What is a vampire?
A vampire is a fantastic creature found in folklore and mythology throughout the world, dating as far back as ancient Greece. Vampires are commonly accepted to be reanimated corpses that feed upon the life essence of the living. This life essence is generally considered to be blood. In modern times, vampires are considered to have exceptionally pale skin, sharp fangs, nearly indestructible bodies, and, occasionally, red eyes. Some popular fiction also depicts vampires as burning when they are exposed to direct sunlight. Vampires are sometimes described as not appearing in mirrors or photographs. This originates from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Some theories suggest that he got this idea from vampires not having souls. Another thought is that they cannot be seen in mirrors since they were originally made out of silver, which is a pure metal. Since vampires are unnatural creatures, they are repulsed by pure elements.
Where did (New England) vampires come from?
In the 19th century, a “vampire panic” gripped New England. People were dying of tuberculosis, then called consumption, and vampirism was adopted as an explanation for the disease. The logic behind this was due to a lack of medical knowledge and people desperately looking for answers. During the epidemic, New Englanders began exhuming the bodies of those who had passed from consumption to see if there was evidence of decomposition or not. If the cadaver was unusually well preserved, it would be labeled as a vampire and identified as the cause for consumption in the family. If the body was too lifelike, it was assumed that it was feeding on the life essence (blood) of a family member(s) currently suffering from consumption. A famous New England case of vampirism occurred in Rhode Island in 1892. The Brown family had been suffering from consumption and several family members had died. One of them was named Mercy. Upon exhuming the bodies, it was discovered that Mercy showed little to no signs of decay, while her family’s bodies were decomposing as expected. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Mercy still had blood on her heart and other internal organs. This lead the remaining members of her family, and others, to believe that Mercy was a vampire, feeding on the blood of her living family members afflicted with consumption.
How to kill a vampire
To try and remedy consumption, those identified as being vampires were exhumed and then re-buried with their bodies flipped over, their heads decapitated, or the body otherwise disassembled. Eventually, some people also took to staking down the hands of the cadaver in question, bringing about the myth that one can subdue a vampire by staking it through the heart with wood. Occasionally, organs with liquid blood still present, postmortem, were burned while the sick family member(s) inhaled the smoke. Sometimes, as in the case of Mercy Brown, the ashes from the incinerated organs were consumed by an ill family member as a hopeful cure. Towards the end of the 19th century, the vampire panic began to slow down. Around this time is also when the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis is identified. Whether or not this was a coincidence remains unknown. The concept of vampires being burnt by sunlight was invented for early vampire literature. The roots of this are possibly related to other misunderstood illnesses that caused sensitivity to light.
How does one become a vampire?
It is commonly accepted in pop culture that changing from a human to a vampire requires the human to have a vampire’s venom, or blood, enter their body. The most common depiction of this is a vampire biting a human. In some folktales, this bite alone injects venom into the bloodstream and the human then becomes a vampire. In other stories, however, a vampire biting and sucking the blood from a human may harm them but not necessarily turn them into a vampire if there is a lack of venom being injected. In these scenarios, other means of changing a human to a vampire are invented. There is little, if any, literature that depicts vampires returning to human form. Some modern, pop culture vampire fiction references a “cure” to vampirism but these references are highly specific to the context of the literature. Historically, vampires have been considered dead and/or non-living. This has lead to the common perception that they cannot return to human form since their life has expired and their soul has departed.
Human-vampire interactions
In traditional folklore, vampires are depicted as being a supernatural parasite to human beings. Not only do they thrive on humans’ life force, but they have also been portrayed as luring humans to their demise, taking away their free will, and generally using them for their desires. In more recent vampire literature, however, these undead humanoids are shown as being strikingly attractive to humans for both platonic, and intimate, relationships. A common plot point in modern vampire literature is the vampire themselves struggling to overcome their insatiable bloodlust to be compatible with humans who may or may not be aware of their partner’s internal struggle. The shift in perspective of what a vampire is to humans can be identified in the origin of the stories. The vampires documented during the consumption epidemic were created out of a necessity for an explanation. The evidence used to theorize them came from the very real human decomposition process, blood in cadaver organs, and signs of movement in the crypt. These biological occurrences, combined with inexplicable illness, created the vampires of New England folklore. The vampires of today, in modern fiction, are far more humanized than their 19th-century predecessors. They are often depicted as participating in human society, undetected, for years. The presence of morality and free will further separates modern vampires from their unconscionable ancestors. Because they are no longer feared, we frequently see them used as classic, fictional love interests with supernatural abilities and a full spectrum of human emotions. Vampires being classified as fictitious allows for them to be constructed and tailored to each exact literary work, and the supernatural laws, or lack thereof, that exist for them.
How to avoid vampires
While North America, and New England specifically, do not have their own vampire protection strategies, some common assumptions have been spread there from other parts of the world. One of the most popular methods of repelling vampires is by eating and/or wearing garlic. One theory about this belief is that it originates from the symptoms of rabies in humans. This disease can cause sensitivity to strong, prolonged fragrances. Garlic’s pungent odor could be highly irritating to a rabies sufferer. Rabies can also cause the afflicted person to attack and bite others which could further perpetuate the concept of vampires biting people to drink their blood. Another illness, porphyria, causes similar symptoms but is a disorder of the blood, specifically. This could also contribute to the idea of vampires thriving on human blood. Vampires needing an invitation to enter private dwellings is another way that people have traditionally defended themselves. This myth originates from Europe with the idea of vampires being foreigners and threatening the residents’ way of life. A way to distract vampires is by spilling rice, salt, seeds, or other small objects on the ground. The belief is that vampires are compelled to count all of the things that are scattered on the ground. This gives the person time to escape, or enter a private residence. This, again, comes from Eastern Europe where poppy seeds were frequently placed near suspected vampire graves to distract them when they rose at night.
Modern Vampires
The genres of vampire fiction, and vampire romance, have exploded in the past decade or so. Modern, fictional vampires have adopted bits and pieces of folklore. Usually, the myths are adapted to fit the plot of the story, and less so to follow history. Vampire literature has shown no signs of slowing down. It is reasonable to expect more and more vampire fiction in the years to come. This will come with different myths and theories that can be explored further down the road.
Thank you for reading!!!! See below for some pictures from the New England Vampire Panic.
