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To understand, why there was a worldwide believe in the Vampire, we have to go a hundred years back to a age, when causes of many diseases, were a mystery and people didn't know how a human body decayed after he or she died.
Most people believed that death and diseases were the work of god. But now and than there were situations that made people suspect that there was another, darker force.
This was especially thought when a normal healthy person suddenly died, of a heart-attack, a contagious disease or a stroke.
In this period there was not much medical knowledge, so the explanation for these deaths were thought to by the supernatural; a Vampire sucked the life out of the living.
The villagers thought the dead became Vampires. The corpses of these "vampires" were diging up and examinated for something that would prove that they were dealing with a vampire. This included: growing back of skin, hair and nails, a healthy and goodlooking face and blood on their mouth.
Nowadays the process of decay of a human body, is a well known fact in science. But in the past it was very mysterious what happent to a corpse after it was buried. The Vampire hunters saw the state of the "living dead" as evidence.
While the body decays, gasses are produced which are build up in the body, so that the whole body get's swollen up. In the past, a body in this phase looked better than when it was still alive. If a corpse was officially considered, a Vampire than measures were taken to give the soul eternal peace.
The most popular measure was stabbing a pole through the heart of the Vampire. This caused a explosive unloading of moist and gasses which makes the body mount.
If you read historical reports of Vampires, it becomes clear that the perceptions were true; The living dead looked bigger and healthier than when they were alive. But the interpretation of these perceptions were wrong.
Because they had no other explanation, it is understandable why so many cultures believed in Vampires.