"Throughout the whole vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both. a vampire is not a demon, they have no body. a living dead body.! the words are idle, contradictory, incomprehensible, but so are the vampyres - scoffern, stray leaves of science and folk lore." View source"; ?>
Thus saith Montague Summers, author of the books The Vampire and the Vampire in Lore and Legend"; ?>, a firm believer in the existence of vampires. But there are about as many definitions of a vampire as there are writers. The vampires seem to be very elusive, fleeing into shadows escaping closer observation. They are true shapeshifters defying all our petty theories and feeble attempts in describing and categorizing them.
"A being who derives sustenance from a victim, who is weakened by the experience.
The sustenance may be physical or emotional in nature."
Louis Perkowski
View source"; ?>
"A vampire is a preternatural predatory creature in apparent human form that
thrives off the resources of the others in a way that weakens or kills them."
Katherine Ramsland
View source"; ?>
"The vampire is our fear for a dead body going through the horrible changes
of decomposition and decaying."
Paul Barber
View source"; ?>
"A vampire is a shadow, we project upon it our dreams, hopes and fears, desires."
Manuela Dunn Mascetti
View source"; ?>
"A vampire is an undecayed corpse leaving at midnight to suck blood and cause the death of the victim."
Felix Oinas
View source"; ?>
The mental image of a vampire is rather uniform. We are used to seeing Dracula"; ?> when vampires are mentioned, or, nowadays perhaps even Lestat"; ?> But there is a wild variety of vampires. Vampires are said to be the animated soulless corpses of dead persons. Vampires top the food chain. They are the only creatures that seem to pray solely on humans, though they may resort to cattle blood sometimes. They turn us, the hunter, to the hunted. They lurk in the shadows of the night when our vision and mind is at the weakest, when we need our sleep and have to put down our guards, both physical and mental. They invade our dreams and minds, and it seems that we are unable to resist their lure.
The vampire is not a ghost, because the body is tangible. Or is it? If the body is real, how then, can a vampire escape the grave and the coffin without leaving no more traces than small holes in the ground? How can it change to mist? Or assume the shape of an animal? In some cases, vampires are said to be animated by demons, but that does not apply to most of vampires. They seem to keep their personality after death, just like Dracula and Lestat. Even the rural Eastern European vampires that were like zombies, were able to return to their families at night. In Bulgaria, vampires were said to be souls revolting against dead. They rose after forty days and were able to pass as human beings. Which means that the Bulgarian vampires were not soulless corpses. The soul remained with the body. Thus, we can' define a vampire as a dead soulless body. View source"; ?>
Vampires are said to suck blood. All of them? What do they need blood for if they can't die? Many of the Serbian vampires didn't drink blood, they just caused people to wither and die only by appearing to the victims, or they would suffocate them by night by lying on the chest of the victim. Or inflict contagious diseases. Some vampires don't even want blood. They suck the life forces of humans. And vampires can thrive on cattle blood. Blood drinking isn't essential for a vampire. View source"; ?>
Vampires walk at night. Do they? Dracula wanders the streets of London in broad daylight. Though the light diminishes his power, he doesn't have to avoid it. The Greek vrykolakas walked into neighbouring villages and started a new life. They were not restricted to living by night either. Just like their Bulgarian brothers. Many vampires probably prefer the night just as many predators do. It's easier to attack a victim who is sleeping. Sunlight may not appeal to them, but shunning it doesn't make a vampire. View source"; ?>
But there are the fangs. We know that someone is a vampire if he has the Fangs. How else can they draw blood? But fangs are not necessary for a vampire. Russian vampires did not bite their victims, they had a needle under their tongue, nor where the classical wounds in the neck found in opened graves of a vampire's victims. And as mentioned before, suffocating and scaring seemed to be enough to some vampires. They did not have the Fangs. It seems that it was Dracula himself who brought the Fangs into fashion in the vampire circles. View source"; ?>