Vampires Around the World
Whether they’re sparkly, terrifying, or somewhere in between, there’s no doubt vampires are a part of our culture. Did you know they’re a part of most cultures and date back to many ancient civilizations? This undead creature who stalks its human prey in the night has long been a fear of ours, as well as an explanation for self-harm, infant loss, illness, and deformities. Let’s dive into this fascinating – and sometimes alluring – creature of the night.
The Walking Undead
There’s a long history of tales of reanimated corpses and bloodsucking monsters throughout folklore. Several different types of vampires continue to evolve, along with our interpretations and our fears. There are a few commonalities, though:
- Vampires consume human blood or some other source of energy
- They have sharp teeth
- They’re undead
Depending on the legend or modern piece of fiction, people become vampires by being bitten by one. However, some Old Wives’ tales claimed that babies born with teeth either on Christmas or between Christmas and Epiphany were more likely to become vampires. Those are just two examples, though; the possible reasons one may become a vampire seem outlandish – and are totally ableist – in a modern context.
The Oldest Vampires
Historians have found stories of vampiric creatures as far back as Ancient Greece. These monsters attacked people while they slept and drained them of all their fluids.
During the Black Plague, the common belief was that vampires fed on their own families first. We can see how a lack of medical and scientific understanding led to this belief as the plague would wipe out whole families and neighborhoods.
Modern research has found that many known diseases were correlated to vampirism: tuberculosis, which causes one to cough up blood and wasting; porphyria, which is a medical sensitivity to sunlight; and rabies.
While the tales of vampires originated in Eastern Europe, the Victorian penchant for Gothic Literature in the 18th and 19th centuries spread the stories around the globe. In fact, we can see where many of our ideas about vampires were created from combinations of traits in Gothic novels.
Vampire Legends Around the World
Let’s explore some of the vampire tales throughout history and the many civilizations of humanity. While this list certainly isn’t exhaustive, it’s fun to see where the legends match and where there’s variation from what we believe here in the US.
Mesopotamia
The Ancient Mesopotamian cultures shared the fear of blood-drinking demons. For instance, the Ancient Babylon demon, Lilitu, whom we now know as Lilith, was believed to live off the blood of babies. In Sumer, Lilith is more of a succubus who lures lovers to her and then never lets them escape. Ancient Persian pottery depicts men fighting off blood-driven demons, too.
Ancient Greece
Hecate’s daughter, Empusa, was known for shifting into a young woman and seducing men. She then feasted on their blood as they slept in her bed. Another woman, Lamia, was punished by Hera when she discovered that Lamia was one of Zeus’ (many) lovers, and Hera killed her children. In return, Lamia drank the blood of young children when they slept as a form of revenge. Finally, the striges, who had the bodies of crows, fed on the blood and flesh of both adults and children.
Ancient India
In Ancient India, tales of the Betal are found in Sanskrit folklore. This creature is undead and shares many characteristics with the bat – it hangs upside down from tree branches on the grounds of cemeteries and cremation locations. In other stories, spirits of dead “evil-doers” could come back with vampiric, blood-sucking behaviors.
Iceland
Icelandic draugars are ghosts that also have a physical presence in the world as they retain their bodies. The draugars were motivated by greed and an unwillingness to part with their earthly possessions. Other ghost-like creatures, the tilberadraugar were parasitic and could turn their victims into more draugar. The best way to kill either type of monster was similar to methods used to kill other vampires: cutting off the head or driving stakes into the body to pin it in the grave.
Romania
Many modern vampire legends come from Romania, where multiple types of vampires were believed to exist. Vampires in Romania bit their victims either between the eyes or over the heart, and sudden deaths were often blamed on vampires. Vampires could either be living (strigoi) or dead (moroi). Living strigoi were able to send their souls out at night to attack humans and livestock, depriving both of their blood.
There were many ways one could become a vampire in Romania. If you fell into any of these categories, it was feared you could become a strigoi:
- Children born with a caul
- People born with an extra nipple, extra hair, or a “tail”
- The seventh child of a family in which the preceding six children were all of the same sex
- A baby born too early
- A child whose mother came across a black cat in her path
- The child of a woman who, while pregnant, didn’t eat salt
- The child of a woman who was looked upon by a witch or vampire
- A child born out of wedlock
- People who died an “unnatural” death
- People who died before baptism
- A person with red hair and blue eyes
It makes you wonder how many people they suspected of vampirism!
Ireland & Scotland
In Ireland and Scotland, vampire legends come from tales of the Fae and likely inspired Bram Stoker, who was himself Irish. For instance, an incubus-like fairy was said to be seductive and able to talk himself into a young woman’s chambers, where he would kill her. He had to be invited in, however, and was repelled by the sight of the cross.
Slavic & Turkish Europe
In the Slavic and Turkish regions of Europe, vampires were said to come from people who had either been immoral in life or magicians who succumbed to an “unnatural” death or some form of desecration. This could include suicide, improper burial, being born with an irregularity or disability, as in Romania, ex-communication from the church, or – perhaps the strangest – a bird flying over or an animal jumping over the empty grave of the person.
Other vampires in this large region of Europe include undead creatures who don’t drink blood and vampires who meet all the criteria we deem “traditional” but aren’t dead at all. In Croatia, a female vampire called a Morana drinks men’s blood. It’s also believed that undead, parasitic creatures show themselves at crossroads, graveyards, and caves. To kill them, drive a wooden stake through the heart.
Africa
As a large landmass, Africa also includes a variety of vampire legends, though these legends are less prevalent than in other parts of the world. The Ashanti people of West Africa tell tales of asanbosam, a tree-dwelling monster with iron teeth. In South Africa, a vampire comes in the form of a large taloned bird. The bird can also, terrifyingly, summon thunder and lightning!
Spain
In Spain, vampires often come in the form of an elderly being with one long tooth that he uses to suck the blood from victims. In Catalonia, there is a legend of an evil vampiric dog, while in Galicia, the vampire takes more of a form of a wicked witch who enters a house and puts its victims into a trance-like state to suck their blood.
Philippines
In the Philippines, vampiric women are beautiful during the day and, at night, turn into demons with wings and a long, straw-like tongue. This tongue is said to be able to suck fetuses from pregnant women and the entrails from sick people. Another type of vampire, the manananggal is an older woman who can separate her upper torso from her body to fly around the sky with bat-like wings. She also attacks pregnant women in their sleep.
There are so many other vampire legends worldwide that we couldn’t cover them all. Which one is your favorite?
Stay Spooky (and watch your neck)!
Megan W.