Vampires Read Online Free
Author: Charlotte Montague
time and enthusiastically received – as they are today – by a public with a seemingly insatiable appetite for horror and gore.
The word ‘Vampire’
Theories about the derivation of the word ‘vampire’ in English vary, but it appears to have been borrowed from the German word ‘vampir’, which in turn came from the Polish ‘vaper’. There are parallel words for vampire, ranging from ‘vapir’ to ‘upir’, in almost all the Slavic languages, including Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. The general etymology of the word is somewhat controversial and uncertain, but it is thought to have links to the word for bat in Russian (netopyr), witch in Turkic (ubyr), and from various Indo-European words for the verb to fly.
Today, the word vampire is defined variously as ‘a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living’ and ‘a mythical creature which overcomes death by sucking the blood from living humans’. Some dictionaries and reference works note that portraying the vampire as a corpse in a grave who comes out at night to seek victims, especially those sleeping in their beds, is only one variation of the myth. Other features of vampire lore, such as the creature’s ability to fly, its fear of Christian symbols like the cross, and its susceptibility to sunlight, have been added over the years. The myth has also been elaborated on in other ways, for example in numerous apotropaics – that is, items (such as garlic) or methods (such as driving a stake through the heart) designed to kill the vampire.
Vampirism & Corpses
It is hard to understand why the myth of the vampire arose in Western culture, until we look at the context in which these stories and beliefs came to be. When we do, we find that the idea of the vampire came about largely as a result of fears and misunderstandings about the nature of death and the decomposition of the human corpse. In medieval times, it was common for ordinary people to see human bodies after they had died; partly, because poor peasants had to bury their own dead, but also because religious rituals often involved leaving an open coffin in the house for relatives and friends to pay their respects. Some modern-day commentators believe that this tradition, odd as it may seem to us today, was in fact psychologically quite healthy; in order to accept that a loved one has truly departed, the family need to see the dead body and acknowledge that the person is no longer a living being.
However, there were also negative aspects to this natural cycle. Human corpses sometimes decompose in a particularly horrifying way, according to the cause of death (liver complaints, for instance, might turn a body green), and the particular conditions in which the body is being stored (excess heat, excess cold, damp, and so on). In societies where little was known about medicine or science, and where irrational beliefs in demons, evil spirits, and so on were rife, it was easy for onlookers to imagine that a dead body had been taken over by such spirits, and that consequently it was a source of danger.
Exhumation of bodies
In cases where bodies were exhumed because they were suspected of being vampires, there could be changes in its appearance that would cause extreme fear and consternation. In certain conditions, depending on the temperature of the soil and its composition, corpses can release gases as they decompose, and these can sometimes cause the body to swell up. In addition, blood may run to the skin, causing it to look pink, and darkening the complexion. Thus, a person who had been looking extremely ill before he or she died, with gaunt features and pallid skin, might possibly, after being buried and exhumed, appear plump and healthy, with rosy cheeks and a ruddy complexion. Blood might also seep from the mouth and nose (as a result of the pressure from the gases), making the corpse look as though it had been
The word ‘Vampire’
Theories about the derivation of the word ‘vampire’ in English vary, but it appears to have been borrowed from the German word ‘vampir’, which in turn came from the Polish ‘vaper’. There are parallel words for vampire, ranging from ‘vapir’ to ‘upir’, in almost all the Slavic languages, including Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. The general etymology of the word is somewhat controversial and uncertain, but it is thought to have links to the word for bat in Russian (netopyr), witch in Turkic (ubyr), and from various Indo-European words for the verb to fly.
Today, the word vampire is defined variously as ‘a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living’ and ‘a mythical creature which overcomes death by sucking the blood from living humans’. Some dictionaries and reference works note that portraying the vampire as a corpse in a grave who comes out at night to seek victims, especially those sleeping in their beds, is only one variation of the myth. Other features of vampire lore, such as the creature’s ability to fly, its fear of Christian symbols like the cross, and its susceptibility to sunlight, have been added over the years. The myth has also been elaborated on in other ways, for example in numerous apotropaics – that is, items (such as garlic) or methods (such as driving a stake through the heart) designed to kill the vampire.
Vampirism & Corpses
It is hard to understand why the myth of the vampire arose in Western culture, until we look at the context in which these stories and beliefs came to be. When we do, we find that the idea of the vampire came about largely as a result of fears and misunderstandings about the nature of death and the decomposition of the human corpse. In medieval times, it was common for ordinary people to see human bodies after they had died; partly, because poor peasants had to bury their own dead, but also because religious rituals often involved leaving an open coffin in the house for relatives and friends to pay their respects. Some modern-day commentators believe that this tradition, odd as it may seem to us today, was in fact psychologically quite healthy; in order to accept that a loved one has truly departed, the family need to see the dead body and acknowledge that the person is no longer a living being.
However, there were also negative aspects to this natural cycle. Human corpses sometimes decompose in a particularly horrifying way, according to the cause of death (liver complaints, for instance, might turn a body green), and the particular conditions in which the body is being stored (excess heat, excess cold, damp, and so on). In societies where little was known about medicine or science, and where irrational beliefs in demons, evil spirits, and so on were rife, it was easy for onlookers to imagine that a dead body had been taken over by such spirits, and that consequently it was a source of danger.
Exhumation of bodies
In cases where bodies were exhumed because they were suspected of being vampires, there could be changes in its appearance that would cause extreme fear and consternation. In certain conditions, depending on the temperature of the soil and its composition, corpses can release gases as they decompose, and these can sometimes cause the body to swell up. In addition, blood may run to the skin, causing it to look pink, and darkening the complexion. Thus, a person who had been looking extremely ill before he or she died, with gaunt features and pallid skin, might possibly, after being buried and exhumed, appear plump and healthy, with rosy cheeks and a ruddy complexion. Blood might also seep from the mouth and nose (as a result of the pressure from the gases), making the corpse look as though it had been
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