Monday, November 25, 2019

The Unscience of the Vampyr






The vampire, vampír, wampyr, or vampyre, also known as the Romanian strigoi, is a preternatural being originating in folklore across Serbia and the Balkans in the early fourteenth century. In Romanian mythology the strigoi are believed to be troubled spirits that are said to have risen from the grave. They are attributed with the abilities to transform into an animal, become invisible, and to gain vitality from the blood of their victims. In modern fiction and speculation vampirism has been associated with some form of disease, whether it be a fictional disease or a real life ailment.

However, I believe that vampires (if such creatures do exist) are corpses reanimated by a spectral force, and thus is in no way the person they once were in life, as the soul of that person has moved on. This leaves it's body completely vulnerable to manifestation and corpses could well be a more attractive target for demonic entities looking to cause pain and suffering. After all, from the perspective of such a twisted,  baleful, and sadistic being, what is more amusing than to use a person's deceased loved one to cause harm to an entire household, and subsequently an entire village? When a demon possesses a living person they feed on their soul and vitality in order to further fuel their agency. Yet that still begs the question, why blood? Why not just psychically drain that energy? Perhaps a somewhat obscure passage of folklore from the middle ages might give us some insight :

 The witches' teat was a raised bump somewhere on a witch's body. It is often depicted as having a wart-like appearance. Apotropaic marks, made to keep witches out of buildings, are also referred to as witches' marks. The witches' teat is associated with the feeding of witches' imps or familiars (demons); the witch's familiar supposedly aided the witch in her magic in exchange for nourishment (blood) from sacrificial animals or from the witch's teat[cite].


 It has apparently been believed that demons (or familiars) have a particular liking of blood, especially our blood. Blood may even be a key component which allows them to continue their demonic attachment or possession. Or perhaps they, for whatever godforsaken reason, are just morbidly obsessed with blood. Demons are most powerful in blood sacrifices or activities that involve blood like murder, suicide, torture and self-abuse and abuse of animals and other people.  An example is the practice of “cutting”.  The person cuts parts of their body to relieve the tension or guilt in their life or maybe because a demon desires the activity.  “Cutting” may have psychological factors but there is a thin line between psychology and the demonic[cite].  

Since both the folkloric and religious connection between demons and the consumption of blood—or otherwise the use thereof—has been established it becomes more clear that if vampyres do indeed exist (also providing that God and Christianity also exist, which I personally believe to be the case, disagree as you may) then it would be clear that such creatures are of a purely demonic and decidedly non human nature, simply choosing the bodies of the deceased as a medium with which to carry out their nefarious deeds. Since the body is dead and there is no resistance from it's former inhabitant this form of possession would give them far more control and freedom over the corporeal form, thus the propensity to change shape, vanish, or turn into mist could potentially be observed. Due to the fact that demonic entities are psychic and also due to the fact that most people who become vampyres lead a life of sin as a human and were thus vulnerable to demonic attachments, it is not surprising that the revenant in question would be capable of flawlessly imitating the personage of the deceased due to it's intimate knowledge of that individual, and thus able to draw closer to it's victims: the deceased's relatives and everyone that person had once known or cared about in life. 

It is true that the vampyr does not sleep, well not exactly. Rather it undergoes a repeating cycle of death (or rather exanimation : the ceasing of all activity) and reanimation. It takes considerable energy to maintain a state of perpetual undeath, and since the body is dead and therefore can't sleep the vampyr conserves it's energy by shutting down completely. For reasons unknown the creature is irrevocably bound to the site in which it was interned upon death, whether it be a sepulcher, mausoleum, burial site, or during times of plague a mass grave. While in their exanimate state they are said to have a peculiar watchfulness about them, as though being intimately aware of what's going on around the corporeal form.

Note : In vampirology the corpse, which acts as the mobile center of demonic agency, is sometimes referred to as the corporeal form. 

Therefore if all this be the case then that could also mean that vampirism is, in essence, the antithesis of the glorious resurrection of Christ and a perversion of Biblical scripture of the most terrifying and abhorrent kind. This is perhaps why, in Romanian folklore, it takes three days for the vampire to reanimate, as it took Christ three days to resurrect in his true glorified form. It could also be the source of the whole blood drinking thing as the symbolic drinking of the blood of Christ is a common and prevalent theme in Christianity. It is also likely that the corporeal form is preserved in much the same way that the bodies of saints are preserved, that is, through a phenomenon known as incorruptibility. 

Appearance :

"A vampire that has not satiated sufficiently does not appear any different to that of a corpse just a few days old. The skin is grayish in tone and appears gaunt and somewhat livid. Even though death has taken place long before, there will be no decay, no trace of corruption or decomposition, but rather it will remain largely intact and pliable but ice cold to the touch."

 The vampire will appear much the same as it did in life with the exception of being still very dead, and are thereby disgusting and putrid even given the corpse's remarkably undecayed state. The skin is sallow, parchment-like, beneath which there tends to be a faint bluish or greenish tinge with some perhaps some lividity and even early formation of Tardieu spots. The stages of decomposition never seem to advance beyond this point. When sufficiently fed the creature is often described as appearing plump and of a clear complexion. The skin is ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour due to the recent quaffing of blood. Blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin. They appear gorged and are stinking with blood. Their eyes appear glazed, yellow around the edges with blood red centres. The eyes are baleful and glint with bottomless malice and within those two infernal orbs is set the red fire of perdition. Their mouth is cruel, mocking, and hungry looking, the sclera, teeth, and nails are all yellowed and repulsive in appearance and after each feeding crimson blood is seen trickling out the ears, nose, and mouth. The vampire's own blood is a deoxygenated black color and is partially congealed. When a vampire feeds it is suffused with fresh blood which is a vibrant red. The great leech feeds in such quantity that blood is forced out the orifices. 

 When resting in their coffin whole person is composed as if in a profound sleep. Sometimes the eyes are closed; more frequently open, glazed, fixed and glaring fiercely. The lips which will be markedly full and red, drawn back from the teeth which appear uncharacteristically sharp and somewhat protruding. Often the gaping mouth is stained and foul with great gouts of blood, which trickles down from the corners on to the lawn shroudings and linen cerements.

Other traits may include lividity, dark veins, slightly pointed ears, unusually sharp teeth (though not necessarily fangs), marked recession of the gum line and nailbeds, curved and jagged nails which tend to be dark and discolored, and a slightly receding upper lip. After each feeding the vampire becomes bloated, seemingly engorged like a tick, with blood cascading out of all or most orifices. The skin becomes grotesquely flushed in complexion and may appear moist or sticky. Vampires are commonly seen wearing nothing but the shrouds in which they where buried, now dirty and tattered with a large savage tear in the cloth at the mouth from which to feed. Another characteristic of the undead is their odd and disturbing way of exhaling breath, as described in the testimony of Jure Grando's wife when her deceased husband sexually assaulted her.

 Another feature is the glowing red eyes, perhaps something similar to tapetum lucidum, or  something caused by it's supernatural condition.





Powers/Abilities :

Vampire Weaknesses: 

  • Blessed Silver - Vampires are weakened by blessed silver 
  • Holywater - Holywater burns their skin on contact. 
  • Running water -Vampires are unable to cross running water without human help (ie. being ferried across by a human).
  • Decapitation - Cutting off their head is said to kill or at least severely inhibit them. 
  • Staking - Being staked through the heart prevents them from reanimating
  • Heart removal - Removing the heart, cutting it in half, and then burning it is a common method of disposing a vampire.
  • Vervain - Vervain is believed to ward off vampires. 
  • Holy Objects - Blessed objects and symbols of Christianity, especially the cross, are greatly effective against vampires. 
  • Salt - Vampires cannot cross a circle of salt, especially salt blessed by a priest. 
  • Exorcism - Since vampires are demonic they can be expelled via exorcism, although the person doing the exorcism usually has to be proficient in exorcism rites and ordained by the church. 
  • Incineration - Incineration of the corporeal form is the best method of destroying a vampire. This is best done only after staking and carrying out an exorcism. 
  • Garlic - Vampires hate garlic. This can possibly be attributed to an allergic or chemical reaction rather than anything supernatural. It's possible that they have a highly enhanced sense of smell which could very well account for this. However garlic is not always the most effective deterrent. 

    Non-Weaknesses and debunked myths :
  • A simple stake to the heart will simply not do 
  • Are not people, restless or damned souls, or anything like that. They are pure evil.
  • Any sign of weakness, immorality, hesitation, or lack of faith will give the creature the upper hand
  • Has a capacity for simply finding another host (unless banished to hell in an exorcism)
  • Is extremely elusive and also extremely resilient
  • Holy objects are less effective when one's faith is not absolutely firm and unyielding.
  • Are not in anyway connected to any species of bat
  • Do not need to be invited in (this is true for demons, it is Christ who asks for an invitation. The demons will try to  invade whether you want them to or not).

The romanticized and fictitious vampire :



The monstrous and fictitious vampire :



The vampire featured on www.fvza.org :



The folkloric vampire in all it's macabre glory :

So, Which do you find more terrifying? Or better yet, are we certain that we have no reason to be terrified?


    



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