Were there really vampires? Description of vampires

At the moment, there are a lot of different legends about different mythical creatures. To this number, humanity began to include myths and legends about vampires and vampirism in general. Only the question of whether there really were vampires, still remains open.

Scientific background

Like any other mythical creature or thing, vampires also have a scientific justification for the birth of various folklore works with their participation. According to most researchers, the word "vampire" and information about all its properties began to appear in the lower mythology of European peoples. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that vampire people exist in other cultures around the world, but they have their names and individual descriptions.

A vampire is a dead person who at night gets out of his grave and begins to drink blood from sleeping people. Sometimes it attacks the awake victims. These creatures appear before the victim in the form of a man almost identical to ordinary people, and in the form of a bat.

Ancient nationalities believed that people became vampires, for their lives they created a large amount of evil. This contingent included criminals, murderers, suicides. They also became people who died a violent premature death, and after the moment when the vampire's bite was made.

Literary representations and film images

In today's world, vampire people have become widely known to the public through the creation of numerous mystical films and books. Just pay attention to one important fact - the mythical image is slightly different from the literary one.

Probably, first you should say a few words about the works of Alexander Pushkin "Ghoul" (poem) and Alexei Tolstoy's "The Family of Ghouls" (an early story of the writer). It is worth noting that the creation of these works belongs to the XIX century.

Known above writers have recreated the horrors of vampires a bit in a different way - the appearance of a ghoul. In principle, the ghouls are no different from their ancestors. Only this image does not drink the blood of any people, but only relatives and friends. As a result, such, if you can call it that, fastidiousness in food, entire villages died out. Also, he gnaws the bones of those killed or dead by the natural death of people.

The most plausible image was able to embody in his hero Bran Stocker, creating Dracula. You can refer to the history of creating the image and the history of the world at the same time - a living person has become a collecting image for the writer's work. This person was Vlad Dracula, ruler of Wallachia. Based on the facts of history, it was a rather bloodthirsty man.

Characteristic features of art vampires

As has been said before, the artistic description of a vampire differs from a mythological one. And then the creatures will be considered, as they are portrayed in literature and cinema.

Character traits:

1. Dead creatures do not consume human food, water. Their main food is blood.
2. Fear of sunlight. It is for this reason that the dead go to their hunt only at night. During the day they rest in their graves and dark places. They can appear in the daytime on the street, if they are completely protected by dark clothes.
3. There is no shadow, there is no reflection in the mirror, water, glass. There is a possibility that vampires will not appear in the photos.
4. In the house only after the invitation. If no one invited a blood lover to the house, he can not go into it. Received an invitation - can go and go at any time.
5. Coffin and native land. In some works, emphasis is placed on the fact that the vampire must return to his grave, his grave, before dawn. Although some representatives take the land into the coffin when moving or when necessary.
6. Relations with the werewolves. To date, many people know that werewolves are enemies of vampires. But in some stories you can find that werewolves after death become vampires.
7. Garlic, symbols of the Christian faith (holy water, church, crosses, etc.). In this, folklore and the literary image coincide in their description. For example, a cross. The vampire is very afraid of him, like the other subjects listed above. For protection, you can use this item, which makes the heroes of many films and literary works about vampires.
8. The murder of a vampire. Most often this procedure is carried out using a wooden stake in the heart, consecrated or silver bullet, with the help of cremation or decapitation. Also for them, the sunlight is deadly. In movies and books, one can see murder with the help of church objects. To benefit the vampire victim can a small cross. The vampire in this case may be injured or even killed.
9. Love to the account. Very rarely, but you can meet such a feature. This idea was taken from popular beliefs about vampires. If a lover of human blood sees on his way grains, then he will definitely stop and begin to count.
10. Also in some movies there are events when a vampire untying knots. This was also taken from folk folklore. For example, in the movie "Dracula 2: Ascension", the protagonists, so that the vampire's sting is not produced, pours a bag of peas on Dracula and then jot down the net from a large number of knots. And he counts the peas and unleashes the knots with one movement.
11. Fangs. After the release of the film about Dracula in 1958, most of the vampires began to be portrayed with fangs.

Vampire Analogies in Other Nationalities

Horrors about vampires existed not only in the folklore of the peoples of Europe, but also in other ancient cultures. Only they have different names and descriptions.

• Dahanavar. This name originated in ancient Armenian mythology. Based on mythological data, this vampire lives in the mountains Ultish Alto-tem. It is worth noting that this vampire does not touch people who live in his territory.
• Vetal. These creatures belong to the Indian stories. Vampire-like creatures settle in the dead.
• A limping corpse. The Chinese analogue of the European vampire, only the first is not fueled by the blood, but by the essence of the victim (qi).
• Strix. A bird that is awake at night and consumes human blood as food. Roman mythology.

Also the question of whether vampires actually existed, were raised at different times by different peoples.

Disputes about vampires

In history, there have been cases when a vampire was hunted. This happened in the XVIII century. On the territory of East Prussia, since 1721, began to appear complaints of residents on the attacks of vampires. The reason was the strange murders of local residents. The most interesting thing was that the bodies of the dead were drained.

After these cases, the well-known scholar Antoine Augustine Calme in his books raised the question of whether there really were vampires. He collected the necessary information and wrote a treatise on these cases. Many scientists began to ask this question, began to open the graves. All ended with the ban of the Empress Maria-Theresa.

Modern Vampires

There are a lot of folk tales, myths, literary works, films about vampires. Everyone knows that these are fictions, but the influence of works of art and mythology, figuratively speaking, gave the vampire's blood to some modern people. These representatives are participants in one of the many subcultures of our time - vampirism.

People who consider themselves to be vampires behave like fictitious bloodsucking creatures. They dress in black clothes, arrange their own activities, and also drink human blood. Only the last action does not apply to murders. Usually the victim himself gives part of himself, so that modern vampires, if I may say so, could refresh themselves.

Energy Vampires

The question of whether there really were vampires, Is asked by many people. With a greater degree of probability, we can say about the existence of these vampires from an energetic point of view. In other words, the existence of energy vampires.

These beings are people who feed on the energy of other people. An ordinary person replenishes energy reserves in accessible ways: food, entertainment, watching movies, etc. And energy vampires do not have enough, they also feed on the energy of other people, worsening the condition of their victims.

Conclusion

You can talk for a long time on this topic, but all this will remain unconfirmed. In this world, many facts remain beyond modern science and these myths and stories will also be just guesses and guesses. The modern person can only read interesting mystical literature and watch films, reflecting on these questions.