Vampires

Vampires

But first on earth, as vampire sent,

Thy corpse from its tomb be rent,

The ghastly haunt thy native place,

And suck the blood from all they race,

There from thy daughter, sister, wife.

At midnight drain the stream of life,

Yet loathe the banquet with perforce,

Must feed thy livid living corpse,

They victims ‘ere the demon from their sire

   Lord Byron

Vampires are immortal nocturnal predators who feed on the blood of the living. Noone can tell how long they have existed; there is a wide and colourful range of ancient species of vampire around the world such as the Liderc from Hungary and the Kappa from Japan.

The earliest known vampire is Nosferatu which means ‘carrier of disease’ or ‘night creature.’ Nosferatus were seen as demon possessed immortals or resurrected human corpses who were able to shapeshift into wolves, bats and even mist. They could be ward off by crucifixes, garlic and holy water and be killed by a wooden stake, as long as it wasn’t from a tree of an evergreen as they symbolised immorality, a silver stake would also work, though many believe this only paralyzes this type of vampire to destroy it completely you have to behead and then cremate it.

Western vampires are icy to touch, cast no shadows, they don’t have reflections, which is probably stems from the belief that it’s actually your soul reflected in the mirror and as vampires are undead and are believed to be soulless, they don’t have a reflection. They can’t enter a house without being invited nor can they cross a threshold of a church. Though they have fangs they don’t reveal them until it is too late. They are often very attractive, and will devour their victims sexually whilst feasting on their blood. Victims of vampires die and become vampires themselves. Nowadays vampires aren’t seen as demon possessed corpses but beings infected by a virus that’s turned them into vampires. These vampires don’t have shapeshifting abilities; though they still have supernatural strength though can still be destroyed by a stake through the heart.

The Polojowitz Incident

In 1725 a villager from Kisilova, which at this time was located in Serbia, called Peter Polojowitz died of an unknown illness, ten weeks later after he was buried he appeared at night to 10 people in the village, the first was his wife, he knocked on the door and demanded his shoes which she did, the next day she informed the villagers what had happened and she was understandably disturbed about the incident she packed up and left the village, this may have actually saved her life because the other 9 people who were visited by Polojowitz died within 24 hours from an unknown illness.

It didn’t take the villagers long to guess that Polojowitz was a vampire, but the only way to make sure was to inspect his corpse for the specific signs of being a vampire such as new hair and nail growth, a bloated appearance and lack of decay. They were accompanied by the German Imperial Official and the Pope of Gradisk. When the lid of Polojowitz’s casket was removed they found the body didn’t smell of decomposition, his hair and beard had grown, as had his fingernails, and his pale skin had seemed to have peeled away revealing pink flushed skin underneath, the only clear sign of decay was that the nose had collapsed in on itself.

The villagers decided that Polojowitz showed all the signs of being a vampire and drove a wooden stake through his chest, according to the official’s report Polojowitz realised a blood curdling shriek. After this was done Polojowitz was taken to a pyre and his body was burnt to ash.

Aswang

This is a rare vampire from the Philippines who’s always female and during the day is hardly noticeable amongst those she lives with, and comes across as a shy quiet girl, however if you look at her closely you’ll notice she has bloodshot eyes. She needs blood to keep herself ‘alive’ and at night she can transform into bats, snakes and birds she has a long tongue with a pointed tip which she uses to penetrate into the liver of her victim, she also goes for the heart, or if attacking babies the gut, she will also drain the blood from corpses waiting to be buried. You can identify Aswang by looking into her eyes and if your reflection is upside down she’s an Aswang, she can be killed by holding a crucifix up to her face. She can be kept away from the home by hanging up garlic at every opening, and red fabric round the windows mixed with ginger and metal coins.

Langsuir

The Langsuir is from Malaysia and is the animated corpse of a woman who has died in child birth. She’s pale with a greenish tint to her white face, she possess long fingernails with sharp tips and very long shiny hair which covers the hole in the back neck which she uses to suck the blood from her victims which are children. At night she transforms into an owl and attacks sleeping babies. You can disarm a Langsuir by cutting her hair and fingernails and stuffing them into her neck hole which tames her. Whenever a woman dies in childbirth she is buried with beads in her mouth, an egg under each arm and needles in her hands which stops her growing teeth and wings, so she doesn’t metamorphosing into a vampire.

Palis

Palis lives in the Arabian Desert, they are a tall, thin being, with deadly white skin and eyes like water from a deep well, it attacks travellers at night whilst they’re travelling through the desert. Its tongue is rough and it uses it to remove the skin from its victim’s feet and then licks until the blood is gone. It’s repelled by salt and is not very bright; travellers should lie with the soles of their feet touching fellow’s travellers. Palis will only see a being with a head at each end.

Psychic Vampires

Psychic or energy vampires feed upon the life force of other humans rather than blood. They’re not undead or immortal, they’re humans who have the ability to draw off the energy of others and some aren’t even they’re doing it, they just think that they’re social people because they feel energised when they’re around people, however if they’re unaware of what they’re doing, or they just don’t care, they can be just as harmful as the blood sucking variety as drawing energy from someone all the time can cause physical and psychological damage.

 

Sources

The complete idiots guide to the paranormal Nathan Robert, Alpha Books 2010.

A field guide to Demons, Vampires and Fallen Angels Carol K Mack and Dinah Mack Profile Books 2010.

Childrenofthelamp.wikia.com/wiki/Palis