Germany and Vampires

Germany is home to many vampire traditions, legends and beliefs each varying throughout cultures and time. With their dark dismal forests and towering ruined castles it’s not hard to imagine how so many vampire myths were born here.

Germany is one of the many countries with it own unique vampire species, such as the nachzehrer, a shapeshifting vampire that loved to feed on family members and rung church bells. Other than the nachzehrer, there was also the neuntoter, a vamp afraid of simple lemons, and the alp, a horrifying vampire that would first haunt your dreams and then feed on your yummy blood.

When it came to putting a stop to the undead the Germans had quite a few methods. The vampires of Northern Germany were believed to be incredibly compulsive and if you were to put a net full of knots in its path it would be forced to sit there and undo eat and every knot, giving someone time to either escape or kill the vamp. The people of Germany would also bury their dead facedown to avoid a vampire’s potentially dangerous gaze.

The Germans also made a lasting addition to the world of vampirology thanks to the numerous treatises written by so-called experts about the undead during the seventieth and eightieth centuries (a treatise is a bit longer than an essay and argues why something is bad or wrong). These included the works written by Johann Zopfius, Michael Ranft, Johann Christopher Rohl and Johann Stock. The funny thing is that these men, so against vampires, actually helped introduce vampires to the theater with their writings.

When it comes to movies we have one of the most famous vampire movies of all time, the silent film, Nosferatu, directed by the German F. W. Murnau.

So from the Middles Ages until now the Germans hold a high place in the vampire world.

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

7 comments

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  4. Correction: I think you mean 17th and 18th centuries, not 70th and 80th. It would help to write them in numerals and not words.

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