The Russian Eretica

The eretica is a menacing Russian species of vampire.  This particular vampire stems from the belief that heretics were punished by becoming members of the undead after death. The most likely heretic to turn into a vampire was one that used magic. Sorcerers and witches were said to turn into a vampire once they died. A person could also be turned into this vampire by not confessing their sins before death.  Back in the day In Russia the belief in the existence of vampires was brought on through fear of being a bad Christian. Essentially it was used to scare people into behaving, like how one would use the boogey man to scare a child. Like, “if you don’t eat your vegetables the boogey man will get you” but rather, “if you are a bad Christian you will turn into a blood thirsty fiend.”

The eretica (plural ereticy) was often believed to be a woman who sold her soul to the devil while she was alive and once dead coming back in the form of an old woman in rags.  During the night she would gather with the rest of the ereticy in ravines where they would have a sabbat of some kind. She also would only come out during the spring and late fall.

The eretica would sleep in a coffin like most vampires but only the coffins of those who, when alive, were blasphemous. It was also believed that to fall or sink into the grave of an eretica would cause the person to waste away. But even worse than that would is to get caught by the monster’s evil eye. If one were to give you the evil eye you would die a very slow, painful death.

To destroy an eretica you need to either burn them or stake them in the back with a stake made of aspen.

- Moonlight