Page 101 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysterious Creatures 81

With his long, blood-stained talons, his egg- The 1922 silent German
shaped head, and his pasty white complexion, film “Nosferatu” was the
Schreck’s Nosferatu looks more like the crea- first film which
ture of the undead as seen in the collective introduced vampires into
nightmares of humankind throughout the the cinema. (CORBIS
centuries. E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of the CORPORATION)
Vampire, released on December 29, 2000,
teased audiences with the unsettling sugges-
tion that the monstrous Nosferatu (Willem
Dafoe) who assumed the title role in the clas-
sic film by F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich)
was actually portrayed by a real vampire,
rather than an actor.
The vampire legend is universal, and every
culture has its own name for the monster. The
word itself rises from the slavonic Magyar—
vam, meaning blood; pir, meaning monster. To
cite only a few other appellations for the vam-
pire from different languages, there is the
then the only courses of action remaining are
older English variation, vampyr; the Latin,
to pry open his coffin during the daylight
sanguisuga; Serbian, vampir; Russian, upyr;
hours while the vampire lies slumbering and
Polish, Upirs; and the Greek, Brucolacas.
pound a wooden stake through his heart—or,
From the villages of Uganda, Haiti, to the
perhaps a bit safer, destroy the coffin while he
Upper Amazon, all indigenous people know
is away and allow the rays of the early morn-
the vampire in its many guises. Traditional
ing sun to scorch him into ashes.
Native American medicine priests, Arctic
Eskimo shamen, and Polynesian Kahuna all
know the vampire and take precautions
against those who were once human who are
now undead and seek blood by night to sus- THE vampire legend is universal, and every
tain their dark energies. culture has its own name for the monster.
With each succeeding generation, the dark
powers of the vampire have grown. His hyp-
notic powers have become irresistible, and his In 1982, parapsychologist Stephen Kaplan,
strength is that of a dozen men. He can trans- director of the Vampire Research Center in
form himself into the form of a bat, a rat, an Elmhurst, New York, discovered a vampire
owl, a fox, and a wolf. He is able to see in the subculture living among the general popula-
dark and to travel on moonbeams and mist. tion. Kaplan estimated that there were approx-
Sometimes, he has the power to vanish in a imately 21 “real” vampires living secretly in
puff of smoke. the United States and Canada. He spoke to
many of these self-professed creatures of the
Over the centuries certain precautions
have been determined, such as liberally apply- night, some of whom claimed to be as old as
ing wolfbane and sprigs of wild garlic at every 300 years, and he established the demograph-
door and window. A crucifix can be worn ics of vampires, placing Massachusetts in the
about one’s neck and placed prominently on lead with three; followed by Arizona, Califor-
several walls. And if people are truly serious nia, and New Jersey, with two each; and the
about putting a stop to the nocturnal predator, remaining 15 vampires scattered throughout
they can hunt down his grave or coffin and the other states and provinces.
place thereon a branch of the wild rose to Today, with the ever-growing popularity of
keep him locked within. If that doesn’t work, the Gothic movements, the various vampire

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