Do the undead roam the Earth drinking human blood? Or is there a medical explanation for vampirism?
When Arnod Paole was attacked by a vampire, he knew what to do to save his soul. He tracked the creature to its grave and thrust a stake through its heart, smearing his own body with the blood. He would often retell the tale to fellow villagers, drawing gasps of admiration. Life carried on as normal, that is until Paole fell and broke his neck. He was buried at the local graveyard where he seemed to come back to life.
Villagers began complaining about being bothered by Paole, and dead bodies were found, drained of blood. Rumours of vampirism spread and a group of Austrian Army officers were sent to investigate. They dug up Paole's body, and confirmed everyone's fears.
The officers reported that Paole's body was complete, to the point that there was no sign of decay. They claimed to have seen fresh blood flow from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. They also said that Paole's old skin and finger nails had been shed, and that new ones had replaced them. On seeing this, it is claimed that the officers then proceeded to drive a stake through his heart, at which point an audible groan was heard and Paole began to bleed profusely.
This is one of many reports of vampirism from an officers account in the 1730's entitled 'Seen and Discovered'. The report goes on to mention several exhumations in the area, and the supposed 'Epidemic of Vampirism'. It wasn't argued at the time that something was indeed happening to the bodies post-mortem, but does this prove the truth behind vampirism?
The Modern Myth
A survey carried out by the California State University revealed that more than 27% of people believed in the existence of vampires. If asked what they thought a vampire would look like, they described the creature as it was portrayed in the 1897 novel 'Dracula' written by Bram Stoker. They depict him as a handsome aristocrat, who is sexually attracted to both males and females. He sleeps by day in his coffin, then awakes at night to take flight and find his unsuspecting victims whose blood he drinks. Despite these super-human powers, the vampire is scared of crosses, garlic and light.
Despite the beliefs, there have developed over the years two different types of vampire. The folklore vampire is the one that seems to have been around for longest. These creatures have been reported for centuries by villages who claim to have been victimised by the vampires. The big difference between the two types of vampire, are, the folklore vampire would never stray far from his village. He would not live in a coffin, but would occupy the graveyard and select a local victim. The media version is depicted as most people understand the word 'vampire' to mean. An aristocratic man with special powers. This kind of depiction has been the result of numerous films and novels, whereby the author depicts the vampire in to this fictional character. The folklore vampire has been around for at least two centuries. Peoples ignorance to the bodies decomposition resulted in a myth being born.
Today science can fully explain the nature of a decomposing body. It is now known that after death the body begins to decay. This process includes the body swelling to a size the person would never reach in life. In the male, the genitalia would swell to an abnormal size. The body as it decomposes would produce gases. To a person two hundred years ago these effects caused them to believe that the body was actually producing gas and the person was breaking wind. The man's erect penis would be seen as a sign of sexual arousal and that they were excited in some way. The swelling was seen as a confirmation of the bodies healthy state.
The main method of destroying the body they believed to be a vampire was to drive a stake through its heart. This would then cause the bodies gases to escape causing the a sound of breaking wind, and in some cases, a groan. If they suspected that the vampire was still alive they would cut the heart from the body and burn both body and heart separately. This type of behaviour was common place at this time, with vampire hunters exhuming many bodies they suspected had been cursed by a vampire. They even went as far as to burn the bodies of animals.
Because of the lack of knowledge concerning sudden deaths from unknown infectious diseases, an outbreak of a disease would cause an outbreak of vampires, thus a legend was born and when anybody died from a disease or died because they had contact with a diseased person, the locals would believe they had been a victim of a vampire.
It is pretty easy to understand in those times how a mistake of this kind could be made. There lack of scientific knowledge would lead them to think that disease, decay and all the other mistaken signs were in fact, something quite sinister.
by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk
When Arnod Paole was attacked by a vampire, he knew what to do to save his soul. He tracked the creature to its grave and thrust a stake through its heart, smearing his own body with the blood. He would often retell the tale to fellow villagers, drawing gasps of admiration. Life carried on as normal, that is until Paole fell and broke his neck. He was buried at the local graveyard where he seemed to come back to life.
Villagers began complaining about being bothered by Paole, and dead bodies were found, drained of blood. Rumours of vampirism spread and a group of Austrian Army officers were sent to investigate. They dug up Paole's body, and confirmed everyone's fears.
The officers reported that Paole's body was complete, to the point that there was no sign of decay. They claimed to have seen fresh blood flow from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. They also said that Paole's old skin and finger nails had been shed, and that new ones had replaced them. On seeing this, it is claimed that the officers then proceeded to drive a stake through his heart, at which point an audible groan was heard and Paole began to bleed profusely.
This is one of many reports of vampirism from an officers account in the 1730's entitled 'Seen and Discovered'. The report goes on to mention several exhumations in the area, and the supposed 'Epidemic of Vampirism'. It wasn't argued at the time that something was indeed happening to the bodies post-mortem, but does this prove the truth behind vampirism?
The Modern Myth
A survey carried out by the California State University revealed that more than 27% of people believed in the existence of vampires. If asked what they thought a vampire would look like, they described the creature as it was portrayed in the 1897 novel 'Dracula' written by Bram Stoker. They depict him as a handsome aristocrat, who is sexually attracted to both males and females. He sleeps by day in his coffin, then awakes at night to take flight and find his unsuspecting victims whose blood he drinks. Despite these super-human powers, the vampire is scared of crosses, garlic and light.
Despite the beliefs, there have developed over the years two different types of vampire. The folklore vampire is the one that seems to have been around for longest. These creatures have been reported for centuries by villages who claim to have been victimised by the vampires. The big difference between the two types of vampire, are, the folklore vampire would never stray far from his village. He would not live in a coffin, but would occupy the graveyard and select a local victim. The media version is depicted as most people understand the word 'vampire' to mean. An aristocratic man with special powers. This kind of depiction has been the result of numerous films and novels, whereby the author depicts the vampire in to this fictional character. The folklore vampire has been around for at least two centuries. Peoples ignorance to the bodies decomposition resulted in a myth being born.
Today science can fully explain the nature of a decomposing body. It is now known that after death the body begins to decay. This process includes the body swelling to a size the person would never reach in life. In the male, the genitalia would swell to an abnormal size. The body as it decomposes would produce gases. To a person two hundred years ago these effects caused them to believe that the body was actually producing gas and the person was breaking wind. The man's erect penis would be seen as a sign of sexual arousal and that they were excited in some way. The swelling was seen as a confirmation of the bodies healthy state.
The main method of destroying the body they believed to be a vampire was to drive a stake through its heart. This would then cause the bodies gases to escape causing the a sound of breaking wind, and in some cases, a groan. If they suspected that the vampire was still alive they would cut the heart from the body and burn both body and heart separately. This type of behaviour was common place at this time, with vampire hunters exhuming many bodies they suspected had been cursed by a vampire. They even went as far as to burn the bodies of animals.
Because of the lack of knowledge concerning sudden deaths from unknown infectious diseases, an outbreak of a disease would cause an outbreak of vampires, thus a legend was born and when anybody died from a disease or died because they had contact with a diseased person, the locals would believe they had been a victim of a vampire.
It is pretty easy to understand in those times how a mistake of this kind could be made. There lack of scientific knowledge would lead them to think that disease, decay and all the other mistaken signs were in fact, something quite sinister.
by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk
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