Vampires and their Orgins

Vampires

Vampires have been around for hundreds of years. They have been in movies, TV, books and even music. Commonly vampires are known as blood sucking demons that feed on beautiful women and are ice cold, sometimes they are ugly creatures that can't stand in the sun without burning. No matter where you are or what you are watching or reading Vampires are never described as the same. So where did they originate from? Why are they one of the most common demons? Dracula is the most well know and famous Vampire. Dracula was modelled after a Romanian Prince, Vlad Tepes.  (Also known as Vlad the Impaler) Vlad Tepes was named Vlad the Impaler because of his preferred way of torture and execution. Impalement was a slow and painful process for victim.  

Vampires in Media

Vampires are still one of the most well known demons thanks to today's media. Many TV shows have Vampires in them, adding a little fantasy to their shows. Movies such as Vampire Academy (2014), Dark Shadows (2012) Twilight (2008), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) are only some examples in recent years. In many of these movies the vampires are seen as beautiful creatures but also in many fantasy\horror movies vampires are seen as evil, awful creatures that hunt during the night and feast on human blood by ripping into their throats with long teeth and drinking them dry.

Vampires in TV

Just like movies, vampires can be very common in TV. Not one show describes them the same but they are always either extremely beautiful or ugly and awful. Examples of vampires in TV are Hemlock Grove (2013-2015), True Blood (2008-2014),The Vampire Diaries (2009- ), The Originals (Spin-off of the Vampire Diaries, 2013-) Being Human (2008-2013),and Supernatural (2005- ) and In many of these TV shows vampires are the featured

Popular Beliefs and Legends

Vampires were told about in stories even before Bram Stokers' Dracula. There has been legends of them in Egypt, Japan, China, Rome, Greece and beyond. They are all different legends but many of them contain the same facts about vampires; they are demons of the night that drink blood and feed on humans and they attack people and feed on their life force. In some legends it is said that vampires burn in the sunlight, you can't see their reflection in a mirror, they burn when touched by holy water, 

they can't enter churches because they are a place of God and demons aren't allowed to go near holy places, or they can't enter households without permission of the owner, some are even said to be able to turn into bats or wolves. All of these are used in stories but they are all rarely used in the same legend. It was also written many times that to kill a vampire you could stake it in the heart or chest. This stemmed from medieval times when vampires were quite common. After death any villager that was suspected to be or become a vampire he was staked to the ground. The people thought that it would keep him pined to the ground if he came back to the earth with evil intent. There was also the idea of decapitation, people would also shove bricks or garlic into the mouths of the body, another way that medieval people would keep the "vampires" away would be to shove metal rods into their body after death, they would also keep a bag of salt with themselves at all times because when being chased by a vampire you could simply dump the salt on the ground and the vampire would be obligated to count every single grain before continuing. Vampires have been around longer then many people believe, they have showed up in children's stories, novels and legends. They continue to be a part of our fictional society. Many people are divided on the fact of whether vampires and other mythical creatures exist. Some people only believe in few mythical creatures, some believe in all mythical creatures and some believe that they are just that, mythical. There is no proof that any of these creatures exist but it will always be there, in the back of believers, authors and directors minds.   

Sources: livescience.com, voices.nationalgeographic.com, fvza.org, google images