Vampires: from myth to ritual

The vampire is known as one of the most horrifying creatures of the night. Tons of legends circulate about him as standard bearer with the most famous Count Dracula. On behalf of many stories were mentioned, the seducer of his victims fierce nocturnal beast destroying everything in its path. Today, we know a little more about Dracula Vlad Tepes the Impaler said. Incidentally, there is no trace in the Romanian folklore of the vampire Dracula as Bram Stoker, the author of "Dracula" has simply used the reputation of the warrior prince Vlad the expeditious and cruel methods to make a hero horrific.

For the story Dracula was loved by his people, his methods of murder by impalement, dismemberment and other horrors served as an example to calm the ardor of the bandits in the area. It was better to respect its laws ...

Yet Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire, there are in European folklore and Slavic especially for hundreds of years. We do not know its origin, however, there was a clinical vampirism called mental illness that was to ingest human blood whether from others or from the patient ... In some treated more or less medical 17th century, there the evocation of "automastication" which was to eat his own skin and clothes ... the treaties also mention that vampires also fed human excrement.

We are obviously no possibility to certify that vampires exist, however it is almost universal myth and fear generated by this dark creature was in a distant time taken very seriously.

Thus archaeologist Petar Balabanov the discovered near the town of Debelt 2002 Bulgaria 6 skeletons that had the same oddities ...

In 2012, Bulgaria still two skeletons dating back nearly 800 years were discovered in the town of Sozopol. This very surprising discovery has really proven that this superstition had an incredible impact. There is no evidence that these skeletons are actually vampires, however, a typical rite was performed on them.

At that time whenever a suspicion of vampirism were evoked, the tomb of the deceased was opened and the body was planted with an iron rod through the chest. This act of desecration was to "pin" the body to his tomb and thus prevent it from returning (The history of the stake through the heart must come from this story). At that time, once a person survived a deadly epidemic, it was then suspected ... Do not talk murderers ... This folklore quite amazing come wars and mass graves.


With the number of deaths on the battlefield, it was difficult to establish the identity of victims of war, they were therefore most often buried in a mass grave. To add body to the grave, it was tilling the soil and thereby discover corpses which showed growth of nails and hair and the blood coming out of his mouth. People believed at this time that the body had obviously had a recent meal. We learned later that it was a natural process of decomposition of the human body.

We can also see that this rite was not shared by everyone because if vampirism had been proven and recognized by religious and / or state, cremation of the bodies would have been permitted.

Myth or reality of an era, it is difficult to testify for or against the existence of vampires in our history. In any case, people who dug up the bodies are believed as the iron ... And therein lies the real question to ask: Why so many people were so convinced?