since folklore itself is mostly a collection of stories told and handed down, an argument can be made that these changes are as valid as anything told around a campfire or spoken of in folk songs. No argument. Writers have long been called the new mythmakers.
These new myths are nicely thought out, too. Dracula has more or less become the Bullfinch’s Mythology of vampirism for the modern age. This is not to say that were no connections between early vampire beliefs and religion. There certainly were and they took very many forms. Using religion as a weapon against evil is not confined to Christian countries or even to the Christian era. Vampires are tied to various religions around the world, from widespread religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam to the less common religions of the druids and Native Americans. In every country, vampire stories have been influenced by religious beliefs and popular fiction so that the original folkloric beliefs are often muddied, and in some cases, entirely lost. This makes it very difficult for the vampire slayer to know the nature and specifics of his unnatural enemy because he cannot trust most of what is “popularly” believed.
And, before we get hate mail…the vampires discussed in this chapter are subtypes of the monster paradigm. Our remarks here do not refer to those persons who embrace vampirism as a real and valued part of their lifestyle. Our focus is strictly on the supernatural monsters that prey with malicious intent upon humans.
On Mythology
“Humanity created mythology to answer unanswerable questions, to give voice to our innate human vulnerabilities. Film, TV and Literature are just a continuation of that very basic human need to express ourselves and our fears.”
—Amber Benson played “Tara” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the author of Death’s Daughter (Ace, 2009) and Cat’s Claw (Ace, 2010).
WHAT MAKES JOHNNY BITE?
The process by which a recently dead body becomes a vampire is up for debate. Every culture has its own take. Here are some examples from around our dark planet:
Animal interference
In Chinese and some Slavic folktales a vampire is created when a cat or dog jumps over a fresh grave.
Elsewhere in the world corpse-jumping is tied to humans strolling across a new grave, or birds, stray animals of all kinds, and even insects.
In China, tigers are believed to possess what was known as a “soul-recalling hair” that hooks part of the spirit when it crosses over a grave.
The corpse-jumping phenomenon stems from the belief that the spirit of the dead can snatch a portion of the life of any living creature and use it to rekindle its own unnatural life.
In Western Europe if a black cat or a white dog watches a funeral, then the corpse will rise.
Conversely, in Russia, if a white dog wanders through the graveyard, then the dead will not rise.
Marked for damnation
Being born with a caul—an amniotic membrane covering the face—in some cases indicates the presence of evil within the newborn. Vampire species created through this means3 include the Wume of Togo, the Nachtzehrer of Germany, the Strigoi of Romania, the Upier and Ohyn of Poland; while in other cultures it’s a sign of great positive spiritual power.
On the peninsula of Istria, both the Croats and Slavs believe that a caul is a sure sign that the child will either become a good-natured and heroic kresnik, or a foul and vampiric kudlak.4
Some cultures believed that a child born with teeth was destined to become a bloodsucker. This includes the Neuntoter of Germany, Viesczy in Russia, the Upier and Ohyn of Poland.
Red hair was seldom viewed as anything but a sign of trouble in days gone by. This idea got kick-started when some genius decided that Judas was red haired. As a result, a cult of red-haired vampires called the Children of Judas was purported to terrorize parts of Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria.
You’d think that being born with a physical deformity was enough of a burden, but in many cultures such people were reviled as having been marked by evil. This is one of the most common prejudices associated with the belief in vampires, and it occurs all throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The Caul of David Copperfield
“I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas. Whether seagoing people were short of money about that time, or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets, I don’t know; all I know is, that there was but one solitary bidding, and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business, who offered two pounds in cash, and the balance in sherry, but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain. Consequently the advertisement was withdrawn at a dead loss…and ten years afterwards, the caul was put up in a raffle down in our part of the country, to fifty members at half-a-crown a head, the winner to spend five shillings. I was present myself, and I remember to have felt quite uncomfortable and confused, at a part of myself being disposed of in that way. The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady with a hand-basket…. It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two.”
—from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Good days, bad days
The day on which a child is born impacts everything from astrology to damnation. In a number of countries being born on a holy day was seen as an insult to God. (As if the child or the mother had a choice!)
Being born on a Saturday—the biblically dictated day of rest—was also viewed as an insult. The Ustrel of Bulgaria, for example, is a person damned to an unlife of vampirism for daring to be born on the Sabbath. Conversely, in Greece, a person born on that day is destined to fight evil. (See the entry on the Sabbatarian in chapter 4.)
Oh, baby
This one is really disturbing. In India, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and a few other places, a stillborn child is believed to linger on Earth as a vampire—either a bloodsucker or some kind of essential vampire. The Pontianak of Java and Malaysia is one such tragic monster; others include the Bajang and Langsuir of Malaysia, the Ekimmu of Assyrian and Mesopotamian belief, the Ohyn of Poland, and the Pret of India.
In many of the same countries the mother of the dead child is likewise doomed, particularly if she dies during childbirth.
Repent, sinners!
One of the most reliable ways for a person to become a vampire is to die unrepentant. Many cultures hold this to be the case, and it’s particularly true if the sinner dies while engaged in a violent act, or dies as a result of violence.
Suicides are also damned souls, according to Western beliefs. A suicide is doomed to return as a ghost or a vampire, or some unpleasant combination of the two.
Murder victims are also in trouble. Dying by any kind of violence apparently tethers the soul to this world as a pernicious spirit of one kind or another.
Christa Campbell, Vampire and Hunter
“As an actress I love exploring both dark and light characters because it’s part of our human nature. Though…at the end of the day I prefer to see good win over evil.”
—Christa Campbell has appeared in 2001 Maniacs, The Wicker Man, and Blood: A Butcher’s Tale.
A person who dies craving revenge sometimes gets the chance by rising from the grave.
If