What the heck is a vampire, anyway?

holiday — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:26:00 +0000

All this talk about vampires, but what the heck is a vampire anyway? The definition has changed so much over time, that what once was considered a vampire is now called something else. The original European vampires were more like what we would call zombies today. Vampires have been based on demons and ghoulish spirits and reanimated corpses.
If we define a vampire merely as a creature that drinks blood, that would eliminate a lot of the creatures considered to be the ancestors to the modern types. Most of our concepts of vampires are evolved versions of the European legends. The word “vampire” wasn’t used until later, but the creatures they originated from were mostly revenants; reanimated corpses. These “vampires” were blamed, not for drinking blood necessarily, but for everything from plagues to miscarriages.
The vampire corpse would rise from the grave and murder those closest to it; its family and friends. Vampires were not necessarily creating other vampires, just killing people. Those who became vampires were ones who had been improperly buried or who committed suicide. The nachtzeherer of German lore would gnaw on its own hands and limbs in a frenzy of hunger, and crawl out of the grave to feed on livestock and humans. The vampir of Bulgaria could walk about during the day, and the lampir of Bulgarian folklore would spread disease.
There are other creatures considered to be vampires who were not reanimated corpses. A Slovakian lore of the upir tells of a creature with two hearts and two souls who could kill its victims with a glance, and who would suffocate victims. The shtriga of Albanian folklore were witches, living witches who fed on infants at night. A lot of folklore tells of ghoulish spirits with vampire traits of feeding on the living or drinking blood. The chupacabra of South America is a monstrous creature who tears apart its victims, and is often classed as a vampire.
Another common piece of lore is the concept of demons. Sometimes, as with the vetala of India, the demons would possess a corpse of a dead human and feed on others using that body. Sometimes, as with the Alp of Germanic myth, the demon would not need to possess a body in order to feed. These demons simply feed off of humans, kill, and discard them. People don’t become vampire creatures in those legends.
Would a vampire today be defined as a creature who bursts into flame in sunlight? What other criteria do we apply to the vampire? They must have once been human, still have human memories? Or do vampires not contain any piece of the human that once existed in that body? Is vampirism more like a virus that makes a human become more animalistic, stronger, and bloodthirsty?
There are all sorts of other types of creatures or demons, or even living people, defined as “vampires.” They may not feed on blood, but on energy, like psi-vampires. The incubus of lore would feed on a victim by having sex with him or her, or while doing so. Perhaps a vampire does encompass zombies, demons, and reanimated corpses, and perhaps it is a creature that may feed either on flesh, sex, blood, or psychic energy.

Psychic Vampires

veritas — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:31:58 +0000

A psychic vampire is not actually a vampire who happens to be psychic, since most vampires are reputed to have the powers of seers, or psychics in any case. A psychic vampire has many different synonymous names, such as an energy vampire, psy/psi-vamp, psionic vampire, energy parasite, pranic vampire, empathic vampire, or energy predator. What the creature does, is feed off of the spiritual or emotional energy of another being to make itself stronger. There are myths and legends of these creatures, just as much as there are about them as being every day emotional predators in today’s society. Psychic vampires are not as widely used in literature as traditional blood drinking vampires are, but often make appearances in science fiction, or the occasional anime series.

Throughout Asia, most of these creatures are female; there are the varieties are fox-women, or tiger-women in Asia, that prey on whole villages, living in the center and remaining youthful and beautiful as others grow old. Usually, their residences are respectfully feared and avoided, such as with the Jiang Shi in China. Other examples are the incubus and succubus demons in Christian and Jewish religions, preying on the dreams and emotions of men and women while they sleep. The Hopi keep oral records; preferring to recite their history and legends with stories, rather than in books. They tell of the powaqa, who appears to be a priest or sorcerer, who comes to an accident victim as though he wants to help, but instead feeds on their fear and anguish.

The famous British occultist Dion Fortune, born Violet Mary Firth, and renowned psychic, wrote about energy and psychic predators in her book “Psychic Self-Defense”, comparing it to aspects of vampirism. However, the writer of the Satanic Bible, Anton LaVey is credited with coining the term “psychic vampire.” Mark Benecke and A. Asbjorn Jon researched psychic vampires and related them to those in the Vampyre lifestyle, as they practice today, with donors who supposedly supply psychic energy. Empathy is also the term used for the acts of those who unconsciously steal energy or emotions from others.

Vampires » incubus

What the heck is a vampire, anyway?

Related Reading:

Psychic Vampires

Related Reading: