.

Save Yourselves,

Lucius

Convention of Like-Minds

2009-06-18T15:37:00.001+01:00

We have decided that it is time we step out of the shadows and demand changes to the plague that affects us all. Do you think that just because we are immune to disease we don't notice its effect? Of course we do! Our food supply is dwindling and our patience is growing thin.

Those of us with like-minds have convened and decided it is time to use the internet as a tool to spread our message. Changes will happen rapidly now. Pay attention.

Nau'to twibaounme,
Ana

I am Ana Revenant

2009-06-16T04:46:00.003+01:00

Many names have been given to me over the years, and I suppose that Ana Revenant is as good a name as any. It fits me well. After all, I have been existing outside of society for some time, and I have been known to cause a stir.

I am nocturnal by choice and something of a mystery, but you don't need to look far to see my handiwork. I'm a world traveler, but I spend a deal of time by the sea. The mild climate keeps my skin soft and I do enjoy the water.

As I mentioned, I have been away, so many of the modern cultural staples are new to me. I am catching up quickly, though. Already, I have a Twitter account, and I've been charged with reading the popular books about teenage vampires. I doubt I'll like it, but it would be nice to see how people regard blood drinkers these days.

The rest of what I wish to say will have to wait for another night, this one has already been full of human interaction.

Yassou,
Ana