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| Nosferatu (1979) (Image Source: IMDB) |
"Few creatures of the night have
captured our imagination like vampires...What
is it about the vampire myth that explains our interest?”
Vampires: the undead.
The succubi. The bloodless
fiends. The sexual deviants. All of these and more are phrases that easily
come to mind when one thinks of vampires.
Vampire mythos have persisted for centuries and remain one of the most undying
and popular to ever exist. Today’s blog
post is dedicated to the anthropology of vampirism, and topics that will be
explored include a cross-cultural comparison of vampire mythos, a discussion of
the origins of the vampire mythos, as well as the changes that have produced
our modern depictions of vampires as currently understood.
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| Artistic rendition of a BaoBahan-sith, an ancient Scottish vampire |
The existence of vampires began in ancient times with
descriptions of vampires and vampire-like creatures existing in many ancient
civilizations across the Old World.
Despite the wide geographical expanse of these stories there are several
commonalities among all the different cultural descriptions: vampires are
consistently described as reanimated corpses who have transformed into
nocturnal creatures that require the blood of the living to survive. These creatures exist in a liminal state: neither
alive nor dead they exist as a supernatural anomaly. There are, however, regional variants that
set vampires apart from each other.
Asian, Middle Eastern, and African vampires tend to be associated with
demons and demonic possession of the deceased, whereas Northwestern &
Eastern European vampires tend to be associated with moral taboos, such as
vampires originally being bastard children (e.g. children born out of wedlock)
or being the seventh son of the seventh son.
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| Artistic Rendition of a Lamia, an ancient Mediterranean vampire |
As vampire mythos can be traced to ancient times it is
believed that they were born out of a need to understand the natural world. One potential source of the vampire mythos
lies in observations of death and the dead.
After death the body goes through several natural processes that would
appear to mimic natural growth cycles that occur in life. The body seems to continue to grow hair and
finger nails, as well as expel bodily fluids such as urine, feces, and blood. These processes are actually not as they appear,
although they do occur naturally as decomposition progresses. The body does not “grow” hair and fingers
nails so much as the body begins to shrivel, causing the appearance of growth
instead of soft tissue (i.e. skin) recession.
The expulsion of bodily fluids is also caused by the withering of the
body’s internal organs that constrict and thereby cause the fluids within them
to be released. Ancient people must have
observed the natural decomposition processes of the deceased and found them perplexing
and potentially terrifying. Stories
about the dead rising may have been a way to reconcile this seemingly
impossible (to them) observations and knowledge.
Another explanation for the vampire mythos also lies in
understanding the natural world, but this one focuses on the living and their
diseases. Several diseases have been
linked to vampirism, including but not limited to hemophilia, tuberculosis,
anemia, porphyria,
and rabies. Hemophilia is a disease that
disables the blood from clotting and causes the affected to bleed profusely at
the slightest injury. Tuberculosis is a highly
contagious bacterial disease that manifests in the lungs and causes the
affected to cough up blood. Anemia is
caused by a deficiency in red blood cells.
All of these diseases are associated with other symptoms, such as fatigue,
weakness, and fever, which would greatly affect the overall health and activity
levels of the affected and could have led the unaffected to associate these
symptoms with a supernatural creature, such as a vampire, causing these illnesses. Porphyria and rabies, however, are believed
to be more likely candidates for the origins of the vampire mythos given their
specific manifestations and symptoms.
Porphyria is a genetic condition that obstructs the manufacture of the oxygen
carrying protein in blood, heme.
Individuals with porphyria are sensitive to light, have skin lesions,
discolored teeth, compressed facial features, and extended ears. While there have been no documented cases of
porphyria patients desiring or drinking blood their overall physical appearance
may have led people to assume that they were monsters of some sort. The other contender is rabies, which is a
virus transmitted through infected saliva typically via a bite. Symptoms include distaste of water,
sleeplessness, and extreme fatigue, as well as violent behaviors. Scholars have noted historical trends of
rabies outbreaks being associated with an increase in vampire sightings, so
this disease may also be a source of the vampire mythos, if not also a reason
for its perpetuation.
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| A medieval "vampire" burial. As shown in this photo the deceased was staked through the heart as a means to deter escape from the grave. |
For all of their explanations and beliefs about vampires ancient
people also had several ways to destroy these creatures, as well. Once a vampire was identified the family of
the deceased was often tasked with examining the corpse to verify the existence
of vampirism. When verified the family
would take one or all of the following actions: they would turn the body over
in the coffin as a means of confusing the vampire who would die from digging
its way out by going in the wrong direction; they would stake the vampire,
impaling it to the coffin and rendering it unable to free itself from its
grave; and/or the body would be fully exhumed and burned. All of these means were considered sufficient
in terminating the liminal vampiric state, thereby allowing the deceased to
finally rest in peace.
"And what dark and hidden parts of our psyche are aroused and captivated by the legends of the undead?"
Vampire mythos began to change during the Enlightenment
Period, which is when a better understanding of science and the natural world
began to form. People started to realize
the natural forces that were at work and how interconnected the world was. Despite these scientific discoveries people
were reluctant to free themselves of their supernatural belief systems. Rather than discontinue the vampire mythos people
transformed it into newer incarnations that were more believable in the face of
science and matched the prevailing cultural norms of the day. Literary figures such as Lord Byron and John Polidori romanticized
vampires, changing them from scary and damned entities to tortured souls who
were their own worst enemies. Byron and
Polidori inspired future authors and tales, such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and
Anne Rice’s “Interview With A Vampire,” that solidified the vampire as sexual,
dark, brooding creatures that remain in liminal (dead but undead) states but
are beautiful and youthful as a result.
In these ways the vampire reflected all of the forbidden desires of the
public that they wanted to indulge in but that remain forbidden. These changes in
the vampire as a creature and the mythos surrounding it may also be related
to increased contact with other cultural groups and their own mythos
about vampires as we see a mixture of elements from various mythos in
the new vampire mythos.
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| Promotional Photograph of the cast of "The Vampire Diaries", a popular television show about vampires & other supernatural creatures. |
Bibliography
Atwater, C. 2000. “Living
in Death: The Evolution of Modern Vampirism.”
Anthropology of Consciousness
11: 70-77.
Godsmack. 2000. “Vampires”
(song). Awake Album.
Hansen, R. 2011. "Vampires And Disease." Calliope 22:
36.
Kulik, D; R Reed; L Bailey; S Brooks.
2004. “Vampire Legends Around the
World”. Website Created for Eng 331: Vampires on Film. Website.
Tiziani, M. 2009. “Vampires and Vampirism: Pathological Roots
of Myth.” Antrocom 5: 123-127.
Tucker, A. 2012. “The
Dark Side of Anthropology: Vampires in Popular Culture.” The
Anthropology Undergraduate Journal 1: 41-52.
42 comments:
I believe that most people romance the ideas and myths that surround Vampires. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, with a touch of mystery, these are all appealing traits, I know since I was a kid my own fascination has been one of fear and intrigue. I find it fascinating, the monsters and ghouls that people create to explain whats seems in-explainable or the truth. In our minds the natural world is a safe place, but when the lights go out and our senses are heightened, the imagination has an explanation for everything.
This was a fun blog to read. The fact that many cultures used vampires to explain the bodies state after death is interesting. The depiction of vampires I think have become a way to demonize social taboos and make those who have power over man the aggressor and the oppress must rise up and end their oppression. Than again I don't think that interview with the vampire was that exactly but Bram Stokers "Dracula" is an example of the powerful controlling the weak. I like the classic story the most.
The movie vampires didn't help with the romance aspect of the vampire either. With movies such as the Lost Boys, Love at first bite, and Transylvania 5000 you can see how Hollywood has made the vampire a suave and devonaire man. I was in shock to find out that some people believe vampirism is because of ones disease. But, do like the fact that not one of the effected people with the disease have ever been known to consume blood.
I remember growing up reading a lot of Chinese legends about supernatural beings. The lot of them are reincarnations of deities or certain animal gods, but there is only one story that I can clearly remember that resembles a "monster" character.
It doesn't quite match the Western image of what a vampire should be, but they are said to attack people and suck the energy from living beings. They are people that have died but have been reanimated because of some dark force or dark energy either from an external source, or because the own individual has unfinished business. In the Chinese lore, they aren't staked through the heart, but a paper talisman with Chinese character spells is attached to its forehead to prevent it from coming back to haunt people. Though, obviously, it didn't work. Because there are stories about them. -Anthro 101
This blog really highlights the vampire "backstory." It's funny to think how that people saw rabies infected individuals as "the undead." I also never realized that "Interview with a Vampire" was originally a written story as I had only seen the movie. I'm interested to read the written version now. The movie is one of my favorites that I watch regularly on Halloween along with Hocus Pocus.
I was saddened that I was unable to attend the lecture at the con about this topic. It's an interesting subject. A book series that I've been reading the last few years looks at vampires in a little bit of a different way, but it relates back to Asian, Middle Eastern, and African vampires, being that they are demonic. These vampires suck the souls out of people. I never realized that vampires had different origins, though it makes sense that they would.
~Rhonni Lumpkin
The thing that I found interesting is the evolution and break out of vampire related works in the film industry. It it rather fascinating how all of a sudden there is a new genre in and of itself that is appealing to younger audiences. But I can't help but wonder, why? Why now? What is the real appealing factor? I can't put my finger on it. I am a huge movie buff, and I want to be a film director, so I wonder about these things.
-Elisabeth Johnson Anthropology 101-1002
I have always found societies obsession with vampires interesting, I did not know how it evolved though. When you look at the evolution of the vampire idea its actually pretty fascinating. could you imagine if the people from the old world would see todays vampires? When they started out much differently and not as glamorized as they are today. Vampires use to be scary, something you definitely did not want to run into and now people seek them out. How crazy how the world has changed and will continue to change.
The second I saw that Nosferatu poster I just had to read this article. I have that exact poster on my wall! Such a great film, I love Klaus Kinski's rendition of this classic "monster." It's really interesting to read about the correlation between vampirism and diseases such as Rabies (so creepy to watch old videos of rabies victims) and porphyria.
I have seen the film. Quite an interesting cinematic piece, particularly for its day. :)
Whenever I pick up a book in the best seller section of the Y.A section they all seem to deal with the supernatural. Witches, werewolves, vampires, demons, angels etc. Even in this age of knowledge and science people are still seeking the mystery and unknown, and I think it is because no matter how advanced a society is, we all fear the bump in the night and want to give it a name.
I really enjoyed this post, as it gave a scientific view of fictional romanticism. I love anything supernatural, although I was never really into vampires as much as society seemed to be. I was never apart of the Twilight fandom, and thought it was incredibly silly. I do, however, love the T.v. series "True Blood." Most T.v shows, movies, and literature portray vampires in such a way that makes them incredibly appealing, but dangerous. I liked this post because it rationalized where the vampire myth originated, and why it escalated the way it did. As with Stephanie Meyers Twilight, I think that people tend to view vampires in a good way because they wish it were true. I mean, who wouldn't want Eric Northman or Edward Cullen to protect them and sweep them off their feet?
I liked this blog it was really interesting and informative on things that I never knew about vampires. I never have really gotten in to vampires with all the shows and movies about them today it just really was not my thing. This post however is interesting and learning that there is actually porphyria which affects people in ways vampires have been portrayed. I find that really interesting and learning other diseases they associated with vampires. Another cool thing is how they would do things to prevent vampires from coming back like burning the body, driving a stake through the coffin, and my favorite flipping it upside down. I really like the thought of that how they believed they would get out and flipping it would have them forever crawling to the earths core. I find it funny thinking about it and I also like how more of a real aspect they put on it and how people really believed. As now its more of a fantasy movie type thing that does not have much of a scary view from what I have seen.
Its a different perspective reading this than watching all the movies and shows, to think that back in the day people may have been deemed vampires simply because they were sick. I guess ignorance is not always bliss, but it has allowed for good stories to be generated out of it.
Jordan R
I find it interesting how the idea of the vampires has evolved from being this creature that should be feared and avoided to something that people aspire to be AKA looking as young as possible for as long as possible and to be without flaws. Some people even go as far to drink the blood of humans, yummy right? The concept of vampires is definitely something interesting, you have this fearless creature that feasts on the blood of others, that can destroy you and control your mind like in the new AHS.
It doesn't even surprise me that TB made the list of something supernatural because if I didn't have the knowledge of what TB was I would think it was something supernatural as well, and people who have active TB look so sick and pale because they are coughing up blood and losing blood volume. Its interesting how things have progressed from that day in age to modern times because it seems like everything jumped to witch craft or something supernatural back then.
I thought this was a very interesting post. I never really knew how vampirism came about. It makes sense how people used to use it as how to cope a loved ones death and how they would either burn them, flip them over so they couldn't scratch their way out, or put a cross on the coffin. If they had the traits of vampirism, this was a very interesting out look on these fantasy characters.
- Alexa Riggs Anthroplogy 205
Again, another very informative piece!! I thought this blog was interesting for many reasons. One, because it explained the mythos behind vampirism, and that's something i've never heard before. This blog then also related the age old vampire relics, to the modern interpretations that we see today. That was an interesting connection, and really tied the piece together. It's no secret that in our society we have a devious fascination with the undead, and this well crafted blog post helped me see why.
-Matt Santos
This is my favorite post because I am super interested in the supernatural. I think it is one of the most interesting things to learn about. Although everything is fake all of the creatures are so creative. I am not a big fan of the vampires in Twilight just because they seem a little to feminine but are described as these masculine creatures. My favorite TV show is actually Vampire Diaries because of how great the Vampires are. They all have such different back grounds and interests and each person is their own instead of all the vampires being the same. Another supernatural show that not a lot of people know about is "Lost Girl" I found this show on Netlfix after watching Vampire Diaries. It is truly amazing how many different supernatural characters there are. Most of them I have not even heard of but some of them I was told about in stories as a child. The main character in this show is a Succubus. She seduces people by just a touch and makes them fancy her so that she gets information she wants or drains their souls. It sounds like a cheesy show but I think it is awesome!
-Anthropology101
I found it incredibly interesting the solutions to the vampire problems that old civilizations had. Such as turning the body over so the beast will claw into the ground rather than the open air, and stake it to the coffin so it can't move. When looked at it from a natural point of view as the body decomposes it makes a lot of sense that people would believe that these are monsters getting out of their coffin and continuing to live. They had no other way of explaining natural phenomon other than through folklore. It's strange how vampirism continues to capture the imaginations of people to this day. Perhaps it mirrors what people feel, that they are broken and damaged souls and that being a vampire would justify the way they feel.
-Patrick Cattell
I thought vampires were the same everywhere, but I learned there are variants among different countries. Learning about how ancient myths on vampires could have originated was very interesting, I guess when we don’t understand the natural world we make assumptions. Understanding how certain diseases could have contributed to these myths was also interesting. This was a fun blog, it gave me a new perspective on the topic and allowed me to understand some of the background associated with vampirism.
-Irene Mejia
I find people's fascination with vampires very interesting, if a bit confusing. More interesting to me is the worldwide distribution of the vampire type myth in human societies. This speaks of very common fears and desires to me that exist in our species no matter the part of the world people are living in. The "boogie" man is still out to get you in the night no matter where you live!
I was, an still am, horrified at the popularity of Twilight, the writing is just horrid, I cannot imagine anyone reading that much of something so poorly written. The main relationship is of unequals, the man being hundreds of years old and the girl only a teen. Furthermore, he manipulates her, stalks her and admits he watches her sleep and wishes to harm her. Young girls think this is romantic when what it really is happens to be an abusive relationship! Ahh, humanity, you never cease to horrify me!
American media portrays vampires as demons. After they suck human blood, the human would most likely to turn into a vampire, just as if they were bitten by a zombie (Think World War Z). There are tons of examples of vampires in movie like Van Helsing, Blade series, Dracula, and Twilight (really bad example but you get my point). Before I read this blog, I’ve heard of hemophilia, tuberculosis, anemia, and porphyria but I didn’t know what they were.
Wow this post gave me a lot perspective on how peoples' views on vampires have transitioned throughout the years. First, I am just very confused on how people actually believed their loved ones were at risk of turning into a vampire. Had they really seen a dead body turn into a vampire or were they just taking precautions by staking them to their coffin? Second, it is so interesting how peoples views on these blood-sucking souless creatures went from fearing them, to sexualizing them and even wishing they were real (come on, who wouldn't want Edward Cullen as a boyfriend?) Like I said before, I never really thought about how the views on vampires have morphed over time. Fun read.
-Sam Ruebush Anth 102
I don't believe anyone saw a real vampire per SE, but one may have seen someone with TB, rabies, or other illness and mistook that as vampirism. As such it was most likely a precaution, particularly if others in the community believed the deceased had been taken by a vampire. Such accusations would have greatly harmed the living, who risked being ostracized or potentially banished.
This is great! I can see how people could have seen someone who was affected by rabies or TB and thought they were a vampire. The various steps taken to assure these "vampires" did not escape from their graves are interesting. I like the idea of confusing the dead so they dug the wrong way when trying to escape their grave.
Although vampires are real and they are just a myth they still scare me sometimes but are very interesting, it's so interesting to see other people views on vampires.
Aaliyah Caldwell
Vampire are nightmare and it terrifies me because they are blood-suckers. I don't watch their movies but my husband do.
I don’t really get the vampire and the relation to the 7th son of the 7th son thing I will probably look into that later but know I know what the vampire origins may have come from thank you
The said quote "Is it the overtones of sexual lust, power, control... Or is it a fascination with the immortality of the undead" is a powerful question. I believe we are attracted to the unknown and vampires are mysterious, enigmatic creatures. I feel we all at one point wish we were as seductive/ charming as vampires are portrayed.
I have known about the beliefs of vampires since I was very little and im a huge fan of sci-fi shows so this article catches my attention. My question is with most stories why do they relate to the northeastern part of the united states than in any other regions of the U.S.?
I do not know the accuracy of the information I am about to provide, but I believe it has to do with the original colonists, their strong religious ideology, and being contemporaneous with vampire hysteria in Europe. If you think back to what was occurring in New England in the past (e.g. the Witch Trials) it demonstrates that these people were more likely to succumb to such ideas.
Jovie Black
Reading about the mythical vampire creatures, has always spooked me in some sort of way. So people actually practiced this?Ending up with diseases? Also, Twilight is one of my favorite vampire movies.
I found it very interesting how the evolution and break out phenomenon of vampire influenced movies. I have to admit Twilight is definitely one of my fav movies.
-Monique McAllister
I have always being interested in vampires since I was a child. This could be one of the most interesting post that i have read. This gave me the back story of vamps and it was something that I never heard before.
Dalyla Jordan
DO other countries or cultures believe vampires are real? I didnt know vampires were known as "bastard children"
I find it interesting that vampires are portrayed in so many different ways. I remember watching Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney as a kid and seeing the vampires way different than what I have seen vampires in the past. That being said it was more of a goofy tv show. They have been portrayed in many ways.
This post was very interesting when I think of vampires I immediately think of twilight so the first image came as a shock to me it kind of looks more like a sea creature than what our society knows of vampires. I didn't know that vampires could be portrayed differently in different parts of the world.
-Apreshana Page
I agree, this post interest me because its talking about creatures we would call a fairy tale. A lot of people would say Vampires are fake and i always wondered if they could possible be real. I think i would need a lot more facts to make my decision on all of that.
How the vampire mythos came to be is a fascinating subject. Since myths are based on a grain of truth, then someone or multiple people drinking others' blood. This in turn might have spread disease to cause an odd physical appearance.
I literally just finished Vampire Diaries this weekend and I loved it. Not saying that that's what vampires are like. However; its interesting to know that vampires are different when they're from different places. i kind of thought all vampires were the same no matter where they are.
-Kyla Thomas
This is my first time over reading that Vampires are bastard children. Why are they called that? whats the back story?
- Lavonza Marshall
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