Untitled Essay Research Paper Vampires have been

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Vampires have been seen and documented throughout history. The history of

vampires goes further back in time than most people realize. The chaldeans,

who lived

near the Euphrates river in the southwestern part of Asia more than five

hundred years

before the time of Christ , feared vampire or creatures similar to vampires

enough so that

they created charms to protect themselves from being attacked by such creatures.

The

Assyrians and the Babylonians feared a creature similar to a vampire known

as an

Ekimmu. These creatures known as Ekimmus were believed by the Assyrians to

roam the

planet searching for food although it was not always a persons blood but

rather a persons’

vitality or that persons’ energy force. It was believed that if such a creature

would enter

someone’s house that person along with his or her family would slowly weaken,

get sick

and probably die. In the countries of Syria and Palestine references were

made to such

blood sucking monsters on ancient carved tablets. In Ireland the people believed

in these

creatures, which they affectionately came to call “red blood suckers” . Due

to their belief

in these mythical creatures they began the practice of placing stones on

these vampires

graves to kep them from escaping.This then became standard practice and is

still used to

this day in the form of a tombstone. Tombstones were used to control ghosts

and other

spirits instead of their original use in controlling vampires.

Due to the fact that vampires seemed to be so commonplace

around the globe,

there was a large variety of vampires that differed in shape, behavior and

method of

becoming a vampire. All of these factors varied from region to region. In

the country of

Bulgaria a vampire had only one nostril. This Bulgarian vampire would rise

out of it’s

grave nine days after death in the form of a shower of sparks and remained

in this shape

for a period of forty days. After the completion of these forty days the

shower of sparks

would regain it’s human form. Once human-like the vampire goes from playing

childish

tricks, which it did in it’s “spark” form , to more serious matters , such

as the attacking of

humans and drinking of their blood. Vampires are well known for their craving

for

blood but in many countries vampires were not limited to just that substance

as part of

their diet, but would also consume foods that humans ate such as eggs and

rice. That,

however, does not mean that their yearn for blood was any weaker than before.

Most

vampires would attack their victims and suck the blood from puncture wounds

made in

the neck (The Russian vampire would suck the blood directly from the victims

heart).

Sometimes the vampire would gorge itself until it had drained the victim

completely

while other times it would take just enough to satisfy that night’s thirst

and come back the

following night and take a bit more. The method of drinking from the same

victim night

after night would cause the victim to get weaker and weaker . Due to the

fact that the

victim was indeed attacked by a vampire, that would mean that upon the victims

death

they too would become “undead.” (. Vampires p22)

Certain cultures around the globe also had systems to

recognize vampires. In

some cultures vampires were distinguished due to the color of their hair.

In most

Christian countries vampires could be recognized because they had red hair

like Judas

Iscariot, the man who betrayed Christ in the bible, was said to have had

red hair. Eye

color was another tell-tale sign used to identify vampires. In Greece ,where

most people

have dark colored eyes, vampires were said to have blue eyes, Rumania they

were said to

have had gray eyes, and in Ireland they had black eyes.

Vampires have been around for centuries , in some cases

they have been

recognized and feared by cultures that were around thousands of years before

the time of

Christ, such as the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Throughout the ages many

medical

explanations that could explain the vampire phenomena have been overlooked.

The first

reason was the lack of education that many people, because schooling was

not an

important part of these societies. Their lack of medical knowledge about

diseases, some

of which are quite rare and hard to explain even to this day was a large

factor in the

spread of vampire lore. Along with the fact that very uneducated people have

always had

a tendency of being overly superstitious also contributed to the vampire