Untitled Essay, Research Paper
Vampires have been seen and documented throughout history. The history of
vampires goes further back in time than most people realize. The chaldeans,
who lived
near the Euphrates river in the southwestern part of Asia more than five
hundred years
before the time of Christ , feared vampire or creatures similar to vampires
enough so that
they created charms to protect themselves from being attacked by such creatures.
The
Assyrians and the Babylonians feared a creature similar to a vampire known
as an
Ekimmu. These creatures known as Ekimmus were believed by the Assyrians to
roam the
planet searching for food although it was not always a persons blood but
rather a persons’
vitality or that persons’ energy force. It was believed that if such a creature
would enter
someone’s house that person along with his or her family would slowly weaken,
get sick
and probably die. In the countries of Syria and Palestine references were
made to such
blood sucking monsters on ancient carved tablets. In Ireland the people believed
in these
creatures, which they affectionately came to call “red blood suckers” . Due
to their belief
in these mythical creatures they began the practice of placing stones on
these vampires
graves to kep them from escaping.This then became standard practice and is
still used to
this day in the form of a tombstone. Tombstones were used to control ghosts
and other
spirits instead of their original use in controlling vampires.
Due to the fact that vampires seemed to be so commonplace
around the globe,
there was a large variety of vampires that differed in shape, behavior and
method of
becoming a vampire. All of these factors varied from region to region. In
the country of
Bulgaria a vampire had only one nostril. This Bulgarian vampire would rise
out of it’s
grave nine days after death in the form of a shower of sparks and remained
in this shape
for a period of forty days. After the completion of these forty days the
shower of sparks
would regain it’s human form. Once human-like the vampire goes from playing
childish
tricks, which it did in it’s “spark” form , to more serious matters , such
as the attacking of
humans and drinking of their blood. Vampires are well known for their craving
for
blood but in many countries vampires were not limited to just that substance
as part of
their diet, but would also consume foods that humans ate such as eggs and
rice. That,
however, does not mean that their yearn for blood was any weaker than before.
Most
vampires would attack their victims and suck the blood from puncture wounds
made in
the neck (The Russian vampire would suck the blood directly from the victims
heart).
Sometimes the vampire would gorge itself until it had drained the victim
completely
while other times it would take just enough to satisfy that night’s thirst
and come back the
following night and take a bit more. The method of drinking from the same
victim night
after night would cause the victim to get weaker and weaker . Due to the
fact that the
victim was indeed attacked by a vampire, that would mean that upon the victims
death
they too would become “undead.” (. Vampires p22)
Certain cultures around the globe also had systems to
recognize vampires. In
some cultures vampires were distinguished due to the color of their hair.
In most
Christian countries vampires could be recognized because they had red hair
like Judas
Iscariot, the man who betrayed Christ in the bible, was said to have had
red hair. Eye
color was another tell-tale sign used to identify vampires. In Greece ,where
most people
have dark colored eyes, vampires were said to have blue eyes, Rumania they
were said to
have had gray eyes, and in Ireland they had black eyes.
Vampires have been around for centuries , in some cases
they have been
recognized and feared by cultures that were around thousands of years before
the time of
Christ, such as the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Throughout the ages many
medical
explanations that could explain the vampire phenomena have been overlooked.
The first
reason was the lack of education that many people, because schooling was
not an
important part of these societies. Their lack of medical knowledge about
diseases, some
of which are quite rare and hard to explain even to this day was a large
factor in the
spread of vampire lore. Along with the fact that very uneducated people have
always had
a tendency of being overly superstitious also contributed to the vampire
legend. In 1985
Dr. David Dolphin, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University of British
Columbia
presented his theory that blood-drinking vampires were not vampires at all
but rather
victims of a disease known as Porphyria.(Dresser, Norine. American Vampires
p171) ”
Porphyria is an incurable genetic disease which affects at least 50,000 patients
in the U.S.
that causes sudden symptoms of severe pain , respiratory problems, Skin lesions
and
sometimes death.”(Dresser, Norine. American vampires p171) “Porphyria may
well have
been responsible for many a vampire tale – especially since the disease is
hereditary”
(Garden, Nancy. Vampires p98) A person that is affected by Porphyria can
seem very
scary to the average person since the disease causes the persons gums to
tighten. That
causes their teeth to be seen much more prominen
teeth and
nails to gain a fluorescent glow.These traits could then go on to explain
the fact that
many vampire stories described the vampires as giving off a greenish glow.
Victims of
this disease are likely to be deformed in other ways as well but usually
in the facial area.
Because of the skin lesions suffered by victims of Porphyria they are usually
very
sensitive to light which would cause them to not venture out of their homes
until night.
This aspect of the lifestyles of people suffering Porphyria would fit in
very well
with vampire lore. Garlic was used as a repellent of vampires butmore likely
victims of
the disease known as Porphyria would have a strange chemical reaction with
garlic which
would cause the person to have a severe porphyria attack. This would then
make that
person very reluctant to come close to the garlic since it contains large
amounts of
Dialkyl Disulfide which destroys Heme in the persons blood ( Heme is the
pigmented
component of Hemoglobin and related substances found in largest amounts in
the bone
marrow, red blood cells, and the liver ). The further destruction of Heme
in a Porphyria
victim would set off a severe allergic reaction. Since Porphyria is also
a genetic disease
several siblings in a family usually carry the defective gene. While the
siblings may share
the same defective gene sometimes only one of the siblings will display any
of the
symptoms . It is known that in many vampire tales , vampires return to attack
their
sibling or other family members.This along with the fact that Porphyria could
be
triggered in a person who is genetically predisposed to have the disease
by a sudden loss
of large amounts of blood. When these factor are taken into consideration,
one could say
that when a vampire came back to attack a sibling and when the sibling also
began to
show some vampire characteristics , it could be assumed that the Porphyria
gene in the
second sibling could have been triggered by the loss of blood which was suffered
during
the attack by the first sibling or the “vampire.” This would make it seem
as though the
vampire attack had caused the second sibling to turn into a vampire as
well.
Plague was another factor which could explain the growth
of the vampire legend.
In the Stephen King book Salem’s Lot which is the story of a town that is
infested by
Vampires and due to the infestation of vampires causes the town to become
a ghost town.
In the book it says” But a little over a year ago something began to happen
in Jerusalem’s
Lot that was not unusual, people began to drop out of sight.” (King, Stephen.
Salem’s Lot
p15) This phenomenon which is found in Stephen King’s book was not at all
uncommon
in ancient times especially in remote places. Villagers in these remote places
would have
believed that blood was a Vital substance that gave life. Since they did
not know much
about disease their lack of knowledge of diseases and their lack of medical
practitioners
in these remote areas would give the perfect opportunity for their superstitious
beliefs to
come into play. If suddenly much of the town began to fall ill at the same
time and they
all displayed similar symptoms such as weight loss , weakness and paleness
they would
think that these people must have been drained of the vital substance, blood.
Searching
for an explanation without any medical knowledge the one thing that would
make sense
to them would be that a vampire was on the loose while the fact that the
town could be in
the middle of an epidemic such as the black plague during the Dark Ages.
In Stephen
King’s book a town would just seem to disappear for no reason and the only
explanation
would be vampires. In the Dark ages the situation would be very similar to
that in the
Stephen King book except that in Stephen King’s book the vampires are real.
Tuberculosis or consumption as it was often called is
a disease that although was
not highly contagious was a very common disease up until the mid-1800’s .
The
beginning stages of this disease do not contain very recognizable symptoms.By
the time
the symptoms showed up (such as weight loss and fatigue which is where the
name
consumption came from) the disease was already in it’s later stages. Tuberculosis
would
have been very difficult to diagnose by people with no medical knowledge
especially
when the most serious symptoms of the disease such as coughing and spitting
up blood
were not present. Tuberculosis was often openly confused with vampirism as
was the
case when in the mid- 1800’s the corpses of many victims of Tuberculosis
were treated as
vampires and buried face down or by being dug up and burned when members
of their
families suddenly came down with Tuberculosis.(Garden,Nancy. Vampires p69)
The mental aspect of vampires has always seemed to be
that of someone who was
not in their right mind. In Anne Rice’s book The Vampire Lestat at one point
one of the
vampires in the book just looks at the other one and simply says “You’re
the mad one.” (
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Lestat p73) not realizing that madness plays a large
part
towards explaining the vampire legend as well as other mental conditions.
One of these
conditions which could explain the vampire legend is the condition known
as a cataleptic
condition which many times is brought