Today, there is no person who has not heard about vampires. These creatures have become familiar characters in films. The layman does not even think about where such a mysterious and frightening monster came from, who comes to life after death and seeks to satisfy his hunger with the blood of other people.
Most people believe that nosferatu is a fantasy work of the famous English writer Stoker. This author created a fascinating work that spawned a whole trend in literature. The vampire Count Dracula became the personification of horror for many years. Subsequent writers started from the classical image of a mythical creature to create their works. What was Stoker's inspiration for? Perhaps he was struck to the depths of his soul by the stories about the famous Wallachian ruler Vlada Tepes, who possessed exceptional cruelty towards his enemies. This is the answer that can be found in various textbooks on literature.
Few fans of vampire films know that the first mentions of demons that feed on human blood and are afraid of sunlight appeared long before the birth of Christ. Throughout the history of mankind, there are legends and myths directly related to creatures who are today called vampires. Different cultures that lived on different continents could not exchange their legends. Therefore, a logical question arises: who or what lies at the basis of such legends?
First mentions
For the first time, creatures that feed on human blood can be found in ancient Sumerian mythology. They were called Akshars. Unfortunately, no descriptions or explanations have survived of what these monsters are and how to deal with them.
Babylonian demonology also mentions the creatures of the night, which fed on the blood of living people. The author of the treatise that has survived to our time calls them Lilu or Lilutu. The priests believed that Leelu was the spirit of a deceased person who was reborn as a Demon. Now the creature wanders in the dark and hunts for lost travelers. The creation of the night pays special attention to pregnant women and newborn children. Later, the image of the monster migrated into the Jewish religious tradition, the high priests will call him Lilith.
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Vampires in the culture of the peoples of the world
The Indian priests were sure that at night, a terrible monster, which they called the vetale, wakes up. The book of Baital Pachisi tells that the vetale is a person who returned to the world of the living and acquired special abilities, but in the process of revitalization, his nature changed. Now he needs to feed on human blood in order to continue his life. An interesting fact is that the undead live underground, fearing the light of the sun's rays, and can also turn into a bat. Some researchers believe that this belief played a significant role in the formation of the custom of cremation of the dead.
The inhabitants of the celestial empire feared a creature that could enter a person's house at night and drink his blood. However, the interpretation of the inhabitants of China says that the vampire could not only drink the blood of the victim, he also drank the energy "qi". It is the “qi” energy that is the life-giving force that makes the human body function. The body, deprived of this power, became like a dummy. Various demons could take possession of an empty shell and then commit various crimes and send disasters to the inhabitants of the country.
In ancient Egypt, there was a belief that the goddess Sokhmet sometimes experienced a terrible thirst, which could only be quenched by human blood. The Egyptians feared that the people who were bitten by the goddess turned into creatures who experienced a strong craving for human blood. The ancient inhabitants of Egypt were sure that the goddess often visits the world of the living and here on Earth chooses the most beautiful young men, who then share a bed with her. However, such a lucky man did not always manage to leave unharmed. Quite often, the goddess bit her chosen one, turning the latter into undead. Unfortunately, ancient manuscripts and parchments do not preserve descriptions of these vampires and methods of dealing with them.
Roman historians mention legends of ghosts that could turn into beautiful girls or boys, and also often took the form of a large bat. Ghosts lured lonely travelers to a secluded place, where they sucked all the blood out of them.
The legends and myths of the Druids did not go to modern science, of course, the Catholic Church did significant work to destroy the literary monuments of that time. However, it is known that for the first time vampires are mentioned in the English annals of the 11th century. Walter Map made a note in the margins of the chronicle. This little narrative tells us that strange murders began to occur in the area. The victims were found completely bled.
The Slavs believed that if a person died a violent death and was not properly buried, or was a dark sorcerer during his lifetime, then such a deceased person could rise from the grave after death and start disturbing living people. People who rose from the grave were called ghouls. It is noteworthy that the living dead rose from their graves exclusively at night and were afraid of the sunlight.
The American Indians have similar legends. According to these indigenous peoples of America, a person who went to the mountains and died there became a demon called the Wendigo. At night this creature descended from the mountains and made its way into people's houses. It killed travelers and drank all the blood out of them. In the mythology of the Apache tribe, there are legends about the "cold demon". The demon had the appearance of a man, was distinguished by incredible physical strength and speed of movement. The demon preferred to kidnap beautiful girls, and then drank their blood.
Thus, different cultures and peoples had common concepts about creatures that attack people and feed on their blood. Of course, it can be assumed that these myths wandered from nation to nation, where they successfully took root and overgrown with new inventions.
However, there is no fit in this theory. A natural question arises, how did the Indian tribes living on a separate continent come up with a story that harmoniously fits into the idea of other peoples about vampires? It is rather difficult to answer such a question. All educated people are sure that such mythical creatures do not exist and therefore this question is not important. However, people's perceptions can change. There is evidence that in the eighteenth century an interesting process began in the center of enlightened Europe, which was precisely devoted to the problem of vampirism.
18th century trial
The 18th century became a turning point in the history of mankind. Various scientific discoveries were made that turned the worldview of people. However, along with the obvious technological development, a real panic arose among people about the appearance of vampires. It got to the point that even government employees were involved in the hunt for the undead.
In 1721, the first incident took place that was documented and reviewed by the official authorities. During this historical period, Serbia was part of the Habsburg monarchy. It all started with the fact that on April 18, 1720, the deceased 62 year old Petara Blagoevich came home to his family and asked them for food. According to the testimony of witnesses who saw the vampire, his son went to his father, who had not been reposed, to persuade him to return to the grave. And in the morning his absolutely bloodless corpse was found. The vampire came to the village several times after sunset. The civilians were in a real panic, so they turned to representatives of the official authorities, who quite radically solved this problem.
Special hunting teams were created, which settled in the village and began to wait for the arrival of the monster. The vampire arrived as usual after sunset and the hunters attempted to shoot him. According to the materials of the case that have come down to us, half of them were killed. As the sun rose, the creature disappeared into the forest and never came to the village again. It was decided to exhume the body of the deceased, but when they opened the coffin, they found it empty. The trial was closed as the attacks on the villagers had stopped.
In 1734 a similar incident occurred. Arnold Paolo, a retired farming soldier, was attacked by a man who severely bit the victim. Arnold died shortly thereafter. Mysterious murders began to take place in the village. Real panic arose among the people. The best investigators were sent to this village, who documented everything that happened in sufficient detail. It got to the point that they began to open the graves of recently buried people. When Arnold's grave was opened, it turned out that the body was not in place. Further investigation did not lead to any results.
A special disease
These two incidents gave rise to a long-standing controversy among scientists, the purpose of which was to find out all the facts and circumstances of these strange cases. It got to the point that in 1746 the famous French scientist and historian Antoine Augustine Calmet published a collection of various eyewitness accounts who claimed to have encountered vampires. The scientist thoroughly studied all the circumstances, visited the scene of incidents, interviewed witnesses. The theologian came to a phenomenal conclusion. According to him, there was an unknown disease, which was precisely the cause of the patient's craving for human blood, and also had unexplored symptoms, which manifested themselves in a fear of sunlight, and also changed the biorhythms of a person's life.
Such conclusions did not allow society to relax and enjoy life. On the contrary, it led to increased panic among the country's population. Queen Maria Teresa had to personally intervene in this matter, she issued a special decree that denied the existence of vampires and ordered all inhabitants of the empire not to believe in them. Even such a radical intervention by the authorities did not calm the inhabitants of the country.
Various guides began to be published on how to identify a vampire and destroy him. Of course, you need to understand that the drastic measures that the authors of such guidelines called for the use were rather deplorable. After all, quite often people became victims of arbitrariness on the part of exalted fellow citizens. Various deviations were the reason for accusing the person of vampirism and killing the latter. Thanks to the superstitions of society, a certain unspoken tradition has formed how to kill a vampire.
Myths in action: how to kill a vampire?
Various popular superstitions, as well as occult traditions, which were quite widely used in society in the 18th century, led to the fact that special methods were developed to neutralize a vampire.
# 1. If you pierce the heart of a vampire with an aspen stake, then he will never again rise from the grave and will not be able to pester the living. This myth has an absolutely real background. Indeed, if the heart of any living organism is pierced, that every person understands that the unfortunate person will never get up again. Surely, most people did not even reason about this, but took it on faith. Let's say that a person or a vampire has been dead for a long time. That all biological processes in his body are complete. In this case, the heart will not work by distilling oxygen-rich blood. Therefore, it makes no sense to pierce the heart of the undead. The use of aspen is associated with the Kabbalistic tradition. After all, aspen is considered a sacred tree.
# 2. A vampire can be killed by chopping off his head. It should be noted that this method really works 100%. There is not a single living organism that could continue its existence with a severed head. What caused this belief to emerge remains a mystery. However, one cannot help but be amazed at the pragmatism of people who recommended such a procedure.
Number 3. Burn vampires. Most likely, this is an echo of the procedure, widespread in the Middle Ages, of burning heretics and dissidents. The concept of this belief is based on the words of the New Testament scriptures about the cleansing fire, which should burn all the filth.
No. 4. Vampires are afraid of garlic. The emergence of this thesis is associated with the belief of medieval doctors that garlic drives away various diseases. Therefore, garlic was used for quite a long time as the first remedy for various diseases.
No. 5. The bloodsucker can be scared away by various religious attributes. The emergence of such a thesis is obvious. After all, the representation of ordinary people, a vampire is a demon who seeks to bring trouble to living people.
No. 6. The belief that running water can kill undead. Quite often, water was stored for a long time in various containers. Consequently, quite often the water spoiled and the people who used it suffered from various ailments. Therefore, this belief is based on the fact that running water is clean and not harmful to health. Therefore, it is possible to kill vampires in it.
Various peoples of the world had similar ideas about vampires. Unfortunately, it is impossible to establish what became the prototype of the appearance of such myths. However, we can say with confidence that the human fear of all the unknown became the reason that such a belief took root and found fertile ground for its spread. Now, thanks to cinema, everyone knows about the creatures of the night who hunt lonely travelers.