Dissection of the Vampire

History of the Vampire

A quick note by me, the writer, before we start. I have forged this piece, this dissection of the vampire, purely for you, dear reader of Wattpad. I have written this since I know many of you love vampire fiction and I also know that many writers get vampires and vampire fiction terribly wrong and most likely don't know much about the history of the creature, either. But, nonetheless, vampire fiction has become a very big thing of the 2000s (it went out for a while, then came back again... it's always doing that).

Now, a brief history of the folklore creature itself, then the name itself, and then the history of the vampire as seen in fiction, namely, novels.

History of the Creature 'Vampire'

The vampire comes from European folklore. It seems to have originated in Serbia in the 1700s, although the history of the so-called vampire itself may date much further back (and it was also noted in Romania around the same time).

The definition is as follows: [in European folklore] a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.

This, of course, is a modernised definition. The deep roots will be found in the belief that dead bodies didn't stay dead for very long. The belief that they [the undead] climbed out of their graves. This will have a basis in reality since it will have been the case that some people were buried alive with the assumption that they were dead. Thus, they would, naturally, wish to get out of the hole somebody put them in. But, they would have been alive, not undead.

The descriptions of such 'vampires' are similar to, well, let's just say, if they were just humans that were buried alive/ill, you get such. Namely, they were reported as being bloated and purplish. These characteristics were then attributed to the 'recent drinking of blood' since they had blood running from their noses (but, in fact, this was because they were just buried, and such or, indeed, had something wrong with them health-wise which got them buried in the first place).

However, note the possibility of it having roots in earlier mythological creatures, akin to the 'vampire'. Cultures such as the Greeks and Hebrews, for example, had tales of spirits which are considered precursors to vampires. You also had similar myths in China.

It does seem items to ward off revenants date back some time, such as garlic, crucifix, and holy water. Other items were wild roses, hawthorns, and mustard seeds. So, you see, modern vampire fiction is deeply infused in the folklore and Christian mythology.

It was common to 'kill a vampire' using the staking method, but not with metal or anything from the Underworld film sets. Rather, with ash wood or oak wood, and the Christians used aspen. The location of staking is different, mostly it was through the heart, but also mouth or stomach in some parts of the world. Either way, you have some new insights here and some space for your own vampires. Such as Chinese vampires and mustard seeds. That sounds interesting to me.

Anyway, it was, believe it or not, common all those years ago, to not accurately know if somebody was dead. We simply didn't have the knowledge and tools to know.

So, the fact is the drinking of blood and biting of necks and so forth was created later on. It's the fiction we are all here for, and we shall come to it soon. First, we mus- Aubrey, where's my cup of... blood!

Sorry, um, were you saying something, child?

Ah, I'm only joking, I'm not really a vampire... or am I? No, of course, I'm not. Or am I? Right, enough of that. Let us bite -- write. I mean let us write. Ha, ha, of course, I mean let us write. Why would I mean bite? I'm not biting anything, why would I be biting something since it's been well-established that I'm not a vampire, absolutely not, unequivocally so.