Vampires Through the Ages by Brian Righi
Authors: Brian Righi
Tags: History, Dracula, vampire, Monster, Mythical, energy, blood, Myth, fangs, Dead, Protection, Anne Rice, psychic vampire, lestat, bloodsucking, children of the night
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Russian beliefs, it was necessary that the act be committed with a single blowâotherwise a second might reawaken the vampire. This one-blow theory was a constant motif throughout the heroic sagas of Slavic lore, where the hero of the tale could only strike the monster but once.
The act itself served several purposes, including deflating the bloated corpse and releasing the blood trapped within as well as stopping the heart of the vampire from continuing to beat. Underlying this was the even older belief that a stake could pin the corpse to the earth, both so that it could not physically rise and also to create a supernatural link with the earth that would allow the body to finally decompose. Burials during these periods were often conducted without the luxury of a coffin and in a shallow grave scraped out of the hard earth with the simplest of tools. The stake therefore was perhaps the only thing holding the vampire down.
By 1823 the morbid practice of staking suicides became so rampant that the government of Britain was forced to enact laws protecting the bodies of those who died by their own hand, or felo de se . Under one such law, the coroner was to âgive directions for the private internment of the remains of such a person felo de se without a stake being driven through the body of such a personâ (Blackstone 1836, 190).
Decapitation
Decapitation, the act of separating the head from the body, was another effective, if gruesome, means of bringing an end to the vampire and was used to a large extent in Germany and the western Slavic countries. Unlike stakes, which were required to be carved from the wood of particular trees, anything could be used to cut the head off of a vampire, from rusty kitchen knives and hatchets to farming sickles and shovel blades. In some traditions, the shovel of a gravedigger or sexton had supernatural powers against vampiresâthe former because it was used in laying bodies to rest, and the latter because it was a tool used by a man of the church.
Although anyone could perform the deed, local executioners were often called upon to do the job, not only for their proficiency and experience in removing the head from the body but also because in the minds of common people the act was a sort of second execution for the crimes committed by the vampire. Once the head was removed, the mouth was frequently stuffed with garlic and either placed at the feet of the corpse, behind the buttocks, or reburied some distance from the body. The idea was that if a vampire could not see, smell, or chew on its victims, then it posed little threat. Beyond this, decapitation opened the corpse in a way that allowed any evil spirits residing within to quickly find their way out.
Fire
A third tactic involved the complete and utter destruction of the corpse or at least certain key parts, such as the heart and other vital organs, by fire. This usually meant dragging the corpse from its grave and onto a pyre of wood sometimes soaked with pitch or other flammables. Although the type of wood was unimportant, whenever possible the lumber was collected from trees and shrubs bearing thorns, which as seen earlier carried certain biblical connotations. Once the match was struck, it then became necessary to capture and burn any creatures escaping the flames regardless of their size or shape, because they might just be the vampire in disguise. In many areas it was also crucial that no scrap or fragment of the body survive the flames, as the vampire could rejuvenate itself from the smallest portion. Once the cremation was complete, the ashes were collected and tossed into a swiftly flowing river so that they could not be used by sorcerers in the creation of evil magic.
Burning the vampireâs remains not only destroyed the vehicle by which it walked the earth but also purified the essence of the corpse. The flame, as history proved again and again, was one of the favorite tools of the church when it came to
The act itself served several purposes, including deflating the bloated corpse and releasing the blood trapped within as well as stopping the heart of the vampire from continuing to beat. Underlying this was the even older belief that a stake could pin the corpse to the earth, both so that it could not physically rise and also to create a supernatural link with the earth that would allow the body to finally decompose. Burials during these periods were often conducted without the luxury of a coffin and in a shallow grave scraped out of the hard earth with the simplest of tools. The stake therefore was perhaps the only thing holding the vampire down.
By 1823 the morbid practice of staking suicides became so rampant that the government of Britain was forced to enact laws protecting the bodies of those who died by their own hand, or felo de se . Under one such law, the coroner was to âgive directions for the private internment of the remains of such a person felo de se without a stake being driven through the body of such a personâ (Blackstone 1836, 190).
Decapitation
Decapitation, the act of separating the head from the body, was another effective, if gruesome, means of bringing an end to the vampire and was used to a large extent in Germany and the western Slavic countries. Unlike stakes, which were required to be carved from the wood of particular trees, anything could be used to cut the head off of a vampire, from rusty kitchen knives and hatchets to farming sickles and shovel blades. In some traditions, the shovel of a gravedigger or sexton had supernatural powers against vampiresâthe former because it was used in laying bodies to rest, and the latter because it was a tool used by a man of the church.
Although anyone could perform the deed, local executioners were often called upon to do the job, not only for their proficiency and experience in removing the head from the body but also because in the minds of common people the act was a sort of second execution for the crimes committed by the vampire. Once the head was removed, the mouth was frequently stuffed with garlic and either placed at the feet of the corpse, behind the buttocks, or reburied some distance from the body. The idea was that if a vampire could not see, smell, or chew on its victims, then it posed little threat. Beyond this, decapitation opened the corpse in a way that allowed any evil spirits residing within to quickly find their way out.
Fire
A third tactic involved the complete and utter destruction of the corpse or at least certain key parts, such as the heart and other vital organs, by fire. This usually meant dragging the corpse from its grave and onto a pyre of wood sometimes soaked with pitch or other flammables. Although the type of wood was unimportant, whenever possible the lumber was collected from trees and shrubs bearing thorns, which as seen earlier carried certain biblical connotations. Once the match was struck, it then became necessary to capture and burn any creatures escaping the flames regardless of their size or shape, because they might just be the vampire in disguise. In many areas it was also crucial that no scrap or fragment of the body survive the flames, as the vampire could rejuvenate itself from the smallest portion. Once the cremation was complete, the ashes were collected and tossed into a swiftly flowing river so that they could not be used by sorcerers in the creation of evil magic.
Burning the vampireâs remains not only destroyed the vehicle by which it walked the earth but also purified the essence of the corpse. The flame, as history proved again and again, was one of the favorite tools of the church when it came to
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