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Vlad Tepes
Called Vlad the Impaler. Born
in Transylvania and ruled Wallachia for several years. He fought against
the Turks and built Castle Dracula with slave labor. His methods of killing
were brutal, usually impaling his enemies on long stakes driven to the
ground while they were still alive. Many other people suffered this fate,
even without any good reason to affront Vlad with. Legend says that he
dines while people in front of him were being impaled; and he offered beggars
to dine with him, then burned them afterwards. Bram Stoker used Vlad as
his basis for Count Dracula in his novel Dracula. |
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John George Haigh
Also known as the "Acid Bath
Vampire". He rented a basement in London to use as a workshop, where he
drained fresh corpses of enough blood to fill a cup, and drank it. He then
placed it in a tub and poured buckets of acid over it. When the remains
had been reduced to sludge, he poured the rest down a manhole in the workshop
floor. He was arrested, convicted and hanged on August 10, 1949. |
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Arnold Paole
Haunted by fears of an early
death, he was said to have been visited by a vampire while stationed in
Greece, whom he hunted down, burning the corpse. Later in his hometown
of Meduegna, he was killed falling from a great height in his farm. Soon,
many people claimed to have seen Paole visit them in their homes, and those
people died not long afterwards. Paole's body was exhumed, which was said
not to have decomposed, with fresh blood on its lips. When someone
staked the body, it cried out and fresh blood spilled from the wound. The
group then scattered garlic around the remains, and did the same to each
of the graves of those said to have been visited by Paole. |
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Elizabeth Bathory
Called the "Queen of Blood".
Convinced that the blood of young girls was the secret to eternal youth
and beauty, she killed approximately 600 girls and noblewomen. Most of
them were tortured for weeks and months before they were killed (impaled
on sharp spikes, cut with scissors). She was put on trial on December 1610,
sentenced to life imprisonment at the top of her castle in Cachtice, where
she died in August 1614. |
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The vampire
is practically one of the most famous symbols for death, creatures found
in the night and in other things unknown. They have long been dated back
into ancient history, to the beginnings of the Nosferatu, to the stereotypical
modern vampire that is known and popularized today by such Hollywood icons
such as Bela Lugosi and literature like Anne Rice's vampire chronicles
and Bram Stoker's Dracula. The reason for the vampire's popularity are
mainly due to several factors; 1.) most people's interest and frightened
curiosity about strange beings they cannot explain, 2.) many people's fear
of death, and their fascination with these beings who can cheat death and
live forever, and 3.) until modern times, a way of explaining mysterious
deaths or happenings. Human beings feel better off knowing a reason, (even
if the reason happens to be vampires), than not knowing any reason at all,
as people tend to want to know and understand why things happen around
them.
The typical vampire:
fairly tall, with perfect white teeth from where fangs are seen protruding,
glassy eyes and fingernails, a pale bleached face, slick black hair, blood
red lips and often found wearing dark clothe accompanied by a usually red
cape. They can turn into large bats at night and feast on humans, killing
them by drinking their blood via their necks. They are vulnerable to sunlight,
and must remain in their coffins during the day, where they find strength.
Such characteristics
of vampires, while upheld in older times, are slightly modified today.
Vampires can be of all different races and genders, and can pass for human
(by applying rouge on their faces, and can actually retract their fangs
at will). They may even appear during the day, and in different places
all over the world, different practices are used. For example, vampires
in the Philippines are called aswang, a beautiful maiden during the day,
but at night, when rubbing a magic salve under their arms, turn hideous.
Their upper body separates from the lower portion of their body, sprouts
wings, and flies looking for babies and pregnant women to feed on. They
eat by extending their long tongue through the holes in the roof, or through
an open window.
The best way to kill
an aswang is by finding the hidden lower portion of their body, and sprinkling
it with salt. An aswang must reattach their upper and lower portions before
dawn, or they die. So if you ever happen by a stranger in the middle of
the night who suddenly begains complimenting you on how pretty your neck
looks in the moonlight, here are some true-and-tried ways to kill, or at
least ward off, undead and bloodsucking beings:
1. The average vampire, no matter how
powerful they are, will scream and take cover when face to face with holy
water, holy crucifixes and other religious images. Be sure to hold onto
them however, as vampires have a nasty habit of believing in the saying,
"Out of sight, out of mind", and might try clawing you to try and drop
the said artifacts. |
