Vampires
Vampires. The word strikes fear into the hearts of many, and it is true, few things are more terrifying that the thought of the Undead. Made famous by the 1931 movie, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, vampires are now one of America's, and the world's, best known legends.
The first vampire was thought to be Lilith, Queen of the Night. Lilith was Adam's (of Adam and Eve) first wife, but her soul was flawed, and she gave birth only to demons, so she went off on her merry way to join Satan and his followers. All would have been fine and good then, but along came Eve, making Lilith jealous. As Eve was the mother of mankind, Lilith developed a hatred of children, and was said to have stolen infants from their mothers as well as doing the regular vampire thing. Sure protection against Lilith was writing the words 'Adam and Eve may enter herein, but not Lilith the Queen,' and many bedrooms of yore proudly bore this inscription.
Vampires are the corpses of people who lead bad lives, such as heretics, suicides, or criminals, which are neither dead nor alive. They rise from the grave at night, often taking the shape of a wolf, bat, or misty vapour, to drink the blood of the living with their long, sharp incisors and then return to the grave by dawn. Victims are hypnotized, so they don't remember anything of the gruesome experience other than disturbed sleep and lack of energy. There are often characteristic puncture wounds or red marks on the victim's neck on the day following the feast. Vampires return to the same victim every night, and, over time, the victim falls ill until, unless preventative measures are taken, they eventually die. A person who dies of the vampire's 'kiss' will come back as a vampire themselves.
When we think of vampires today, we usually think of the typical Halloween-style version, complete with plastic teeth, a black cape, face blood, white face, black slicked-back hair, and a little gold plastic pendant. This, however, was actually the look created by the movie Dracula and its many sequels. Traditional vampires often look like real humans, with some telltale signs of their peculiar persuasion. One most odd feature is the presence of coarse black hair on the palms of their hands. Vampires also have pallid skin, staring eyes, and, of course, long, protruding incisors. They also cast no shadows and have no reflection in mirrors. A very creepy thing about vampires is that, no matter how long they have been buried, they still look alive because the blood they drink keeps them from decaying. Their eyes are bright, they have color in their lips, and their hair and nails are still growing.
Much can be done to kill of vampires and prevent them from attacking. The most famous (and pungent) preventative measure is to hang garlic around your bedroom and your neck (apparently, vampires hate garlic-breath, too), but salt around your windows and a crucifix under your pillow is said to be just as effective. A person who dies of the vampire's kiss should be buried with poppy seeds in their coffin and a thorn branch on top of it to keep that person from becoming one of the undead. A vampire can be killed by exposing it to sunlight or taking its corpse to a new grave, preferably by crossroads, and plunging a stake of elder wood through its heart.
Bram Stoker’s celebrated Gothic horror novel, Dracula, made vampires famous, but it’s not the only good book on the subject. For some excellent vampire fiction, I would suggest Vivian Vande Velde’s Companions of the Night and Meredith Ann Pierce’s Darkangel Trilogy. Dracula certainly isn’t the only one of the Undead around, but he’s sure done his duty. Take one look at the kids on Halloween this year, and you’ll know that vampires have emerged from their Translyvanian homeland and are here to stay.
- Bridget
