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There are legends of vampires and other creatures that suck blood, they originate from all over the world. According to these legends, the vampire was a living corpse, that returned from the dead and haunted people.

It was believed that the vampires left their graves at sunset each night, to search for human victims, they would then drink the blood of the victim, who was quite often the people he vampire knew in his lifetime. Human blood was what the vampire was supposed to need to keep them alive.

Vampires were thought to be violent criminals or anyone who had died suddenly. Anyone who committed suicide, or who was the victim of a vampire attack was thought to become a vampire on death.

Often the vampire had not had a proper burial, and it was believed that the spirit was unable to go to heaven or hell because of it.

The most terrifying of vampire myths come from Eastern Europe, an example of the type is the Polish vampires that would float in coffins filled with blood.

Most people in the middle ages believed in the existence of vampires, and the stories come from every country, but not all vampires behaved in the same way. Some of them were supposed to fly or change shape. Most vampires were accused of attacking animals as well as humans. In some areas of the world a vampire was bodiless, and went around as a ghost, and in some areas, there were arguments as to what reanimated the corpse, was it a demon or the soul of the recently departed?

Not all vampires had to dig up through the earth to get out of the coffin, some of them could actually make itself mist-like and then was able to come up through the cracks between the mud and stones, as a result locked doors were no problem for a vampire either the vampire could just assume the mist form and slide under the door frame, unless the occupant had gone and rubbed garlic over the door first. Nearly all legends tell of the vampire drinking blood, but some were said to eat the flesh of its victims. Others were said to be invisible and were able to throw things about, and knock the victims black and blue.

Europe was therefore terrorised for many centuries by the belief in vampires, the ancient Greeks feared human-like demons that drank blood from the living, the Norse people of Scandinavia believed that the dead were alive in their graves, but had become evil and violent. Vampires were not reported in Britain after 1300, but the belief in them lasted much longer in the rest of Europe, for example in Bulgaria, there was case in 1863, where a vampire epidemic raged, it continued until a witch discovered the evil spirit that was causing it.

There was a number of different types of vampire, the Russian one was called a ‘Vieszcy’, and it ate its own hands and feet while it was in the coffin during the day. The Bulgarian vampire had two forms, the first one was while the vampire was new, and for the first 40 days it only appeared as a filmy entity with sparks running through it, once it learned to be evil it took the appearance of the former person and was distinguishable by, only having one nostril and also a long sharp tongue.

The Germans had three types, the first was called a ‘Neuntoter’, it was blamed for spreading plague and was covered in sores. The second is the most famous one the ‘Dracul’, this vampire was a corpse that had been brought back to life by a demon. And the third was called ‘Nachzehrer’, this one had very strange habits, it would lie holding its thumb whilst in the tomb, it always kept its left eye open and devoured its shroud whilst grunting loudly.

In Transylvania, there was a vampire called a ‘Murony’. It could change into a cat, dog, toad, or any blood sucking insect, this made it easy to stalk prey, as people would not suspect animals until it was too late.

There was many ways to protect against vampire attack, many people used ointments or charms, but the best way to ward off vampires was by using a cross, garlic, wild roses and fire. It was possible to kill a vampire, but it was far more important to try and prevent a victim from becoming a vampire itself and trying to leave its grave. A vampires bite turned its victims into new vampires when the victim died, they hypnotised the victim into allowing them to feed on the person, and as the victim was hypnotised the vampire could return several times to finish its meal.

Also great care was taken over the dead, so that people could make sure that the dead, did not become a vampire, they were never left in the dark, and were always watched.

The following precautions were used in Europe during the 15^th and 16^th centuries, after someone had died and night had fallen:

Being a creature of the night, the undead, were terrified of fire and light, so torches were often lit outside the house, and inside there was a large fire in the hearth all night long, as well as candles.

Vampires hated garlic, and anyone that did not like it was thought rather suspicious, it was hung around the rooms and rubbed onto doorframes, windows and even the farm animals, to keep the vampires away.

Sun and moonlight, were once seen as sources of life giving energy and as such may be able to reanimate a corpse, as a result the curtains were shut during the day, as they still are.

Animals were a big problem for an unburied corpse, in one jumped over the coffin, then the occupant was most definitely assured of becoming a vampire. The animal might even have the same fate at death.

The mirrors in the house were thought to reflect the soul, and as such they were taken down or turned over to face the wall, when a corpse was near. This was so the soul of the dead person did not become trapped in the mirror.

There was a number of burial customs, that were used to keep the undead away, and to keep the person suspected of being a vampire, from turning into one and leaving the coffin. Wild roses were laid over the body in the coffin. As well as the grave being dug deep, so the corpse had a way to go if it tried to dig its way out. Other ways of burying people suspected of being vampires were:

They were pinned in the coffin by a steak, and buried at the crossroads, this was done to confuse the vampire, so it could not return home.

Heavy stones were placed on the grave to prevent it from climbing out.

Skeletons were sometimes rivetted to the coffin, their legs were broken so they could not walk, and they had a red dye painted on the bones, so the vampire would mistake it for blood.

There was also a number of ways to kill a vampire, and they differed from place to place. Some of the more common ones were:

Drive a steak into its heart in a single blow.

Hammer red-hot nails into the body in place of the steak, as well as into the head.

Ripping the heart out of the corpse, and then boil it in oil.

Behead the corpse with a gravediggers shovel.

There were also a number of ways in which people kept the demons away that would reanimate the corpse, these were:

Place crosses of willow wood under the armpits.

Sprinkle holy water on the body.

Fill its mouth with garlic.

Scatter tiny seeds around the coffin, the demon would then have to count every single one before it could enter the body.

A classic vampire case is that of Arnold Paole.

In 1729, he was a young soldier from Serbia, and was sent to a remote haunted part of Greece. One night he was attacked by a vampire. He knew what he must do, if he was to not become a vampire himself, he had to follow the vampire and find the grave, eat some of the earth from around the grave, and smear himself in the vampires blood. He did this, but was so afraid that he quit the army and went home.

He settled down on his small farm in the village of Meduegna, and seem to quite fine. He died one day though in a accident falling from a cart. He was buried in local churchyard, but he did not rest on peace there.

Within a month he was seen, going around the village at night, those that saw his spirit became very ill and died shortly after. Panic was starting to spread and it was decided to see whether or not Arnold was a vampire, so they decided to go and dig him up and check.

This was carried out about ten weeks after his funeral. The gravedigger dug up the coffin, watched by the local officials, and army doctors, as well as the local populace.

The coffin was opened and they all saw that he was a vampire, he had moved to one side of the coffin, and his hair and nails had grown. His mouth was also red with new blood.

His corpse had to be dealt with in one of the ways for killing a vampire. So the villagers scattered garlic over the ground near the grave, and said prayers over the body, while a steak was driven into his heart. As his happened the corpse screamed and writhed in agony.

The four victims of his night time attacks were dug up and checked for vampire signs as well. They were found to be in the same condition, as they were all burned and reburied.

Medical Conditions.

There are a number of medical conditions that could have been mistaken for a vampire epidemic. They are:

The Fangs.

Medically this is shown in hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, it is a genetic disorder that causes the teeth to grow in such a way as to make them short and blunt, apart from the canines, that are longer in appearance.

The Bite Wounds.

This could be caused by the skin condition pemphigus vulgaris, it gave rise to lesions, that looked like bite marks.

The Dripping Blood - from the mouth.

This can be attributed to morphea, that makes blood coloured lesions on the lower lip.

Sensitive To Light.

Porphyria, Sezary’s Syndrome or polymorphic light eruption could have accounted for this symptom.

The Long Nails.

When someone dies, the skin around the fingers and hair follicles will retract giving the appearance that the nails and hair have grown.

The New Skin.

When someone dies, the skin starts to peel off, as it decays, this makes it look as if a new layer had grown and the vampire was shedding the old skin.

The Red Skin.

The vampire would have red skin as if it had just filled itself with blood, this was caused by a breakdown of the internal organs, and as such it looks red.

These conditions made it look as if a vampire was inhabiting the body of the person who had died, as we now know though vampires do not exist.

Sources: Unexplained World, The X Factor.