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 Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:27 pm
† Vampire Hunters Research Consortium † (VHRC - 2009) The Consortium is dedicated to its independent investigative study and research of Vampires. Whether to aid Hunters or just curious mortals who might like to avoid being ignorant about the existence of these predators, this research will be made available to all. We'll explore the myths and legends as well as look into modern cases of Vampirism. Some of the images and media may not be suitable for all viewers because of the nature of the deaths mentioned and how frightening some of these tales maybe. This research is definitely not be for the faint of heart.This is not about animals or insects known to feed on blood like the vampire bat or a mosquito. (Although, if you find photos or info on newly discovered blood drinking species of animals or insects go ahead and talk about it here.) This is a discussion and research area for those who are interested in this topic.
Whether you believe or not I hope there will be some really amusing and sensible chats in this thread. All views are welcome, please keep conversations civil and respect everyone opinions and beliefs? Let's have fun? † If you would like to join VHRC please feel free to, all are welcome. Let's have fun! When submitting any information to the VHRC please paste this application (below) at the top of your post and fill it out before submitting. Images and video must remain PG13 to conform to Gaia's regulations. Help the Researchers and become an Investigator today! VHRC Case file: Location sad Where on Earth is this incident located?) Date of incident reported: (if possible) Summary Report: Reference Source: (Website/Document/Book..ect) Extended Description or Information:
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:41 pm
Vampire Hunters A vampire hunter or vampire slayer is someone who specializes in finding and destroying vampires. In dark fantasy fiction, they may sometimes also deal with other harmful supernatural creatures.Vampire hunters in folklore "Professional" or semi-professional vampire hunters played some part in the vampire lore of the Balkans (especially in Bulgarian, Serbian, and Romani folk beliefs). In Bulgarian, the terms used to designate them included glog (lit. "hawthorn", the species of wood used for the stake), vampirdzhiya, vampirar, dzhadazhiya, svetocher etc.
They were usually either born on Saturday (then called Sabbatarians, Bulgarian sâbotnichav) or the offspring of a vampire and a woman (typically his widow), called a dhampir in Romani or a vampirovic' in Serbian; both facts gave them the innate capability of detecting vampires (and sometimes other supernatural entities as well). In the case of the Sabbatarians, it was believed in some places that they needed to be fed with meat from a sheep killed by a wolf (Bulgarian vâlkoedene); this would enable them not to fear the things they saw.
In some traditions, the killing of vampires was only performed by vampire hunters. Aside of the well-known manners of execution (staking the corpse, burning it etc) that were normally entrusted to them, the hunters were also capable of using other methods such as enticing the invisible creature with music and then shooting it, or throwing its hat or head-cloth into the water and telling it to go fetch it (which caused it to drown).Dhampir(also dhampire, dhamphir or dhampyr) in Balkan folklore and in vampire fiction is the child of a vampire father and a human mother, with vampire powers but none of the weaknesses. (in fiction, the reverse occurs as well.) A dhampir is believed to have the unique ability to see vampires, even when they are invisible, and is unusually adept at killing them. The word "dhampir" is associated with the folklore of the Roma people of the Balkans, whose beliefs have been described by T. P. Vukanovic.
Nomenclature
In the rest of the region, term such as Serbian vampirovic, vampijerovic, vampiric (thus, Bosnian lampijerovic, etc.) literally meaning "vampire's son", are used. In other regions the child in named "Vampir" if a boy and "Vampiresa" if a girl, or "Dhampir" if a boy and "Dhampiresa" if a girl. In Bulgarian folklore, numerous terms such as glog (lit. "hawthorn"), vampirdzhuya ("vampire" + nomen agentis suffix), vampirar ("vampire" + nomen agentis suffix), dzhadadzhiya and svettocher are used to reger to vampire children and descendants, as well as to other specialized vampire hunters.
Origin
In the Balkans it is believed that male vampires have a great desire for women, so a vampire will return to have intercourse with his wife or with a woman he was attracted to in life. Indeed, in one recorded case, a Serbian widow tried to blame her pregnancy on her late husband, who had supposedly become a vampire, and there were cases of Serbian men pretending to be vampires in order to reach the women they desired. In Bulgarian folklore, vampires were sometimes said to deflower virgins as well. A vampire may also move to a village where nobody knows him and marry and have children there. The sexual activity of the vampire seems to be a peculiarity of the South Slavic vampire belief as opposed to other Slavs, although a similar motif also occurs in Belarusian legends.
Features
Some traditions specify signs by which the children of a vampire can be recognized. Serbian legends state they have a large head with untamed dark or black hair and lack a shadow.; in Bulgarian folklore, possible indications include being "very dirty", snub-nosed or even nose less, having a soft body, no nails and bones (the latter physical peculiarity is also ascribed to the vampire itself), and "a deep mark on the back, like a tail". In contrast, a pronounced nose was often a sign, as were larger than normal ears, teeth or eyes. Indeed, it is believed in some areas that the offspring of a vampire, being "slippery like jelly", "cannot live". There were also tales of more "normal" appearance variations on those who could not only seem quite human, but attractive. Often they appeared very pale and stood tall and thin, with a highly noticeable or robust skeletal structure or black beneath their eyes, features common with the dead or dying. Some writings also claimed that they were identifiable by their slouching, bow-legged or pigeon-toed stance or by traits such as fascinations with the macabre or mystical and by having abnormal fighting prowess or reaction speed, possibly stemming from the unnatural and ofttimes mystical strength and power associated with their vampire fathers.
Vampire hunting methods
Among all Balkan peoples it is believed that the child of a vampire has a special ability to see and destroy vampires. Among some groups, the ability to see vampires is considered exclusive to dhampirs. The powers of a dhampir may be inherited by the dhampir's offspring. Various means of killing or driving away vampires are recognized among peoples of the region, but the dhampir is seen as the chief agent for dealing with vampires. Methods by which a dhampir kills a vampire include shooting the vampire with a bullet, transfixing it with a hawthorn stake, and performing a ceremony that involves touching "crowns" of lead to the vampire's grave. If the dhampir can't destroy a vampire, he may command it to leave the area.
A dhampir is always paid well for his services. The amount of money varies, but there is never haggling over the price. Standard pay for a dhampir may also include a meal or a suit of clothing. Sometimes a dhampir is paid in cattle, jewelry or women.
Charlatans traveling the regions around the Carpathian Mountains, Balkans and elsewhere in Eastern Europe would claim to be dhampirs. They were believed to be the only ones who could see the spirit and would put on elaborate shows for villages. Once fear, grief and superstition took hold in a village following a recent death, the dhampir would "come to the rescue". Real Self Proclaimed Vampire Hunters Most hunters are Christian, but there have been Jewish hunters and Moslem hunters even Occult and Wiccan hunter. They are usually convinced that the vampire is a servant of the Devil, 'A Spawn of Hell.' An actual demon with the power to steal souls and beguile the innocent. The religious hunter feels that exorcising or destroying a demon is not a sin, and truly believes that all vampires, or those claiming to be vampires, are pure evil. They feel it is their duty to destroy vampires. As there are people who believe they are real vampires, other considers their life as a holy crusade. In modern lore, Human Living Vampires define them as people who hunts, stalks, threatens, or does harm to someone because he or she is a vampire, or because the hunter believes them to be so; or which gathers information to report those who are vampires.
Conspiracy theories are popular among those hunters who believe there is a plot afoot by Vampires and by the Goth movement through out the world especially in America, Germany and some other countries. A vampire hunting kit is on display at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Niagara Falls Ontario. One person claiming to be a modern vampire hunter is Bishop Seán Manchester of Highgate Vampire fame. The other was paranormal investigator David Farrant, of the British Psychic and Occult Society, who once claimed to have killed two vampires at Highgate back in 1969. He was actually arrested for the crimes of Vampire Hunting and desecration of graves. He nows claims he doesn't believe in Vampires. Actual Vampire Hunting & Slaying Accoutrements
[X] 19th Century Kit
[X] The Kit at Ripley's Museum in Niagara Falls
[X] Another old Kit possibly 19th Century
[X] Bishop Seán Manchester's Accoutrements (He actually uses these. The vast collection tells me he knows that Vampires are to be feared.) Bites depend on Breed
Draco Vampire
Fledermaus Vampire
Echse Vampire
The historical practice of vampirism can generally be considered a more specific and less commonly occurring form of cannibalism. In folklore and popular culture, the term often refers to a belief that one can gain supernatural powers by drinking human blood. The consumption of another's blood, or flesh, has been used in the past as a tactic of psychological warfare intended to terrorize the enemy and can be used to reflect various spiritual beliefs. The term vampirism is occasionally used in references to the acquisition of bodily fluids from other organisms in order to gain the sustenance that is needed to survive.Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: vampire A bloodsucking creature that rises from its burial place at night, sometimes in the form of a bat, to drink the blood of humans. By daybreak it must return to its grave or to a coffin filled with its native earth. Tales of vampires are part of the world's folklore, most notably in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula. The disinterment in Serbia in 1725 and 1732 of several fluid-filled corpses that villagers claimed were behind a plague of vampirism led to widespread interest and imaginative treatment of vampirism throughout western Europe. Vampires are supposedly dead humans (originally suicides, heretics, or criminals) who maintain a kind of life by biting the necks of living humans and sucking their blood; their victims also become vampires after death. These "undead" creatures cast no shadow and are not reflected in mirrors. They can be warded off by crucifixes or wreaths of garlic and can be killed by exposure to the sun or by an oak stake driven through the heart. Etymology The etymology of the word 'vampire' is uncertain, although several theories exist as to where the term arose from. The English word 'vampire' was derived (possibly via French vampyre) from the German Vampir, in turn thought to be derived in the early 18th century from Serbian ??????/vampir, or Hungarian vámpír. The Serbian and Hungarian forms have parallels in virtually all Slavic languages: Bulgarian ?????? (vampir), Czech and Slovak upír, Polish wa;pierz and (perhaps East Slavic-influenced) upiór, Russian ????? (upyr'), Belarusian ???? (upyr), Ukrainian (upir'), from Old Russian (upir'). (Note that many of these languages have also borrowed forms such as "vampir/wampir" secondarily from the West). Among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *o;pyr? and *o;pir?. The Slavic word might, like its possible cognate that means "bat" (Czech netopýr, Slovak netopier, Polish nietoperz, Russian netopyr' - a species of bat), contain a Proto-Indo-European root for "to fly".
The first recorded use of the Old Russian form ????? (Upir') is commonly believed to be in a document dated 6555 (1047 AD). It is a colophon in a manuscript of the Book of Psalms written by a priest who transcribed the book from Glagolitic into Cyrillic for the Novgorodian Prince Vladimir Yaroslavovich. The priest writes that his name is "Upir' Likhyi " (????? ?????), which would mean something like "Wicked Vampire" or "Foul Vampire." This apparently strange name has been cited as an example of surviving paganism and/or of the use of nicknames as personal names. However, in 1982, Swedish Slavicist Anders Sjöberg suggested that "Upir' likhyi" was in fact an Old Russian transcription and/or translation of the name of Öpir Ofeigr, a well-known Swedish rune carver. Sjöberg argued that Öpir could possibly have lived in Novgorod before moving to Sweden, considering the connection between Eastern Scandinavia and Russia at the time. This theory is still controversial, although at least one Swedish historian, Henrik Janson, has expressed support for it. Another early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise "Word of Saint Grigoriy," dated variously to the 11th—13th centuries, where pagan worship of upyri is reported. The first well-documented use of the word Vampire in the West was from Austrian-controlled Serbia in reports prepared by Austrian officials between 1725 and 1732 investigating reports of vampires arising from the dead to attack villagers.Greek vampires Belief in vampires was common in nineteenth century Greece. Greek customs may have propagated this belief, notably a ritual that entailed exhuming the deceased three years after their death, and observing the extent of decay. If the body was fully decayed, the remaining bones were put in a box by relatives and wine poured over them, a priest would then read from scriptures. However, if the body had not sufficiently decayed, the corpse would be labeled a vampire.
According to Greek beliefs, vampirism could occur through various means: Excommunication or desecrating a religious day, committing a great crime, or dying alone. Other more superstitious causes include having a cat jump across the grave, eating meat from a sheep killed by a wolf, or having been cursed. It was also believed in more remote regions of Greece that unbaptized people would be doomed to vampirism in the afterlife.
The appearance of vampires varied throughout Greece and were usually thought to be indistinguishable from living people, giving rise to many folk tales with this theme. However, this was not the case everywhere: On Mount Pelion vampires glowed in the dark, while on the Saronic islands, vampires were thought to be hunchbacks with long nails; on the island of Lesbos vampires were thought to have long canine teeth much like wolves. Vampires could be harmless, sometimes returning to support their widows by their work. However, they were usually thought to be ravenous predators, killing their victims who would be condemned to become vampires. Vampires were so feared for their potential for great harm that a village or an island would occasionally be stricken by a mass panic if a vampire invasion were believed imminent. Nicholas Dragoumis records such a panic on Naxos in the 1930s, following a cholera epidemic.
Varieties of wards were employed for protection in different places, including blessed bread (antidoron) from the church, crosses, and black-handled knives. To prevent vampires from rising from the dead, their hearts were pierced with iron nails whilst resting in their graves, or their bodies burned and the ashes scattered. Because the Church opposed burning people who had been baptized, cremation was considered a last resort. In Greek Mythology it was believed that all of the ghosts of the dead in Hades desire the taste of blood. In Homer's book The Odyssey it's recorded that Ulysses needed information which could only be acquired from the long-dead sage called Teiresias. To summon the seer's ghost, Odysseus/Ulysses was advised by the sorceress/goddess Circe to dig a pit and fill it with milk and honey, wine and water, meal and the last ingredient was a blood sacrifice of sheep. For the dead blood is believed to renew life, so the dead in hades all thirst for it. Could there be a relation to blood offerings even in the old Hebrew religion?
Homer, The Odyssey - Book X pg.127
'....Then draw your sword and sit there, so as
to prevent any other poor ghost from coming near the split blood
before Teiresias shall have answered your questions. The seer will
presently come to you, and will tell you about your voyage- what
stages you are to make, and how you are to sail the see so as to reach
your home.' - the sorceress or Goddess Circe
pg.129
"When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I
cut the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench,
whereon the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus- brides, young
bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed
in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their
armour still smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and
flitted round the trench with a strange kind of screaming sound that
made me turn pale with fear. When I saw them coming I told the men
to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two dead sheep and make
burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat prayers to
Hades and to Proserpine; but I sat where I was with my sword
drawn and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the
blood till Teiresias should have answered my questions." - Ulysses
pg. 130
"Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, with his golden
sceptre in his hand. He knew me and said, 'Ulysses, noble son of
Laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come
down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench
and withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer
your questions truly.' The Sword of LaertesAnother intriguing portion of this tale involves the Legendary sword used to keep the vampiric spirits away from the blood. The sword was known as 'The sword or the blade of Laertes aka "The Vampire Slayer". -- If this sword had the power to hold blood-thirsty spirits at bay, surely it's no great stretch to imagine it having a similar power against corporeal bloodsuckers as well. The myth of this sword has been used in the Subspecies/Vampire Journals movies.Roma vampires Traditional Romani beliefs claim that the dead soul enters a world similar to their own, except that there is no death. The soul lingers next to the body and sometimes wants to return to life. The Roma legends of the "living dead" have indeed enriched the vampire legends of Hungary, Romania, and the Slavic world.
The ancient home of the Roma, India, describes many vampiric entities. The Bhut or Prét is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. It wanders around animating dead bodies at night, attacking the living much like a ghoul. In northern India, there is the Brahmara-kS,hasa, a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood. Vetala and pishacha are other creatures who resemble vampires.
The most famous Indian deity associated with drinking blood is Kali, who has fangs, wears a garland of corpses or skulls, and has four arms. Her temples are located near cremation grounds. She and the goddess Durga battled the demon Raktabija, who could reproduce himself from each drop of blood spilled. Kali drank all his blood so none was spilled, thereby winning the battle and killing him. Sara, or the Black Goddess, is the form in which Kali survived among Roma. Some Roma believe that the three Marys from the New Testament went to France and baptized a Gypsy called Sara. They still hold a ceremony every May 24, in the French village where this is supposed to have occurred. Some refer to this Black Goddess as "Black Cally" or "Black Kali."
One form of vampire in Romani folklore is called a mullo (one who is dead). This vampire is believed to return and do malicious things and/or suck the blood of a person (usually a relative who had caused their death, or did not properly observe the burial ceremonies, or who kept their possessions instead of destroying them, as was proper). Female vampires could return, lead a normal life, and even marry, but would eventually exhaust the husband. Anyone who had a horrible appearance, was missing a finger, or had appendages similar to those of an animal, was believed to be a vampire. If a person died unseen, he would become a vampire, likewise if a corpse swelled before burial. Dogs, cats, plants, or even agricultural tools could become vampires. Pumpkins or melons kept in the house too long would start to move, make noises or show blood.
To get rid of a vampire, one could hire a Dhampir (the son of a vampire and his widow) or a Moroi to detect the vampire. To ward off vampires, gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed pieces of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears, and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. Further measures included driving stakes into the grave, pouring boiling water over it, as well as decapitating or burning the corpse.
Even today, Roma frequently feature in vampire fiction and film, no doubt influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, in which the Szgany Roma served Dracula, carrying his boxes of earth and guarding him.Folk beliefs The belief in vampires is an ancient one. It was found in ancient India, Babylonia, Greece, and for a time accepted by early Christians. The conception of the vampire was common among Slavonic peoples, especially in the Balkan countries and in Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. The notion of vampirism has been in use for many millenia since the times of nations such as Ancient Greeks, Hebrews and Ancient Romans, all of whom had tales of demons and spirits including the Empusa, Lamia, and Lilitu, who would eat flesh and drink blood; even the devil was considered synonymous with the vampire in earlier times. However, despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the mythology for the entity we know today as the vampire comes almost exclusively from Eastern Europe. It is in these regions, such as the Balkans, Transylvania, Wallachia and the Carpathian Mountains, that it is believed the folklore about vampires had its origins. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims or witches, but can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire itself. The legends of the vampire grew to such a height, that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. Although the original lore has been distorted due to new fictional references such as Dracula, there are many ways to destroy a vampire; decapitation, a stake to the heart, incineration and even exposure to sunlight are commonly cited.Ancient beliefs Tales of the undead consuming the blood or flesh of living beings are found in nearly every culture around the world for many centuries. Today we know these entities predominantly as vampires, but in ancient times, the term vampire didn't exist; blood drinking and the kind was referred to as the work of demons or spirits; (i.e; Lilith, Empusa, Lamia and other monsters) vampires and the devil were closely linked in many cultures as well. Unlike modern vampire mythology which spread from Eastern Europe, early vampiric creatures were described throughout the world; from Europe to Asia, to the Americas to the Pacific, almost every nation was associated with some kind of blood drinking revenant or demon. Indeed, some of these legends could have given rise to the Eastern European folklores, but are not considered true vampires by historians using today's standards.
Some of the first civilizations suspected to have tales of blood-drinking demons were the Persians, who had depictions on excavated pottery of creatures attempting to drink blood from men. Ancient Babylonia had tales of the mythical Lilitu, synonymous with Lilith and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology who were derived from their Babylonian counterparts. In millenia old Babylonian mythology, Lilitu was considered as a deity and was often depicted as subsistng on the blood of babies. However, the Jewish Lilu and their mother Lilith, were said to feast on both men and woman, in addition to newborns. The legend of Lilith was originally included in traditional Jewish texts, considered to be Adam's first wife before Eve; However, Lilith was cut from later versions of the Old Testament. In the original texts, Lilith left Adam to become the queen of the demons and much like the Greek striges, would prey on young babies and their mothers at night, as well as males. This practise of blood drinking performed by Lilith was considered exceptionally evil in Jewish tradition due to the Hebrew law which absolutely forbid the eating of human flesh or the drinking of any type of blood. To ward off attacks from Lilith, parents used to hang amulets from their child's cradle.
In India, tales of vetalas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses, are found in old Sanskrit folklore. A prominent story tells of King Vikrama-ditya and his nightly quests to capture an elusive vetala. The vetala legends have been compiled in the book Baital Pachisi. The vetala is an undead creature, who like the bat associated with modern day vampirism, hangs upside down on trees found in cremation grounds and cemeteries.
The hopping corpse is an equivalent of the vampire in Chinese tradition; however, it consumes the victim's life essence (qì) rather than blood.
The Ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in one myth became full of bloodlust after slaughtering humans and was only sated after drinking alcohol colored as blood.
The strix, a nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood is mentioned in Roman tales. The Romanian word for vampires, strigoi, is derived from the word, as is the name of the Albanian Shtriga and the Slavic Strzyga, though myths about those creatures are more similar to their Slavic equivalents.
As an example of the prominence of similar legends in later times, it can be noted that 12th century English historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded accounts of revenants that arguably bear some resemblance to East European vampires.
India of later times is also familiar with many vampiric entities. The Bhut or Prét is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. It wanders around animating dead bodies at night, attacking the living much like a ghoul. In northern India, there is the Brahmara-kS,hasa, a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood. pishacha are other creatures who resemble vampires to an extent. Since Hinduism believes in reincarnation of the soul, it is supposed that leading an unholy or immoral life, sin or suicide, will lead the soul to reincarnate into such evil spirits. This kind of reincarnation does not arise out of birth from a womb, but is achieved directly, and such evil spirits' fate is predetermined as to how they shall achieve liberation from that yoni, and re-enter the world of mortal flesh in the next incarnation. In popular fiction
Main articles: Vampires in modern fiction and Vampire films  Bram Stokers Dracula's DVD Film Cover featuring
 Le Vampire 1897 by Burne Jones
Varney the Vampire was a landmark popular mid-Victorian era gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer (alternatively attributed to Thomas Preskett Prest), which first appeared 1845-47 in a series of pamphlets generally referred to as penny dreadfuls because of their inexpensive price and typically gruesome contents. It was published in book form in 1847. It is of epic length: the original edition runs to 868 double columned pages divided into 220 chapters. It has a distinctly suspenseful style, using vivid imagery to describe the horrifying exploits of Varney.
Nearly 50 years before Bran Stoker's Dracula; Varney the Vampyre appeared as a pulp series with an inexhaustible flow of drama in 220 episodes. The illustrations were often used in more then one publications. In many Illustrations the vampyre is shown during his awful pleasure, showing one of the numerous beautiful heroines beset by the rapacious Sir Francis Varney near the end of the lengthy opus. In another illustration soldiers burst into a room at the home of Sir Francis Varney and discover a body staked in the coffin by a riotous mob. The great hammer with which the stake had been pounded down lies on the floor, carelessly discarded. At last, and rather abruptly (the publisher must have ordered the series ended without much notice), Varney "tired and disgusted with a life of horror." flings himself into a volcano at the end.
Other examples of early vampire stories are Samuel Taylor Coleridge's unfinished poem Christabel and Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire story, Carmilla.
 Carmilla the Lesbian Vampress 1872 by D.H. Friston
Bram Stoker's Dracula has been the definitive version of the vampire in popular fiction for the last century. Its portrayal of vampirism as a disease (contagious demonic possession), with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in a Victorian Europe where tuberculosis and syphilis were common. Stoker's writings are also adapted in many later works. In modern popular culture, vampires are featured in many popular novels and book series by authors such as Anne Rice and Christopher Moore.
Vampires have also proven to be a rich subject for the film and gaming industries. Dracula is a major character in more movies than any other bar Sherlock Holmes (see Dracula in popular culture). Marvel Comics Blade Trilogy movies were popular in the late 20th, early 21st centuries. Television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, video game series such as Konami's Castlevania and role-playing games such as Vampire: the Masquerade have been especially successful and influential. Vampires related terms and words defined(As explained by real life Vampire Hunter Bishop Sean Manchester.)
Vampiroids : 'Are not vampires. These people sometimes actually believe themselves to be vampires, but, of course, they are not. How could they be when the definition of a vampire, upon examination, is revealed to be a dead body that issues forth from its tomb in the night to quaff the warm blood of the living, whereby it is nourished and preserved. Vampiroids, therefore, cannot be re-animated corpses with an awful supernatural existence beyond the grave. People who either believe themselves to be vampires, or want to become vampires and affect what they construe to be vampiristic lifestyles, even when this is taken to extremes, are invariably vampiroids. But it is not even as simple as that because there are various categories of vampiroid, ranging from harmless poseurs to dangerous psychopaths.
The former may be benign, but the latter are capable of murder. Thus the vampiroid is not a supernatural being, but a human who embraces what he or she assumes to be a lifestyle commensurate with vampirism as largely depicted in fictional films and literature. Whereas the true vampire partakes of the dark natures and possesses the terrible qualities of both apparition and demon, assuming the form of a dead body to suck the blood of the living. Vampiroids identify with the imagery of the vampire and become totally seduced by its mythology, having almost no regard for what is fact and what is fantasy. The more extreme examples of vampiroidism, known as ultra-vampiroids, have no problem with the fact that in reality vampires are biocidal and destroy all life-forms. Hence, within the supra-individual level of the psyche, they respond utterly to the vampire archetype.
Despite the very high percentage of relatively harmless poseurs in most vampiroid clubs, there can nevertheless occasionally be found a small number of extreme types. These can vary in levels of psychotic behaviour from proto-vampiroids, eg the UK’s David Austen, a self-confessed Satanist and sexual deviant of many years, to ultra-vampiroids like America’s Rod Ferrell, who committed two gruesome murders and is now awaiting execution as the youngest person on death row. Both have belonged to vampiroid clubs.'
Aetiology: the study of the causes of illnesses and diseases, including vampiroidism.
Anomie: an acute sense of meaningless and loss of identity usually precipitated by personal upheavals.
Archetype: a symbol or myth whose affective power lies in the resonance it has within the supra-individual level of the psyche. Vampiroids respond to the vampire ethos.
Biocidal: tending to the destruction of all life-forms, human or non-human. The vampire is biocidal.
Diachronic: analysing phenomena, including vampiroidism, in a way which represents their chronological development and historical particularity.
Faustian: expressing the myth of Faust who was driven to make a pact with the devil in order to transcend ordinary human experience. Vampiroids are exceptionally Faustian.
Fissiparous: tending constantly to divide up into smaller groups. Most vampiroid clubs have shown this tendency which has resulted in a proliferation of mainly small groups, rather than a monolithic force.
Immanentisation: making something into an intrinsic part of historical time. Vampiroidism is largely an international phenomenon of the last dozen or so years. They feel that now is their time.
Mimetic-Vampiroidism: purely imitative vampire behaviour, usually based on fantasy exploitation films etc.
Para-Vampiroidism: a form of vampiroidism that adopts the external trappings of the cult while rejecting its ethnocentric pathology as evinced in diabolism and blood-drinking.
Philo-Vampiroidism: predisposed to become a fellow-traveller or supporter of the vampiroid subculture.
Proto-Vampiroidism: a form of paligenetic ultra-vampiroidism that lacks any subtlety whatsoever.
Ultra-Vampiroidism: a form incompatible with mimetic and para-vampiroidism that is highly dangerous.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:58 pm
Old Famous Cases and Dates[X] Case file: Johannes Cuntius, the Notorious Vampire of Silesia
[X] Case file: Vampire Paranoia killed Polish immigrant Demetrious Myiciura!
[X] Case file: Peter Kürsten "The Düsseldorf Monster"
[X] Case file: John George Haigh
[X] Case file: The Count of St. Germain / Comte de Saint Germain
[X] Case file: Kuno Hofmann
January 1900 Lake District; Cumbria England Another vampire was said to be at large in England's picturesque Lake District in 1900. In January of that year, a Captain Edward Fisher left Croglin Grange - a bleak glorified granite-brick farmhouse in Cumbria - and headed south to Guildford, where he had purchased a new residence for business purposes. The new residents of Croglin Grange were Fisher's godsons, Edward and William Cranswell, and their 19-year-old sister, Amelia, who had jumped at the opportunity of taking up the seven-year lease on the secluded but beautifully located property. The trio were popular with the neighbors, and seemed to be settling in well at their new home. But in the first summer at Croglin Grange, which was infernal, Amelia found it difficult to sleep at night.
She would lie in her stifling bedroom, gazing out at the moonlit nightscape beyond the windows. One night she opened her bedroom window and stared out into the darkness when she suddenly noticed the silhouette of a lanky, bony figure darting across the moonlit lawn. Within seconds the agile, sinister-looking stranger was scaling the wall below her, so she slammed the window shut and fastened its catch. Almost paralyzed with fear, Amelia retreated from the window as she listened to the figure scrambling up the wall. She sat on the end of the bed, trying to shout out to her brothers, but found she could hardly raise her voice. Then the figure was at the window. At this closer range she could see he was grotesque. The face was yellowed and shriveled, and the eyes were almost black circular sockets.
The nose was long and pointed, and the mouth, which was unusually large, showed a set of pointed, gruesome-looking teeth. The creature's bony finger scratched at the window as it picked away the lead lining of a pane. The pane rattled, then fell out, and the ghoul reached in through the hole and undid the window catch. It opened the window and bolted across the room towards its terrified prey. Amelia collapsed onto the bed in a state of sheer terror. The skeletal freak seized the trembling teenager by her hair and held her still as he bit into her neck. In the life-threatening situation, Amelia somehow summoned up enough courage to let out a scream, which sent her brothers running into her room. They caught a glimpse of the nimble intruder leaping out of the bedroom through the window. They ran downstairs, unbolted the door and pursued the wiry assailant across the lawn and over the neighboring churchyard wall, where they lost sight of him.
William and Edward stood staring into the darkness for a while, and then returned to their traumatized sister. When they saw the crimson fang-marks on her neck they knew that no ordinary intruder had been in her bedroom, but they could not believe the assailant had been a vampire.
One night in the following March, the creature returned to Croglin Grange during a severe gale. As the winds howled across the barren landscape outside, the bony finger was once again at work removing a pane from the Amelia's bedroom window, but this time the moan of the gales swamped the sound of scratching finger. The teenager awoke and found the vampire leaning over her. His cold and clammy hands grabbed her neck, and the woman screamed. The two brothers burst into the room armed with pistols. The vampire left his prey and attacked the brothers, but Edward opened fire, blasting a hole in the bloodthirsty stalker's thigh.
Apparently unaffected by the gunshot, the Cumbrian vampire turned and literally dived through the open window. The chase was on again, but this time the brothers saw where the creature went to ground; in an old family vault in the churchyard. The brothers alerted the local villagers, and on the following morning over seventy people gathered around the family vault that was said to be the vampire's lair. William, Edward and three brave villagers lifted the large sandstone slab of the vault and peered into the darkness. A torch was lit, and the crowd beheld the disturbing scene within the vault.
Four broken coffins and their mutilated corpses. A fifth coffin in the corner was intact. The crowd drew back in fear as the brothers lifted the lid on this coffin - to reveal the same hideous creature that had attacked their sister twice at Croglin Grange. The corpse even bore the recent mark of the pistol shot in its thigh. One of the villagers stepped forward and told the brothers he too had seen this same creature of the night attacking and killing livestock, and he said the only way to destroy a vampire was with fire, so he and the brothers took the creature out into the churchyard, and after the villagers had gathered enough wood, the vampire was burned on a bonfire. (ref source: FROM TOM SLEMEN'S "STRANGE BUT TRUE",
ISBN: 0-75252-407-0 (PARRAGON) Elizabeth Báthory  Countess Erzsébet Báthory (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian, Alžbeta Bátoriová(-Nádasdy) in Slovak, Elz.bieta Batory in Polish, 7 August (?), 1560 – 21 August, 1614), was a Hungarian countess from the renowned Báthory family.
-Summary-
Elizabeth Bathory was born in 1560 into a very wealthy Euro-
pean family. At the age of 15, she married Count Ferenz, kn-
own as the Black Hero of Hungary, and went to live with him
at Castle Csejthe in the Hungarian countryside. One day her
maid pulled her hair while combing it, so Elizabeth slapped
her and gave her a bloody nose. Blood spurted from the ma-
id's nose, and Elizabeth thought that the skin smeared by
the blood looked fresher, smoother, and more youthful. So
she ordered that the maid's wrists be slit and her body drain-
ed of blood, which Elizabeth then bathed in. For years after-
ward she sent out her henchman to find young unmarried wo-
man and bring them to the castle to work as maids.
She threw
the drained bodies out of the castle for the wolves to devour.
In 1610 some local inhabitants found bodies that the wolves had
not eaten and raised the alarm. The king sent Elizabeth's cousin
with a detachment of soldiers to raid the castle. They found
several servants with puncture wounds in their wrists and about
50 bodies buried outside the castle. Sixteen of Elizabeth's staff,
her sorceress and torturer accomplices, were beheaded and crem-
ated, but two were burned alive. Elizabeth refused to testify and
was confined to her bedchamber with only a narrow slit left open
for her to be given food, water and air. She survived for four more
years.
She is considered the most infamous serial killer in Hungarian and Slovak history and is remembered as the Bloody Lady of (Cachtice (Csejte), after the castle near Trenc(ín (Trencsén), in Royal Hungary, in present-day Slovakia, where she spent most of her life.
After her husband's death, she and her four alleged collaborators were accused of torturing and killing dozens of girls and young women. In 1610, she was walled up in a tower, where she remained until her death four years later. Her nobility allowed her to avoid trial and execution. The Báthory case has inspired many stories, featuring the countess bathing in the blood of her victims in order to retain her youth. This inspired nicknames like the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula. Elizabeth Bathory, she became known as the Bloody Countess for her obsession with blood. She was convinced that blood would give her beauty. She murdered hundreds of maidens only for their blood, she drunk, bathed and showered in the blood of the young maidens. Many girls were brought to her and slaughtered with the help of her lieutenants. The body count is estimated at 50 to 100 women.
Elizabeth Báthory was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary, on 7 August, 1560 and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was George Báthory, a brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who had been Voivod of Transylvania of the Ecsed branch of the family whereas her mother was Anna Báthory (1539-1570), daughter of Stephen Báthory, another Voivod of Transylvania, of the Somlyó branch. Through her mother, she was the niece of Stefan Batory, King of Poland.
Her initial victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Csejthe (Cachtice by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later she may have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions seem to have occurred as well.
The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included:
* severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death,
* burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia,
* biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts
* freezing to death
* starving of victims.
Biting and the use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court.
Some witnesses named relatives that died while at the gynaeceum. Others reported having seen traces of torture on dead bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others in unmarked locations.
According to the defendants' confessions, Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed her victims not only at (Cachtice but also on her properties in Bécko, Sárvár, Deutschkreutz, Bratislava and Vienna, and even en route between these locations.
In addition to the defendants, several people were named for supplying Elizabeth Báthory with young women. The girls had been procured either by deception or by force.
A little-known figure named Anna Darvulia, possibly a local, was also rumoured to have influenced much of Báthory's early sadistic career, but apparently died at an earlier time.
The number of young women tortured and killed by Elizabeth Báthory is unknown, though it is often cited as being in the hundreds, between the years 1585 and 1610.
The estimates differ greatly. Szentes and Fickó reported 36 and 37 respectively, during their periods of service. The other defendants estimated a number of 50 or higher. Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 and 200.
One witness who spoke at the trial mentioned a book in which a total of 650 victims was supposed to have been listed by Elizabeth Báthory herself. This book was never mentioned anywhere else, nor was it ever discovered; however, this number became part of the legend surrounding Báthory. Vampire Reference The emergence of the bloodbath myth coincided with the vampire scares that haunted Europe in the early 18th century, reaching even into educated and scientific circles. The strong connection between the bloodbath myth and vampire myth was not made until the 1970s. The first connections were made to promote works of fiction by linking them to the already commercially successful Dracula story. elizabeth would bite and torture her victums which lead to the myth of her being a vampire
Some biographers, Raymond McNally in particular, have tried to establish the bloodbath myth and the historical Elizabeth Báthory as a source of influence for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, pointing to similarities in settings and motifs and the fact that Stoker might have read about her. This theory is opposed by other authors.
Gilles de Laval, Marechal and Baron de Rais (Rays, Rayx or Retz) aka Blue Beard [X] Read More about the Case file: Gilles de Rais or Retz Gilles de Rais (also spelled Retz) (autumn of 1404 – October 26, 1440) was a French noble, soldier, and one time brother-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He was later accused and ultimately convicted of infanticide - torturing, raping and murdering dozens, if not hundreds, of children. Along with Erzsébet Báthory, another sadistic aristocrat acting more than a century later, he is considered by some historians to be a precursor of the modern serial killer.
Gilles de Rais was born in 1404 in the château of Machécoul, near the border of Brittany.
Arnold Paole (d. c. 1726) (Arnont Paule in the original documents; an early German rendition of a Serbian name or nickname, perhaps Арнаут Павле, Arnaut Pavle) was a Serbian hajduk who was believed to have become a vampire after his death, initiating an epidemic of supposed vampirism that killed at least 16 persons in his native village of Medwegya (also rendered as Metwett; likely a German rendition of Serbian Medveđa, not to be confused with the modern Southern Serbian town of Medveđa), located at the Morava river near the town of Paraćin. His case, like the similar case of Peter Plogojowitz, became famous because of the direct involvement of the Austrian authorities and the documentation by Austrian physicians and officers, who confirmed the reality of vampires.
Our knowledge of the case is based mostly on the reports of two Austrian military doctors, Glaser and Flückinger, who were successively sent to investigate the case.
The first outbreak
This outbreak is only known from Flückinger's report about the second epidemic and its prehistory. According to the account of the Medveđa locals as retold there, Arnold Paole was a hajduk who had moved to the village from the Turkish-controlled part of Serbia. He reportedly mentioned often that he had been plagued by a vampire at a location named Gossowa (perhaps Kosovo) but that he had cured himself by eating soil from the vampire's grave and smearing himself with his blood. About 1725, he broke his neck in a fall from a haywagon. Within 20 or 30 days after Paole's death, four persons complained that they had been plagued by him. These people died shortly after. Still ten days later villagers, advised by their hadnack (a military/administrative title) who had witnessed such events before, opened his grave. They saw that the corpse was undecomposed "and that fresh blood had flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears; that the shirt, the covering, and the coffin were completely bloody; that the old nails on his hands and feet, along with the skin, had fallen off, and that new ones had grown". Concluding that Paole was indeed a vampire, they drove a stake through his heart, to which he reacted by groaning and bleeding, and burned the body. They then disinterred Paole's four supposed victims and performed the same procedure, to prevent them from becoming vampires.
The second outbreak
About 5 years later, in the winter of 1731, a new epidemic occurred, with more than ten people dying within several weeks, some of them in just two or three days without any previous illness. The numbers and the age of the deceased vary somewhat between the two main sources.
Glaser's report on the case states that by the 12th of December, 13 people had died in the course of 6 weeks. Glaser names the following victims (here rearranged chronologically): Miliza (Serbian Milica, a 50-year-old woman); Milloi (Serbian Miloje, a 14-year-old boy); Joachim (a 15-year-old boy); Petter (Serbian Petar, a 15-day-old boy); Stanno (Serbian Stana, a 20-year-old woman) as well as her newborn child, which Glaser notes was buried "behind a fence, where the mother had lived" due to not having lived long enough to be baptized; Wutschiza (Serbian Vučica, a 9-year-old boy), Milosova (Serbian Milošova, actually "Miloš's /wife/", a 30-year-old wife of a hajduk), Radi (Serbian Rade, a twenty-four-year-old man), and Ruschiza (Serbian Ružica, a forty-year-old woman). The sick had complained of stabs in the sides and pain in the chest, prolonged fever and jerks of the limbs. Glaser reports that the locals considered Milica and Stana to have started the vampirism epidemic. According to his retelling, Milica had come to the village from Ottoman-controlled territories six years ago. The locals' testimony indicated that she had always been a good neighbour and that to the best of their knowledge, she had never "believed or practiced something diabolic". However, she had once mentioned to them that, while still in Ottoman lands, she had eaten two sheep that had been killed by vampires. Stana, on the other hand, had admitted that when she was in Ottoman-controlled lands, she had smeared herself with vampire blood as a protection against vampires (as these had been very active there). According to local belief, both things would cause the women to become vampires after death.
According to Flückinger's report, by the 7th of January, seventeen people had died within a period of three months (the last two of these apparently after Glaser's visit). He names Miliza (Milica, a 69-year-old woman, died after a three-month illness); an unnamed 8 year old child; Milloe (Miloje, a 16 year old boy, died after a three-day illness); Stana (a 20-year-old woman, died at childbirth after a three-day illness, reportedly said herself that she had smeared herself with vampire blood) as well as her newborn child (dead right immediately after birth, and, as Flückinger observes, "half-eaten by the dogs due to a slovenly burial"); an unnamed 10-year-old girl; Joachim (a 17-year-old, died after a three-day illness); the hadnack 's unnamed wife; Ruscha (Ruža - variant of Ružica - a woman, died after a ten-day illness); Staniko (Stanjko, a 60 year old man); Miloe (Miloje, the second victim of that name; a 25 year old man); Ruža's child (18 days old); Rhade (Rade, a 21 year old servant of the local hajduk corporal, died after a three-month long illness); the local standard-bearer's (bajraktar 's) unnamed wife, apparently identical to Milošova in the other report along with her child; the 8-week old child of the hadnack; Stanoicka (Stanojka, a 20 year old woman, the wife of a hajduk, died after a three-day illness). According to her father-in-law Joviza (Jovica), Stanojka had gone to bed healthy 15 days ago, but had woken up at midnight in terrible fear and cried that she had been throttled by the late Miloje. Flückinger states that the locals explain the new epidemic with the fact that Milica, the first to die, had eaten the meat of sheep that the "previous vampires" (i.e. Paole and his victims five years ago) killed. He also mentions, in passing, the claims that Stana had, before her death, admitted having smeared herself with blood to protect herself from vampires and would hence become a vampire herself, as would her child.
The investigation
The villagers complained of the new deaths to oberstleutnant Schnezzer, the Austrian military commander in charge of the administration. The latter, fearing an epidemic of pestilence, sent for Imperial Contagions-Medicus (roughly, Infectious Disease Specialist) Glaser stationed in the nearby town of Paraćin. On the 12 of December 1731, Glaser examined the villagers and their houses. He failed to find any signs of a contagious malady and blamed the deaths on the malnutrition common in the region as well as the unhealthy effects of the severe Eastern Orthodox fasting. However, the villagers insisted that the illnesses were caused by vampires. At the moment, two or three households were gathering together at night, with some asleep and other on the watch. They were convinced that the deaths wouldn't stop unless the vampires were executed by the authorities, and threatened to abandon the village in order to save their lives if that wasn't done. Failing to "get this out of their heads", Glaser consented to the exhumation of some of the deceased. To his surprise, he found that most of them were not decomposed and many were swollen and had blood in their mouths, while several others who had died more recently (namely Vučica, Milošova, and Rade) were rather decomposed. Glaser outlined his findings in a report to the Jagodina commandant's office, recommending that the authorities should pacify the population by fulfilling its request to "execute" the vampires. Schnezzer furthered Glaser's report to the Supreme Command in Belgrade (the city was then held by Austrian forces). The vice-commandant, Botta d'Adorno, sent a second commission to investigate the case.
The new commission included a military surgeon, Johann Flückinger, two officers, lieutenant colonel Büttner and J.H. von Lindenfels, along with two other military surgeons, Siegele and Johann Friedrich Baumgarten. On the 7th of January, together with the village elders and some local Gypsies, they opened the graves of the deceased. Their findings were similar to Glaser's, although their report contains much more anatomical detail. The commission established that, while five of the corpses (the hadnack 's wife and child, Rade, and the standard-bearer's wife and child) were decomposed, the remaining twelve were "quite complete and undecayed" and exhibited the traits that were commonly associated with vampirism. Their chests and in some cases other organs were filled with fresh (rather than coagulated) blood; the viscera were estimated to be "in good condition"; various corpses looked plump and their skin had a "red and vivid" (rather than pale) colour; and in several cases, "the skin on ... hands and feet, along with the old nails, fell away on their own, but on the other hand completely new nails were evident, along with a fresh and vivid skin". In the case of Milica, the hajduks who witnessed the dissection were very surprised at her plumpness, stating that they had known her well, from her youth, and that she had always been very "lean and dried-up"; it was only in the grave she had attained this plumpness. The surgeons summarized all these phenomena by stating that the bodies were in "the vampiric condition" (das Vampyrenstand). After the examination had been completed, the Gypsies cut off the heads of the supposed vampires and burned both their heads and their bodies, the ashes being thrown in the Morava river. The decomposed bodies were laid back into their graves. The report is dated 26th of January 1732, Belgrade, and bears the signatures of the five officers involved.
{Ref. source: http://www.answers.com/topic/arnold-paole }
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:06 pm
Latest and Modern Vampire Cases of Today
[X] Case file: The case of Petre Toma 2004
[X] Case file: Vampires In Malawi Africa 2002-2003
June 8th 1993 Pisco Peru
Sarah Ellen Roberts Audio Documentary (MP3)
Broadcast on Wednesday, 10/25/2006 Shortly before midnight on 8 June 1993, over a thousand people turned up at a cemetery in Pisco, Peru, in the hope of witnessing the resurrection of an alleged vampire named Sarah Ellen Roberts. Local historians and officials from the British Embassy had recently been shocked to learn that the corpse of Mrs Roberts had been brought to Pisco from Blackburn, England, by her husband John Roberts in 1913, because British authorities refused to let him bury his wife in England, as they believed her to be a vampire. Mr Roberts dismissed the refusal as an absurdity, but subsequently bought a lead-lined coffin for his deceased wife, and allegedly roamed the world for four years, seeking out a country that would allow him to bury her. Finally, Mrs Roberts came to Peru, where he was allowed to inter his wife at Pisco for the sum of five pounds. Shortly after the ad hoc burial service, Mr Roberts boarded a ship for England and was never heard of again. Then the news from England reached Pisco; Sarah Ellen Roberts had been bound in chains and shut up in the lead-lined coffin after being found guilty of witchcraft, murder and vampirism. Just before the lid of the coffin was screwed down, the Lancashire witch had screamed she would return from the grave to seek vengeance.
Pisco City Peru before the massive earthquake this year.
The Peruvian peasants in the town trembled at the news. Eighty years later in June 1993, people visiting a grave in the Pisco cemetery were terrified when they witnessed a large crack appearing in the headstone of the Blackburn woman's grave. That night, over a thousand excitement seekers and occultists descended on the graveyard when the word went round that the vampire would rise from her grave at midnight. Hundreds of local women left the town 'to prevent the vampire being reincarnated in their new-born children', and cloves of garlic and crucifixes festooned the front doors of almost every house in the region. When midnight arrived, the vampire mania reached a peak, and police had to be called in to control the hysterical crowds. Shots were fired in the air, and slowly the crowds dispersed. A small group of local witch doctors were apparently allowed to stay at the controversial grave, where they splashed the cracked headstone with holy water and sprinkled white rose petals around. The English vampire did not rise, and the witch doctors later celebrated their 'success' at laying the undead woman to rest. December 1967 London HighGate Cemetery In December 1967, a group of occultists prowled the forsaken dormitory of the dead painting Voodoo symbols on a number of gravestones and chanting incantations in the hope of resurrecting a corpse. Urban legend has it that the occultists broke into a tomb and disturbed something that sent them running for their lives; an eight-foot wiry figure clad entirely in black which emerged from a hole in the tomb that led to catacombs. The fleeing necromancers scaled the railings of the cemetery and leaped to safety; one of them looked back as he raced down Swains Lane and saw the man in black reaching through the railings at him with a long boney arm. The next alleged sighting of the Highgate Vampire occurred in January 1970, when a motorist from Milton Park was driving down Swains Lane near the entrance of the cemetery, when the engine of his car started to sputter.
northgate
The man pulled into a parking space and got out the vehicle to lift the bonnet open, when he noticed an abnormally tall shadowy figure peering at him through the entrance gates of the cemetery. The motorist was so terrified at the apparition, he ran off without closing the bonnet of his car.
The vampire rumors gained substance over the following months with several more macabre encounters which attracted the attention of the media. An Essex schoolteacher, appropriately named Alan Blood organized a mass vampire hunt that would take place on Friday 13 March 1970. Mr Blood was interviewed on television, and the London Evening News ran a front-page story on him. Blood said he thought the Highgate Vampire had been driven from his lair in the cemetery by the crowds of sensationalists who had kept an all-night vigil near the tomb where the vampire was frequently seen.
The schoolteacher's plan was to wait until dawn, when the first rays of the rising sun would force the vampire to return to his subterranean den in the catacombs, then he would kill the Satanic creature in the time-honored tradition; by driving a wooden stake through its heart. On the night of Friday 13th, hundreds of people stormed Highgate Cemetery carrying lit and electric torches, crucifixes, garlic cloves and sharp wooden stakes. At dawn on the following morning, there was no sign of the vampire. Some thought that the irresponsible rowdy mobs had scared the creature off. By the morning light, œ9, 000 worth of damage had been caused by the rampaging crowds. In an orgy of desecration they had exhumed the remains of a woman from a tomb, stolen lead from coffins, and defaced sepulchers with mindless graffiti.
In March 1969, the British Psychic and Occult Society heard tales of a tall black apparition amidst the graves at sunset or after dark. The original sighting was traced to an accountant referred to as Thornton in the Society's report, Beyond the Highgate Vampire. Thornton had been exploring the cemetery. At dusk, as he attempted to leave, he became hopelessly lost. A sudden sense of dread caused him to turn. Over him loomed a dark specter that transfixed him with its glare. He lost all sense of time and felt drained of energy when it finally released him.
The Society investigated the cemetery. Mostly, it discovered widespread vandalism: "vaults broken open and coffins literally smashed apart." A vault on the main pathway had been forced open and the coffins inside set afire.
Though this clearly had a human origin, sightings of the dark figure continued. The Society decided to perform a seance in the cemetery at midnight on August 17, 1970. They cast a protective circle on the ground, sealing it with consecrated water and salt. After the seance began, they heard muffled voices coming toward them. The police had decided belatedly to patrol the cemetery. Despite the dangers of leaving the circle before the spirits were banished, Society members scattered. Society president David Farrant was arrested as he tried to slip past the police. Among the paraphernalia he carried was a short wooden stake with a string for measuring out the magic circle. This was taken as evidence that he had been hunting vampires.
Farrant was acquitted, since legally Highgate was open to the public, even at midnight. The magistrate likened the hunt for vampires to the search for the Loch Ness Monster: foolish, but harmless.
In September of that year, police apprehended a Mr David Farrant - a self-appointed vampire hunter - as he scaled the wall of Highgate Cemetery, armed with a cross and a wooden stake. The police took him to court, but Mr Farrant was released on a technicality. The vampire hunter evidently sent shivers up the magistrate's spine with his final remark to the court: "The Highgate Vampire has to be destroyed. He is evil." Mr Farrant later told press reporters that he had seen the vampire on several occasions, and described it as a gangly figure about eight feet in height. He believed the vampire slept by day in the catacombs beneath Highgate.
Today, Highgate Cemetery is open to the public. In its Eastern Cemetery you will find the tomb of Karl Marx near to the grave of Sid Vicious of the notorious Sex Pistols punk rock band. The Western Cemetery is only open for guided tours. 1967 Highgate Vampire Hunt w/ Sean Manchester Perhaps this was neither the beginning nor the end of the story. Sean Manchester, then president of the British Occult Society (no relation to the British Psychic and Occult Society), claims to have begun investigating phenomena at Highgate Cemetery in 1967. (He also claims to be descended from Lord Byron by way of a servant girl, so take that as you will.) Manchester interviewed two 16-year-old schoolgirls who reported seeing graves inside Highgate yawn open and corpses rise. Afterward, one of the girls, Elizabeth Wojdyla, suffered nightmares where a corpse-faced man tried to get into her bedroom. When Manchester caught up with Elizabeth again in 1969, "her features had grown cadaverous." Her neck had two "highly inflamed swellings" with holes in their centers. Manchester vowed to rescue her from the vampire obviously feeding on her. Manchester further tells that a young man was escorting his girlfriend home shortly thereafter,when both were terrified by a horrible visage from inside the same sealed gate,and that when the man later went ghost hunting he was frightened off by a overwhelming slow,booming sound and a dark apparition.
In his quest, Manchester encountered another young woman whom he believed was under vampiric attack. In his book , he refers to her as Lusia. Like Lucy Westenra, Lusia walked in her sleep. Manchester followed her from her apartment into Highgate Cemetery, up the "haunted icy path" through the Egyptian Avenue to the catacombs in the Circle of Lebanon. Lusia paused before one of the tombs and struggled to open it. Manchester flung a crucifix between her and the door. The girl collapsed and had to be carried home. Manchester went to the press in February 1970. He told the Hampstead and Highgate Express, "We would like to exorcise the vampire by the traditional and approved manner -- drive a stake through its heart with one blow just after dawn, chop off its head with a gravedigger's shovel, and burn what remains."
Vampires lair bricked up
When no volunteers stepped forward to help, Manchester approached the media again in March, intruding while David Farrant was being interviewed by a television crew about the "hauntings" inside Highgate. Farrant stresses that he took great care to avoid the term vampire, but a "theatrical character" announced that he intended to lead a vampire hunt the following night. Hundreds of people showed up to assist. The police arrived with spotlights. Despite the carnival atmosphere, Manchester and an assistant chopped a hole through the roof of the tomb in the catacombs. Manchester was lowered by rope into the vault, where he found three empty coffins. He sprinkled each with garlic and holy water, then encircled each with salt and prayers against the possible return of any resident vampires.
This affair escalated again in August, when a headless female murder victim was found near the columbarium. Manchester re-entered the purified vault during daylight hours and found that one of three empty coffins was missing. Led by Lusia as a psychic link, he then broke into the catacomb nearest where this woman's body had been discovered, where he contends that he found an extra coffin. Even more remarkably, he insists that within the coffin was the vampire, with clotted gore in the corners of it's mouth and the complexion of a three-day-old corpse. Manchester says that he was constrained by his assistants and the law from driving a stake through its heart, but that he did perform an exorcism and that the vault was then bricked up at his request after numerous safeguards to neutralize the vampire were installed.
The exorcism didn't halt the desecration of graves, the mutilation of corpses, or the slaughter of foxes and other small animals found drained of blood in the cemetery. The vault is no longer bricked up, however, and the Friends of Highgate have often denied that Manchester's activities were ever given any credence, much less that any action was taken as a result of his beliefs. During the next few months dead animals(mainly mutilated foxes and cats)continued to appear in Waterslow Park, and an escaped mental patient was found wandering the cemetery covered in his own blood. The BBC got in on the act with a documentary about the occult that included interviews with several vampire experts, including Manchester and Farrant. Some amateur film-makers claimed that the sightings had actually been of their actors roaming around in full costume. Several groups of lesser-known vampire hunters, some of whom were even sober, were arrested within the cemetery's walls. Satanic paraphernalia were found in the area. Finally, spurred by these and other events, Manchester re-entered the sealed tomb in 1977 to discover that the vampire and its coffin were gone. In the winter of 1973, Manchester eventually traced the King Vampire to an abandoned mansion in north London (already investigated by Farrant's BPOS as haunted), where he discovered an enormous black casket. Manchester and his assistant Arthur dragged it outside. Manchester kicked the coffin lid off and ... Well, perhaps it's best to let him tell the story: "Burning, fierce eyes beneath black furrowed brows stared with hellish reflection. Yellow at the edges with blood-red centres, they were unlike any other beast of prey."
Manchester staked the corpse through its heart, shielding his ears "as a terrible roar emitted from the bowels of hell." The corpse turned to brown slime. The stench was so awful, Arthur forgot to work his camera and the event passed unrecorded. The two men built a pyre, tossed the coffin on, doused it with gasoline, and set it ablaze. Incredibly, no one in London noticed the explosion, the smell, or the smoke. While he's never been officially charged with vandalism or "interfering with a corpse," Manchester remains persona non grata at Highgate Cemetery. Actual Investigation Highgate Photos [X] Actual time lapse photos of the Highgate Vampire disintegrating in the daylight after he was staked and exposed to the Sun. (BEWARE GRUESOME)
[X] Mansion where the Vampire was later discovered & destroyed (Mansion was later removed from the area.)
[X] David Farrant comes upon a coffin that was disturbed and vandilized 1971
[X] David Farrant exorcises the vandalized grave he found 1971
[X]David Farrant poses at night inside the Northgate. (I didn't reduce the size because in this photo some claim to see the face of the Highgate Vampire lurking in the shadows to the far right.)
[X]During investigation with David Farrant (Also not reduced to show how the cemetery's condition at the time)
Creepy image of the Cemetery at the time.
[X] "Vampire Slayer" Bishop Seán Manchester arrival at the Northgate to Highgate Cemetery
[X] David Farrant is arrested and charged with Desecration of graves and mutilation of the dead (In this photo you might actually see a ghostly mist before the group.) 1922 London : West Drayton Churchyard In the spring of 1922, when an enormous black bat-like creature with a wing span of six feet was seen flying around West Drayton Church during the night of a full moon. Several terrified witnesses watched the creature dive into the churchyard, where it roamed the tombs. When it was chased by two policemen, the creature let out a loud blood-curdling screech, flapped its wings, and soared skywards. An old man who claimed he had seen the giant bat twenty-five years previously, maintained that it was the spirit of a vampire who had murdered a woman to drink her blood in Harmondsworth in the 1890s. No one took the oldster's tale seriously. Later that month, on the morning of 16 April at around 6 am, an office clerk on his way to work was walking down Coventry Street in London's West End.
As he strolled into a turning off the street, something invisible to his eyes seized him and pierced his neck. The man felt blood being drawn, then fell to the pavement unconscious. He woke up in Charing Cross Hospital and told his unusual tale. The surgeons who quizzed him said someone must have stabbed him with a thin tube, but the victim disagreed; he was absolutely certain that no one had been close enough to deliver such a thrust. Two and a half hours later something incredible happened which still defies explanation; a second man was brought to the same hospital. he too was bleeding profusely from the lower neck, and when he regained consciousness, he also told how he had been walking down Coventry Street when something intangible attacked him -
On the very same corner where the office worker had been struck down by an unseen attacker. Later that evening a third victim of the invisible assailant was admitted to the hospital. The doctors at Charing Cross were absolutely dumbfounded when the police told them that the latest victim had been stabbed at precisely the same spot as the two other casualties - at a turning off Coventry Street. An investigation into the bizarre crimes was launched as rumors of a vampire at large in London swept the capital. The newshounds of Fleet Street pricked their ears up at the rumors. The Daily Express reported the sinister Coventry Street assaults and asked the police if they had any theories on the strange crimes. A police spokesman reluctantly admitted that the injuries sustained by the three men at Coventry Street defied rational explanation, and there had been no headway in finding the bloodthirsty attacker.
With his tongue placed firmly in his cheek, a reporter asked the spokesman if the police had considered the theory of the Coventry Street attacker being a vampire. The spokesman just chortled nervously and said 'That's all'. Another rumor swept the City; the Coventry Street vampire had been cornered by the police and killed by a professional vampire hunter who had been drafted in for the job! Furthermore, the bloodsucker had been secretly interred with a wooden stake through its heart in a deep vault up in Highgate Cemetery. The rumor was traced to a pub in Covent Garden where an off-duty policeman told a landlord of his part in the vampire hunt that had stretched across London. It is of course, easy to dismiss the policeman's yarn as bunkum, but by a strange coincidence, London's second vampire scare took place at Highgate Cemetery forty-eight years after the Coventry Street vampire episode.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:13 pm
Images Video and Audio Gallery
The Real Count Dracula - Romania
9 min - Aug 6, 2007 - (8 ratings)
countless films of the same name - is the real story of Dracula, teeth and all. But the real Vlad Dracula story, particularly nasty though it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TbEitVbyF0
pontianak
38 sec - Feb 7, 2007
This is real....ghost pontianak vampire scary real goodanx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5_zgTuB8as
Interview with an ex-vampire :: A true story
2 min - Apr 17, 2006 - (44 ratings)
the darkest of the occult. He once was a true Satanist and a REAL vampire, totally addicted to blood, until he managed to break out 20 years
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8284182674617069213
Bill Schnoebelen - Interview with an ExVampire: A True Story - Part 1
1 hr 1 min - Jun 16, 2006 - (111 ratings)
Vampires are REAL! Forbidden Knowledge, Occult Rituals, Secret Priesthoods, Spells, Luciferian Initiation, Illuminism, Ceremonial Magick, Vampirism. This was his world :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7672003660947890622
Vampire "on real life" vampire real
10 sec - Jul 27, 2007 - (4 ratings)
a Vampire from Venezuela filmed by a security cam, until he discover that he was filmed and crashes...angry vampire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOs7UoZSiYU
REAL VAMPIRES part 1
7 min - Sep 4, 2006 - (28 ratings)
documentary. interviews with real vampires and blood drinking related issues....vampiers blood goth documentary myth dracula zepesh vlad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULKkV_B09G4
REAL VAMPIRES part 2
7 min - Sep 5, 2006 - (14 ratings)
documentary. interviews with real vampires and blood drinking related issues....VAMPIRES BLOOD GOTH DOCUMENTARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbtFUajbak8
REAL VAMPIRES part 3 final
8 min - Sep 5, 2006 - (8 ratings)
documentary. interviews with real vampires and blood drinking related issues....VAMPIRES BLOOD GOTH DOCUMENTARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QtB6NjzTRc
WHERE IS DRACULA'S HEAD BURIED?
Vlad's head was cut off by the Turks.
His head was sent to Istanbul and ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=taiFJPHGJ4A
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:41 pm
Determining a Vampire in Romania
The tests to determine whether any dead man is a vampire, or not, are as follows:
1. His household, his family, and his live stock, and possibly even the live stock of the whole village, die off rapidly.
2. He comes back in the night and speaks with the family. He may eat what he finds in dishes and knock things about, or he may help with the housework and cut wood. Female vampires also come back to their children. There was a Hungarian vampire which could not be kept away, even by the priest and holy water.
3. The priest reads a service at the grave. If the evil which is occurring does not cease, it is a bad sign.
4. A hole about the size of a serpent may be found near the tombstone of the dead man. If so, it is the sign of a vampire, because vampires come out of graves by just such holes. Holes appearing in the earth over a grave were taken as a sign of vampirism.
5. Even in the daytime a white horse will not walk over the grave of a vampire, but stands still and snorts and neighs.
6. A gander, similarly, will not walk over the grave of a vampire.
7. On exhuming the corpse, if it is a vampire it will be found to be:
a) red in the face, even for months and years after burial,
b) with the face turned downwards,
c) with a foot retracted or forced into a corner of the grave or coffin.
d) If relations have died, the mouth will be red with blood. If it has only spoilt and ruined things at home, and eaten what it could find, the mouth will be covered with maize meal.
—From “The Vampire in Roumania” by Agnes Murgoci, 1926
8. The method of discovering a vampire's grave in Serbia was to place a virgin boy upon a coal-black stallion (in Albania it should be white stallion) which had never served a mare and to mark the spot that the horse refused to pass.
9. Evidence that a vampire was active in a given locality included death of cattle, sheep, relatives or neighbors. Folkloric vampires could also make their presence felt by engaging in minor poltergeist-like activity, such as hurling stones on roofs or moving household objects, and pressing on people in their sleep.
10. In some cultures, vampires do not have a reflection and sometimes do not cast a shadow, perhaps as a manifestation of the vampire's lack of a soul. This attribute, although not universal (the Greek vrykolakas/tympanios was capable of both reflection and shadow).
Foul Smelling Sign of Evil A vampire's grave is reputed to stink, and the creature's breath is said to smell foul from it's diet of blood. The appearence of a vampire is also often heralded by an appalling odor. Interestingly, an abominable smell is also a frequent element of possession by the devil even today, and features prominently in the popular book and film The Exorcist. A vampire story that demonstrates this aspect well was recounted by Dr. Henry Moore in 1653, and concerns a Silesian. The story goes as follows: "One evening when this theologian was sitting with his wife and children about him, exercising himself in music, according to his usual manner, a most grievous stink arose suddenly, which by degrees spread itself to every corner of the room. Hereupon he commended himself and his family to God by prayer. The smell nevertheless increased, and became above all measure pestilently noisome, insomuch that he was forced to go up to his bedchamber. He and his wife had not been in bed a quarter of an hour, but they find the same stink in the bedchamber; if which, while they are complaining one to another, out steps a specter from the wall, and creeping to his bedside, breathes upon him an exceedingly cold breath, of so intolerable stinking and malignant a scent as is beyond all imagination and expression."
-- From: "Vampires, Zombies, and Monster Men" by Daniel Farson : ISBN 0-385-11311-8Marks of Vampirism Vampirism is said to be epidemic in character: where one instance is discovered it is almost invariably followed by several others. It is believed that the victim of a vampire pines away and dies and becomes in turn a vampire after death, and so duly infects others.
After the disinterment of a suspected vampire, various well-known signs are looked for by experienced persons. Thus, if several holes about the breadth of a man's finger are observed in the soil above the grave, the vampire character of its occupant may be suspected. The corpse is usually found with wide-open eyes, ruddy, life-like complexion and lips, a general appearance of freshness, and shows no signs of corruption.
It may also be found that the hair and nails have grown as in life. On the throat, two small livid marks may be observed. The coffin is also very often full of blood, the body has a swollen and gorged appearance, and the shroud is frequently half-devoured. The blood contained in the veins of the corpse is found, on examination, to be in a fluid condition as in life, and the limbs are pliant and have none of the rigidity of death.
Other attributes varied greatly from culture to culture; some vampires, such as those found in Transylvanian tales, were gaunt, pale, and had long fingernails, while those from Bulgaria only had one nostril, and Bavarian vampires slept with thumbs crossed and one eye open. Moravian vampires only attacked while naked, and those of Albanian folklore wore high-heeled shoes.
As stories of vampires spread throughout the globe to the Americas and elsewhere, so did the varied and sometimes bizarre descriptions of them: Mexican vampires had a bare skull instead of a head, Brazilian vampires had furry feet and vampires from the Rocky Mountains only sucked blood with their noses and from the victim's ears. Common attributes were sometimes described, such as red hair. Some were reported to be able to transform into bats, rats, dogs, wolves, spiders and even moths.Preventive and Defensives Techniques ListedIn Christian countries the crucifix was considered a powerful way protect yourself from a vampire. Garlic is the most popular vampire repellent. Persons who dread the visits or attacks of a vampire sleep with a wreath made of garlic round the neck, as garlic is supposed to be especially obnoxious to the vampire. Another defense is to scatter seeds Vampires become so involved in counting every single seed that they would either lose interest, or be caught counting even as the sun came up. A branch of wild rose and hawthorn plant are said to harm vampires.
Silver is not the protective metal that we were lead to believe. Iron is the material of choice. Superstition says that iron shavings should be placed beneath a child's cradle. A necklace with an iron nail and other iron objects placed strategically around the place needing protection should scare off any Vampire. Burying a corpse upside-down was widespread, as was placing earthly objects, such as scythes or sickles, near the grave to satisfy any demons entering the body or to appease the dead so that it would not wish to arise from its coffin. In Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to keep them away.
This method resembles the Ancient Greek practice of placing an obolus in the corpse's mouth to pay the toll to cross the River Styx in the underworld; it has been argued that instead, the coin was intended to ward off any evil spirits from entering the body, and this may have influenced later vampire folklore. This tradition persisted in modern Greek folklore about the vrykolakas, in which a wax cross and piece of pottery with the inscription "Jesus Christ conquers" were placed on the corpse to prevent the body from becoming a vampire.
Other methods commonly practiced in Europe included severing the tendons at the knees or placing poppy seeds, millet, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains. Similar Chinese narratives state that if a vampire-like being came across a sack of rice, it would have to count every grain; this is a theme encountered in myths from the Indian subcontinent as well as in South American tales of witches and other sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings.
Some traditions also hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited by the owner, although after the first invitation they can come and go as they please. Though folkloric vampires were believed to be more active at night, they were not generally considered vulnerable to sunlight. Methods of destroying suspected vampires varied, with staking the most commonly cited method, particularly in southern Slavic cultures. Ash was the preferred wood in Russia and the Baltic states, or hawthorn in Serbia, with a record of oak in Silesia.
Potential vampires were most often staked though the heart, though the mouth was targeted in Russia and northern Germany and the stomach in northeastern Serbia. Piercing the skin of the chest was a way of "deflating" the bloated vampire; this is similar to the act of burying sharp objects, such as sickles, in with the corpse, so that they may penetrate the skin if the body bloats sufficiently while transforming into a revenant. Decapitation was the preferred method in German and western Slavic areas, with the head buried between the feet, behind the buttocks or away from the body.
This act was seen as a way of hastening the departure of the soul, which in some cultures, was said to linger in the corpse. The vampire's head, body, or clothes could also be spiked and pinned to the earth to prevent rising. Gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs.
In a 16th-century burial near Venice, a brick forced into the mouth of a female corpse has been interpreted as a vampire-slaying ritual by the archaeologists who discovered it in 2006. Further measures included pouring boiling water over the grave or complete incineration of the body. In the Balkans a vampire could also be killed by being shot or drowned, by repeating the funeral service, by sprinkling holy water on the body, or by exorcism.
In Romania garlic could be placed in the mouth, and as recently as the 19th century, the precaution of shooting a bullet through the coffin was taken. For resistant cases, the body was dismembered and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and administered to family members as a cure. In Saxon regions of Germany, a lemon was placed in the mouth of suspected vampires.
How to dispose of a Vampire
If you forget any of your protection devices there are a few ways to rid yourself of an unwanted Vampire. A vampire may be destroyed by cremation, cutting off its head, exposing it to sunlight or by driving a stake through its heart. Other superstitions told that a vampire can be destroyed by touching it with a crucifix, drenching it in holy water and garlic, stealing his left sock, filling it with stones and throwing it in a river, or using a "dhampir", or a vampire's child. Dhampirs were allegedly the only people who were able to see invisible vampires, and they often took advantage of this by hiring out their services as vampire hunters. Advise from an 18th Century Hunter : Dom Augustine Calmet In his vampire-hunter's manual, called Traité sur les Apparitions des Ésprits et sur les Vampires (Paris 1746), Dom Augustine Calmet provides case histories of how he set out to ‘cure’ the supposed plague of vampires that was infecting eighteenth-century Europe. His first resort was decapitation, staking out the heart, and then incineration. The overkill of this zealous Benedictine monk was presumably due to the ambivalent attitude towards death which characterized the average vampire. More apotropaic methods (techniques for turning evil away) included stuffing objects into the orifices of corpses or confronting the ambulatory blood-sucker with a crucifix. The vampire is a sublimation of our fears of death and disease, articulating our resistance to an acceptance of the process of decomposition. Human decay involves discoloration, bloating, and leaking of blood-stained fluid from the mouth and nostrils — which have been misinterpreted as the superfluities of a blood-satiated cadaver. The taboos surrounding putrefaction and funereal rights, which can involve the second burial of the exhumed undead, suggest that it is not until a corpse no longer resembles the living, and only when it resides in its skeletal state as a momento mori, that the living can truly rest in peace.
{ref. source; http://www.answers.com/topic/vampire }
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:48 pm
Vlad III the Impaler : Vlad Ţepeş  Vlad III the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş) in common Romanian reference; also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad Drăculea and Kazıklı Bey in Turkish; November or December, 1431 – December 1476) was Prince (voivode) of Wallachia, a former polity that is now part of Romania. His three reigns were in 1448, 1456–62, and 1476. In the English-speaking world, Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for supposedly serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker's popular Dracula novel. But did he become a Vampire like in Bram Stoker's Novel?
Born: November/December 1431 in Sighişoara, Transylvania
Died: December 1476 in Wallachia; Cause disputed.
Title: Prince of Wallachia
Term: 1448; 1456 – 1462; 1476
Drăculea Renounces Christ
His Romanian surname Dracula, is a diminutive derived from his father's title Dracul and means "Son of the Dragon"; Vlad II Dracul (his father) was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund. Vlad's family had two factions, the Drăculeşti and the Dăneşti. The word "dracul" means "the Devil" in modern Romanian but in Vlad's day also meant "dragon" or "demon", and derives from the Latin word Draco, also meaning "dragon". The word Ţepeş (Impaler) originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement — as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as "Kazıklı Bey" which means "Impaler Prince". Vlad was referred to as Dracula in a number of documents of his times, mainly the Transylvanian Saxon pamphlets and The Annals of Jan Długosz.
His father, Vlad II Dracul, born around 1395, was an illegitimate son of Mircea the Elder, an important early Wallachian ruler. As a young man, he had joined the court of Sigismund of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, whose support for claiming the throne of Wallachia he eventually acquired. A sign of this support was the fact that in 1431 Vlad II was inducted into the Order of the Dragon (Societas Draconis in Latin), along with the rulers of Poland and Serbia. The purpose of the Order was to protect Eastern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire from Islamic expansion as embodied in the campaigns of the Ottoman Empire Through various translations (Draculea, Drakulya) Vlad III eventually came to be known as Dracula.
Vlad II finally became prince of Wallachia in 1436. During his reign he tried to maneuver between his powerful neighbors, opposing various initiatives of war against the Ottoman, which finally attracted the irritation of the Hungarian side, who accused him of disloyalty and removed him in 1442. With the help of the Turks (where he also had connections) he regained the throne in 1443 and until December 1447 when he was assassinated by means of scalping ("scalping", for the Turks, meant cutting the edges of the face and pulling the face's skin off, while the person was still alive and conscious[citation needed]) on the orders of John Hunyadi, regent of Hungary.
Vlad III seems to have had three brothers. The oldest, probably named Mircea II, born before 1430, briefly held his father's throne in 1442, was sent by Vlad Dracul in 1444 to fight in his place during the crusade against the Turks that ended with the Varna defeat and met his end along with his father in 1447, presumably being buried alive, possibly alongside his father. Vlad IV, also known as Vlad Călugarul (Vlad the Monk), was born around 1425 to 1430, and was Vlad's half-brother. Vlad the Monk spent many years in Transylvania waiting for a chance to get the throne of Wallachia, trying a religious career in the meantime, until he became prince of Wallachia (1482). Radu, known as Radu cel Frumos (Radu the Handsome), the youngest brother, was also Vlad’s most important rival as he continuously tried to replace Vlad with the support of the Turks, to which he had very strong connections. Radu seems to have been also favored by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II. From his first marriage, to a Wallachian noble woman, Vlad III apparently had a son, later prince of Wallachia as Mihnea cel Rău, and another two with his second wife, a relative of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.
Vlad was very likely born in the city (a military fortress) of Sighişoara in Transylvania, during the winter of 1431. He was born as the second son to his father Vlad Dracul and his mother Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. In the same year as his birth, his father, Vlad Dracul, could be found in Nuremberg, where he was vested into the Order of the Dragon. At the age of five, young "Vlad" was also initiated into the Order of the Dragon. Vlad's father was under considerable political pressure from the Ottoman sultan. Threatened with invasion, he gave a promise to be the vassal of the Sultan and gave up his two younger sons as hostages so that he would keep his promise. These years were influential in shaping Vlad's character; he was often abused by his Ottoman captors for being stubborn and rude. He developed a well-known hatred for Radu and for Mehmed, who would later become the sultan. He may have also distrusted his own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon oath to fight them.
Vlad's father was assassinated in the marshes near Bălteni in December of 1447 by rebellious boyars allegedly under the orders of John Hunyadi. Vlad's older brother Mircea was also dead at this point, blinded with hot iron stakes and buried alive by his political enemies at Târgovişte. To protect their political power in the region, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and the Sultan put Vlad III on the throne as his puppet ruler. His rule at this time would be brief; Hunyadi himself invaded Wallachia and ousted him the same year. Vlad fled to Moldavia until October of 1451 and was put under the protection of his uncle, Bogdan II. Bogdan was assassinated by Petru Aron, and Vlad, taking a gamble, fled to Hungary. Impressed by Vlad's vast knowledge of the mindset, military and inner workings of the Ottoman Empire as well as his hatred of the new sultan Mehmed II, Hunyadi pardoned him and took him in as an advisor. Eventually Hunyadi put him forward as the Kingdom of Hungary's candidate for the throne of Wallachia.
In 1456, Hungary invaded Serbia to drive out the Ottomans, and Vlad III simultaneously invaded Wallachia with his own contingent. Both campaigns were successful, although Hunyadi died suddenly of the plague. Nevertheless, Vlad was now prince of his native land.
Main reign (1456–62)
Vlad's actions after 1456 are well documented. He seems to have led the life of all the other princes of Wallachia, spending most of his time at the court of Târgovişte, occasionally in other important cities, such as Bucharest (that he founded), drafting laws, meeting foreign envoys and presiding over important judicial trials. He probably made public appearances on relevant occasions, such as religious holidays and major fairs. As a pastime he probably enjoyed hunting on the vast princely domain, with his more or less loyal friends. He made some additions to the palace in Târgovişte (out of which Chindia Tower is today the most notable remainder), reinforced some castles, like the one at Poienari, where he also had a personal house built nearby. He also made donations to various churches and monasteries, one such place being the monastery at Lake Snagov where he is supposed to have been buried.
Anarchical situation (because of a constant state of war had led to rampant crime, falling agricultural production and virtual disappearance of trade) in which Wallachia was brought since the death of his grandfather Mircea the Elder (141 cool . Vlad used severe methods to restore some order, as he needed an economically stable country if he was to have any chance against his external enemies. Vlad's fierce insistence on honesty is a central part of the oral tradition. Many of the methods used by Vlad were the prince's efforts to eliminate crime and dishonesty from his domain. Despite the more positive interpretation, the Romanian oral tradition also remembers Vlad as an exceptionally cruel and often capricious ruler.
For example, in some tales some Ottoman ambassadors came to visit Vlad. However in response to some real or imagined insult (perhaps because they refused to remove their hats in Vlad's presence), had their hats nailed to their heads. Some of the sources view Vlad's actions as justified; others view his acts as crimes of wanton and senseless cruelty.
Alleged atrocities
(Beware! Gory graphic reading ahead!)
Outside of Romanian folklore the reputation of Vlad Ţepeş is considerably darker. Vlad III Ţepeş has been characterized by some as exceedingly cruel. Impalement was Ţepeş's preferred method of torture and execution. His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim's legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the a**s and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mother's chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.
As expected, death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes endured for hours or days. Vlad often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city that constituted his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The corpses were often left decaying for months. There are claims that thousands of people were impaled at a single time. One such claim says 10,000 were impaled in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu (where Vlad the Impaler had once lived) in 1460. Another allegation asserts that during the previous year, on Saint Bartholomew's Day (in August), Vlad the Impaler had 30,000 of the merchants and officials of the Transylvanian city of Braşov that were breaking his authority impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts of the period shows Vlad the Impaler feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Braşov, while a nearby executioner cuts apart other victims.
Impalement was Vlad's favorite method of torture but was by no means his only one. The list of tortures he is alleged to have employed is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive. An old Romanian story says that one could even leave a bag of gold in the middle of the street, then return and pick it up the next day, as people were so afraid to commit crimes during his reign due to these horrific means of torture and capital punishment. No one was immune to Vlad the Impaler's attentions. His victims included women and children, peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. Nevertheless, the vast majority of his European victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own country, Wallachia. Many have attempted to justify Vlad's actions on the basis of nascent nationalism and political necessity. Most of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were Saxons who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia, while the boyars had proven their disloyalty time and time again (Vlad's own father and older brother were murdered by unfaithful boyars). His actions were likely driven by one or more of three motives: personal or political vendettas, and the establishment of iron-fisted law and order in Wallachia.
Vlad's atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country. According to the pamphlets, he appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives, and unchaste widows were all targets of Vlad's cruelty. Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off. They were also often impaled through the v****a on red-hot stakes that were forced through the body until they emerged from the mouth. One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife. The woman's breasts were cut off, then she was skinned and impaled in a square in Târgovişte with her skin lying on a nearby table. Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and hard-working. Merchants who cheated their customers were likely to find themselves mounted on a stake beside common thieves.
Vlad Ţepeş is alleged to have committed even more impalements and other tortures against invading Ottoman forces. It was reported that an invading Ottoman army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the Danube. It has also been said that in 1462 Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, a man not noted for his squeamishness, returned to Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of 20,000 impaled corpses outside of Vlad's capital of Târgovişte. Many of the victims were Turkish prisoners of war Vlad had previously captured during the Turkish invasion. The total Turkish casualty toll in this battle reached over 40,000. The warrior sultan turned command of the campaign against Vlad over to subordinates and returned to Istanbul, even though his army had initially outnumbered Vlad's three to one and was better equipped.
Almost as soon as he came to power, his first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire of revenge as well as a need to solidify his power. Early in his reign he gave a feast for his boyars and their families to celebrate Easter. Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy that led to his father's assassination and the burying alive of his elder brother, Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of numerous Wallachian princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes had ruled during their life times. All of the nobles present had outlived several princes. One answered that at least thirty princes had held the throne during his life. None had seen less than seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot.
The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Târgovişte to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River. Vlad the Impaler was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and refuge. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin. According to the reports, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry survived the ordeal of building Vlad's castle.
The greatest threat to Vlad’s position was the rivalry in southeastern Europe between the Ottoman Empire and the Hungarian Kingdom. Following family traditions and due to his old hatred towards the Ottomans, Vlad decided to side with the Hungarians. To the end of the 1450s there was once again talk about a war against the Turks, in which the king of Hungary Matthias Corvinus would play the main role. Knowing this, Vlad stopped paying tribute to the Ottomans in 1459 and around 1460 made a new alliance with Corvinus, much to the dislike of the Turks, who attempted to remove him. They failed; later, in the winter of 1461 to 1462 Vlad crossed south of the Danube and devastated the area between Serbia and the Black Sea, leaving over 20,000 people dead.
In response to this, Sultan Mehmed II, the recent conqueror of Constantinople, raised an army of around 60,000 troops and 30,000 irregulars and in the spring of 1462 headed towards Wallachia. With his army of 20,000–30,000 men Vlad was unable to stop the Turks from entering Wallachia and occupying the capital Târgovişte (June 4, 1462), so he resorted to guerrilla war, constantly organizing small attacks and ambushes on the Turks. The most important of these attacks took place on the nights of June 16–17, when Vlad and some of his men allegedly entered the main Turkish camp (wearing Ottoman disguises) and attempted to assassinate Mehmed. The Turks eventually left the country, but not before installing Vlad’s brother, Radu the Handsome, as the new prince; he gathered support from the nobility and chased Vlad to Transylvania, and by August 1462 he had struck a deal with the Hungarian Crown. Consequently, Vlad was imprisoned by Matthias Corvinus.
In captivity
The exact length of Vlad's period of captivity is open to some debate. The Russian pamphlets indicate that he was a prisoner from 1462 until 1474. Apparently his imprisonment was none too onerous. He was able to gradually win his way back into the graces of Hungary's monarch; so much so that he was able to meet and marry a member of the royal family (the cousin of Matthias) and have two sons who were about ten years old when he reconquered Wallachia in 1476. McNally and Florescu place Vlad III the Impaler's actual period of confinement at about four years from 1462 to 1466. It is unlikely that a prisoner would have been allowed to marry into the royal family. Diplomatic correspondence from Buda during the period in question also seems to support the claim that Vlad's actual period of confinement was relatively short.
The openly pro-Turkish policy of Vlad's brother, Radu (who was prince of Wallachia during most of Vlad's captivity), was a probable factor in Vlad's rehabilitation. During his captivity, Vlad also adopted Catholicism. It is interesting to note that the Muscovy narrative, normally very favorable to Vlad Ţepeş, indicates that even in captivity he could not give up his favorite pastime; he often captured birds and mice which he proceeded to torture and mutilate — some were beheaded or tarred-and-feathered and released, most were impaled on tiny spears.
Apparently in the years before his final release in 1474 (when he began preparations for the reconquest of Wallachia), Vlad resided with his new wife in a house in the Hungarian capital (the setting of the thief anecdote). Vlad had a son from an earlier marriage, Mihnea cel Rău.
His first wife, whose name is not recorded, died during the siege of his castle in 1462. The Turkish army surrounded Poienari Castle, led by his half-brother Radu the Handsome. An archer shot an arrow through a window into Vlad's main quarters, with a message warning him that Radu's army was approaching. It has been said that the archer was a former servant of Vlad who sent the warning out of loyalty despite having converted to Islam to get out of enslavement by the Turks. Upon reading the message, Vlad's wife flung herself off the tower into a tributary of the Argeş River flowing below the castle. According to legend she remarked that she "would rather have her body rot and be eaten by the fish of the Argeş than be led into captivity by the Turks." Today, the tributary is called Râul Doamnei (the Lady's River).
Return to Wallachia and death or Battle of Vaslui
Around 1475 Vlad the Impaler was again ready to make another bid for power. Vlad and voivode Stefan Báthory of Transylvania invaded Wallachia with a mixed force of Transylvanians, a few dissatisfied Wallachian boyars, and a contingent of Moldavians sent by Vlad's cousin, Prince Stephen III of Moldavia. Vlad's brother, Radu the Handsome, had died a couple of years earlier and had been replaced on the Wallachian throne by another Ottoman candidate, Basarab the Elder, a member of the Dăneşti clan. At the approach of Vlad's army, Basarab and his cohorts fled, some to the protection of the Turks, others to the shelter of the Transylvanian Alps. After placing Vlad Ţepeş on the throne, Stephen Báthory and the bulk of Vlad's forces returned to Transylvania, leaving Vlad in a very weak position. Vlad had little time to gather support before a large Ottoman army entered Wallachia determined to return Basarab to the throne. Vlad's cruelties over the years had alienated the boyars who felt they had a better chance of surviving under Prince Basarab. Apparently, even the peasants, tired of the depredations of Vlad, abandoned him to his fate. Vlad was forced to march to meet the Turks with the small forces at his disposal, somewhat less than four thousand men.
There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death. Some sources say he was killed in battle against the Ottoman near Bucharest in December of 1476. Others say he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks from the field or during a hunt. Other accounts have Vlad falling in defeat, surrounded by the bodies of his loyal Moldavian bodyguards (the troops loaned by Prince Stephen remained with Vlad after Stephen Báthory returned to his country). Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was struck down by one of his own men. Vlad's body was decapitated by the Turks and his head was sent to Istanbul and preserved in honey, where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as proof that Kazıklı Bey was dead. Vlad's headless body was buried in the Snagov Monastery near Bucharest. Yet the exact place of his burial remains unknown, no human remains have been found from excavations at the Snagov monastery.
(The fact that he was beheaded tells me who couldn't possibly be an undead Vampire. After all Vampires and Immortals can't live without a head can they? ~Betty 09-30-07)
The vampire legend and Romanian attitudes
It is unclear why Bram Stoker chose this Wallachian prince as the model for his fictional vampire. Regardless of how the name came to Stoker's attention, the cruel history of the Impaler would have readily lent itself to Stoker's purposes. Recent research suggests that Stoker knew little of the Prince of Wallachia. Some have claimed that the novel owes more to the legends about Elizabeth Báthory. The legendary vampire was and still is deeply rooted in that region. There have always been vampire-like creatures in various stories from across the world. However, the vampire, as he became known in Europe, largely originated in Southern Slavic and Greek folklore — although the tale is virtually absent in Romanian culture.
Given the history of the vampire legend in Europe it is perhaps natural that Stoker should place his great vampire in the heart of the region that gave birth to the story. Once Stoker had determined on a locality Vlad Dracula would stand out as one of the most notorious rulers of the selected region. He was obscure enough that few would recognize the name and those who did would know him for his acts of brutal cruelty; Dracula was a natural candidate for vampirism. Why Stoker chose to relocate his vampire from Wallachia to the north of Transylvania remains a mystery.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:58 pm
Travel to Famous Dracula sites!
Bram Castle
The brooding turrets and battlements of Bram Castle seem to come straight out of his Dracula, but Stoker put his Dracula's home in Burgo Pass where no castle exists. Bram Castle, however, today attracts tourists interested in the vampire legends.
  
Braşov Ruins
Also an area where many were impaled
Snagov Monastery
Despite legends Dracula's body was never found buried in this Monastary or it's grounds. But fear not. His remains lack a head. The Turks had that in Istanbul.
An area near Targoviste, where many were impaled on stakes and left to rot. Area is greatly overgrown now.
Chindiei Tower
Tower constructed by Vlad Tepes III himself during his reign.
In the Vlad Tepes III Capital of Targoviste
  
Poenari/Poienari Castle Ruins over the river Arges
  
Photos of Whitby Yorkshire England
[X] The photo is taken from Westcliff, looking across to East Cliff, exactly the view that Mina describes (and from the same angle). In the far background (to the right) are the ruins of Whitby Abbey. Moving left, we see St Mary's church, and if you look closely you can see the tombstones in the graveyard. Also visuble are the 199 steps going up to the cemetery. To the left is the cliff where the "Demeter" comes ashore.
Whitby Abbey Ruins, formerly called Streoneshalh. (Pretty Pics Actually)
[X],[X],[X],[X],[X]
Older Photos are from the early 1900's
[X]Old Yorkshire, Whitby, Rigg Mill 1900's
[X],[X]Yorkshire, Whitby Harbour 1900's.
[X]
It was the view from a bench, now the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat, perched high over there on West Cliff,
that inspired the author's Whitby scenes. From that spot he could see the cliffs near where
the Russian ship, 'Demeter', comes ashore, the location of the first encounters between Dracula and Lucy
[X] From the top of East Cliff we begin the descent of the 199 steps down to Church Street
[X],[X],[X]
The streets of Whitby old town are narrow and cobbled and many small, dimly-lit alleyways lead off them
It's on evenings like this that you can feel yourself 'transported' back in time
over 100 years to the Victorian era - little seems to have changed . . .
Dracula's connection to Whitby
It was at Whitby that Stoker "discovered" the name "Dracula." While vacationing there in the summer of 1890, just months after he began writing his vampire novel, he visited the local library and borrowed a book entitled An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (1820) by William Wilkinson. He took several notes from it (now part of his papers housed at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia.) Wilkinson's book includes a short section on a "voivode Dracula" who fought against the Turks. Though the information was sketchy, one item attracted Stoker's attention (he copied it verbatim into his notes): a footnote that "Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil." Stoker decided to change the name of his vampire Count from "Wampyr" to "Dracula". An inspired decision!
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:20 pm
Case file: Siberian Vampire Moth Location: Found in Finland
Date of incident reported: Discovered Oct 27, 2008
Summary Report: In a twist worthy of a Halloween horror movie, Siberian moths have acquired a taste for blood. Finland is attracting a new species of moth that binges on human blood.
Reference Source: http://www.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081027-vampire-moth-evolution-halloween-missions.html
Extended Description or Information:
Photos: [X],[X]
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:29 pm
You know, you're putting alot of time into this. Hell I think it might take me a good while for me to read thru it all. Dare to tempt me?
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:38 pm
This very night is May 4th, also known as the eve of St. George's Day. Those on the Pacific Coast where I am right now have not hit midnight just yet. But when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Montague Summers (The Vampire in Europe, 1929) explains that throughout eastern Europe, the eve of St. George's Day and the eve of St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30) were viewed as the zeniths of magical and vampirical activities. eek
@Teikon: And I hope you do. At least the Vampire accounts. And the photos.. ^.^
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:42 pm
Of course, I've always had a fascination with vampire and the like. Just not too big into that whole cheezy hollywood based presentation. Still thou, I have to say you've poured yourself into this. Hope no moths were involved ;b
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:52 pm
@Teikon: How creepy is this, I didn't even realize it was May 4th right now, and I was looking around for images and info on Whitby and came across this webpage; http://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/2009/05/i-found-that-my-landlord-had-got-a-letter-from-the-count.html
And it was on this page that I found out that this is a notorious night for Vampiric activity. I wonder if that is why I have such strong desire to put out this thread and talk about vampires right now. And it's not even Halloween. But I feel so hyped in the study. ninja But I'm not afraid. In fact I had a dream with a Dracula in it a few nights back. It was Christopher Lee's Dracula but I wasn't afraid as I would have been as a kid. Any dream I ever had of a Vampire was usually a nightmare. But this time I wasn't the prey. In fact I think I was a Vampire in the dream who was just meeting him. neutral
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 12:04 am
It's just turned midnight..... Vampire Hunter D protect me!? gonk
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 12:05 am
~ Anime Betty ~ @Teikon: How creepy is this, I didn't even realize it was May 4th right now, and I was looking around for images and info on Whitby and came across this webpage; http://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/2009/05/i-found-that-my-landlord-had-got-a-letter-from-the-count.html
And it was on this page that I found out that this is a notorious night for Vampiric activity. I wonder if that is why I have such strong desire to put out this thread and talk about vampires right now. And it's not even Halloween. But I feel so hyped in the study. ninja But I'm not afraid. In fact I had a dream with a Dracula in it a few nights back. It was Christopher Lee's Dracula but I wasn't afraid as I would have been as a kid. Any dream I ever had of a Vampire was usually a nightmare. But this time I wasn't the prey. In fact I think I was a Vampire in the dream who was just meeting him. neutral Not all ideas of vampires have always been about blood lust and the such. Some points in history (sadly I can't name them here because I am horrible with dates and places) that vampires were regarded as friends and weren't viewed with horror intent. But of course as thruout history people have feared what they don't understand. I don't know what to believe when it comes to vampires since they have had many different stories presented as you have so greatly listed here. As I've stated before I think vampires require things that still hold a lifeforce, fresh blood is one of the, but semen as well as raw fresh flesh is another. As would vegetables and other green plant life would be another good source. This is just one of the views that I've come across a few years back, and I still think might hold more truth to most of the fiction that has risen over the years. But of course in the bible in the old testament if I recall right it has been stated that it's forbidden to drink blood or eat meat that hasn't been properly drained of it's blood. I think you maybe alright, don't hold too much into those dreams because dreams do not always come true. Remember you do have a guardian angel watching over you.
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