Vampire Legend Origins

Vampires according to popular legend, are creatures of the night that suck on the blood of victims (often depicted as young damsels) sometimes turning them to one of their own. It cannot survive during daylight and as such returns to its resting place, most notably a coffin, grave or tomb containing earth from its native land / original burial place. However it has to be said that according to some legends the vampire can survive in daylight, but his powers are severely weakened. There are also many different takes on how to keep off or destroy them. Some say garlic and crosses or crucifixes work and others say they do not. Then theres the stake. To some it destroy them to others it is a paralytic. The same is said of silver.

There are many legends of vampires across all cultures but the most notable and notorious tale is that of Count Dracula. This tale was made popular by the novelist Bram Stoker and was based on the life (or after-life) of Prince Vlad Tepes of Walachia (Vlad the Impaler). He went on to rule this now Romanian province as King on 3 separate occasions, although born in Transylvania, and defended it from the might of the Ottoman Empire. Anyway that’s enough of the history, we’re here for legends. It is from this Bram Stoker tale that many people make the assumption of thinking the legend of Count Dracula was Transylvanian. A lot of films and stories have since been based on that one legend and the story depicted by Bram Stoker however, there are still many other not so known vampire legends and that is what this blog aims to show you.

Other not so notable vampire legends are:

• The Highgate Vampire, based in London, England;
• The Richmond Vampire, based in Richmond, Virginia, USA in 1925;
• Energy Vampires;
• Nosferatu & the Count Orlok;
• Armand & Marius from ‘The Vampire Chronicles’ by Anne Rice;
• Lord Ruthven of England;
• Elizabeth Báthory of Hungary;
• Victor Renquist & Lamia the Great Vampire;
• The Vǎrkolak of Bulgarian folklore;
• And not forgetting the notorious “Vampire Pumpkins & Watermelons”.

I will cover these great legends in greater detail in their own individual articles and maybe you or I or all of us together can figure out if there are real life vampires out there. I hope you enjoy these and many more Vampire Legends.