“But first, on earth as vampire sent, thy corse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt they native place, and suck the blood of all thy race;” – George G. Byron (1813)
Good eventide, thou-st creatures of the nigh, whost treden long in persuit of sugre candi, I wish thee glad tidings upon this All Hallow’s Eve! (yea for trying to speak in old english)
Lets talk about the most feared creature of the night, in light of Halloween. Vampyres (vampires) have been my sole obsession for years. I’m not talking about the 21st century depictions of vampires in Twilight or other such related garbage Hollywood produces these days… I’m talking about real vampires. You know… the ones from folklore… the ones backed with stories so gruesome and terrifying that you must pass off the tale as nothing more than just a story if only to keep your wits in check.
By Issac Fuller. (original portrait has the face of Sir William Petty)
Say what you will that vampires are the “byproduct of simple-minded folk, drunkards and the product of nonsense told around campfires,” that those stories existed to merely “frighten children out of misbehavior.” And you would be right! But, how did simple tales trigger mass fear?
Though the history and origins of Vampire lore is unknown, I found some interesting stories which might have been the inspirational source of the Vampire lore dating from Ancient Egypt to the tale of Dracula in 1887.
But since its Halloween, lets have fun with the Vamps…. muhahhahahah! And now you can tell all your ghouly friends all about how Vampires became so popular.
Sands of Time: Egyptian Origin?
Dante and Virgile. 1850. By William Bouguereau.
Long ago, near the shores of the Nile, there once lived four deities; the first, oldest spirit – a demon of the ancient world, a vengeful goddess, and two abandoned boys, who went down in history, worshiped as gods, and now forgotten.
Manuscripts tell of the oldest deity, Lilith, who was the first dark spirit of the ancient world to consume blood, and demand blood rituals for sacrifices. Skehmet was also one of the OG goddesses, granting blessings of healing, curses of wars, plagues, and the gift of sunlight… all in exchange for sacrifices. Legend tells that the other two, Osiris and Set, were abandoned by their parents and were raised by those leading in the dark arts, which attributed to Osiris and Set’s appearances resembling those of a vampire. Though the word vampire was never used, ancient descriptions lead researchers to believe the similarities between the deities and the likeness of vampires refer to the same creature.
Yet according to Ancient Origins, because so much of ancient Egyptian traditions are given up to 21st century interpretation, the “rituals are still full of secrets, so it is uncertain how much of this is true.”
Grecian Curse: The Legend of Ambrogio
Selene and Endymoin. Circa 1st century.
According to Greek mythology, the first vampire in existence wasn’t a natural creature at all, but rather a hapless victim of the wrath of the gods… cursed into being. The legend unfolded by explaining that a mortal man named Ambrogio was traveling to Greece to pay homage to Apollo. When Ambrogio arrived at the temple, he fell in love with Apollo’s oracle, Selena, and they planned to get married. However, Apollo loved Selena too, and in his jealousy, Apollo cursed Ambrogio to be burned by the sunlight. In a sad turn of events with hopes to rejoin Selena, Ambrogio sought help from Hades, who in turn tricked him into selling his soul to the god of the underworld, making him immortal. The deal Hades demanded from Ambrogio was this: to steal the great silver bow from Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. In her outrage, Artemis cursed Ambrogio to be burned by silver as an eternal revenge of the theft.
Eventually, Artemis took pity upon Ambrogio, who longed for Selena, and gifted him with supernatural strength and fangs to kill animals for food. Additionally, Artemis tells Ambrogio to drink Selena’s blood in order for her to become the same as Ambrogio, so they might live together forever. They returned to Northern Italy and begin their first vampire clan.
The plague:
Thanks to the discovery of bacteria, the germ, penicillin, the invention of microscopes, radiation and other advanced forms of medical treatment, we’ve never needed to fear the rebirth of the plague, which plagued all of Europe (and Siberia) during the 1300s till the 1600s. Think of this: when the plague went rouge in 1328, penicillin wouldn’t be discovered till exactly 5 centuries into the future. With that in mind, people during the 14th century had no idea what caused illnesses, and certainly couldn’t determine the cause of death, since doctors couldn’t see inside bodies to understand what was causing convulsions, tremors, and hallucinations, which were all symptoms of the dreaded Plague and the Black Death.
Interestingly, the World History site broke down some of the worst, most devastating kinds of plagues which developed during the Dark Ages. Each plague would be consolidated into one of three categories: Septicemic and Bubonic occurred when a victim would be directly bitten by a flea which carried the bacteria, and therefore injected the individual through cross contamination; and then there’s Pheumanic, which was the most deadly variant, occurring when the bacteria becomes airborne (when an infected individual coughed or sneezed near a healthy person, gennerally, that contaminated individual wouldn’t survive 3 days).
Because people didn’t know that diseases can spread from person to person, the individuals of the day believed that illnesses, diseases and plagues came from the curses of witches or the cause of roaming vampires, poisoning their victims from their deadly bites. Interestingly, if someone was accused of being a vampire, responsible for the rampant deaths in an area… that accused person was most likely already dead. Those who survived the diseases buried the dead in massive trenches, though took extra precautions with burring the suspected vampires.
Vampires leaving their marks
“The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crisped and sere— The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year: It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, In the misty mid region of Weir— It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir…” –Ulalume: A Ballad [excerpt] by Edgar Allan Poe
It really wasn’t till the 1800s when the threat of Vampires turned into a kind of romantically-gory topic, especially in literature, hence the classic Victorian gothic vibe… Alluring yet spooky and irresistibly foreboding. At this point in history, vampires had lost a majority of its blood-chilling stamina which terrorized the world for half a century. Bram Stroker’s Dracula played with the mythology and characteristics of the traditional gothic vampire, which ended up shaping our modern day perceptions of what we now consider to be vampires. Hooded in twilight, cloaked in a black and red cape, a tall, sickly-pale, sender body, with the swagger of a cat… and the deep, foreboding, cackling laugh.
Instead of ordinary people rising from the dead to spread diseases throughout a village, these new vampires became the ideal villain… living for centuries and haunting innocent bystanders by giving ’em a good ole dose of fear just before sucking the life out of them. *brrr got the chills?*
With that being said, I’ve shown you two very different perceptions of Vampires, yet it’s the same creature… but how did you think the Vampire’s real origin story began?
I hope you enjoyed! Happy Hallowe’en! -Elise
Interesting Sources: Poems relating to Vampires: The Best Vampire Poetry 10 Creepy Historical Vampires You’ve Never Heard Of: ListVerse The Immortal Count: LiveAboutDotCom Book about Vampires circa. 1920s: Vampires and Vampirism Vampires Unearthed in Poland: Smithsonian