"To know a living thing is to kill it. You have to kill a thing to know it satisfactorily. For this reason the desirous consciousness, the Spirit, is a Vampire."
D.H. Lawrence
"If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking:
official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial
proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?"
J. J. Rousseau
What are the vampires like? Pale outlandish counts in black capes lined with red? The vampire world is much more varied than you ever would believe. Now, before we are embarking on a journey into the Dark Side, let's have a look at a pair of very different kind of vampires: Giure Grando and Louis Pointe du Lac.
Giure Grande was a Slovenian peasant, whose short and not very illustrious career as vampire was ended abruptly in 1672. He had been terrorizing his widow and the villagers since his death. To be free from the monster, the villagers opened up his grave to deal with him as the peasant in those time did. The villagers who had opened his grave met with a most ghastly sight: the body was ruddy and bloated and filled with blood, and when they stared at it, horror-struck, it turned its face on the men and grinned. An undead, if there ever was one. They tried to drive a hawthorn stake through his stomach, but it bounced. Finally the bravest of the men cut his head off with a shovel and the remains were burned. This happened in 1672, and the story was told by Baron Jan Vajkart Valvasor in his book 'Die Ehre des Herzogsthums Krain' published in the year 1689. View source"; ?>
In the 1970's an anonymous boy, probably having vampirespotting as hobby, managed to get a very unique and rare interview with a vampire called Louis Pointe du Lac, a refined Southern gentleman and plantage owner from the 18th century. Anne Rice gives us the following description of Louis: "The vampire was utterly white and smooth, as if he were sculpted from bleached bone, and his face was as seemingly inanimate as a statue, except for two brilliant green eyes that looked down at the boy intently like flames in a skull. The boy shuddered, lifting his hands as if to shield himself from a powerful light. His eyes moved slowly over the finely tailored black coat he'd only glimpsed in the bar, the long folds of the cape, the black silk tie knotted at the troath, and the gleam of the white collar that was white as the vampire's flesh. He stared at the vampires full black hair, the waves that were combed back over the tips of the ears, the curls that barely touched the edge of the white collar."View source"; ?>
Are they really creatures of the same race, these two vampires? The vampires seem to be as resorceful and adaptive as their prey, us humans. They have found ways to adapt to the changing times, not being content with lying in a grave and visiting their fast dwindling families and frightening their neighbours. Some vampires even have found ways to coexist with humans almost peacefully. Well, at least a few of them. With some humans. Almost.
But how and when did the vampires evolve? We are given some glimpses into the life - or rather unlife - of the vampires. These pages explore the cultural history of the vampires as it is seen in the world of vampire books. We do not deal with questions like 'Are there vampires or not?' nor are we interested in any humans posing as vampires. Drinking blood does not a vampire make. You have to be dead too.