V is a hard one to put something towards as it isn’t a letter too commonly used, but then I came across a type of vampire-like creature called the Vrykolakas and then I thought… wait a minute… instead of just doing a post on that one obscure creature, why not do a post on a variety of vampire creatures from different parts of the world, it all ultimately comes under V anyway… so here we are.
Featured Photo: By Carniphage on Flickr. License.
Recently on Netflix I have been watching a TV series called V Wars, it’s fairly good and I’d say it is worth a watch, but it involves humans turning into vampire-like creatures, known as Bloods, due to being infected by a new type of Prion disease released from the permafrost, transforming specific humans who harboured what is called the “Predator gene” into a new evolution of human that require the blood of normal humans (those without the predator gene) to survive.
The vampire-like attributes in this on transformation include an ugly goblin-like head with huge teeth, it’s quite scary, but they can transform back to looking normal and they can learn to control their urges. They possess the ability to heal very fast as long as they consume enough blood, super strength, the ability to see things and hear things from great distance and through obstacles that would often block sound from being heard by normal humans.
Most people in the western world when they think of vampires, their mind goes to the famous fictional Dracula from Transylvania in Romania. Many also think of a castle found there, called Bran Castle, but often referred to popularly as ‘Dracula’s Castle’. Although this castle is often referred to as Dracula’s castle, it actually has little to do with Dracula.
The book Dracula, written by Bram Stoker in 1897, which is what inspired so much lore and traits of vampires as they are seen today in cartoons and movies and other stories, had Dracula’s castle, called Castle Dracula, actually be a fictional castle in Transylvania. Although there are theories that Castle Dracula is based on Bran Castle, it isn’t proven and there are also many theories and known evidence that Castle Dracula was also based on a wide-range of different castles in Europe rather than just one in particular, one such known inspiration is the Abbey in Whitby, a harbour town in Yorkshire, UK.
Another book released before Dracula, called The Vampyre, by John William Polidori in 1816 is also credited with bringing together vampirism into a coherent work of literature and both this book and Dracula have continued to have strong influences on the basis of vampire folklore in pop culture even till this day.
There are many common traits, lore and stereotypes of the typical pop culture vampire that include sucking the blood of others to survive, being able to transform into bats, that they are undead creatures kind of like zombies but much more intelligent and easier on the eyes and that they can also turn those they bite into vampires.
The stereotypical way they often dress up is gothic-like clothing in the style of long flowing black capes, black and white undergarments or robes, black shoes and the way they look and behave can often be charming but deceptive, pale skin, fangs that may or may not protrude or even retractable fangs, dark hair that on males can often be slicked down.
Many different places can have their own vampire-like legend or scary story that are often told to children and other visitors, often in places where there is a famous castle and these stories often involve a relation to Dracula and Transylvania. I have been to Whitby twice and they are quite a particular part of the Dracula story as the author himself visited this small harbor town and got quite some inspiration from it for his book, Dracula including Whitby Abbey and the name Dracula itself which he first discovered at a public library there.
Here he came across a book published in 1820 that recorded the experiences of a British consul in Bucharest called William Wilkinson, in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, now part of Romania. In this book a 15th Century Prince was mentioned called Vlad Tepes, often called Vlad the Impaler, who was a prince said to impale his enemies on wooden stakes. This Prince was known as Dracula, this word in the Wallachia language meant “Devil” and was often given as a surname to people who were conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions or cunning.
Due to Whitby playing quite a part in the inspiration for Dracula, there is now a Dracula-inspired legend associated with the Whitby Abbey, which I was told twice on my two trips there on two separate years as part of an end-of-year school holiday trip.
But all of the above is of course vampires as they are basically portrayed by pop culture, although bits and bobs of it definitely were pulled from earlier existing regional vampire folklore and legend. So, let’s us look at a number of different vampire folklore and creatures…
Earlier I mentioned the Vrykolakas and so I may as well start with that one. It is a vampire-like creature or even a sub-species of vampire, but what they look like isn’t exactly clear, they can resemble the person who became one, but can also look much more undead or possibly wretched, perhaps withered. The creature originates from Greek and Slavic folklore. The undead creature could be seen more reminiscent of a zombie as it eats flesh, with a favoring of the liver, instead of drinking blood.
Many practices were put into place to stop a person who had died from coming back as a Vrykolakas, such as by impaling the dead body using stakes before burial, burying a body upside down, placing sickles and scythes or other earthely objects near a grave so that if some demon rouses a Vrykolakas it won’t wish to rise from the grave. A funny way of stalling the Vrykolakas is to drop sand or seeds around the grave, for some reason many vampire-like creatures and other evil creatures from around the world seem to have severe OCD and have to pick up and count every piece.
In some parts of the folklore one Vrykolakas would be able to turn living people into a Vrykolakas, often performed by walking into a town or village and knocking on a person’s door, if the person answered they would die and then turn into a Vrykolakas, if no one answered then the Vrykolakas would move on. This can be credited to a superstition of waiting for a 2nd knock before opening the door.
Other Vrykolakas folklore described the creature starting epidemics in the towns and villages they visited and so seeing one could be a sign or bad omen of things to come. In some instances, Vrykolakas has been described being able to use poltergeist-like powers, meaning that even if they are impaled into their burial or other precautions were taken, they could still cause havoc, in this case it was often advised to do an exorcism to prevent this from happening.
There were many possible reasons for why someone might turn into a Vrykolakas after dying, which includes being sacrilegious, having been excommunicated from a religious institution and burial in ground that had not been consecrated.
The Vrykolakas also has a relation to wolves and werewolves, one such relation is that eating the meat of a sheep that had been killed by a werewolf or even just a normal wolf can lead to turning into a Vrykolakas after death. Other legends describe werewolves themselves becoming a powerful Vrykolakas after being killed, a Vrykolakas that was formerly a werewolf is said to be identified by wolflike fangs, hairy palms and glowing eyes.
Another type of Vampire from Slavic folklore is the Wurdulac also called Wurdalak or Verdilak, yay! Another V. This vampire was a blood sucker but that it had to feed only from its loved ones and had a goal of converting its entire family into Wurdulac’s.
There is also the upyr, the Russian version of the Vampire. The upyr were often described as being former werewolves and witches or even again nasty sinners who had been excommunicated from their church and in Ukraine specifically it was feared the upyr could bring with them both epidemics and droughts.
The Shtriga is a vampire-like witch from Albanian folklore. This vile creature, often depicted having a disfigured face and a hateful stare, would hunt down infants while they slept in bed and drain them of their blood. They also had the ability to turn into a flying insect, which would normally be a moth, fly or bee. The Shtriga would be the only one capable of curing those they drained blood from, such as by spitting in their mouth (disgusting).
If the victims were not healed then they would become sickly and eventually die. It was said woman who were childless or who were evil through envy or that did not follow religion could turn into a Shtriga.
Another Vampire-esque creature is the Soucouyant, known under many other names, coming from Caribbean folklore and some parts of the Americas, it is a hag that sucks the blood of the living while they sleep, entering into homes through the tiniest gaps and trades the blood she sucks with a demon in return for evil powers. This entity’s true form is that of a fireball that can fly, but that she is able to wear the skin of the deceased, usually those she has killed by sucking lots of blood from them, to disguise herself. Signs someone has had blood sucked by this creature are blue-black marks on the skin.
Again, a way of catching a Soucouyant out is sprinkling down rice, cause again they can’t help but count every piece, they are then dealt with accordingly, such as by placing salt into the mortar she keeps her skin, killing the Soucouyant.
A strange vampire-like creature from Malay folklore is that of the Penanggalan, a female who practices black magic can turn themselves into one of these, by bathing in a vinegar bath, keeping their head out of the water while meditating, they can detach from their body and fly away as just a head and neck, trailing organs behind. They would then look to devour the blood of young children and pregnant woman, usually they would hide under the stilts of a house and use a very long tongue to lap at the blood of a birthing mother, those who are victims will get a wasting disease that is always fatal.
The entrails from the neck though are also dangerous as if touched by them they can cause terrible sores on the skin, only capable of being cured by a Bomoh, a Malay shaman and medicine practitioner. A common defense against these evil beings was to use thorny leaves or sharp shards of glass, especially on entryways to homes, to snag the entrails of the Penanggalan. They can also be kept away if a pregnant woman keeps scissors or cutters under her pillow.
By day the Penanggalan will return to her body and reattach her neck and head, but the smell of vinegar can indicate a woman who is a Penanggalan.
The Manananggal is quite similar to the Penanggalan, but instead comes from Philippine folklore. It can detach its upper torso in a similar fashion, but can also sprout bat-like wings that enable it to fly and although the creature is usually female, males can also sometimes be a Manananggal. It sucks the blood of people sleeping but more commonly targets those pregnant and also haunts newlyweds. It uses a long prosbocis-like tongue to suck the blood from the heart of a fetus or from those sleeping, this makes it very comparable to another Phillipine folklore creature known as the Aswang, which I featured in my first ever Paranormal Alphabet post.
When detached from its lower torso, it was just left casually standing there and is a vulnerable target for those wishing to kill a Manananggal, such as by throwing salt, crushed garlic (finally garlic makes an appearance) or ash on it.
The Adze is a vampire-like creature from the folklore of the Ewe ethnic group in Africa. This creature was able to possess others to do negative things to people within their family and friend groups that the possessed were envious of, these people possessed were seen as witches or “abasom” in the Ewe language. The Adze could transform into a fly, easily allowing it access to homes in the night to feed on the blood of those sleeping and the victims would become sick and eventually die. Scarily, there is no defense against them.
As can be seen there are many vampire-like creatures around the world and the above is only a very short list of some of them, there are many, many more types out there all across the world.
Next up we reach W… where we will be talking about the infamous Wendigo.
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