Today, we're sinking our teeth into the legends and lore behind one of history's most enduring and captivating figures: vampires.
From Bram Stoker's iconic "Dracula" to Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire," vampires have long captured our imaginations and sent chills down our spines. But where did these blood-sucking creatures come from? What are the real historical figures and events that inspired these tales of the undead?
We'll be exploring the ancient tales of vampires as old as the Bible of Christian religion along with the Great New England Vampire Panic of 1854 with a few other legends from history scattered in.
So if you're ready to sink your teeth into some dark and delicious history, join us for "Hi-Stories: The History of Vampires." We promise you won't need a wooden stake or garlic necklace to enjoy this blog!
Alright this episode was written for the beginning of season 1 and then our equipment sucked so I may not be super helpful on questions as I briefly reviewed my notes! Bare with me and don’t judge! So one of my big questions when researching vampires was the spelling! I’ve seen it most commonly spelled vampire, but on occasion I’ve seen it spelled vampyre and I wanted to know why the different spellings. Well upon a quick search, I found many websites refer to vampires as the undead mythical creatures while vampyre (with a y) refers to people who feed off the energy of others to help them stay healthy and sane. Some more research led me down a rabbit hole I wasn’t prepared for where there’s a whole world of living vampyres (with a y) who believe they are energy vampyres and then Collin Robinson came to mind and I decided to leave the information out there for those who are generously curious can journey down their own rabbit hole…Okay so now that we have that cleared up let's continue our talk on vampires with an i!
So we all know our standard vampires from the classic tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula to the more recent and somewhat ridiculous Edward Cullen from Stephiene Meyer’s Twilight series, don’t get me wrong I totally read that whole series and loved it although I was more team Jacob. So where did the myth of vampires really come from? While most believe the story of Vlad the Impaler who Bram Stoker supposedly loosely based his Dracula character on was the first. The stories of vampires date back to before ancient Egyptian times. Alright I have to tell you in my research of ancient myths in Europe that I found a rare myth that vampires are basically counting addicts where they have to count any small grains or seeds spilled in their path which is how Sesame Street created the Count von Count!
So a couple interesting short stories on vampires before we get to the
~Romanians call vampires strigoi which feed on human flesh and blood. There are many ways to become a strigoi such as a witch’s curse, suicide, 7th daughter/son of the 7th daughter/son, died alone, having an extra nipple or tail, or born out of marriage just to name a few. People really didn’t like the unexplained. To kill a strigoi you have to put a stake through the heart, burn, or behead them. They can be detered with garlic and thorns across the thresholds.
~Located in southern Europe, a Balkan folklore told of dhampires which was a result from a vampire and human. I know what you’re thinking…How the hell…don’t worry I had to look that up too! It happens when a recently undead man would come back from the grave before his swimmers died. Balkan’s believed an undead man would return from the grave to fuck whoever they were attracted to in life. Often times it was the wife, but of course the rumors would fly that they would go after another woman instead of the wife. In one account a widow blamed her pregnancy on her late husband returning from the grave. There was also stories of men pretended to be dhampires so they could sleep with the woman they wanted without repercussions, because the legends sounded a lot like rape. A dhampire often starts a career as a vampire hunter because they can blend with humans but also have some of the typical vampire powers. They were also said to be able to control animals. Another reason they became hunters was that their blood is acidic to vamps.
Sekmet
Sekmet was an Egyptian feline warrior goddess. My research led me down 2 paths of who she was, she was either Ra’s daughter or she was created when Ra looked at earth and shed a tear or something. She was known for destroying Ra’s enemies and was often referred to as Eye of Ra. She was depicted in Egyptian artwork as a lioness or a woman with a lioness head and on top was the solar disc and uraeus serpent. Towards the end of Ra’s reign on earth, he sent Sekmet to destroy all humans who conspired against him. She drank the blood of those she killed and soon became so bloodthirsty she nearly destroyed the human race. So Ra got this great idea to just get her drunk and that would stop her. He took a whole bunch of beer and died it red. Sekmet was like “yo who left me all this blood.” drank it and got shit faced and passed out for like 3 days. Then she woke up back to normal and no longer wanted to drink the blood of everything. This whole thing led to them having a Festival of Intoxication to honor the end of her bloodlust. Ra was a bit upset with her when she returned to him and she was appointed the protector of the underworld and became its ruler. Her priests and priestess were said to possess great powers allowing them to command and destroy demons.
Lilith
So this one actually predates the ancient Egyptian god Sekmet because documents of Lilith have been found in temple ruins of ancient Egypt. So for those that don’t know Lilith is the name of Adam’s (From Adam and Eve of the Christian bible) wife according to the Jewish Midrash which is like the equivalent of the Christian bible. In Hebrew Lilith means “night creature” or “night hag”. So Adam and Lilth were together for a while and then they fought. Probably cuz Lilith was tired of sucking Adam’s dick all the time. But really, she refused to be subservient to Adam because she saw them as equals. Adam wanted her beneath him so she left his ass.
Now is where the story splits. Some believe Lilith left and went to the bottom of the ocean to live with Ashmadai, the king of demons. She then became a blood sucking demon herself. When Adam complained to God, God cursed Lilith to watch 100 of her first born children die. Some accounts say just the sons while others say all children. She then went on to enact her revenge on the children of Eve aka human babies and is blamed for crib death.
The other stories say she went to live by the sea with 199 angels that had been cast out because they went against God. Mainly having sex with mortal women and spawning the Nephilim, beings with special abilities due to their angel blood. When she refused to return to Adam, she was given the ultimatum to watch 100 of her children die or return. She chose to watch her children die but added her own rules to the ultimatum that said Eve’s sons would be hers for 9 days and daughters for 20. She would then decide which lived and which died. Lilith is also said to have slept with the angels to create her own kind of Nephilim that would become known for being bloodthirsty which is another call back to vampires.
And of course there are myths forged from legends such as Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad the Impaler,
Great New England Vampire Panic
Occurring 200 years after the Salem Witch Trials in 1854 (65 years before the molasses flood) was the Great New England Vampire Panic. It happened in the town of Jewett City, Connecticut where townspeople began to suspect their neighbors were rising from their graves to feed on the living. The townsfolk decided they needed to dig up the dead and see for themselves if the thing was living. After digging it up, if the corpse looked less decomposed than they thought it should be, they sliced the body open to see if the organs had liquid blood in them. If they did, the townsfolk would then behead the corpse so it could no longer rise from the dead. Oftentimes it would be a family member who beheaded the corpse. Some went as far as to burn the hearts and scatter the bones. Some would take the bones and arrange them as a skull and crossbone (think Jolly Roger). I also found research pointing to the families attempting this at night which seemed odd since they were supposed to be rising at night.This panic, of course, spread across the New England area at the time. And of course there are no records to indicate how many times this happened or how many graves were dug up for vampire testing.
So what was really going on…tuberculosis also known at that time as consumption because it consumed one. For those that don’t know tuberculosis is a bacterial lung disease and is spread easily. Horrid symptoms include ashen appearance, sunken eyes, and at times blood would drip from the mouth. Also many saw dramatic weight loss so it appeared those infected's life force was being sucked away. It is thought to have infected up to 25% of the East Coast citizens at the time.
Gena’s Macabre moment
Most popular case of this is that of Mercy Brown. She was the daughter of a farmer whose mother and sister had died of consumption several months prior. Mercy died 2 months before her brother fell ill. Her father, wanting to do anything to save his last family member, listened to rumors of Mercy being a vamp and draining her brother. Her father helped dig up his deceased wife and daughter along with Mercy. The wife and daughter were just bones, but Mercy looked like she was just buried. Her hair and teeth looked to have grown because of course she was decomposing just slower than normal having been buried in winter. Her father then cut out her heart and burned it. But wait because the tale takes an even more gruesome tale. He then fed it to his son who died not long after.
And there you have the hi-story of vampires. That's all for "Hi-Stories: The History of Vampires"! We hope you enjoyed this dive into the origins and legends of these blood-sucking creatures. So do you believe in vampires?
From ancient mythology to modern pop culture, vampires have been a fascinating and enduring part of human history. It's clear that these legends have evolved over time, reflecting the fears and anxieties of different cultures and eras.
But whether you believe in the existence of vampires or not, one thing is for sure: they make for a great story. From the romantic and brooding vampires of Twilight to the comedic and self-aware vampires of What We Do in the Shadows, there's no shortage of vampire tales to sink your teeth into.
Thanks for joining us on "Hi-Stories," and we hope you had a bloody good time exploring the history of vampires with us. Be sure to tune in next time for more surprising and hilarious stories from the past. Until then, stay out of the shadows and keep your necks protected! Remember for the hilarious retelling of this story and how Paul Harvey fits in, check out our podcast on all major platforms! Always laugh when you can, it's cheap medicine for the soul! We out!
Photo credit to https://unsplash.com/@8moments
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