bloodthirsty, hunger and bloodlust
Dating back 6,000 years ago is what is believed to be the first recorded vampire – the edimmu of Mesopotamia (also known as the ekimmu). This angry and violent victim of an improper burial not only drank the blood of those that passed by, but would also suck them dry of their life force as …
Pretty Dead is a young adult fiction novel written by Francesca Lia Block. Block writes in a style that she has termed “pop magic realism.” Generally her books appeal to adolescent girls, but the stories always contain magic and supernatural elements. She has written about mermaids, changelings, witches, genies, and many other magical beings. In …
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from March 16, 37 A.D. until his assassination on January 24, 41 A.D. There is little known on Caligula’s reign since so few sources have survived, but he was described as a noble and fair ruler during the first two …
What does a vampire feed on? Blood. Simple answer right? Well, not so much. Does a being really need to drink blood before they are considered a vampire? Or is it the act of taking anything part of a victim’s body that makes one a vampire? Take psychic vampires for example, they do not feed …
It was a rainy day in Richmond, Virginia when the urban legend of The Richmond Vampire was born. If you live in the area then you already know the tale, if not… On October 2, 1925 C&O locomotive #231, operated by engineer, Tom Mason, was heading into Richmond to pass through Church Hill Tunnel. The …
One of the earliest beings to show some serious vampire-like characteristics is the ancient lamia, a usually female or hermaphroditic demon that prowled the night looking for tasty humans. She’s described as having the head and breasts of a woman, but the lower body of a snake. Her favorite snack was sleeping babies whom she …
Time again for another blood drenched trip into the world of vampire mythology! Today’s undead of choice is the vjesci, a species of vampire found in Polish lore. According to the legends a person was doomed to become a vjesci if they were born with caul (a thin, filmy piece of membrane that sticks to …
In nearly every book of vampire folklore I have ever read, each mentions the Irish goblin the Redcap. While the redcap isn’t exactly a vampire, many like to call it the vampire’s “cousin” due to its need for blood in order to survive, like a vampire. A redcap is a sickly thin goblin found in …
The beautiful country of Greece is one of the great vampire countries, the home of many undead. Greece has an abundance of vampire lore and myths, all of which have been well documented throughout time. Greek undead date all the way to the ancient world, with such wicked creatures as the lamia, empusa, ephialtae and …
Yay! More vampire mythology! Today we’re traveling to ancient Mexico and jumping into the bloody world of the Aztecs to discover the Civatateo. The Civatateo were Aztec vampires, the most vampiric of all the Aztec deities. They were hideous creatures with pale faces, arms and hands covered in white chalk (called ticitl) and crossbones painted …
The tlahuelpuchi is a vampiric witch that hales from Mexico. This vampire may appear normal at first, since it lives with its human family, but looks can be deceiving. The tlahuelpuchi not only sucks blood from infants, but it also has the power to shapeshift into various forms. You can spot this vamp in its …
Slovenian legends tell a tale of two forces – good versus evil, the holy Kresnik battling against the vampiric Kudlak. The kresnik represented all that was good and Christian, while the kudlak symbolized pure evil and darkness – the result was their pure hatred for one another and a mythological battle. According to Slovenian folklore, …
Cases of vampirism have been recorded all throughout time, especially during the 1500s. It was a time of fear – fear of sin, fear of hell and most importantly, fear of the undead. In 1591 that fear spread like wildfire throughout Breslau, Poland. Recorded by the seventeenth-century writer, Henry More, in his An Antidote to …
It’s been a couple months since I’ve done a “Leech Lover Facts” post, so I’m bringin’ it back! Here’s your bloody dose of random vampire facts. Animal Hides: Various kinds of animal skins were used in some countries, particularly by the Gypsies, to cover the body of a vampire before staking it. You see, they …
We’ve come across a lot of totally crazy and ridiculous vampire myths and stories on this site, but this has to be one of the weirdest, or at least creepiest. I bring you the jenglot, a tiny living doll in Indonesian and Malaysian folklore. A jenglot is described as a living mummy or doll that’s …
Malaysia is a country that’s fraught with vampire myth and folklore, and the Maneden is just one of those. The Maneden was a vampiric creature that lived in the pandanus plant. This plant was lush and green, with very long leaves. This plant is very popular in Malaysian culture, as it’s used for flavoring many …
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 …
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 …
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 were to honor the dead, or used as a means of mystical protection from supernatural beings. A common …
In Rhode Island in the late 1700s lived a 19-year-old girl named Sarah Tillinghast. Sarah was a dreamy girl, spending her days wandering small graveyards where Revolutionary soldiers lay. She was known to bring a book of poetry to these places and seat herself on a grave slab and read for hours on end. One …