Vampire

• #3442
•  Multiple Cultures (culture)
•  Undead (attribute)
•  Deadly (behaviour)
•  Vampires (common type)

This is an immortal creature that was once human but now it must suck the blood of the living in order to survive. They are found in many cultures across the globe and take various forms. They are usually said to have supernatural powers such as transforming themselves to a bat, cat or fox to mesmerize and kill their victims. In Europe these beings rose from the grave to feed on the living during the night. They were said to be invincible and could only be killed with holy water, a silver cross, sunlight touching their skin or impaling them through the heart with a wooden stake. Garlic and hawthorn could be used to prevent these creatures from attacking. The signs that someone could be a Vampire were that they had no reflection in the mirror or that they threw no shadow. When people were randomly murdered in a village, whole graveyards were dug up to find the Vampire.

Vampires feature in Eastern Europe such as in Russia, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic such as the Upir and the Vulkodlac. It were these stories of the creature that inspired writers such as Bram Stoker in his book Dracula (1897), and Goethe and Baudelaire. Such horror stories quickly became popular in the late part of the 19^th century.

In Japan the Vampire is told of in the story about the Cat of Nabeshima that transformed into the princess to kill her and then tries to kill the Prince but fails. In China Vampires inhabit abandoned temples and attack travellers at night. The Pey are the Vampires of Tamil myth in India while the Pontianak is the Vampire of the Malay people. In Spain the El Broosha causes terror and is derived from Lilith the wife of Adam in the Book of Genesis. In Scotland it the Lamminkin and in ancient Rome it is the Strigae and the Lamia derived from the Stringes of Greek myth. In Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean the Vampire is the Sukuyan. Of the Choctaw Native Americans it is the Skatene and of the Seminole Native Americans in Oklahoma it is the Stikini. There are various Vampires in South America which include Colo-Colo, Invunche and the Pihuechenyi. In Surinam the Vampire is the Azeman.

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