When I first picked up Dr. Bob Curran’s Dark Fairies I was expecting nothing but a book full of twisted folktales to fall in love with. I was pleasantly surprised by not only getting just what I wanted (evil fairies YAY!) but also a little bit extra. It turns out that there are fae that have some very vampiric traits, fae that we have all heard of many times before – goblins.
These wicked creatures were described as twisted and malformed beings the size of a 2-year-old child. While many modern day stories claim goblins live deep underground, it was more commonly believed once that they lived in caves and burrows in the forest. They were often associated with death in early English and French lore, this was due to them choosing to inhabit areas near funerary mounds. It didn’t help that early depictions of goblins show them as small creatures with bony hands and skull-like faces, this just fueled the belief in their ties to death.
In certain countries, like parts of France and Germany, goblins are neither good nor evil, but in Britain they are considered to be incredibly dangerous. Goblins were believed to be very hostile, constantly preying upon others. They were sly and wicked, tricking people and leading them into harm’s way.
Now for the vampire part! In some goblin stories, it was said that they drank blood (like vampires). Other stories claimed they ate flesh, which is way worse than the blood drinking bit. As you can see, goblins are nasty monsters that you don’t want anything to do with.
Goblins aren’t technically vampires I suppose, but they do have some vampiric tendencies and that makes them more than worthy for Vampires.com!
I highly suggest checking out of the book Dark Fairies for more nasty goodies on goblins and much more sinister being of folklore.
– Moonlight
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