Vampire Lore and Myths

Vampire lore has flourished for thousand of years. Most cultures have a vampire-like creature that can implant itself in the nightmares of children.

Vampires have a very large presence in American culture. Novels, movies, media, and tabloids continually use these blood-sucking creatures. We imagine the vampire as the Bella Lugosi, or perhaps the more romantic Lestat. He would be a pale, tall, thin, usually handsome ghoul with wickedly sharp teeth. He might even be able to turn into a bat. A female vampire will be portrayed as drop dead gorgeous. She will be a deadly vixen, first seducing you with her beauty, and then sinking her fangs into your neck. Male or female, these monsters have been very romanticized. This view of vampires is not very accurate in following ancient myth.

The American sensationalized vampire has no original roots on American soil. The American vampire is purely modern. The American vampire has mostly been modeled after the Slavic vampire. This assimilation of vampire can be attributed to Dracula. Dracula emerged from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. This novel painted a picture of a Transylvanian blood sucking count with hairy palms, horrible breath and sharp fingernails. These details were eventually left out to account for a sexier, cape-wearing image.

The original Slavic vampire was widespread throughout Eastern Europe. While being a model for the now known vampire, its ancestor is quite different. This Slavic vampire was not always a product of a vampire bite, rather an entity onto itself. People who died of an accidental or sudden death, or a suicide, could become vampires. Other situations could attribute to vampirism. A child born with a caul or teeth could turn after death. An infant who died before baptism could turn as well. If bitten by one of these vampires you could die and then become a vampire yourself. To kill a vampire they would use methods we are well aware of; burning, staking, decapitation, and holy water.

The Chinese vampire is one such culture with a different view on vampirism than the traditional Slavic vampire. This vampire, or Chiang-shih, as they call it, comes about from a violent death or suicide. A Chiang-shih would need to reanimate before burial, for it could not get out of the coffin if buried. It did not have the power to materialize or dematerialize at will, unlike the Slavic vamp. The Chiang-shih would usually be unrecognizable as such, but occasionally it would take on a green glow and grow talons and sharp teeth. The Chinese vampire would usually rip of heads and limbs of male victims, or rape and then murder women. To ward off the vamp garlic could be used, along with iron filings, red peas, and rice. The only way to kill one was through lightening or a gun shot wound.

India is supplied with many different vampire like creatures. One of the more intriguing is the chedipe. The chedipe is a creature in the form of a naked woman riding on a tiger. She would enter a household and hypnotize those there to not notice her presence. She would then suck the blood out of a sleeping man's toe. He would feel drained of energy in the morning. A variation of the myth was that sometimes a tiger with human leg would attack men in the forest.

Malaysian folk lore describes a vampiric creature called the langsuyar. The langsuyar started as a human woman who gave birth to a still-born child. When told of this she flew into a nearby tree. She roamed around in a green robe, with long fingernails and long, ankle length hair. The hair hid an opening in her neck which she used to suck the blood from children. This original langsuyar eventually created many more. If a Malaysian woman was thought to become a lansuyar herself there were precautions they would take. They would put marble in her mouth, eggs under her arms, and needles in the palms of her hands. She would stay like this for 40 days after the birth of her child. If a langsuyar was captured they would cut her fingernails and hair and then stuff them into the opening in her neck. This would make her able to live in society and function normally.

The vjesci of Polish fork-lore brings about a rather interesting remedy to those thought to turn into a the vjesci. The vjesci was said to be destined from birth. A baby born with a caul would turn upon its death. To prevent this the caul was taken, dried out, and then crushed into a powder. When the doomed child turned seven they would feed the powder to them. This would prevent them from becoming a vjesci. If someone did manage to become a vjesci, it would happen after their death. They would die, and the reawaken to begin eating at their clothing and flesh. They would then go and suck the blood of their relatives. After this was done it would go and ring the church bell. Anyone who heard the bell would then become the next victim. It seems they thought this vampire to have OCD. To prevent it from rising they would place a net over the coffin. The vampire would be compelled to untie all the knots. Likewise, they could put a bog of poppy seeds or rice on the coffin and the vampire would need to count every grain.

Vampire lore and myths are in abundance. While many of them follow the traditional Slavic ideal there are many variations.