The Different Types of Vampires Throughout History

Iconic vampires in pop culture include Dracula, Angel, and Edward Cullen, but the lore can be traced back even further than the earliest thought of each of these icons. Doctor Guiley, a paranormal enthusiast, has researched countless tales of vampires, and has been able to divide her research into five different generalized areas. Doctor Murgatroyd, a professor of humanities at McMaster University, has studied references to vampires and other supernatural creatures throughout the literary history of our world. Doctor Jason Dittmer, a professor of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University, speculated on why Dracula was centered in Transylvania, and how it represented the mindset of the world at that point in time. Doctor†¦show more content†¦A character named Neoptolemus sacrifices another character to the ghost of Achilles. In a different play by Euripides, Death drinks the blood left as a sacrifice for him at the altar. These are some of the earliest recorded literature about vampires. One more commonly known creature with habits akin to a vampire is the furies of Greek mythology. They were believed to drink the blood of sinners to weaken them. The furies would then drag their victims to the underworld for their due punishment. Keres are another myth similar to vampires; when a warrior fell in battle, they were said to drag off his body to drink his blood and sustain their life-force. An Empusa is one of the closest and earliest accounts of vampires in literature. They were considered similar to Lamias in how the cultures feared them. An Empusa would trick an unsuspecting man into falling in love with her. She would produce an illusion of finery about her so that the man would eat and drink and fill himself up on his desires. Then, after they were married, she would have sex with him and drink his blood, filling her only two true desires. She was intelligent, and used this intelligence to get what she really wanted. The last early literature being that Murgatroyd pointed out was similar to a vampire and vampiric legends was a strix. A strix was supposedly an unclassified type of screech-owl who feasted on human blood. Nobody would be able to see them coming as theyShow MoreRelatedComparing The Vs. Vampire Folklore1368 Words   |  6 Pages Final Essay Different depictions of vampires are commonly exhibited in vampire folklore in past and present literature and film. The diversity of different variations of vampire legends are prominently seen in most literature, but the main ideas and attributes are generally the same. This is not that case when focusing on specific novels discussed in class. The novels I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and Fledgling by Octavia Butler are two contrasting works of vampire folklore. 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