The aristocratic Dracula may be the most well-known undead in the world, but stories of blood drinkers existed long before the Count. Take a look at the...
Vrykolakas: Door-Knocking CorpseGreek mythology contains a number of vampire-like figures - one such creature is the vrykolakas. This nomadic corpse has the charming habit of crushing victims while they sleep and feeding on their remains. The creature is said to arise from the corpses of the sacrilegious or those buried outside a cemetery - victims of a vrykolakas will become one themselves, and the only way to stop them is to destroy their body.
These undead are said to roam villages by night, knocking on doors in case anyone is foolhardy enough to answer. If their knock is ignored, the vrykolakas moves on... but if the door is answered, the vrykolakas will marks the occupant for death. Some villages in Greece still keep the tradition of only answering after a second knock, just in case...
Ancient Greek mythology also contains vampire-like figures, such as the shapeshifting Empusae, Lamiae and Mormolyceae. The Empusae are particularly strange, featuring a brass leg and being under the command of the goddess Hecate.
The 11th century Vetala Panchvimshati deals with the story of a vetala and King Vikrama. The king captures the vetala at the behest of a sorcerer... but the creature and the king strike up a friendship. The vetala reveals that the sorcerer is planning to sacrifice the king, and the unlikely allies slay the sorcerer mid-ritual.
It's thought that a mistranslation of Vetala Panchvimshati by Sir Richard Burton (also known for the Kama Sutra) added vampiric qualities to this undead spirit. Bram Stoker may have drawn inspiration from the mistranslation - especially when it comes to the wall-crawling habits of Dracula!
Created from violent deaths or botched funerals, the jiāngshī is a dangerous and vengeful entity. Rather than drinking blood, it drains the qi or life-force from a victim - but they could be warded off by (amongst other things) a rooster's crow, holding your breath or a mirror showing their reflection.
The jiāngshī is usually depicted in Qing Dynasty clothing with white-green decaying skin. This probably stems from the Qing tradition of sending people home to be buried, usually using specialist couriers. These "corpse drivers" would carry the dead on bamboo poles carried across the shoulders of two men. Viewed from a distance, the flexing bamboo could make it seem as though the corpses were hopping along by themselves. The fact that this was done at night (cooler conditions meaning less decay) would only enhance this impression!
Penanggalan: Pickled VampireThe Malaysian penanggalan lives a normal life by day, usually filling the role of a midwife. They take good care of their charges by day... and prey on them by night.
The penanggalan starts out as a normal woman who dabbles in black magic. By making a deal to abstain from meat for forty days, the woman can gain exceptional beauty... but if they break the deal and consume flesh before forty days have passed, they will become a penanggalan. Another legend suggests that a woman can set out to become one of the undead by meditating in a barrel of vinegar.
During nights, the head and internal organs of the penanggalan detach from their body and take flight, seeking out babies to feed on. They float outside the window or reach from below floor-boards, sending a proboscis like tongue or their intestines to drain blood from the victim.
During this time the hollowed out body of the penanggalan is defenseless - and the creature must soak their internal organs in vinegar to shrink them down and allow them to fit back inside. A would-be vampire hunter who sniffs out the tell-tale vinegar can find the defenseless body and fill it with broken glass - the returning monster will shred itself when it tries to recombine!
The lower body of the manananggal is left vulnerable during these hunts, and folklore has it that the creature can be slain by spreading garlic, salt or ash on the stump - this prevents the creature from recombining to survive the day.
The manananggal is a fairly enduring folk tale, with sightings reported as recently as 2023. The police force of Talisay City were forced to investigate in an attempt to calm the populace. In 2011 Efren Matedios of Tabuelan killed and cannibalized his 6 year old-niece. In his defense, he stated that she was a manananggal... and that he had salted and consumed her organs to make sure she was dead!
- Door-knocking vrykolakas
- Trickster vetala
- Hopping jiāngshī
- Pickled penanggalan
- Self-splitting manananggal
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| Vampire folklore runs deeper than cloaks and disavowal of wine... (ELG21) |
Vrykolakas: Door-Knocking CorpseGreek mythology contains a number of vampire-like figures - one such creature is the vrykolakas. This nomadic corpse has the charming habit of crushing victims while they sleep and feeding on their remains. The creature is said to arise from the corpses of the sacrilegious or those buried outside a cemetery - victims of a vrykolakas will become one themselves, and the only way to stop them is to destroy their body.
These undead are said to roam villages by night, knocking on doors in case anyone is foolhardy enough to answer. If their knock is ignored, the vrykolakas moves on... but if the door is answered, the vrykolakas will marks the occupant for death. Some villages in Greece still keep the tradition of only answering after a second knock, just in case...
Ancient Greek mythology also contains vampire-like figures, such as the shapeshifting Empusae, Lamiae and Mormolyceae. The Empusae are particularly strange, featuring a brass leg and being under the command of the goddess Hecate.
Vetala: Graveyard-Dwelling Trickster
One of the lesser known influences behind Bram Stoker's Dracula is the vetala, a shadowy spirit from India. In folklore, this creature is a magical prankster that hangs around (literally) in graveyards. They supposedly exist somewhere between life and death, while possessing knowledge of the past, present and future. Though dangerous, they were capable of good deeds.The 11th century Vetala Panchvimshati deals with the story of a vetala and King Vikrama. The king captures the vetala at the behest of a sorcerer... but the creature and the king strike up a friendship. The vetala reveals that the sorcerer is planning to sacrifice the king, and the unlikely allies slay the sorcerer mid-ritual.
It's thought that a mistranslation of Vetala Panchvimshati by Sir Richard Burton (also known for the Kama Sutra) added vampiric qualities to this undead spirit. Bram Stoker may have drawn inspiration from the mistranslation - especially when it comes to the wall-crawling habits of Dracula!
Jiāngshī: Hopping Vampire
Many vampires are depicted as fast, agile hunters, but Chinese folklore went a different way with the jiāngshī or hopping vampire. The story goes that the muscles of these cursed corpses have locked up in death, so they can only take hops towards a victim with arms stretched forwards for balance.Created from violent deaths or botched funerals, the jiāngshī is a dangerous and vengeful entity. Rather than drinking blood, it drains the qi or life-force from a victim - but they could be warded off by (amongst other things) a rooster's crow, holding your breath or a mirror showing their reflection.
The jiāngshī is usually depicted in Qing Dynasty clothing with white-green decaying skin. This probably stems from the Qing tradition of sending people home to be buried, usually using specialist couriers. These "corpse drivers" would carry the dead on bamboo poles carried across the shoulders of two men. Viewed from a distance, the flexing bamboo could make it seem as though the corpses were hopping along by themselves. The fact that this was done at night (cooler conditions meaning less decay) would only enhance this impression!
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| The penanggalan must soak itself in vinegar to fit back inside a body... (RitaE) |
Penanggalan: Pickled VampireThe Malaysian penanggalan lives a normal life by day, usually filling the role of a midwife. They take good care of their charges by day... and prey on them by night.
The penanggalan starts out as a normal woman who dabbles in black magic. By making a deal to abstain from meat for forty days, the woman can gain exceptional beauty... but if they break the deal and consume flesh before forty days have passed, they will become a penanggalan. Another legend suggests that a woman can set out to become one of the undead by meditating in a barrel of vinegar.
During nights, the head and internal organs of the penanggalan detach from their body and take flight, seeking out babies to feed on. They float outside the window or reach from below floor-boards, sending a proboscis like tongue or their intestines to drain blood from the victim.
During this time the hollowed out body of the penanggalan is defenseless - and the creature must soak their internal organs in vinegar to shrink them down and allow them to fit back inside. A would-be vampire hunter who sniffs out the tell-tale vinegar can find the defenseless body and fill it with broken glass - the returning monster will shred itself when it tries to recombine!
Manananggal: Self-Splitting Devil
Found in the folklore of the Philippines, the manananggal is a woman by day and a flying vampiric devil by night. The creature is said to split itself at the midsection, with the upper body flying off in search of prey (typically pregnant women) to drink their blood and eat their baby.The lower body of the manananggal is left vulnerable during these hunts, and folklore has it that the creature can be slain by spreading garlic, salt or ash on the stump - this prevents the creature from recombining to survive the day.
The manananggal is a fairly enduring folk tale, with sightings reported as recently as 2023. The police force of Talisay City were forced to investigate in an attempt to calm the populace. In 2011 Efren Matedios of Tabuelan killed and cannibalized his 6 year old-niece. In his defense, he stated that she was a manananggal... and that he had salted and consumed her organs to make sure she was dead!
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