Vampires

	Sign In Sign-Up

Vampires From Monsters to Gods

My personal thoughts on Vampires

By Evel D.

Intro

I think I will finally come clean and admit that my first love has always been vampires. Not the psychic vampires that Anton LaVey speaks of in some of his books; but the kind that are written about in stories such as "Dracula" by Bram Stoker and "Interview with a vampire" by Anne Rice. I have basically had this fascination with vampires since I was a child. Actually, even before I was born! (Side note-I know that sounds odd, but my mother swears to me that while she was pregnant with me she had cravings for war movies, horror movies and vampire movies. Before she was pregnant with me she had no desire for those types of movies, but while she carried me she couldn't get enough of them, and after I was born she had no desire for them and I watched them.)

The vampire mythos has actually evolved a bit over time, from the ghoulish vampire portrayed in the classic 1922 film "Nosferatu." To the handsome portrayal of Lestat and Louis (Played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt respectively)in the movie version of "interview with the vampire". Basically, the vampire has evolved from monsters to gods. I also, think that this has so much to do with our culture then most people realize.

Vampires have been around as long as mankind has been around. You don't have to believe me go read up on some history. The legend of the vampire seems to have always been deeply ingrained in the subconscious of mankind. Many, people have different theories as to why this is. From, there were actually vampires, to the fact that people did not have a good understanding of how the human body decomposes. However, I think both of those ideas are a bit too simple. Sure maybe the not understanding how the human body decomposes helped spread the idea of vampires, but surely that couldn't be the only source for the belief could it? Of course it could, but I don't think it is. I think that the source for belief had quite a bit to do with the food chain.

Basically, being that prehistoric man walked around and he saw that every animal had another animal that attacked it in nature. The worms ate the dirt, the bird in turn ate the worm, the snake ate the bird, the fox ate the snake, the lion ate the fox, and the man ate the lion (or sometimes it was the other way around, but that is another story.) Now even though prehistoric man was prehistoric that doesn't mean he was stupid; or rather any stupider then he is today. He saw all of these animals hunt after one another and could see the logical order to it all. Now he wondered everything else get's eaten, who is our predator? Aside from the lion, or bear who would make a member of ones family a missing person. Man is inherently paranoid and therefore must worry about such things. The people saw that the hunter of each animal was made for hunting the particular animals it ate. The lion was strong and had sharp claws and teeth and could move at a decent rate of speed. Perfect for catching a gazelle. The Bear also had sharp claws and was also rather strong, but was kind of slow (unless you are human of course). So it makes sense that bears like grizzles mainly eat berries and perhaps catch a fish or two. I don't think you will see a bear take down a deer anytime soon. Or at least I never have! Since, mans biggest (and only) asset is his brain obviously if something were to hunt us it would have to be of superior intelligence. Though, sharp claws and teeth couldn't hurt; but being that we are so smart we would learn how to stay away from something very noticeable eventually. So, it not only had to be smarter then us, but it also had to look like us. With that the vampire was born!

Blood and the Dead

Now how does the drinking of blood and the whole rising from the dead stuff come into the picture. Well, we can go back and look at most major human mythos and we can see that rising from the dead seemed to be a reoccurring theme. In Egypt we have the whole Osiris story, the Loki killing Balder story which is Norse, of course we all know the Christ story, and to a lesser extent the flood story too in a way. Apparently, this is also another subconscious human idea which is probably brought about because death is so permanent, and I suppose people hoped that death was not as bad as it looked to be. The whole life after death term is an oxymoron in it's self, but that's another essay. Blood has long been seen as the very essence of life by most every culture that has graced this planet. There were even some remote tribes in Africa that engaged in drinking the blood of their farm animals, because they felt it made them stronger. Since many ancient people knew that blood was what kept us alive, but it still had a great mystery to it. Some felt that it was extremely powerful and hence some drank it and others spilt it in order to make people 'better.' How else would a resurrected dead creature kill someone? Drain their life force of course! And in this case the life force was attained through the blood.

As times progressed there were actually people who seemed to be vampiric. The most widely known are of course Vlad Tepes and Countess Bathory. I will just touch of this quickly as everyone must have heard this all a million times by now. Vlad Tepes "The impaler" (1431-1476) He also was called Dracula for being a member of the Order of the Dragon; though it is not as sinister as it sounds. It was in fact said to be an xian group that killed heretics and Turks, go figure. He got the name Vlad the Impaler because he impaled his defeated enemies in front of his castle; he would also eat dinner as he watched his troops impale their enemies. He was actually, considered a hero to the people in his land. Even though, he also skinned people alive and tortured women and children. Though we could say that now he is beginning to sound a bit more xian like. Though blood drinking does not really tie into his tale too much until, Bram Stoker comes into the picture and turns him into a book called Dracula. Onto Countess Bathory (1560-1614) who I actually, find a bit more intriguing then Mr. impaler. Maybe because I find so much info about Vlad Tepes and not too much about Countess Bathory. Though, the story is often told I had not heard the details of it. We can thank Countess Bathory for the word bath and we can also thanks her for tons of bands either singing about her or using her name as the name for their band! To cut the whole story to the quick, the Countess Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins because she believed it would keep her youthful. She is said to have killed about 640 women. She was found insane; a better fate then her friends got they were either beheaded or burned for practicing vampirism and pagan rites (Hey that's what they said not me.). They walled her up in her castle and fed her through a hole in the wall and after a few years she died. The reason why I wanted to touch upon these stories is because when things like this happened it only increased the idea of vampires in peoples minds.

Our new culture, why the vampire became immortal/immoral

How did the vampire move from becoming a reanimated corpse to the eternally young gentleman? Simple our culture! We have changed so much just in the last fifty years and people barely notice it. Imagine how much we humans have changed over the centuries? In the beginning vampires were almost nonhuman looking. Usually, decomposed/decomposing corpses with a rancid stench to boot! In the past most anything would kill a vampire or keep them away. Garlic, crosses, silver, holy water etc. etc. The reason for this is obvious people back then took xianity far more seriously people of today. Also, in times of plague people did not know about germs and things of that sort so it was easier to blame it on a vampire.

Now adays vampires are seen as gentleman and femme fatals. Almost, the way many people describe the ideal Satanist. They are usually an elite few, that are very loyal to each other and sometimes a few selected mortals. Vampires, have also become almost unkillable. Our own desire to keep them alive has made them stronger. I find it interesting that most of the ideas of what could kill a vampire have been thrown to the way side. Most importantly crosses now have no effect on them and the same goes for holy water. This is thanks in part to Anne Rice who I feel was almost ahead of her time with what she did with her vampires. Even, though the stories are still from an xian kind of viewpoint. I see vampires as making a sort of social commentary. The biggest social commentary is the fact that the church has no power over vampires in this age and in that same sense it has no power over the people who choose for it to not have power over them. Instead of the usual killing the fear we are making what was once feared into a god of sorts. What was once seen as evil, is now seen as desirable, and romantic even. It shows that people are now actually intrigued by what they had at once feared. I think a lot can be learned from vampires. Of course they are not welcomed with opened arms in all circles of course not. They still kill, the reason to fear them never went anywhere. They never compromised themselves, they are still what they are. There used to be a time where you could not go to some parts of the world and utter the word vampire. Times have changed. The vampires never forced themselves upon anyone; the people came to them.

Werewolves

I would like to say, that I have never really been a big fan of werewolves. I myself, like wolves to no end, but me and werewolves never quite clicked. I suppose it might be because to me man is not worthy enough to become a wolf. Also, in some ways werewolves are kind of redundant to me. Simply because they represent man as the animal. However, I believe that man is an animal a very cruel one at that. I feel that vampires are a more suitable 'adversary' for man. Basically, vampires are superior to man physically, mentally. They are a rejection of the notion that man and animals are two separate entities (which is what I always came away with from werewolf stories.) They are the rejection of the idea that a man cannot knowingly be a monster and be a gentleman. Because with vampires the monster, the animal, the man, the god are so intertwined that it cannot be separated. Just a balance that holds it all together. The werewolf could be anything from the nice guy to the bum or the street. He didn't have to have class and sometimes he didn't even know that he was a werewolf; let alone control it so he would be able to use it to suit his own needs.

In closing the new "post modern" vampire would never be a bum on the street, he always has class and is a great charmer. His aesthetic is quite Satanic. Please note that when I say vampiric I do not mean goth. A vampire is able to adjust as needed in a given the situation and the vampires current environment. I think that Satanists are also capable of this. A vampire can get noticed when they wish or roam about the world invisible to all. Again, this is something that Satanists are also (or should be) adept at. I find the similarities between what is Satanic and what is vampiric are intriguing and for those of you out there that also share this interest please feel free to e-mail me. I hope this has been somewhat informative or at least vaguely interesting.

More literature from and about this author can be found at Synic's Page of Infernal Delights