Pale, beyond porch and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hands;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love's who fears to greet her
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands.
The notion of the vampire is hardly unique to our culture or our time. Vampires have roamed the earth since the dawn of man in one form or another. Can an idea so pervasive be completely imaginary? We leave that question for you to decide. We are just the teachers, messengers, of the truth. Conclusions are your area of expertise. Below, we have provided the culmination of the Vampire Mythos in every culture, every reference, they are known to exist. Take care, you may not be prepared for what you discover.
Encyclopedia of the Vampire World
[A|B|C|D|E|FA|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z]
- Adze: Ghana. A vampire spirit that dwells in tribal sorcerers among the Ewe, a people inhabiting parts of south-eastern Ghana and southern Togo in Africa. The adaze flies around in the form of a firefly but, if caught, changes into a human. It drinks blood, palm oil, and coconut water, and preys on children, especially hansome ones.
- Algul: Arabian. The name given by Arabic peoples to a kind of vampire, translated from the Arabic to mean a horse-leech, or a blood-sucking jinn, or demon. In the west, it was a ghoul, a traditionally female demon that feasted upon dead babies.
- Alp: Germany. A vampire-like spirit associated with the boogeyman and the incubus, normally tormenting the nights and dreams of women. The craeture's physical manifestations can be very dangerous. Long connected with teh nightmare, sometimes the spirit of a reciently deceased individual, most often an actual demon. Entry is made through the victim's mouth, with the alp either using its tongue, becoming a mist that enters, or turning into a snake. Misery generally follows such occupation, as sexual relations with the monster are said to be terrible. The alp drinks blood from the nipples of men, but especially enjoys the taste of women's milk.
- Aluga: Mediteranean. Also Aluka, Vampire or blood-sucking demon derived from Proverbs, translated into the Latin as sanguisuga. The aluga was probably similer to the ghoul but was considered by some sources to be a formidable blood demon.
- Asanbosam: Africa. Vampire known among the Ashanti of southern Ghana and by people in the areas of the Ivory Coast and Togo. It is believed to reside in deep forests, most often encountered there by hunters. It is of general human shape, with two exceptions: its teeth are made out of iron, and its legs have hook-like appendages. Anyone walking by the tree fro which it dangles will be scooped up and killed.
- Aswang: Philippines. A vampire believed always to be a female of considerable beauty by day and a fearsome flying fiend by night. It lives in a house, can marry and rear children, and is seemingly a normal human during the daylight hours. Its nourishment is always blood, and it feeds with its long, hollow, thin tongue inserted through the cracks in the roofs of its prey's houses. The creature is recognized by its swollen appearance after feasting, so much so that it looks pregnant. Dawn marks the return of the aswang to its human form, possibly because of the sum or because it washes itself clean of the special ointment it uses each night to acquire its powers.
- Bajang: Malaysia. A contemporary of the female langsuir, this male demon appears as a mewing polecat after children. It can be enslaved and used as a servant. This demon is kept in a tabong, or vessel made of bamboo, closed by a stopper made from certain leaves, and protected by charms. While imprisoned, the bajang is fed eggs and milk and will turn on its owner if not provided with enough sustenance.
- Baobhan-sith: Scotland. A blood-sucking fiend that normally disguised itself and lured unsuspecting men to their deaths. It appeared in the shape of a lovely maiden dressed in green.
- Bebarlangs: Philippines. A tribe who practiced psychic vampirism. They sent out their astral bodies to prey on fellow tribe members or on others. They feed on the vitality and life force of individuals.
- Bhuta: India. Bhut or bhuts, names that designate all Indian vampires or a malevolent spirits. Bhuta is one who suffered a violent death or died by accident, execution, or suicide. They are found in cemetaries or in dark, desolate places, eating excreta or intestines. An attack by one of these can result in severe sickness or death.
- Blutsauger: Germany. Vampire literally translated as 'bloodsucker'.
- Brahmaparush: India. A particularly cruel vampire species that enjoys consuming humans. Drinks blood from the skull of the victim, eats the flesh from the skull, and dances with the body's intestines wrapped like a turban around its head.
- Bruxsa: Portugal. A feared female vampire similer to the aswang. Transformed through witchcraft, she leaves her home at night and flies in the shape of a large bird. Tormenting travelers is one of her frequent activities, and much of her nourishment is taken from her own offspring, whose blood she drinks. There are no knnown ways to destroy the creature, the customary methods proving unsuccessful.
- Chordewa: Bengal. A witch found among the Oraonscapable of turning her soul into a type of black, vampire cat. She drains people by eating the person's food and licking their lips. Can be identified by a peculiar mewing, and any harm done to the cat was immediately seen on the witch as well.
- Churel: India. A vicious and vengeful ghost-like vampire. It is horrible in appearance, posessing pendant breasts, sharp long teeth, thick ugly lips, unkempt hair, and a black tongue. She is white in front and black behind. She hates all life.
- Civatateo: Mexico. A witch-vampire of the Aztecs, servants of the gods Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl, they were called 'civapipiltin' or 'princess', because they were noble women who died in child birth. They supposedly returned to the earth to wander on broomsticks, haunting crossroads and holding a type of sabbat. They were described as hideous with white faces, their arms and hands covered in a white chalk called 'ticitl', crossbones painted upon their tattered dresses.
- Danag: Philippines. A vampire held to be very ancient as a species, responsible for having planted taro in the islands long ago. The danag worked with humans for many years, but the partnership ended one day when a human cut her finger and the vampire sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her completely.
- Dearg-due: Ireland. Name means 'Red Blood Sucker'. An ancient vampire dating perhaps to pre- or early Celtic history.
- Dhampir: Serbia. Also general Yugoslavia. The child of a Slavic Gypsy vampire possessed certain unique powers in combating his undead sires and relatives. Traditionally, the male Gypsy vampire had an insatiable need to have sex with his widow, doing this before anything else. Also known as vampir (male) or vampuiera (female), vampijerovic, or lampijerovic, respectively depending on the region. They were quite adept at detecting and destroying the invisible undead, because of their gifted sight. The last known dhampir cerimony was held in Kosovo in 1959.
- Dubbelsuger: Germany. 'Double sucker' or doppelsauger will eat the fleshy parts of its breasts, thereby drawing out the life essence from a surviving family member through a kind of sympathetic magic. Its presence is detectable by the wasting away of a living relative and by certain telltale signs on the body, such as lips that have not decayed.
- Ekimmu: Assyria. Also fond in Babylon. A departed spirit, the soul of a dead person unable to find peace. The creature wandered over the earth, waiting to attack. Its characteristics were very similar to the utukku, although more widely known and dreaded.
- Empusas: Greece. Vile, vampire-like creatures in mythology, usually members of the wicked hordes in attendance to the mysterious goddess of magick, Hecate. They served with the mormos and were described as demons who could assume from time to time, the guise of flesh and blood. Mentioned by both Philostratus and Aristophanes.
- Eretica: Russia. A formidable species,, associated with the traditions in specific regions that heretics became members of the undead after death. It was a woman who sold her soul to the devil during her lifetime, returning after she had died and assuming, during the day, the guise of an old woman in rags. By nightfall she gathered with fellow ereticy (plural) in ravines, where they held a sort of sabbat.
- Estrie: Hebrew. A feared spirit connected both with demons and witches, always a female and invariably assuming the shape of a vampire. It was held to be one of the incorporeal spirits of evil that had taken flesh and blood, living among humanity in order to satisfy its appetite for blood. Children were its favorite prey, although men and women were attacked as well. It could change its appearance at will but reverted to its demonic shape while flying about at night.
- Gayal: India. Also ut, a kind of vampire-ghost, the spirit of a man who dies unmarried or without a male heir, thereby depriving him of a person who can properly perform the funeral rites. When returning, the gayal focuses his ire upon the sons of other individuals as well as his own relatives. These threats thus ensure that the dead man's distant kin, or even his neighbors, will complete all of the neccessary funeral rituals.
- Ghoul: Various. A cemetary-infesting demon. The ghoul appears most frequently as a woman, half-human, half-fiend, sometimes marrying an unsuspecting man who learns, perhaps too late, of her nocturnal eating habits. Found usually in cemetaries at night, they lure travewlers to their deaths, enjoying above all the taste of warm human blood. When in human form they can bare children but are distinguished by their apparent lack of appetite when presented with regular human food.
- Hannya: Japan. Perhaps the most feared demon in the pantheon, its most common manifestation is the feminine form, although there are males. It is said that the creature was once a truly beautiful woman who, for various reasons, became insane and ultimately possessed by a demon. She was transformed into a hideous creature, often identified with the ghoul, drinking blood and eating children. Infants were a special treat.
- Hsi-hsue-kuei: China. Translated as 'suck-blood demon'. Also known as Kuang-shi or K'uei.
- Impundulu: Africa. A witch's familiar found in the Cape region. The creature (or plural iimpundulu) appeared to its mistress in the form of a handsome young man who then became her lover. The creature is usually passed from mother to daughter. Sent out to bring suffering and death, it was merciless, relentless, and insatiable. The witch really had no choice but to use it to kill, as the creature was always hungary for blood, both from humans and cattle. To fail in satisfying the creature could bring about a terrible death for the owner. When not handed down directly, it became an ishologu, an ownerless fiend that acted on its own.
- Incubus: Europe. A type of male demon that visits women during the night to torment them and to have sexual intercourse. Its name derives from a combination of incubare and incubus, which generally translated means 'to lie over or on top of' and 'nightmare', respectively. In other words, a nightmare that lies down on top of the victim. (female succubus, alternately meaning 'to lie under') It possesses attributes similar to the nightmare and the vampire: nightly visitations, thd draining of life and strength, extreme sexual desire, and the habit of crushing its victim.
- Jaracacas: Brazil. Normally appearing in the shape of a snake feeding from the breasts of nursing mothers, this species pushes children out of the way, keeping them quiet by shoving its tail into their mouths.
- Jigarkhwar: India. Also jigarkhor, a type of witch or sorceress found in the Sind region. It exhibits vampire-like traits, and is most noted for the ability to extract a person's liver through a powerful, piercing stare and incantations.
- Kasha: Japan. Evil ghouls that are feared for their voracious appetites for corpses. Because of the Japanese cremation custom, the creature must steal a corpse before it can be burned, larceny that often requires the theft of the coffin as well. To prevent this, a guard is placed over the dead and noises are made during the night to discourage the ghoul from racing away with a loved one.
- Katakhana: Crete. This vampire was created by persons who had led evil lives or especially those excommunicated before death. After their bural, their bodies were deemed inhabited by a demonic
spirit, which then wandered about terrorizing the islanders during a forty-day period. It could be frightened away by gunfire, but after fourty days the spirit was considered indestructible.
- Kephn: Burma. A demon found among the Karen tribe, linked to sorcery and wizards, appearing in the shpae of a floating wizard's head and stomach. Its preferred meal is the human soul. Similar to the penanggalan of Malaysia.
- Kozlak: Dalmatia. Term for 'vampire' found most commonly in the region of Split. Its origins and specific meaning are quite obscure, even though it is used more regularly than other Dalmatian title. It may be derived in some way from the name vukodlak.
- Krvoijac: Bulgaria. More common name for 'vampire'. The creature displays the same characteristics as other Bulgarian undead, remaining in the grave for fourty days while the skeleton forms, the bones remain in a geletinous state during that period.
- Kuang-shi: China. Also called chiang-shi or kiang-si. This nasty creature is the result of demonic inhabitation of a corpse. Tall, with white or greenish-white hair hair all over its body. Long, sharp claws, and fangs make uts appearance terrifying. Older variations also have the ability to fly.
- Kudlak: Slovenia. Istrian name for the vukodlak. The exact opposite and most bitter enemy of the kresnik, where the kresnik was the representitive of goodness and light and the kudlak, evil and darkness. Every village had both these figures, with the creature described as an evil wizard (strigon), shaman, or vampire, representing traditional threats to the living, ie. pestilence, misfortune, loss of crops. Generally they were most dangerous after death and steps were taken to prevent the return of such an individual. The creature was always identified by its color, black.
- K'uei: China. A broad term denoting the undead, believed to be a person who had not lived with sufficient goodness to earn entry into the bliss of the afterworld. Deprived of a happy afterlife, they are said to be both angry and vicious, takingout their aggressions on sinners. They are described as skeletal beings with hideous demonic faces. They must always move in a perfectly straight line.
- Kukudhi: Albania. Final stage in the development or transformation of the 'vampire'. According to custom in some regions, an undead takes time to grow fully into the shape and powers of a vampire, becoming stronger the longer it survives. Upon reaching this final state, the creature is able to live at home during the day, no longer required to return to its grave, and is even able to travel to ther lands, supposedly as a merchant.
- Lamia: Various. A legendary female vampire, generally held to be stunningly attractive and highly dangerous to males and children. The lamiae (plural) were also known as larvae and lemures, and sometimes is confused with the empusa.
- Lampir: Bosnia. Term for 'vampire' seen most often during periods of severe epidemics, one of several types of undead in the region. Burning is the prescribed method for destroying this species.
- Langsuir: Malaysia. A flying vampire always said to be a female of stunning beauty. A woman can become such a creature if she dies in childbith or from the shock of hearing that her child has been stillborn. Her death can come before or after the birth, and she emerges before a period of fourty days has elapsed. She can be identified by incredibly long fingernails, green robes, and long black hair which hangs down to her ankles. The hair supposedly cover a hole in her neck through which she sucks the blood of children. She also craves fish, and can be found waiting at the mouths of rivers.
- Larvae: Rome. A name used to describe evil spirits of the ancient world, ontime mortals who returned to wander the earth and bring torment upon the living, especially during the festival of Lemuria each May. It has also been used as a title for the female vampire type called lamia.
- Leanhaum-sidhe: Ireland. A deadly farie seductress described as engaging in vampiric activities. She used incredible beauty to lure men to her side, placing them under the spell of her incredible charms. From then on the victim was slowly drained of life, wasting away as his essence was consumed.
- Liderc nadaly: Hungary. A similar species, but more obscure, to the vampir. Differing mostly in the way it must be destroyed.
- Lilitu: Babylon. A demon often considered an evil spirit of the night. The creature probably had an influence in the formation of the Hebrew legend of Lilith.
- Lobishomen: Brazil. Obscure species similar to the jaracaca, in that it preys mostly on women. It does not kill, however, preferring to draw out blood from its victims. Those women who survive its attack soon after exhibit definite nymphomaniacal tendencies. The creature probably originalted in Portugal, where there was a belief in a kind of lycanthrope.
- Loogaroo: West Indies. Also ligaroo, closely associated with sucoyan. The name is an apparent derivation of the French loup garou, or 'shape-changer'. The tradition supposedly entered the Caribbean from Guinea and the African Congo. The creature is said to be human, usually an old woman who has made a pact with the devil, receiving magical powers in exchange for offerings of blood.
- Lugat: Albania. A type of vampire also known as kukuthi. According to folk accounts, it was similar to other undead typed found in the Balkans and could be rendered harmless with relative ease. Other sources present the creature asmuch more formidable, virtually indestructible by the living.
- Mandurugo: Philippines. Found in the region of Capiz, it is said to appear as a beautiful woman during the day and as a foul flying fiend at night. When not feasting secretly on her husband, she flies away in the darkness, hunting for prey. Term means 'bloodsucker'.
- Mara: Various. Term comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb merran 'to crush', which also provides the root word in nicht mara 'nightmare'. Widely used in the northern Nordic cultures, and known in the Slavic world as mora. Usually taking the form of either a beautiful young woman or an especially old hag, the night visitor crushes or oppresses its victims. It was feared fromj ancient times, known to enter the room of a sleeper, bringing with it dreadful dreams. Close association is made with the image of a horse. In southern Slavic regions, once mara drinks the blood of a man, she will fall in love with him, never leaving him and plaguing his dreams forever. She is also known to be fond of sucking the breasts of children. Affiliated with: ephialtes, langsuir, civitateo, alp, and mora species.
- Masan: India. A feared vampire demon, possibly the ghost of a child or low-caste individual that delights in harming and murdering children. The creature can turn its victimms green, red, and yellow, but children usually just waste away.
- Masani: India. Female vampire demon, the spirit of the burial grounds. She is black in appearance, with a hideous countenance. Her hunts are conducted at night, beginning with her mergence from the ashes of a funeral pyre. Anyone passing the burial site is attacked.
- Mati-anak: Malaysia. Another name for the pontianak species of vampire.
- Mormo: Greece. A hideous creature found in the mythology, said to part of the train of the goddess, Hecate. Not quite as ugly as the empusa, the creature was thought to be similar to the lamia.
- Moroii: Romania. Specifically a type of 'living' vampire, as opposed to the strigoii, or 'dead' vampire. This species can be either male or female, the male usually being bald, the female red in the face.
- Motetz Dam: Hebrew. Term for 'vampire', directly translated as 'bloodsucker'.
- Muli: Gypsy. Term used for the feminine aspect of the mullo species.
- Mullo: Gypsy. Non gender-specific term for the 'undead', synonomous with a ghost and feared because of its lustful nature. The creature comes into being when a person dies of unnatural causes, by improper rites, or by sudden death. Having no set appearance or attributes, allowing for the regional variations, the creature can be invisible, normal looking, missing digits, or having animal appendages. Yellow or flaming hair in India, in Sweden they have the ability to change shape. An insatiable sexual appitite is frequently mentioned, thus the mullo will always return to its mate.
- Mulo: Gypsy. Term used fro the masculine aspect of the mullo species.
- Muroni: Romania. Also murony, muronul. This species is specific to the southern region of Wallachia. Very similar to the strigoii, although this creature has the ability to transform itself into a variety of shapes. Leaves its victims completely drained of blood.
- Nachzehrer: Europe. Found mostly among the Kashubes, Germany, Silesia, and Bavaria. The creature is distinguishable in its coffin by its curious custom of holding the thumb of one hand in the other and keeping its left eye open. Has the ability to kill its relatives with a long-range sympathetic magick.
- Nelapsi: Czechoslovakia. Term local to the Zemplin district, describing an undead creature that can do serious harm to the living. It drinks human blood and massacres entire villages, has the ability to kill with one glance.
- Neuntoter: Germany. Traditionally the creature is a great carrier of plagues and is seen in the area of great epidemics. The term comes from the belief that it takes nine days for this species to fully form in the grave, hense, 'nine-killer'.
- Nosferatu: Romania. Also nosferat. A decidedly lustful species said to be the illegitimate child of illigitimate parents. Shortly after its burial, the creature wakens, leaves its grave, and not only sucks blood, but also engages in wild orgies with the living. The male is able to impregnate women, the children destined to become moroii.
- Obayifo: West Africa. Living vampire found among the Ashanti people on the Gold Coast, said to be male or female human with the ability to leave its body at night to travel about and cause harm. It drinks the blood of children causing slow, painful deaths. Also attacks crops. Similar to the loogaroo.
- Ohyn: Poland. A species caused by the presence of teeth and a caul at birth.
- Pacu Pati: India. Term meaning 'master of the herd', also known by mmbyu. The creature is deemed the lord of all beings of mischief, including ghouls, ghosts, and vampires. He is seen at night, surrounded by servants, frequenting cemetaries and places of execution.
- Pelesit: Malaysia. A spirit-vampire, described as a house cricket said to be the pet of a polong Sent by a controlling agent, the creature invades the body of the victim, causing illness and death. Victims rant about cats while suffering.
- Penangglan: Malaysia. Unique vampire, this creature (always female) flies about at night with only a head and neck, its intestines dangling beneith it. It delights in sucking blood from children or women in labor. The origins of the creature are Asiatic and it uses vast amounts of vinegar to shrink her bloated intestines so they will fit back into the body.
- Pijavica: Yugoslavia. Created as a result of various evils being done by the deceased during the mortal life, including incest, the Croatian variety of this creature is called pijawica. The name derives from the verb pit, 'to drink'.
- Pisacha: India. Creature associated with rakshasa, its return said to be propagated by humanity's vices. Including, criminals, liars, adulterers, and those who died insane. Also known as kravyad 'eaters of raw flesh' (Veda), and yaksha 'speeders' (Kashmir). It can cure diseases, and also inflicts evil by eating fresh corpses.
- P'o: China. The name of the second of two souls given to each person. The hun, or good/superior soul, is the first. The p'o is ranked with evil spirits and is characterized by malevolence. This aspect plays a key role in the creation of the vampire spirit. Should any part of the corpse be left intact, this might be able to be used to pass forth from the tomb, becoming a vampire. The accidental exposure of the body, whole or in part, to the sun or moon was a terrible event and could energize it enough to go out and drink human blood.
- Polong: Malaysia. A bottle imp or evil spirit, used by malicious mortals to bring illness and death to others. Created by putting the blood of a murdered man into a bottle (buli-buli) with a long, narrow neck, sayingprayers over it, and reciting some arcane enchantment. Seven days later, the sound of chirping birds emerges. The creator cuts his finger and feeds the creature. Afflicted mortals go quickly insane. When seen by the human eye, it looks like a tiny female.
- Pontianak: Malaysia. Also mati-anak. The stillborn child of a female vampire, langsuir, will become a bloodsucker.
- Pret: India. Soul separated from the body or ghostly body of a deformed or stillborn child. It wanders the earth for one year following its burial, the size of a man's thumb, weak and sad. It remains benign as long as it is left alone and given food offerings. Also paret and pretni in the feminine form.
- Rakshasa: India. Term means 'the injurer', from the Veda. It is an enemy of all mankind, can change its form at will, arriving at night and fleeing at dawn. When seen in the natural state, they are stained with blood, have adamantine teeth, matted hair, and five feet. Rakshasi is the feminine form.
- Ramanga: Madagascar. Found among the Betsileo tribe, this person lives outside the boundaries of normal society. A cerimonial vampire, it eats the nail clipping and drinks the spilled blood of its betters.
- Stregoni benefici: Italy. Variation on the kresnik tradition of Dalmatia.. The term means 'beneficial vampire' and indicates a belief in certian undead who were on the side of good.
- Striges: Rome. Term for a witch who transforms in to a blood drinking crow. Ranked with the living variety of vampires.
- Strigoii: Romania. The 'dead' vampire, as opposed to the moroii, has a list of activities which will cause its creation. Its left eye will remain open, while other distinguishing features might be red hair or blue eyes, as well as the presence of two hearts.
- Succubus: Europe. Female demon that visits men in their sleep to torment their dreams and to engage in sexual relations. It renders her victims exhaused and weakened by incessant carnal performances. Similar in species to mara and muli. Counterpart to the male incubus, the sub means 'under' or 'beneith', so the succubus lies under the victim. This isn't always the case in literature, the succubus is described as above the victim, having gained an unnatural domination over him, but yet still retains the female characteristics. (See Essay on the Sexual Positioning of the Succubus)
- Talamaur: Austrailia. Living vampire found on the Banks Islands, either male or female, this species can communicate with ghosts. Another type of this species was an individual who could send out the soul to consume the lingering life essence contained in a new corpse.
- Taxim: Eastern Europe. Revnant called 'walking dead', the reanimated body of a deceased individual who an find no eternal release until its vengence is satisfied. This creature is decomposed, a rotted corpse driven on by its spirit. Resembles the zombie of popular cult films.
- Tlaciques: Mexico. Vampire-witches found among the Nahuatl tribe, similar to the loogaroo. They can turn into balls of flame, but are also able to transform into turkeys so they can take blood without being discovered.
- Ubour: Bulgaria. Most common species in the area, created when a person meets a violent, sudden death, when a cat jumps over a corpse, or when a spirit refuses to leave a body by sheer force of will. The corpse remains in the ground for fourty days until the skeleton forms from a gelatinous substance. It only drinks blood when no other form of nourishment is availiable. This type has only one nostril, possesses a barbed tongue, and emits sparks during the night.
- Upior: Poland. Also upier. It differs by sleeping much of the night, rising only between noon and midnight. It has a barbed tongue and consumes vast amounts of blood. It sleeps in blood, and drinks it, is facinated by it.
- Upir: Ukraine. Also opir. Similar to the Russian species, but also consumes large quantities of fish. Also used in Czechoslovakia.
- Upyr: Russia. Most common species of the region. Has a bloodthirsty nature, sucking the blood from children and then the parents. Teeth like iron, wandering the day from noon to midnight. Upor being the Byelorussian variation, able to assume various forms and ride horses.
- Ustrel: Bulgaria. Thought to be the returned spirit of a Christian child who was born on a Saturday, but died before baptism. Nine days later, the child will claw its way out of the grave and feast on a nearby herd of cattle.
- Utukku: Babylon. Vampire-like phantom, spirit of a dead person returned from the grave for some specific purpose.
- Vampir: Europe. Also vampyr. Magyar word of Slavonic origin that appears as a term for vampire in many places.
- Varcolaci: Romania. Mythical species that ranks with the most powerful because of its ability to 'eat' the sun and the moon.Traditions vary as to what type of creatures these beings actually look like, but they can originate as the souls of unbaptized children, the cursed, and the illigitimate. They may appear as humans, with pale faces and dry skin. They cause eclipses when their bodies drop into a deep sleep and their spirit goes into the sky. Another name for these beings is priculics.
- Vetala: India. Known in some regions as baital, or vetal, it is described as being white, green, or wheat-colored and astride a green horse.
- Volkodlak: Slovenia. Term for vampire, also for werewolf, demonstrating the close relationship of the two creatures in some areas.
- Vyrkolakas: Greece. Also found in Macedonia and other Aegean areas. The term penetrated from the Slavic regions, originally being a term for the werewolf. The vampiric connotations derived from the belief that werewolves became vampires after death. These demon-ridden beings replaced the former peaceful, indigenous revnant. Caused by normal means, it wanders around knocking on door and calling out people's names. The sleeping victim is crushed by the weight of the creature sitting on him.
- Vyrkolatios: Santorini (Thera). Combination vampire - ghoul, described as fiends that feast on the living.
- Vukodlak: Serbia. Term derived from werewolf, as above. Overtime, the vampire connotation outpaced the lycanthropic.
- Wurdalak: Russia. Also vourdalak. Known as a beautiful but evil woman or female spirit. Used by Tolstoy in 1847 short story.
- Xloptuny: Another name used by Russian people for the species known as erestun or erestuny.
- Zmeu: Moldavia. Ghostly, vampire-like figure that took the form of a long flame that each night entered the room of a young girl or widow. Once inside, it took the form of a man who seduced the woman. Also known in Transylvania in the form of a young girl who tempted shepherds.
Why do your locks and rumpled head-clothes show
'Tis more than usual sleep that made them so?
Why are the kisses which he gave betray'd
By the impression which his teeth has made?
