It has been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, so here it is, the sixth edition of Leech Lover Facts! For those that missed the past editions (tsk tsk) this is where I share some random bits of info on vampires – from historical facts to modern trivia. Enjoy!
- In Hungary, Romania and the Balkans a sickle, an implement with a sharp curved or crescent-shaped blade, was buried with corpses as a vampire preventive. There were various reasons for this. In Hungary it was thought to cut a bloated corpse, in Romania it was said to keep the corpse from swelling and in Yugoslavia it was tied around the corpse’s neck in order to decapitate it if it were to rise.
- On May 25, 1857 in Berlin a ballet titled Morgano debuted. It tells the story of Elsa, a young woman who is taken by a group of vampires led by Morgano. After dancing with them in their castle, she is saved by Retzki, who kills Morgano with a consecrated sword.
- Silver was (and still is) considered a formidable bane against evil, even vampires. It was believed that a cross made of silver was much more powerful at providing protection than any other type of cross.
- It is said that Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the second most read book, the first being the Bible.
- The people of Oldenburg, Germany once believed that all corpses must be buried very very deep in the ground. Should a body be buried to close to the surface, the deceased would invariably rise as the undead.
- Red hair was once believed to be an indication that an individual was a vampire. The Greeks, Serbs, Romanians and Bulgarians all thought that red was the hair color of vampires, joining often with blue eyes, another vampiric attribute. Judas Iscariot was described as having red hair, thus the clan of vampires known as the Children of Judas was born.
– Moonlight
I love these facts!