Vampyres of Eastern Europe

Vampyres are legendary creatures which exist throughout Hungary, Greece, Serbia, and even Germany and Austria, and in many other lands. According to Hermetic research, Adam's first wife Lilith was the fist vampyre, the rest being her descendents, not Eve's. It is known that they are hell's creatures, drinking blood and committing other foul atrocities, but much in the way of myth persists about their nature.

Vampyres are always their most active on St. Andrew's Eve and St. George's Eve (April 22), so special precautions are often taken at these times to keep them at bay. Windows are painted with garlands of flowers, blossoms, and garlic. Thistles are placed on fences that they may not cross, and tar is often painted on doors.

• Serbs paint crosses with tar on their doors to keep out vampyres.
• To enter your house, you must invite the vampyre inside according to legend. But they may call you once, so always call three times to see who beckons you and know that they are not a vamyre.
• Nine days after burial a man with vampyre blood in him will rise from the earth to his new life.
• To prevent someone from becomming a vampyre, the bodies of those suspected are exhumed, cremated, and flung into a river.
• Toss sprigs of Weissdorn (hawthorn) into a roadway to deep a vampyre from pursuing you, because he will stop to collect them.
• In Dalmatia, the feet of most corpses are slit so as to prevent them being able to walk as a vampyre.
• In Transylvania, a still-born illegitimate child born of two illegitimates themselves is called a Nosferatu, and will surely rise as a vampyre.
• Vampyres cast no shadow, and cannot bear the light of the sun.
• Needfires can be built in a great circle, within which a vampyre may not enter. They must be built ceremonially with kindling and struck by friction, never with flint or steel. This is often done when cattle are diseased - a sign of vampyric presence.

[Vampires of Rus: The vampires of the Russian lands are known by the name vampyr, upyr or vyrdalak. They prey upon sleeping victims primarily, and leave as a telltale sign of their attack a small bite mark just above the heart, from which they suck blood. They can be killed by driving a stake (usually aspen) through it in a single blow (striking creatures a second time will revive most creatures according to Russian tales), or one can make certain the body is consumed by fire, or one can chop off its head. They may be created by a cat or some other animal jumping over a corpse, when one commits suicide, or when a wizard or witch dies. Some are simply the offspring of the Devil. -Pat]

This page last modified on 8/29/97.

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