Vampires vs. Mirrors

Heya readers, today’s post is about those smooth shiny things known as… mirrors. Woo! Vampires and mirrors, every one of us knows that the classic stereotypical vampires absolutely can’t stand mirrors because, you know, the whole no reflection thing they have going. But why do they hate mirrors so much? Where did this whole idea come about?

Cue Bram Stoker. This dislike for mirrors mostly stems from fiction, specifically Stoker’s renowned Dracula. In the book Bram Stoker has Dracula react violently to seeing Jonathan Harker’s shaving mirror (he flings it out a window). He knows that he casts no reflection and obviously he doesn’t want to cause anyone to have a spaz-attack when they see that… or rather, don‘t see it. When it comes to the folklore part of this myth, the reason for the mirror-phobia has to do with the idea that mirrors reflect souls and evil beings have no souls, therefore no reflection. So it’s sort of like the vamps in Buffy but not exactly (since Angel had a soul and still no reflection). There is also the old argument that blood suckers exist in two worlds, in the living and in the dead. But since it isn’t fully in either one it will not be seen in a mirror.

More fun mirror facts; Bulgarians turned the mirror toward the wall when a person died to prevent the death of another, in case the corpse was reflected. In Mecklenburg they thought when the corpse saw itself doubled it would grab someone to take with it. But mirrors can also be helpful to some. It was believed that mirrors could be used as a weapon against vampires. The mirror can be used to distract the vamp for a moment, giving the hunter plenty of time to get out a much deadlier weapon.

So this whole dislike for mirrors mostly has to do with the beloved Bram Stoker, but as I said it does have some meaning in folklore as well. So if you suspect someone is a vampire then mirror test just might not work for real.

- Moonlight

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