Vampire , Dracula, Do you think IT really exist ?

A Bloodthirsty Being

In all stories, whether folktales or eyewitness accounts ,vampires always thirst for blood. A vampire will drink the blood of an animal when necessary, but always prefers human blood. This is one of the most terrifying charactristics of a vampire. The vampire drinks blood to acquire the victim's energy. Without regular feedings,a vampire will grow weak and eventually die.


Avoiding attack
One common method during the 16th and 17th centuries was hanging garlic bty the door or window or wearing a string of it around one's neck. Vampire experts believe the strong scent of garlic is offensive to vampires and will keep them from attacking


Christian symbols ,such as the crucifix and holy water ,were also thought to be extremely offensive to vampires and had long been used to drive them away


Some stories even suggested that scattering seeds near a vampire offered protection. Most vampires of folklore were obessed wih cleanliness and could not pass the seeds without stopping to count everyone. This gave a potential victim time to escape


Accordinging to most stories, the only real protection against a vampire was to destory it. Centuries ago, people believe they could destroy a vampire by cutting off its head or burning its body. they also relied on vampire hunters.


The vampire hunter entered a graveyard at night armed with a gun loaded with a silver bullet. shooting a vampire with this special bullet was thought to be a sure way to kill it


Another sure way to kill a vampire was to drive a wooden stake through its heart. This well-known method of slaying a vampire dates back centuries.


Do vampires exist ???


Arnold Paole was the subject of a famous 18th century vampire scare. A former soldier , Paole lived in the Serbian town of Medvegia. He was hardworking farmer who was known for being honest and good-natured. In 1727 , when Paole was in his early twenties ,people began noticing a change in him. Those who saw him said he appeared to be troubled. Paole soon confessed that a vampire had bitten him when he was serving in the army. He claimed to have followed the vampire back to its grave and killed it. In an effort to remove the curse, he ate sme of the dirt at the grave and tasted the vampire 's blood. Even after taking these precautions , he was still convinced he would turn into vampire. A week after his confession ,he died in an accident and was buried immediately.


Within a month of his burial ,people reported seeing visions of Paole. 4 people who claimed to have sen him died a short time later. anic spread through the village. 0 days after Paole's death ,community leaders and 2 military surgeons opened his grave. They expected to find nothing unusual ,and they hoped this would calm fears in the village


Instead they were alarmed by Paole's appearance. His body showed little sign of decay ,and he appeared to have fresh blood around his mouth.the corpse also appeared to have newly grown fingernails. As a precaution ,they drove a stake into his chest. when hey did this ,they reported , a loud groan arose from the corpse. Convinced he was a vampire ,they burned his body to prevent him from returning from his grave again


Bathory

Long ao, people probably thought that to "receive it ,through drinking or magical infusions ,can restore lost power ,heal mortal wounds ,and great eternal life"

Historians believe this is the reason Elizabeth Bathory ,a Hungarian nolewoman born in 1560 ,desired the blood of others. She tortured and killed more than 600 young women and girls in hpes that their blood would restore her lost youth. she bathed in and drank their blood ,believing it would make her skin smoother and younger looking. While Bathory was not undead, she has been called a living vampire


Peter Plogojowitz

Around the same time as the Paole case ,another famous vamoire case occurred in a prt of Serbia that is now in Hungrary. This happened in 1728. 3 days after plogojowotz's death at the age of 62 ,he reportedly shocked his family by returning to his house. He asked his son for food, which he received and ate and then left. 2 nights later he again returned looking for food but was turned way. The son was found dead the next day. Several days later , some of the villagers fell ill with exhaustion. they were all diagnosed with a large loss of blood. They began having nightmares that Plogojowitz was atacing them in their sleep. The next week, 9 of the people died from the mysterious illness. Fear of vampirism fripped the village.


A mlitary commander was brought in to investigate the case. He mmediately ordered the graves of Plogojowitz and his supposed victims dug up and opened. all of the dead bodies appeared normal except Plogojowitz's. his corpse appeared to be in a trance. His eyes were wide open ,and he was said to be breathing faintly. Most frightening was the fresh blood smeared around his mouth. the commander quickly ruled Plogojowitz a vampire and had someone drive a stake through his chest. to complete the destruction ,the villagers burned his corpse. Afterward ,there were no further reports of Plogojowitz terrorizing the community


Vampire of Croglin Grange

Nearly 150 years later ,author august Hare investigated a story about a vapire encounter in England. According to Hare's telling, a woman and her 2 brothers were spending he summer of 1875 at Croglin Grange ,a house in Cumberland ,England. Late 1 night ,the woman was startled by 2 bright points of light shinnng through her bedroom window. She soon realized the points were not lights , but the eyes of a dark ,humanlike creature. the eyes moved closer and closer until they were just outside her window. The monster then enetred the bedroom through the window and atacked the woman.


The brothers heard their sister's screams and ran to help. One tend to his fallen sister ,while he other chased the creature into the woods. It escaped y leaping over a wall ,then ran through a church graveyard


the woman had 2 small puncture marks on her neck. she as shaken by the attack ,but the wounds eventually healed. On her doctor's orders ,the woman and her brothers went to Switzerland for a change of scenery. they returned to Croglin Grange the next spring.


shortly after their arrival , the mysterious being again entered the woman's room. One of the brothers chased the creature and shot it in the leg,but he was unable to stop it from entering the church graveyard. Terriefied, the brothers waited for day-break,then traced the monster's path to a burial vault. All but 1 of the corpses inside the vault had been removed from their caskets. they unsealed the only remaining undisturbed casket and found a body with a bullet in one of its legs. Fearing the corpse was indeed the vampire that had attacked their sister ,the brothers removed the body and burned it

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Credit from : Book title : Monsters - VAMIRES ,author : Raymond H.Miller