Vampires, or the idea of
them, have been around for centuries, some even arguing the first mentions of
them in ancient Greek folklore. They have frequently been the explanation or
cause of a series of events that have no other explanation. While this does
still happen occasionally today, the height of this belief was around the 18th
and 19th century in Europe and parts of New England.
Throughout Europe many
different countries and regions had their own beliefs and names for vampires.
As shown in the Nat. Geo. article by Little (#1), Italy refereed to vampires as
"strega." Strega were believed to "leave graves and eat people."
The most popular belief originated from Germany, called the "Nachzehrer,
or “after-devourers.” These beings were believed to chew or eat their shroud.
This specific belief was most popular during the plague, and was accompanied by
the belief that the deceased family member would curse death upon the surviving
family members.
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| An illustration from Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood (1845-47) (4) |
Between the 16th and the
19th century, vampires were closely been linked to the rise in Tuberculosis
("consumption") and the plague ("the black death"). As
shown in Sabbatani and Fiorino's article (3),
"epidemics that plagued Europe often gave birth to hysterical
searches for a culprit; inducing violent and irrational behaviors against a
minority or a single subject of the afflicted." (163) These outbreaks
often lead to the desecration of multiple graves. It was believed that once the
culprit had passed on they would turn into a vampire unless it was stopped if
the right courses of action were taken. Such actions consisted of placing
bricks into the deceased's mouth, places rocks over the remains, breaking of
the deceased's bones, removing the deceased's heart and burning it, etc.
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| "Stabbed through the chest with an iron rod." (1) |
 |
| "The skeleton with an iron spike through the chest." (5) |
In order for this to
happen to the deceased, it must first be believed that the deceased was a
vampire or would turn into a vampire. One cause of this belief was the fact
that some corpses would have an extended stomach, or their shroud was covered
in blood sometimes with a hole in it. This then led to the belief that the
deceased was a member of the un-dead, believing that the blood on the shroud and their extended stomach was from their
most recent victim.
Today we know that those
three characteristics are often caused by bacterial activity and maggot
activity after the burial. However, back in the 16th to 19th century science
was not nearly as developed is today, and there was no definitive way for the
townspeople to accurately and correctly determine the cause of not only the
plague but also the reasons why a corpse may have changed after it was buried.
Because of this townspeople often looked to the supernatural to explain what
was happening in their town. While these beliefs and superstitions terrified the people, the likes of vampires and other supernatural creatures have now found a home in multiple popular literature and pop culture pieces.
Works Cited:
- Little, Becky. “The Bloody Truth About Vampires.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 27 Oct. 2016, news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/vampires-europe-new-england-halloween-history/.
- Sabbatani, Sergio, and Sirio Fiorino. “Pestilence, Riots, Lynchings and Desecration of Corpses. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.” Le Infezioni In Medicina: Rivista Periodica Di Eziologia, Epidemiologia, Diagnostica, Clinica E Terapia Delle Patologie Infettive, vol. 24, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 163–171. EBSCOhost, proxy-bloomu.klnpa.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mdc&AN=27367330&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- "Vampire Legend." Secrets of the Dead. Directed by Kate Thomas-Couth, Toby Fenn, and Nick Head. PBS, 2015.
- Rymer, James. Varney the Vampire. 1845. England.
- Rex. "The Skeleton with an iron spike through the chest." 2014. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/11153923/Vampire-grave-found-in-Bulgaria.html
This is a very interesting topic. I didn't know that people went to the extent of desecrating peoples graves. When you talk about people putting bricks in the suspected "vampires" mouths, burning their heart, etc. it just shows how superstitious people were without science. Ripping and burning the heart out of a dead person seems extreme when looking at this today. Also, the pictures add a whole new layer of creepiness. It's so interesting how the vampire legends these people feared so much have now become such a popular entertainment item in pop culture.
ReplyDeletePersonally having never heard of grave desecration, it was so interesting to learn about. Hearing the lengths people went to seem so extreme now, but it makes sense for the time era. Having a video to go into detail about this was awesome, especially because you picked one that not only gave such great information, but showed real examples of this.
ReplyDeleteI thought I knew a lot about Vampires till I read your blog post, I had no idea they were associated with deaths from the Black Plague and Tuberculosis back in the day. I also found it very interesting the lengths they would go to try to find comfort by 'protecting' themselves by removing and burning peoples hearts as well as breaking their bones. This idea of re-killing a vampire to actually end them is fresh to me as I just found out while reading Dracula when Arthur had to stab through Lucy's heart with the steak to essentially save her soul. I also appreciate the many different visual representations of vampires throughout the times, really nice lay out and well written!
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