See our Vampire Videos section to see a few videos on vampires and vampire folklore.
The folklore of
"Real Life Vampires" has only a slight connection
with the fiction, much the way the
folklore of ghosts has little to do
with the movie Ghostbusters. To
begin with, the standard way to
become a vampire is to become bitten
by one. This is only one of many
ways in traditional lore, and far
from the most effective. The range
of potential ways to become a
vampire is extensive enough that
nearly any corpse was subject. In
many areas of the world the bodies
of the dead were automatically dug
up after a year or so, checked to
make sure they had decayed properly,
and then buried in a permanent
grave. Most people aren't aware
that, throughout European history,
there have been extensive and
detailed accounts of bodies in
graveyards being dug up, declared to
be vampires, and killed.
In folklore vampires drank blood
of the victims normally by biting
the chest of their victims, some
strangled or smothered them, while
some simply spread illness and death
by their presence alone. Some folk
traditions hold that vampires
physically leave their graves and
stalk through the night similar to
Hollywood movies, but this is not
the most common one. Most lore
suggests that what leaves the grave
is not the body but a less solid,
cloudy, and blurry in shape similar
to a spirit. Some folklore has it
that the vampire is at first soft
and shapeless. The longer it lives
and feeds it becomes more solid and
grows bones thus making them more
dangerous and harder to kill.
It is also interesting that
despite all the differences in the
vampire lore there are a few traits
that is almost universal. Vampires
can't endure sunlight and can not
cross running water.
In order to learn more about
vampires you must know about etheric
body. Ancient Egypt was more
obsessed with obtaining immortality
than any other society in history.
They did this by keeping the ka
alive after the physical body
passed. Once the physical body dies
the ka fades away into the afterlife
unless kept alive by preserving the
physical body, and regenerating the
ka. Ka is what what we call today
our etheric body or life energy.
Ancient Egypt has what was called a
Ka Priest who would perform
sacrifices every night to keep the
ka spirits 'vampires' at bay. If the
sacrifice was not sufficient the
vampires would seek fresh ka else
where causing serious consequences.
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