Vampires cannot exist in sunlight

• Vampires are burned and repelled by the sign of a cross

• Vampires cannot go into a church or holy place

• Vampires are burned by holy water

~ Cross and Holy Water ~

As far as vampires being burned and repelled by holy water, here again we are dealing with purification. This time not fire, but water. Holy water is blessed by a priest and God. That gives it the property of extreme good as opposed to the property of extreme evil. It gives the water a cleansing and purifying nature, hence a Vampire is burned, repelled or destroyed in much the same way as if he were in sunlight; All due to purification.

I have always found this amusing especially with regard to the Catholic church's view on animals having no soul. According to the oldest beliefs of the Roman Catholic church, God bestowed souls only to humans. Animals are believed to have no soul, just as Vampires are believed to have no soul. Vampires have no soul because they are evil, animals have no soul because they are not human. And yet animals are reflected in mirrors .... interesting, is it not?

Now we will look at some folk myths, but you must keep in mind the folk myths are still originating from some form of church myths.

~ Four Ways To Kill A Vampire ~

It was believed, if you did not actually PIN the corpse in its grave it would rise from the grave at night and infect its living relatives. At this time in history, there were no iron or metal nails of any kind. Furniture was put together with large sharp wooden pegs. You can see how the natural progression of a pointed wooden object which was used to 'nail' a chair together would be enlarged even further to 'nail' a body into it's wooden coffin. And that is how the stake was developed. Of course, the act of 'nailing' the corpse into the coffin was nonsense but that was the belief of the day.

In historical actuality, using any old wooden peg, or carved piece of wood would not work. It is believed, in many countries, that the wood has to be of a magical quality. And only special wood, such as Oak, Ash, Hawthorn and perhaps Box Elder, could be used for making a stake that would kill what we know as mythical vampires. In many legends involving black magick and witchcraft, and it’s not Wicca that I’m speaking of, it is believed that Hawthorn and Box Elder could be used against evil witches as well as vampires, then believed to be demons of hell.

The disease, consumption, is still with us today but it is treatable with antibiotics and long quiet rests. It is called ... Tuberculosis.

Running water, such as in a brook, stream, river, and ocean often was not befouled and, therefore, was more pure. It was the prevailing belief that purity always killed a Vampire. Impure was simply another term for evil. Hence the myths, Vampires could not cross running water and would drown in running water.

In many European, as well as Asian countries, the body if a suspected vampire was buried with a very sharp scythe around its neck, in the belief that if the body sat up the scythe would cut off its head. And this may, in some way, have contributed to the image of the Grim Reaper carrying a scythe.

In many instances the heart was cut from the corpse and the body of the vampire burned as well as beheaded. At times, the heart was burned and the ashes mixed with a liquid, usually wine, and the one believed to be the victim of a vampire, as well as living members of a Vampire's family, were forced to drink this liquid in the misguided belief it was a sort of vaccine and could prevent the take-over of the soul of the person still living.

Garlic was believed to be a natural cleansing, purifying agent. It was believed to be able to drive evil from the body and was given as a remedy for gas and bloatedness. It would, actually precipitate the expulsion of gas and air from the body. Because of garlic's strong odor and medicinal benefits it was believed to be another strong form of purification.

We then return to the theory, evil cannot exist in the face of strong purification. Hence a Vampire was driven away by garlic.

There is an additional belief that mythological vampires were allergic to garlic. This allergy was believed to cause watering of the eyes, a difficulty in breathing and generally distasteful situation for a vampire. However, I feel that this just goes back to the purification theory.

What does this have to do with a witch?

Witches were believed to be servants of Satan, brides of Satan, corrupted by Satan and evil. Pretty much the same as a Vampire. Witches were not classified as demons but they were able to summon them. Witches were the ultimate evil and witches were also destroyed by light and other methods of purification, hence witches could not cross silver. It was also believed that witches worked with sulphur. Sulphur is an element of Hell. Hell was supposed to be the place of fire and brimstone. Brimstone was, at this time, another meaning for sulphur. Witches worked with sulphur and some witches were believed to have jewelry or implements of silver, sulphur corroded silver, or the witches' evil corroded the silver. Hence witches could not wear silver or cross silver, pretty much the same as the Vampire ... who also resided in Hell, amongst the fire and brimstone.

We realize today, that the people the church saw as evil witches were no more than female herbalists, midwives, women who had money or status or other possessions coveted by someone else.

In some countries, it was also believed that not unlike a werewolf, a vampire could be killed with a silver dagger, spear, knife and such. This author finds it difficult to believe that a human could have gotten that close, if mythical vampires were real, to be able to stab one in the heart with a small dagger.

Upon the human's death the soul was believed to be corrupted and obtained by Satan, who then made the deceased a Vampire also.

There is a very ancient legend that it took three individual drainings of blood, which could be accomplished over a long period of time to actually kill the victim. As the victim fell more and more under the control of the Vampire they became increasingly evil and submissive to the Vampire's will.

The ability to function while dead was a gift from Satan. A sort of 'life' but it wasn't life and it wasn't 'afterlife'... that meant heaven, so it was called 'undead' which I believe is a fictional term probably created by Bram Stoker.

Theory one: As explained by Inheritor Vampire ImortalN ...

'A household is infused with the aura or life energy of its inhabitants, past and present. This in a small part gives them greater strength and power on a defensive level. Certain Vampyres with empathic, hypnotic, or other powers like 'The Voice' are hindered by this.

Some holy, or sacred places are so strong that these amorphous abilities are actually nulled. When one invites a Vampyre or Magus or any with these powers in, one attunes this defensive veil subconsciously to the Vampyre. Thus letting him/her 'Move' freely thru this domain. Otherwise it is like having ones senses dulled, as if under murky water. One can still enter, but not 'comfortably'.

Also there is a certain etiquette built into this invite legend. Amongst those who are not renegade, we follow this as a rule. In past when those humans were more fluent in magic, to enter uninvited was to put oneself at risk of the others abilities. It was less that we could not enter but more that we refused to enter due to self preservation. It became so natural that even today we follow the rule.

Because many of the Vampyric breeds are so finely tuned to the magickal forces at such a high level, we are also more susceptible. A noted weakness, to these Aetheric powers. An actual verbalization seems necessary to attune us to the specific domain's resonant magical veil. Public domains are not as attuned to single individuals or families so the rule seems not to apply. Yet cathedrals, Indian circles and other sacred places seem to have a more unified resonance and dull the senses to almost a blindness to our other sensory abilities. It makes us jittery and sluggish.

Imagine you go to someone's home and they blindfold you or plug your ears before you enter, the feeling is quite similar since these other senses are a natural everyday ability of ours.'

Theory two: Suggested by a Classical Vampire ...

Humans of the time, being for the most part, uneducated and superstitious, were more than willing to clutch at anything that would give them a sense of comfort and or power over a situation.

When faced with a being of greater cunning, physical strength, and intelligence, with the ability to enter their very homes and prey upon them at will, these humans NEEDED something to help them at least FEEL safe.

If you did not invite the Vampire into your home, then it could not come in. Much like a child of today pulls the covers over his head to feel safe from the boogie-man, it didn't matter that they WERE NOT safe, it only mattered that they FELT safe.

Vampires were predators, one of the most feared natural predators of the day was the wolf, hence Vampires became wolves.

Bats have always inspired fear in humans because they attacked cattle and sucked blood. Blood could be considered liquid life, loss of blood meant death. Vampires feed on blood, Vampires killed humans, bats feed on blood, i.e.: a Vampire could become a bat.

Smoke and vapor ... it is very difficult to capture fog or smoke. A Vampire is a demon of magic, a Vampire can do anything he wants, i.e.: a Vampire can become smoke, fog, haze, anything he wants.

Alternately, the belief that evil always seeks to corrupt good connected to the belief that the Vampire was a demon and demons could do anything, including hypnotize or control by magic or just their mind, is what originally gave rise to the hypnotic control of a Vampire over its prey.

To humans, the Vampire was immortal, eternal. Existing through vast quantity of time. In reality, most human beings lived to their mid-thirties during these early days. Age fifty was considered extreme old age.

Today, fifty is barely more than middle age. But in the 14th through the 17th century the human life expectancy was very short. Age 50 was extreme, age 70 was unheard of, 100 or 105 would have been considered immortal.

We can see how silly these beliefs were. To begin with, Vampires could die. We've shown several example myths showing the beliefs that Vampires could be killed. The possibility of being killed, or destroyed, shows that they were not undead or immortal.

Your friend, Jeff (gozer)

* * Catherene, I saw an episode of the X-files where this vampire was chasing someone and they threw a handful of Sunflower seeds at him. He stopped to pick them all up. WHY?

Thanks, BATX69

It was believed that, if you where being chased by a witch and you scattered rice on the ground, she or he would be compelled to stop and pick up every grain because the rice was a grain nourished by God (as in Sunlight) and as such the witch must pick up every grain to be sure of not stepping on any and thus being destroyed.

The TV show adaptation probably stemmed from the plants name, 'sunflower.' Get it? Sun-Flower. Sun, Vampires, etc. They took a bit of literary license with this one, but the main premise is the same: The Vampire would be compelled to pick up the seeds before going on to chase the victim lest he step on one and thus be destroyed. Nonsense but most myth is indeed nonsense.

The founder of the order of the 'Inversed Dragon' was Sigismund of Luxembourg (R 1387-1437) husband of Mary daughter of Lajos I the Great (R 1342-1382). He has introduced Stefan Lazarevic into the order and Vlad Drakul, Drakula's father. Vlad Tepes Dracula became vojvod (Duke) after the reign of Sigismund during that of Mattias Corvinus whose daughter he married.

Dracula was not a member of the order, though he may have got hold of some of his 'father's items'. To know more about the order, you should seek manuscripts about Sigismund. Probably you could obtain information in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria. Books •'Les Vampires' MA éditions, Paris Jean Paul Bourré, 1986 •'The Book of The Sacred Magic' by S.L. Mac Gregor-Mathers London John M. Watkins, 26 Charing Cross, S.W. 1898.