Vampires » vampire lore

The Blow Vampire

Moonlight — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:44 +0000

Throughout the centuries countless cases of vampirism have been reported and recorded, leaving a massive trail of death, blood and superstition for us to follow. Today’s event, recorded in the book Magia Posthuma, brings us to Kadam, Bohemia in the year 1706.

This case begins with a herdsman named Myslata of Blow that continued to return to the town even after his death. The undead Myslata would wander the streets while calling out the names of those he recognized as he passed them by.

It may have been the fact that they were scared out of their skulls, but these individuals always died a few days later. This was when the town officials felt it was needed to take out the threat, Myslata. So the body of the Blow Vampire (also called the Blau Vampire) was exhumed, and a stake was pounded into its heart.

Unfortunately, that did not do the trick and the vampire returned in a horrifying state, frightening several villagers to death and then suffocating others. The Blow Vampire laughed at those that attacked him, mocking them and thanking them for providing him with a fine stick for beating off dogs.

Now absolutely desperate, the villagers gave the vampire’s sleeping body to an executioner, who pierced it with several whitethorn stakes. Once he was finished turning the vamp into a pin cushion, he then burned it. While the flames consumed the Blow Vampire, suffering screams of the undead could be heard by all.

What do you guys think of these stories? After all they are actual events reported by city officials of the time. Do you think they are true, that these events took place just as described? Or do you think that they are simply stories created by overactive imaginations? Perhaps these people believed them at the time, but due to the lack of science and far too much superstition didn’t see the truth.

Hmmm.

- Moonlight

Do I Believe In Vampires?

Moonlight — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:00:02 +0000

Something I get asked on a regular basis, whether it’s in an interview or by a reader, is if I believe that vampires exist. After all I do love vampires and write about them everyday, so you would think the obvious answer is that yes, I do. But truth be told, it’s not that simple for me.

As some of you may have noticed, I am a huge vampire folklore/history junkie, I love that nearly every country has their own, totally unique vampire myths and legends. Overall there are hundreds of myths and dozens, upon dozens of different species of vampires. Every country and every author has their own idea of what a vampire is.

For example, in the Philippines they have a vampire known as the aswang that appears as a normal human during the day, but at night takes on the appearance of a giant bird and drinks people’s blood with its long straw-like tongue. And in Germany they have the alp, a vampire that attacks people’s dreams and then feeds on women’s blood by biting their nipples. In the Caribbean you have the soucouyant, a vamp that can turn into a fireball… and you get the point. There are loads of different species of vampires.

So, who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Which one of those myths am I supposed to believe in? In my head there are dozens of kinds of vampires, not just one, so I don’t know which to believe in.

Most people have this singular idea of what a vampire is, that traditional vampire. Whether they got the idea from Anne Rice or from Twilight, they have that image and that’s what they believe in. But I have too many kinds of vampires spinning in my mind and therefore it’s illogical to believe in one over the other.

So do I believe in that one definite traditional vampire? No, because there are too many vampires and too many legends and I have no way of knowing what it real and what isn’t. Maybe they all are?

And for the record, I am speaking of the traditional and mythical vampire, not psychic vampires or sanguinities. That’s an entirely different topic.

- Moonlight

Something I get asked on a regular basis whether it’s in an interview or by a reader is if I believe that vampires exist. After all I do love vampires and write about them everyday, so you would think the obvious answer is that yes, I do. But truth be told, it’s not that simple for me.

As some of you may have noticed, I am a huge vampire folklore/history junkie, I love that nearly every country has their own, totally unique vampire myths and legends. Overall, there are hundreds of myths and dozens, upon dozens of different species of vampires. Every country and every author has their own idea of what a vampire is.

Most people have this singular idea of what a vampire is, that traditional vampire. Whether they got the idea from Anne Rice or from Twilight, they have that image and that’s what they believe in. But I have too many kinds of vampires spinning in my mind and therefore it’s illogical to believe in one over the other.

So do I believe in that one definite traditional vampire? No, because there are too many vampires and too many legends and I have no way of knowing what it real and what isn’t. Maybe they all are?

And for the record, I am speaking of the traditional and mythical vampire, not psychic vampires or sanguinities. That’s an entirely different topic.

- Moonlight

Spreading the Bloodlust

Moonlight — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:14 +0000

The majority of vampire myths feature a fiendish undead creature that drains every drop of its victim’s blood, but not all vampires are that monstrous, some are a smidge kinder. For example, the Albanian lugat chooses to take only a small amount of blood from their prey, leaving them weakened but alive. While not ideal it’s better than being dead, right?

The lugat may not kill its victims, but it would continue to feed off a single person for a period of days to weeks. The only big problem here is that the lugat’s bite could possibly leave a spiritual, or psychological, taint on the victim that would cause the person to develop a bloodlust of their own. The bloodlust they felt was by no means a murderous or overpowering thing; it was usually an erotic feeling. It is said that these folks infected by the lugat’s bite would become sanguinarians – real people that feel that they absolutely need to feed on blood in order to survive.

The lugat also has some classic vamp powers, like the ability shapeshift into multiple forms – such as a human man, a child, a cow, a stray dog and a few others. But unlike the vampires in stereotypes, the lugat does not have fangs, instead has very normal human teeth. When feeding it simply bites like anyone else would and then sucks blood from the wound.

Even though the lugat isn’t necessarily a deadly vampire, some may still want to kill it. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. The only creature that can kill this vampire is a wolf, but trying to force a wolf into a hunt so isn’t going to go well for you. Unlike the lugat, a wolf will kill your sorry ass if you try to make it do anything it doesn’t want to do.

If any sanguinarians are reading this, what do you think about this legend? Do you think it’s possible that your bloodlust was brought on and spread by this ancient vampire?

- Moonlight

Food Offerings For The Dead

Moonlight — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:23 +0000

In ancient times, and even now, laying food offerings at shrines to gods or other various higher powers was and is a very common practice. But these contributions weren’t always laid out for unseen forces, sometimes they we to honor the dead, or used as a means of mystical protection from supernatural beings.

A common action throughout time was to place food in front of a gravesite in an effort to pacify or honor the dead. Funeral feasts were where large amounts of food were consumed at a gravesite, usually with the recently deceased laying nearby, was a common practice in old times all through Europe. Food offerings were also made at tombs from Greece to Assyria to Egypt.

It has been argued by a few vampire experts that the Egyptian ka (a person‘s soul or life-force) would be forced to leave its tomb and haunt the living if denied its traditional food and drink offerings. And in India there are shrines known as bhadara or bhutastan which are used to provide the bhuta (a ghost/spirit) with a home and constant food, this way the bhuta would have no reason to torment the living.

The offering of food to the dead spread into the world of vampires as well. It was common practice in some areas to lay food or drink at the grave of someone recently deceased in hope that if the person returned as a vampire they would choose to eat the food instead of one of the living.

While most vampires feed on blood, there are a select few that can eat actual food as well. The Bulgarian vampire, the ubour, for example will feed on blood, manure and regular normal food. The vampires Gypsy myths will also pester the living for real food. So while leaving food offerings for the undead may seem like a strange ritual, it is actually something that makes sense in some parts of the world.

- Moonlight

The Tree of Blood

Moonlight — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:23 +0000

I have come across a wide assortment of strange and twisted vampire stories – from vampire cats to floating heads, but today’s tale is a new one even for me.

Among the many fascinatingly wicked Japanese myths, the jubokko is for sure my new favorite. According to the myth, on grounds where there has been much bloodshed, such as execution sites or battlefields, a special kind of tree grows. This tree is known as the jubokko. But what is so unique about this tree? The jubokko is a vampire tree that feeds on the blood and life-force of humans.

These demonized trees must feed off of humans in order to survive. But unfortunately the jubokko appears as a normal tree, there is no way of knowing what it really is… until it’s too late. Once a person walks too close to the tree it attacks, capturing the person with its branches and draining them of their blood.

There is one way to spot the jubokko for what it is but you have to get up close to it, which obviously means painful death for you. Either way, you can reveal a jubokko by cutting it, for it is said that a jubokko will bleed real human blood. Another problem is that is heals incredibly fast, so even if you were able to some how attack it from a distance it would simply bleed for a moment and then heal.

Oh but it doesn’t end there, this evil tree is also known to hide amongst other trees and bushes and it is able to alter the flora in the area. This makes it very easy for someone to get lost in the forest, which makes it easy for a jubokko to snatch them up. In some versions of the myth the jubokko can speak to other plants as well and are able to find its victims that way.

But it’s not all bad; in fact a jubokko can bring goodness to a lucky few. Any branch taken from a jubokko tree, with permission of course, is a powerful item that can be used to heal and purify almost anyone.
Well, I guess that’s something.

- Moonlight

The Bottled Bloodsucker’s Pet

Moonlight — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:00:18 +0000

A few months ago I wrote a post about the Malaysian vampire known as the polong. The polong is the magical bottle imp that was created to do wicked things to others. In my post I mentioned that the polong had itself its very own pet called a pelesit. It’s the pelesit that brings us here now – the little creature is getting its own special spotlight.

The pelesit is a mischievous vampire-like spirit from Malaysia that is usually described as a small house cricket, and as I said above, it was considered to be the polong’s pet or plaything. The owner of the pelesit will send it to attack someone; it will then invade the victim’s body with the help of the polong, causing illness and death. The victims of the polong and pelesit quickly go insane, ripping off clothing, attacking and biting friends and family and eventually dying.

The poor victims are said to rant about cats while they suffer, thus revealing the presence of the polong. If the polong and pelesit are caught they can be forced to reveal the name of the magician that owns them. They use the victim to confess what they know by speaking through the dying person’s mouth. The magician that controls them is often called the “mother” or “father” and is eventually coerced into taking the pelesit and polong back and away from the suffering victim.

Now while the pelesit and polong are usually together, you can have just the pelesit. It is said that women are the most skilled at catching a pelesit. Once she has caught one she then puts it in a bottle, feeds it saffron rice and blood drawn from the fourth finger. Burial will end the creature’s evil activities. There is also a charm one can create to keep the pelesit away and protect you from its horrible attacks.

- Moonlight

Babies, Insects and Blood

Moonlight — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:00:01 +0000

Oh vampire lore, how I love thee. If you’re new to the site then let me fill you in, I love vampire folklore, I especially love how nearly every country in the world has its own species of vampire. Today’s myth is another one about witch vampires, but this witch it the Albanian shtriga.

The shtriga is a witch that would feed on the life force or blood of people as they slept at night (the myth varies area to area). Once she was finished feeding on her victim she would then transform into an insect and fly into the night. But the shtriga didn’t feed on just anyone, her preferred meal was infants and children. Even now people in Albania still blame the shtriga for many infant deaths.

It is said that those feed on by a shtriga would die shortly after, unless they received the cure that is. This cure was to have the shtriga herself spit into the mouth of the victim. Disgusting, but hell, it’s better than death.

Like with most vampires out there, there are ways to ward them off and keep them from eating your babies. There are two methods one could use to keep the shtriga away.

Make a cross made of bone and place it at the entrance of a church on Easter Sunday. This will make it so any shtriga inside can’t escape. They can then be captured and killed at the threshold as they try to pass.
After drinking blood from a victim, the shtriga would usually go off into the woods and regurgitate it (that seems wasteful) and it was believed that soaking a silver coin in that blood, then wrapping it in cloth would and turning it into an amulet would offer permanent protection from any shtriga.

Added Note: If you are a fan of the show Supernatural then you may remember the shtriga from the episode “Something Wicked” where Dean and Sam battle it out with one.

- Moonlight

Mooooo!

Moonlight — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:00:53 +0000

Before I get to the point of this post I’d like to point out that the cow pictured on your left looks fucking-crazy. Look at its eyes! They’re pits of evil… crazy soul sucking evil. Creepy cow. *glares at cow*

Anyway! Time to get to the vampires. As I am sure you probably guessed, cows are involved (no, sorry I don‘t randomly post cow pictures just for the hell of it). Today’s post is actually about a Romanian vampire species known as the strigoaica. This strange vampire it a bit different than other vampires since it doesn’t drink blood but instead feeds on the life-force of cows by sucking out their milk, leaving the animal with none left.

There is a story straight from Romanian folklore about a poor strigoaica who had no cow of her very own, so the lonely vampire was forced to keep a wooden cow in her house. She kept this wooden cow and filled it with the stolen milk of her neighbor’s cows. Odd story, but most folk tales are.

Then there is another story about the strigoaica, this one has some moral Christian elements mixed in. It tells of the punishment waiting for thieving vamp, as she went to confession and guiltily told the priest that she had been taking powers and milk from other people’s cows. The angry priest ordered her to take some butter made from the milk and to smear it on a tree in the forest. Three days after she did this she was told to go back and see what had happened. When she returned to the tree she found that many types of creatures were in the butter, such as bugs, insects and snakes. She went back to the priest to tell him what she found; the priest then told the strigoaica that these creatures would suck her blood out in the next world, because she had stolen so much power in this one.

Lesson learned: Don’t fuck with cows.

- Moonlight

Lovely, but Deadly

Moonlight — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:52 +0000

Time to travel to the green forests and white cliffs of Britain to visit one of the best known folktales of all, The Green Lady (aka the glaistig). The Green Lady is known throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland – but in each area in each country the myth is a bit different.

For example, in some versions of the story the glaistig is known as a kind and loving protector of children and the elderly. Many would honor her by pouring milk on selected stones. It’s even said that she watched over children as their mother milked cows and their father tended the herd. As sweet as that is, it’s clearly not vampire-like behavior.

In other parts of the UK the glaistig would appear as a kind of banshee, wailing horribly at the death of those of great importance. While definitely not sweet and cuddly, that’s still not the actions of a bloodthirsty vampire.

Oh but now we get to the good stuff – among all of the Green Lady myths and tales there is one that is filled with blood and gore. It is said that the glaistig could take the form of an incredibly beautiful women and that in this form she would attract her male victim. She was fond of tracking down a man, taking on the form of a sexy women he knew and offering him all sorts of fun sexual favors. But of course, the poor silly man didn’t get the goods. Instead he ended up dead, with his throat slit and every drop of his blood sucked from him. Yum yum.

The Green Lady was known to frequent the lonely lochs and rivers in the highlands of Scotland, among other places. So if I were you my dear British readers, I’d be awfully suspicious of any gorgeous women walking alone at night along the shore. You never know who, or what she may be.

- Moonlight

The Asema: The Blue Ball Vampire

kate — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:17:07 +0000

There’s not a lot of vampire folklore that comes out of South America. But speak about Asemas in the Republic of Suriname, and you’re sure to get a somewhat volatile reaction. Suriname is a country in South America that’s located just above Brazil, and lies on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also here that you can find stories of the Asema, a vampire that not only drains blood, but sheds it’s skin and transforms into a blue ball of light too. Definitely not your typical vampire.

According to the folklore, Asemas walked around during the day pretending to be regular human beings. But when night fell, the Asema would then take off it’s skin and turn into a large ball of blue light. It would then fly through the air and into the homes of people who’s blood it wished to drink. The Asema wouldn’t always drain a person until they died, but if they found the blood to be especially tasty, the person didn’t have much of a chance of living afterwards. Afterwards, it would return to it’s human skin and begin the cycle all over again the next day.

The tale of the asema goes that they can be warded off by following a few of the most common vampire repellants. The most common way to keep an asema from entering your home while you slept was to keep garlic at the door and around the house. People would also sometimes try to take a mixture of different herbs in the hopes that this would make their blood taste bitter and therefore, the asema would have no interest in feasting on them. And we’ve all heard about scattering seeds outside of the door to keep anal-retentive vampires busy while they picked them all up. With the tale of the asema, one can also do this to keep the asemas at bay but this folklore steps it up a notch. With the asema, if you mixed in some nails of an owl with the seeds, the asema would have to drop all of the seeds and start all over again should they accidentally pick up a nail instead of a seed.

Were asemas able to be stopped permanently? Apparently, they could. Should someone be suspected of being an asema, they would be caught and placed in an area where they could be watched. Authorities would keep watch over the asema until they took off their skin, when they could then be fully identified. The skin would then be given a heavy dose of salt and pepper, but this wasn’t because those watching it wanted a tasty treat. This was done so that the skin would shrink and the asema would no longer be able to get back into it. But just how did they stop that big blue ball of light from attacking them and drinking their blood? Hmm…wearing garlic around their necks perhaps?

- Kate

Vampires » vampire lore

The Blow Vampire

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Do I Believe In Vampires?

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Spreading the Bloodlust

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Food Offerings For The Dead

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The Tree of Blood

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The Bottled Bloodsucker’s Pet

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Babies, Insects and Blood

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Mooooo!

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Lovely, but Deadly

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The Asema: The Blue Ball Vampire

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