Vampire Info--rather long

Wed Jun 6 00:24:40 UTC 2001

No: HPFGUIDX 20249

All the * and (!) are mine, and almost all (parenthesed comments).  
When not mine, it is noted.  There's not really any canon discussion 
in this (some comments from me about whether this relates to Snape), 
just vampire lore.  If uninterested, please delete.
                                         ------Kelley

The Legendary Vampire
by James Dilworth

In some form or another the Vampire has been a part of most the 
cultures in the world, but as most people would think, part of 
ancient legends and lore. The word Vampire itself is derived from the 
Russian word Vampir, pi being the verb to drink. Put most simply, a 
vampire is a dead person who returns in physical or spirit form and 
drinks blood of animals or humans to continue their existence. People 
said to most likely become vampires are magicians, people who are 
werewolves (!), the excommunicated, people who have committed 
suicide, murderers and those attacked by vampires, die and become 
vampires.

In Europe, the Vampire legends have been most strongly believed in 
(before Bram Stoker's book, Dracula) by the Slavic peoples of Eastern 
Europe, although there are cases of Vampirism in Medieval England and 
France. From 1730-35 Hungary, the Balkans, Poland, Bulgaria (!) and 
Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) had a Vampire Epidemic, an 
accusation that was never proved (most possibly caused by an outbreak 
by Cholera, due to the fact many cholera victims were buried 
prematurely and tried to escape from their coffin, a sign of 
vampirism). The United States itself has had many outbreaks of 
Vampirism in New England as in 1854, 1888, and 1890, all again 
attributed to cholera.

The legendary vampire of Europe's most notable features are extreme 
paleness, finger marks around a seemingly freshly dug grave, an 
allergic reaction to sunlight (sunlight usually kills them), a 
swollen and gorged appearance if the vampire has just fed upon blood, 
no signs of the corruption of the body even years after the burial 
and the lack of rigor mortis. The vampire must attack and drink the 
blood of other people, usually biting their jugular vein in the neck 
and drinking much of their victim's blood. The victim of a vampire 
usually dies from the lack of blood and in turn becomes a vampire 
themselves, after death. Vampires are said to have eternal youth and 
life, the only cost being they must drink blood every night to 
sustain themselves, stay away from the sunlight, which kills a 
vampire instantly because they have no soul (*not a common part of 
the folklore until about the mid 19th century, before then vampires 
were thought to be able to walk amongst "normal" people during the 
day*).  (The parenthesed info in the above two paragraphs are not my 
comments, they are part of the author's essay.)

The most common way of killing a vampire is to take the body out of 
its coffin, removing and burning its heart, beheading it and impaling 
the corpse with a wooden stake made of any wood except pine, which is 
a symbol is everlasting life due to the fact the pine never loses its 
leaves.

References
Konstantinos. Vampires: The Occult Truth. Llewellyn Publications St. 
Paul, MN 1996
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. 
Visible Ink Press Detroit 1994
Spence, Lewis. Encyclopedia of Occultism. University Press New York 
1960

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Vampire
by Lesa Whyte 

An undead that rises from the grave during the night to drink the 
blood of the living in order to stay "alive". Generally the 
word "undead" refers to a creature that *should be dead but is still 
active within the realm of the living*. 
The word "vampire" comes from the Slavic word obyri or obiri, which 
evolved into the Bulgarian(!) word "vampir". Although sources differ 
greatly, some say that the Greek word nosophoros (which means "plague-
carrier") that evolved into the Old Slavonic word "nosufur-atu" is a 
synonym for the word "vampire". In our culture, the words "vampire" 
and "nosferatu" are interchanged often. 

Birth of a Legend
The vampire is truly a global creature, with myths related to the 
dead which rise to drink the blood of the living coming out of 
cultures all around the world. From Africa to Japan to Spain and the 
UK, the vampire has held humans enthralled for centuries. Nowhere, 
however, do we see more vampire folklore than in the stories of the 
Slavic people. Perhaps the reason for this is the historically high 
population of gypsies in that area. The migration of the gypsies has 
been traced back across the continent to northern India, where the 
religion had a cast of certain bloodthirsty deities (such as Kali) 
and creatures (such as a bhutu). It has been theorized that with this 
as a base of folklore, the gypsies picked up bits and pieces of other 
legends as they migrated toward the north-west and as a result, 
altered the folklore of the Slavic nations. 

According to legend, the victims of a vampire either dies or becomes 
a vampire. Vampires could also be made in a variety of ways: a *child 
born under certain omens*, a cat or other animal jumping over a dead 
body, someone who committed suicide, and *practising witchcraft* are 
some activities thought to be the cause of vampirism. Even inanimate 
objects and animals were thought to be able to become vampires: 
pumpkins, watermelons and other fruit that was left out past a 
certain amount of time, latches that were left unlatched too long, 
dogs, horses, sheep and snakes are among the objects with vampiric 
potential in older superstitions of the Slavic gypsy community. 

Vampires were thought to be able to *take the form of a bat*, or many 
*other animals* (---eagle owl?), as well as a mist. They were able to 
control creatures like *rats* (is this why Pettigrew 'went Dark'?) 
and wolves, and the elements were at their command. Some kinds of 
vampires were thought to be endowed with the *ability to fly* (---
Krum?). *Most all vampires of legend slept either in coffins, or 
returned to the earth to sleep in their grave.  Among other 
superstitions, vampires were supposed to need to return to the earth 
from their homeland each night, could not cross running water, *could 
not see their reflection in a mirror*, could not enter a place 
uninvited, and could not tolerate the symbol of the Christian 
crucifix*.  (Wonder which, if any, of these we'll see come up?) 

In order to protect yourself from a vampire, the cross or crucifix 
was thought to be very powerful in the Christian countries. Little is 
known of how holy symbols were used as vampire protection before the 
Christian era, however, folk-cures were often employed. *Garlic* was 
the most popular vampire repellent, as well as *hawthorn and the 
mountain ash (rowan)*.  (No evidence of any wands made of these yet, 
no?  I'd be surprised if JKR brought the crucifix into play.) Another 
defense was scattering seeds - vampires were supposed to become so 
involved in counting every single seed that they would either lose 
interest, or be caught counting even as the sun came up.  
Surprisingly, silver was not as traditional a protective metal as 
supposed in popular fiction - iron was the material of choice. Iron 
shavings were placed beneath a child's cradle, a necklace with an 
iron nail was worn, and other iron objects were placed strategically 
around the place needing protection. 

Once a vampire was discovered, it could 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 could 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.  (Be interesting if Krum were 
Snape's son, eh?)

In Literature
Vampires were popularized by the Irish author Bram Stoker with his 
story of Count Dracula, a Transylvanian vampire, in 1897. The story 
was probably based on Vlad Tepes, a medieval character of exceptional 
bloodthirst. He supposedly impaled his enemies (hence his nickname 
Vlad The Impaler) and cut off their heads. He ruled Walachia as Vlad 
III in the 15th century, which is now part of Romania. He signed his 
letters with Vlad Dracula, which can be translated as Vlad, son of 
the *dragon* or son of the devil. His father was called "Dracul" 
because he had a *dragon* depicted on his coat of arms. 

Before Stoker, vampire literature was rare, but existent. Perhaps the 
most popular pre-"Dracula" stories were "Carmilla", by J. Sheridan Le 
Fanu; "Varney The Vampire", by James Malcolm Rymer; and "The Vampyre; 
A Tale", by John Polidori. 

*Modern Vampires *  (--all of this paragraph)
Vampires today, as they are often portrayed in modern day literature, 
are much different than the vampires of old. They do not necessarily 
have the same limitations the vampires from legends had. Garlic and 
crosses offer no protection against them, they are supposed to be 
able to walk during the day, and sometimes are not considered to be 
undead, but *another species of humans*. They usually still have 
extraordinary powers: their strength and *speed* surpasses that of 
humans, and their senses are heightened to a preternatural level. The 
need for blood, however, has not diminished, in spite of how we have 
seen in the last twenty years a trend toward a conscientious vampire 
who is *tormented by his/her own humanity*. 

_____________________________________________________________________
Vampire Lore

The vampire is one of the most dreaded and feared creatures of the 
supernatural world. He can *live forever*, *shape shift*, travel 
under cover of night and seduce victims, drain them of blood and grow 
stronger. A vampire can be male or female and can be beautifully 
human looking or horrific and monstrous. 

Dating prior to the sixteen hundreds, some of the earliest New World 
accounts of vampires were documented. The beliefs of vampires are 
different for each region of the world. The origin and details of 
vampires differ based on geography, but are similar in one fact: a 
vampire is an undead creature that drains the life out of the living. 

In West Africa and other areas of Africa, blood is powerful and if a 
person sheds blood, it has to be cleansed or covered so an evil 
spirit can not taste of the blood and seek out the person to whom it 
belongs. Blood could enable the spirit to revitalize the body of the 
dead and destroy the body and soul of the living. Blood is also of 
great importance in Australia among the Aborigine. It is considered 
the best remedy for the sick, giving an ill person more life.  (This 
bit might have some bearing on "Flesh, Blood, and Bone", ch 32.)

The "creation" of a vampire, also differs with culture and beliefs. A 
human might become a vampire if they: *practiced Black Magic*, were 
of absolute evil, committed suicide, were a victim of a horrendous 
and violent death, were buried without proper rites, died 
excommunicated from their religion, were bitten by a vampire and 
lived or were bitten by a vampire and died. 

One thing that remains constant within vampire lore is that a holy or 
consecrated object or strong faith in a Supreme and good being, 
usually keeps the vampire away or at rest. In Greece the practice of 
placing a consecrated object on the lips of the deceased is still in 
practice. Other cultures sew the mouth shut and sprinkle the lips 
with blessed water. The mouth is thought to be the way the soul 
leaves the body, and also the way it, or another evil spirit, can 
reenter. (Intriguing connection of the last line with the dementors.)

Vampires are great lead characters for stories, books and movies. 
Modern vampires have become more sensual and seductive and very 
alluring. Blood is known to be very powerful: it is the source of 
life and health and sexual passion. The sensations excited by the 
flow of blood are real and oftentimes intense. The image of a vampire 
embracing its victim, cradling the head and neck in strong hands 
while it gorges on the victim's blood can be an attractive scene in a 
movie or book. But a vampire that drinks blood is not the only 
vampire found in lore and literature. There are also psychic or 
spiritual vampires who draw the life energy of their victims and 
sometimes, the very soul.  (Don't know how much bearing most of this 
paragraph has on canon, but I really liked it. ;o)  Also, I have a 
short bit of info on psychic vampires--which doesn't seem to relate 
to Snape much--but I can post it if there's any interest.) 

The vampire with razor sharp fangs who gorges on blood and then 
sleeps all day closely resembles the habits and anatomy of a species 
of bat native in Central and South America: the vampire bat. It is 
evident that the vampire existed well before the vampire bat was 
discovered. The vampire in literature developed features resembling 
these bats and was even able to transform into a bat. The modern 
vampire is *losing its fangs and the need to drink blood*, 
transforming its image to mirror the times and culture. The vampire 
bat has remained the same with minor anatomical changes. 

There are those who view the vampire as pure myth, a figure to 
explain events without obvious explanations or to scare children and 
adults into being good and pious individuals. There are those who 
believe that the vampire exists in similar form to the lore and myths 
and that just because we have yet to actually see one, does not prove 
that they don't exist. 

Vampire lore and myth will continue, as will the books and movies. 
Our fascination with this creature will never end and as long as 
there are authors to create further reasons to be seduced by the 
vampire, we will be under its spell. Do vampires really exist? It is 
an age old question alongside the existence of werewolves, Big Foot 
and alien life forms. Do we really want to know? The mystery of the 
vampire is one of the biggest attractions to most things 
supernatural. 

Written by Bobbi Jo Innamorato Williams

Title: Vampire lore 
Description:Vampire lore has graced pages in books and screens in 
movie theaters for years. Learn the history of the vampire. 