In the modern world, it is very difficult to imagine that a real ghoul lives among people - a corpse that came to life and comes out of the grave at night in order to drink the blood of living people. Meanwhile, every nation has many legends, traditions and beliefs about vampires.
Descriptions of vampires and ghouls presented both in ancient legends and those that can be seen in modern books and films indicate that these are half-decomposed soulless corpses that are not distinguished by their great intelligence (which, in fact, is not surprising, because vampires are this is a certain energy clot). Another characteristic of vampires is that most of them have fangs, thirst for blood and are afraid of the sun. In addition, during the Middle Ages, fears such as the fear of crucifixion and holy water were attributed to vampires.
If we talk about the term "vampire", then it appeared much later than the descriptions of these creatures. So, for example, descriptions of vampires are present in the most ancient world cultures, as well as in the Gospel of Lamia (Lamia is the name of vampires that was used in Ancient Greece). In addition, there are ancient Christian scriptures containing information that, like the bodies of saints, the bodies of vampires are also incorruptible.
Ancient Sumerian mythology has its own description of these creatures, which are called Aksharas there. It should be noted here that Lamia from Ancient Greece and Lilitu from Jewish demonology are, most likely, descendants from ancient Sumerian mythology.
All these evil spirits were exclusively female and fed on the blood of pregnant women and babies.
The Roman vampires were bloodsucking ghosts called Lamias, Limuras, and Empusae. Vitaly existed in India, Dahanavar in Armenia. Chinese creatures, which were called Lame Corpses, were also considered vampires, despite the fact that they did not drink blood, but sucked life energy from living beings.
In the Middle Ages, the appearance of vampires was often associated with the influence of extraterrestrial civilizations. So, in particular, outbreaks of vampirism happened after the miraculous end of the plague epidemic in Europe. According to scientists, this is due to the fact that aliens, in order to stop the extinction of mankind, somehow treated the sick, and vampires were the result of side effects from this treatment. In addition, the graves of vampires were different from the graves of ordinary people.
To prove this hypothesis, scientists, together with archaeologists, conducted research, during which they tried to determine the differences between people buried in different ways. So, in the first method, the body of the patient was usually buried, sometimes in mass graves, in the second method, separate burials were found in which the bodies of the dead had a stone in their mouths (it was believed that in this way the vampire would not be able to drink blood). Scientists were lucky: the differences were discovered: in the teeth of those who were considered vampires, bacteria were found, which in structure resembled a modified plague stick.
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As for modern ideas about vampires, they, by and large, are based on Slavic mythology. In the myths, we are talking about the fact that vampires are people who died an unnatural death, or those who were sorcerers during their lifetime. After death, they all leave their graves without damaging the burial itself, and go on a real hunt for the living, trying to drink their blood or life energy.
In history, there are cases when people dug up the body of a deceased relative in order to cut out his heart, burn it, add ash to water and drink. According to legends, this was done so that the vampire did not come to living relatives anymore. In addition, from time to time there is information that people find animals, the carcasses of which are completely bled, and there are only two bites on them.
However, even with such a significant amount of evidence, as well as the fact that most countries have their own legends about vampires, they are still considered fantastic creatures. At the same time, the facts that we mentioned above indicate the opposite. And even if we assume that different peoples invented legends about vampires, then how are all these legends so similar to each other?..
Very often people, hearing the word "vampire", imagine well-known characters, in particular, Dracula. The younger generation enjoys watching and reading the vampire sagas, which are now becoming more and more popular. However, in real life, vampires seem to exist too. It's just that few people know about them. Here are just a few real life stories.
So, according to historical records, in the English castle of Alnwick, there was a vampire. The chronicles say that it existed much earlier than the word "vampire" itself appeared. Ancient manuscripts tell the story of a man who died but then returned. The man watched his wife, suspecting her of treason, and fell from the roof. He returned to the real world already as a ghost, who brought the plague with him.
The priest organized the people who dug the man's grave. A shovel was thrust into him, blood flowed from the body, which confirmed the fears of people that the corpse was drinking the blood of the living. After the body was burned, attacks on people stopped.
In 1138, a priest lived in Scottish Borders, in Melrose Abbey, who spent all his free time hunting with dogs. For this he received his nickname - Hunderprest (translated means "dog priest"). During his lifetime he was not a very good person, and after death he became a ghost. He drank the blood of living people and turned into a bat.
Soon, humans and monks teamed up to destroy the ghost. They gathered at his grave, and waited for him to rise, and at the most convenient moment they killed him with a blow of an ax. After that, the corpse of Hunderprest was burned and the ash was scattered in the wind. After that, life in the abbey became calm.
In the sixteenth century, there was a countess named Elisabeth Bathory in Hungary. She is perhaps the most famous vampire after Vlad the Impaler. However, unlike him, the woman actually drank human blood and even bathed in it. The countess's favorite pastime was mockery of the peasants (from simple beatings and stab wounds to dousing with ice water, piercing lips and fingers with nails).
For the first time, rumors that Elizabeth was a vampire appeared when someone said that a woman was bathed in the blood of young girls. As a result, the Countess was immured alive in her own castle, leaving only a small opening for air and food transfer. So she died many years later.
In 1656 in Croatia, in the town of Istria, a man named Jure Grando died. After his death for sixteen years, people died under mysterious circumstances. Even in official documents, he was called only a vampire (the local name is strigon). Testimonies of the inhabitants of the settlement have been preserved, which say that Yure walked near people's houses and knocked on their doors at night. The people at whose doors he knocked soon died.
The local priest decided to free the population from adversity. Grando could not resist, the priest, along with several volunteers, pursued Yure to the grave, dug up his body and beheaded.
In the 1700s, a man named Petar Blagozhevich lived in Serbia. When ten weeks passed after his death, nine of his acquaintances died quite suddenly, and during his lifetime, each spoke of seeing Petar in a dream. Even Petar's son said that a few days after his death he saw his father in the kitchen. The young man soon died under mysterious circumstances.
Such incidents did not go unnoticed. The authorities called in the army and Blagozhevich's body was exhumed. According to eyewitnesses, the man was breathing and lying with his eyes open. After a stake was driven into his heart, the body caught fire. After that, dreams and death ceased.
Few stories have survived about vampires in America. But in the 1990s, a terrible discovery was made in Connecticut. A grave was excavated containing the bodies of farmers buried in the 1700s. One body was very different from the rest in that it had no head. People decided that the grave had been robbed because the head was cut off ten years after the burial. But at the same time, all the valuable things were in their places. Something similar happened in Jewett City, where 29 bodies were exhumed, after which they were all burned. But the most famous case of vampirism is associated with the name of Mercy Brown. The girl suffered from tuberculosis and soon died. After the girl's death, her relatives began to die one after another. Then the girl's body was dug up and, finding that it was very well preserved, burned. The deaths have stopped.
In the 1800s, the Cronwell family settled in Croglin Grange. One day Lady Cronwell saw a strange glow in the garden. At night she woke up from the fact that lights flickered outside the window. Soon the woman realized that it was someone's eyes. The woman froze with fear, and the unknown creature gradually opened the window and extended its hand inside. The native women heard her screams and ran to help. They just had time to notice how something resembling a cat disappeared in the darkness, and blood oozed from the woman's neck.
The men decided to destroy the vampire. They set a trap: the woman pretended to be asleep, and when the vampire tried to climb into the window, the men ran into the room and began to shoot. The vampire ran away. In the morning they gathered a crowd and went to the cemetery and found an open crypt. There they found an open coffin and bones, and in the coffin - a half-decayed corpse with recent bullet marks. Of course, the corpse was burned.
In 1969 in London, in one of the cemeteries, the corpses of animals began to appear, completely exsanguinated, with characteristic wounds on the neck. Soon, eyewitness accounts of encounters with a tall, dark man with a hypnotic gaze appeared. One person even said that after the meeting he got lost and could not find a way out of the cemetery.
All these stories caused crowds of vampire hunters to appear in the cemetery. Several graves were excavated, and the cemetery was closed for the night. Over time, everything calmed down, people forgot about the vampire and life improved.
Most likely, the stories about vampires and ghouls are nothing more than beliefs and legends. At the same time, some part of all these stories defies simple logical reasoning. In addition, all these stories, legends and myths about vampires set up a kind of mystical mood.
Author: Andrey Kleshnev