Vampire History
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WHAT IS A VAMPIRE?
A vampire is a creature from folklore that subsists by feeding on the vital essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighborhoods they inhabited while they were alive.
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DIFFERENT TYPES OF VAMPIRES
SANGUINE VAMPIRES (Bloodsuckers)
The most common type of vampire found in different cultures and myths all around the world—from ancient Babylon and Greece to Asia and back to Balkans, where the modern myth of blood-sucking Vampires was originated. They are vampires who require blood for strength, and survival.
They cannot be satisfied with blood from dead animals, and by some beliefs can be harmed if the blood is infused with the strong force of religion, love or if the human has consumed large quantities of garlic before being attacked. According to many myths, one single feeding of blood can provide a vampire with subsidence for two weeks.
There are four distinct breeds of Sanguine Vampire currently known to reside on Earth:
- The Direct Demonic Origin Vampires (Common Vampires)
These are the most numerous vampires on Earth. This is why they are usually referred to as the Common or Standard Vampires. They are the ones you probably know best from movies or television, such as the infamous Dracula. They appear as exquisite humans yet can transform their faces into something more monstrous by varying degrees. Eye glowing and fangs popping out are the most common transformation traits.
Earlier generations of Direct Demonic Origin Vampires can appear extremely monstrous at will! Unlike the Nosferatu who are equal in strength to each other, the Standard Vampire grows stronger the longer they live with the strongest of their kind. Each successive generation has less paranormal power.
- Nosferatu: The Indirect Demonic Origin Vampire
A vampire whose ultimate origin is indirectly demon in nature. It’s been said that there is a strain of this vampiric virus with a pandemic capability similar to the zombie virus; thereby creating the potential for a Vampire Apocalypse! Humans generally catch this type of vampire virus from an infected animal that bites them. The most common animals to transmit the virus are Vampire Bats who have been infected by a Bat Flea, a paranormal cryptid that is the main carrier of the free-form vampire virus. Some cryptozoologists have suggested that the Bat Flea may be demonic tampering of natural evolution.
Those who are infected with the vampire virus in this way are hideous creatures referred to as Nosferatu. Unlike the usual beautiful vampires who can hide their monstrous side, and mingle charmingly among us, the Nosferatu are damned to hide in the dark moonlit shadows for their entire lives nearly 1000 years depending on how much quality human blood they consume.
Despite their appearance and rancid stench, they do possess some measure of vampire hypnotic compelling powers. So, those with weak minds can be easily deceived. However, it uses too much sanguine energy, so they usually just attack people to drain them of their blood instead.
To turn a human into a vampire, the Nosferatu only has to bite a victim and then let them live with the horror. It’s basically like being a sapient zombie who holds off the rot with blood. Luckily, they rarely leave anyone alive to face such Earthly damnation.
The Nosferatu are the closest to naturally evolved vampires in the respect that they display very little supernatural magic like a Common Vampire. Their eyes don’t glow, and their appearance can’t change. Their fangs are always out with no retraction ability. Other than limited hypnotic abilities, they can’t attain talents and powers by drinking people’s blood. There’s also no psychic powers as well. They merely have enhanced strength, speed, agility, and senses. They are no match for The Common Direct Demonic Origin Vampire! Most Common vampires consider the Nosferatu an inferior sub-species that they will gladly hunt down for sport.
- The Magical Origin Vampire
The rarest of the three vampire types and have a mostly non-demonic origin. It is a human who has been cursed to become or transformed into a vampire by a powerful practitioner of magic. In some cases when talking about witches or warlocks, they may call upon demons for power, causing a demonic connection.
Magical Origin vampires will have varying degrees of vampire strengths, and weaknesses along with ones that never existed before.
Usually, there’s some sadistic twist as this mystical vampirism is doled out as a punishment to a human who crossed the wrong mad magician, or vengeful Gypsy!
- The Human Vampire
They are the only sanguine sipping vampires who can always walk in holy sunlight. They are sometimes mistakenly called Reverse Vampires.
Human Vampires possess an active vampire superpower gene, for every human on Earth is born with all latent psychokinetic powers that exist in the Omniverse within their Junk DNA. This is the physical manifestation of our infinite higher-dimensional souls that exist in the Afterlife.
A Human Vampire has all the powers of a standard vampire without the weaknesses. However, if they choose to avoid their urge to consume blood, they will temporarily lose their powers until they do so. In addition, they age about the same as a standard human. Although the more blood they consume, the longer they can hold off the aging. That being said, there are rumors that draining an immortal human of their blood would grant the vampire immortality!
PSI VAMPIRES
This type of vampire does not physically harm their victims or willing donors, but they extract life force which enables them to continue living. This psionic ability can work both with single victims and by extracting the life force from crowds of people. Most often, victims cannot notice that the vampire is feeding on them, and the effects of such feeding can be short and long-term fatigue (they very rarely lead to death).
EMPHATIC VAMPIRES
Emphatic or Elemental Vampire - This type of vampire can feed on the emotion of people around them, most often positive energies such as happiness and love, but also from negative energies such as anger and fear. Vampires that feed on such darker emotions are often responsible for causing them (scaring the victim), but the rest of empathic vampires simply feed on the currently present emotions that are around them. Elemental vampires are similar, but they feed on natural elements of wind and lightning.
SEXUAL VAMPIRES
Sexual Vampires sustain their lives by absorbing sexual life force energies from their willing partners, especially during a moment of orgasm. They do their feeding either psychically or by consuming bodily fluids. The most famous mythical sexual vampire is the Succubus or Incubus.
SOUL VAMPIRES
These vampires feed on the soul energy of their victims, usually shortening their life span visibly or sometimes killing them from excessive feeding.
- The Direct Demonic Origin Vampires (Common Vampires)
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VAMPIRE ORIGINS
MEDITERRANEAN LEGEND
The First Vampire Ambrogio
There was a human named Ambrogio. He was an Italian adventurer whose fate brought to Delphi in Greece. A series of blessings and curses transformed this young man into history's first vampire.
Continue Reading . . .It began with the Greek god of the sun Apollo, who in a fit of rage cursed Ambrogio so that his skin would burn if it ever touched sunlight again. Ambrogio's bad luck followed when he ended up gambling away his soul to Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. The next curse came from Apollo's sister Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and hunt, who made Ambrogio's skin burn if he touched silver.
The blessings came soon after when Artemis took pity on the poor young man. She gave him the gift of immortality. He would carry his curses—his skin burning by sunlight or silver—but he would live forever in his current form. Not only that, but Artemis also gave him the speed and strength to become a hunter whose skills were second only to her own.
Blood-sucking, or in other terms "hematophagy," was also included in this "blessing". In the vampire origin story, Ambrogio hunts swans and uses their blood as ink to write love poems to his lady Selene.
Read full story here.
The First Vampire Clan from AmbrogioAmbrogio later moved back to Italy, now as a full-fledged vampire. Legend traces him to the city of Florence (Firenze), where he creates the first Vampire Clan.
We don't know a whole lot about this clan, other than they were most likely willing volunteers—humans who wanted power and immortality and were willing to trade their souls for it. It was believed that the curse would continue for any vampire where their souls would remain in the Underworld, where they could return to claim them, but then could never leave.
THE FIRST VAMPIRE CAIN
Both the modern-day Bible and the Quran identify Cain as the first son born of Adam and Eve and his brother Abel being the second. Cain was said to have been a cultivator of the land while Abel was a shepherd. One evening Cain selected the finest of his harvest to present to God the Father as an offering. Abel also presented an offering, comprised of the finest calf of his flock and other choice cuts of meat from fatted calves among his herd. God found favor in Abel’s offering and showered praise down upon him, while no praise was given to Cain.
Continue Reading . . .Cain grew jealous of Abel. One day as he and his brother walked out into the fields, Cain murdered his brother with his bare hands. The Earth below swallowed his blood and immediately called out to God, notifying the Father of Abel’s death. After this, God said unto Cain, “Where is thou brother Abel?” to which Cain replied, “I do not know: Am I my brothers’ keeper?”
After this, God said to Cain, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth out to me from the ground.”
God placed a curse upon Cain that no longer would the soil of the earth yield healthy crops for him and he would walk the earth as a fugitive and a vagabond. The Hebrew legend states that the ground trembled as Cain received the curse, indicatory of tremors that Cain may have suffered while receiving a mark from God for his sin. In this mark, God made an oath that Cain would wander the earth aimlessly and that Cain would have divine protection against premature death. No man could kill Cain.
The First Vampire Cain: Lilith, the First Wife of Adam
Cain began to wander the earth until he met up with Lilith. There are two conflicting stories of where the encounter took place: the first states that they met at the Red Sea; the second states that they met while Cain wandered the land of Nod.
Lilith sees that he is cold and hungry and welcomes him as she identifies herself as the first wife of Adam. After staying with her for some time, the two of them become lovers. Cain begins to realize that Lilith has powers and magic that he too would like to possess. Lilith hesitates but creates an Awakening Ceremony where she opens herself with a knife and bleeds into a bowl. She gives the bowl to Cain and orders him to drink her blood. After Cain partakes in her blood, he is visited by three angels, each offering an opportunity for him to repent of the murder of his brother. Cain rebukes each opportunity and with each rejection, he is cursed. The first curse was a weakness to fire, the second, vulnerability to sunlight and the third would implant a beast-like urge within him that would only be quelled by the taste of blood.
The First Vampire Cain: The First Vampire Clan
Time passed and Cain came to master his new abilities. As he grew stronger, he again yearned to wander the earth, thus leaving Lilith behind. Cain was said to have eventually settled in a small agricultural community known as Ubar, which was inhabited by the children of Seth and ruled by their King Enoch. It was here that Cain would become known as the Dark Father.
The villagers were aware of Cain and were familiar with his mark. However, a short time passed before they began to worship him as they marveled at his powers, which led to King Enoch relinquishing his thrown to Cain who would rule over the city. As Cain was king, there was a legend that one evening, Cain was watching two young lovers amongst his court. Touched by the affection between the two, he decided to share his gift of immortality so that they would be in love forever. Eventually, the couple surrendered to his wishes, but once they discovered that they could not bear children, they became distraught and walked into the sun; thus, ending their immortal lives and love. Cain was so heartbroken by their actions that he forbade the mention of their names.
The former King, Enoch, had begged Cain to introduce him to his powers for decades. But, due to the grief he had from the young lovers' death, Cain was reluctant to oblige. The raging beast within him, however, longed for the companionship of others like him. So, after constant attempts made by Enoch, Cain eventually gave up. He shared his power.
Cain, in honor of his new vampiric son Enoch, declared Ubar to be known as the 'City of Enoch'. Then as time passed, Enoch began to desire kindred brethren of his own. Cain obliged and created several vampiric sons. These sons became leaders of armies, farmers of the land and inventors of great creations. The city of Enoch became a great empire boasting some of the finest crops and modern technologies of its time, only until it was destroyed by the great flood.
VLAD THE IMPALER
It’s thought that Bram Stoker named Count Dracula after Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad Dracula was born in Transylvania, Romania. He ruled Walachia, Romania, off and on from 1456-1462.
Continue Reading . . .Some historians describe him as a just—yet brutally cruel—ruler who valiantly fought off the Ottoman Empire. He earned his nickname because his favorite way to kill his enemies was to impale them on a wooden stake.
According to legend, Vlad Dracula enjoyed dining amidst his dying victims and dipping his bread in their blood. Whether those gory tales are true is unknown. Many people believe these stories sparked Stoker’s imagination to create Count Dracula who was also from Transylvania, who sucked his victim’s blood and could be killed by driving a stake through his heart.
But, according to Dracula expert Elizabeth Miller, Stoker didn’t base Count Dracula’s life on Vlad Dracula. Nonetheless, the similarities between the two Draculas are intriguing.
MERCY BROWN
Mercy Brown may rival Count Dracula as the most notorious vampire. Unlike Count Dracula, however, Mercy was a real person. She lived in Exeter, Rhode Island and was the daughter of George Brown, a farmer.
Continue Reading . . .After George lost many family members, including Mercy, in the late 1800s to tuberculosis, his community used Mercy as a scapegoat to explain their deaths. It was common at that time to blame several deaths in one family on the “undead.” The bodies of each dead family member were often exhumed and searched for signs of vampirism.
When Mercy’s body was exhumed and didn’t display severe decay (not surprising, since her body was placed in an above-ground vault during a New England winter), the townspeople accused her of being a vampire and making her family sick from her icy grave. They cut out her heart, burned it, then fed the ashes to her sick brother. Perhaps not surprisingly, he died shortly thereafter.
VAMPIRE DISEASES
There are a number of real medical conditions that might result in vampiric behavior or appearance. Here are two:
Porphyria- It is a rare disease characterized by irregularities in the production of heme, an iron-rich pigment in blood. People with the more severe forms of porphyria are highly sensitive to sunlight, experience severe abdominal pain and may suffer from acute delirium.
- One possible treatment for porphyria in the past might have been to drink blood to correct the imbalance in the body (though there's no clear evidence of this).
- Some porphyria sufferers do have reddish mouths and teeth, due to irregular production of the heme pigment.
Catalepsy- A peculiar physical condition associated with epilepsy, schizophrenia and other disorders that affect the central nervous system. During a cataleptic episode, a person essentially freezes up.
- Someone suffering from acute catalepsy could very well be mistaken for a corpse.
- In the past, people would decide if someone was dead or alive based only on appearance. Hence, the declaration of death was possible if someone appeared to look dead.
- A cataleptic episode can last many hours, even days, which would allow enough time for a burial. And very often, the person, after the cataleptic episode, would wake up, dig themselves out and return home almost like a zombie. In this case, a vampire.
- Also, if the person did suffer from a psychological disorder, such as schizophrenia, he or she might have exhibited the strange and disturbing behavior associated with vampires.
FEAR OF DEATH
Often, these legends arose from a misunderstanding of how bodies decompose. As a corpse’s skin shrinks, its teeth and fingernails can appear to have grown longer. And as internal organs break down, a dark “purge fluid” can leak out of the nose and mouth. People unfamiliar with this process would interpret this fluid to be blood and suspect that the corpse had been drinking it from the living.
Continue Reading . . .Bloody corpses weren’t the only cause for suspicion. Before people understood how certain diseases spread, they sometimes imagined vampires were behind the unseen forces slowly ravaging their communities. “The one constant in the evolution of vampire legend has been its close association with disease,” writes Mark Collins Jenkins in his book Vampire Forensics. Trying to kill vampires, or prevent them from feeding, was a way for people to feel as though they had some control over the disease.
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HOW TO BECOME A VAMPIRE
Based on the Mediterranean Legend
There is a ritual that is consistent with earlier legends of vampires, where the human host must drink the blood of the vampire in order to transform. According to legend, the reason for this ritual goes all the way back to the beginning of vampire history, which is the story of the first vampire Ambrogio and his star-crossed lover Selene.
Ambrogio's one true love was a mortal woman named Selene who he was forbidden from mating with. On her deathbed, Selene begged Ambrogio to create children for her, so with the approval of Artemis, Ambrogio drank Selene's blood. Apparently the mixing of his blood and her blood together was the only way Ambrogio could pass on his vampirism to another human.
Later, legends say that all future vampires were created by Ambrogio by the same ritual - he would drink the human's blood, which would mix with his own (and Selene's). The vampire would then bite his own wrist, and the human would have to willingly drink the mixed blood in order to become a real vampire.
Spell to Become a Vampire (Alternative)
There are several poems in the Vampire Bible that are dedicated to Selene, the vampire mother. It is a tradition to honor Selene with poems just as her true love Ambrogio did while she was still alive. Ambrogio's vampire love poems are the inspiration for this tradition, though many of the later poems are more about gratitude and worship than love.
One such poem, in particular, is interesting because it appears to be a prayer to Selene asking for her specific assistance in becoming a vampire. It's not exactly a "spell", but it is a request to the vampire mother to send one of her "children" to the reader of the poem in order to be turned into a vampire. This makes much more sense than a magic spell and could possibly be one of the only ways to attract vampires to one's self.
The poem itself is in Latin, with a translation into English following. If anyone were going to use this as a sort of spell to become a vampire, it would be best to read aloud the Latin version (I would think). Use it at your own risk.
Ode to the Vampire MotherLatin:
O dea tenebris
mater immortalibus
puer tuus fac me sicut renascentur
mea lux vestra absorbere
liceat mihi locus ad tenebras
sicut ex utero immortales
filios tuos in ulnis
quibus invocaverit te frater
O lunae lumen
puer tuus fac me sicut renascentur
me duce tenebris sunt
i ita erit renatus
English:
Oh goddess of the darkness
mother to the immortal
let me be reborn as your child
let your light absorb my own
Allow me passage to the darkness
as from your immortal womb
into the arms of your children
to whom I will call brother
Oh moonlight
let me be reborn as your child
guide the dark ones to me
so I shall be born again
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SOURCES
Vampire Facts (2020). Vampire Information. Types of Vampires. Retrieved from http://www.vampirefacts.net/vampire-information/types-of-vampires/
Abercrombie, A. (2019). Mystic Investigations. What are the four types of vampires. Retrieved from https://mysticinvestigations.com/paranormal/four-vampire-types/
Gods and Monsters. (2020). History of Vampires. Retrieved from https://www.gods-and-monsters.com/history-of-vampires.html
Harris, T. (2020) How Vampires Work. How Studd Works. Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/vampire5.htm
Vampire History (2020). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/vampire-history
Little, B. (2016) The Bloody Truth about Vampires. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/10/vampires-europe-new-england-halloween-history/
Wordpress. (2020). The Cain Vampire Origination. Retrieved from https://authorlyngibson.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/the-cain-vampire-origination-theory/
