What is a vampire?
A vampire is a being said to rise from its grave after death and drink the blood of the living night after night. Those whose blood is drunk are said to become vampires too. They are based on the folk traditions of Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, such as in Serbia and Romania.
The vampire panic of the 18th century
In the early 18th century, reports came from villages in Serbia, then under Austrian rule, that people who should have been dead appeared at night and attacked villagers. Officials who dug up the graves recorded that the bodies had not decayed and had blood on their mouths. The reports caused a sensation across Europe and made the word “vampire” widely known. Today it is thought that changes that occur as bodies decompose, such as swelling and blood-like fluid coming from the mouth, were mistaken for evidence of rising from the dead.
Dracula and the image of the vampire
In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker published the novel Dracula, making the noble vampire count in a black cloak world-famous. One of the models for Dracula is said to be Vlad III, the 15th-century ruler of Wallachia (in today’s Romania). Traits such as hating garlic and crosses, not showing in mirrors and turning to ash in sunlight were shaped through folklore, novels and films.
