Vampires (10 page)

In the same way, stories of lesbian vampires, such as Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella
Carmilla
allowed readers to explore a taboo subject in a fantasy setting, thus circumventing the strict sexual mores of the time. Some critics believe that Le Fanu’s novel was based on the historical figure of Countess Bàthory, who was said to have murdered countless young women, bathing in their blood. However, others believe that the story of Carmilla is more significant as a precursor than Bram Stoker’s male protagonist, Count Dracula.

Whatever the truth, it seems that historically, the female vampire is a powerful mythical creation, expressing the fear of the sexually alluring woman as a dangerous threat to the patriarchal order.

The dictionary definition of the vampire is ‘a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living’. The belief in vampires arose in the medieval Slavic ‘old religion’ and then, in the centuries that followed, caught the imagination of writers, artists and film-makers, developing into the suave, sophisticated figure that we know today. Parallel to this European tradition are many other ancient belief systems across the globe that involve similar figures to the vampire: revenants who stalk the living, drinking their blood so as to sustain themselves in the shadowy afterlife.

Ancient Greece, as we know, had a very highly developed belief system, with many complex myths surrounding the pantheon of gods that were worshipped. Among these, we find several tales about female demons, such as the storm demon Lamia, a woman who in life suffered the death of her children and took her revenge by preying on babies, stealing them away to suck their blood and eat their flesh. Allied to this myth is the story of Lilith, which comes from Hebrew mythology. In some ancient versions of this story, Lilith is the first wife of Adam who refuses to obey him, is banished from the Garden of Eden, and then returns in snake form to tempt him. She becomes an evil demon, seducing men and stealing infants away from their mothers, as well as bearing demon children herself who visit humankind and wreak havoc upon it. This myth endured for centuries, and right up until the eighteenth century, Lilith was held responsible for infant deaths, impotence, and infertility. Significantly, both Lamia and Lilith are women who are able to transform themselves into snakes, echoing another aspect of the vampire myth, which is the revenants’ ability to assume non-human forms.

As well as these female demons, there are other ancient mythological creatures who share some characteristics with the vampire. One of these is the Strix, whose Latin name comes from the Greek word for owl. The Strix was a legendary figure from Ancient Roman culture, which was based on the European Scops owl. This small, insect-eating owl was feared as a creature of ill omen, and when it appeared at night, giving its characteristic low whistling call, it was thought that any human in the vicinity would experience death, either his or her own, or that of a loved one.

The legendary Strix differed from the Scops owl in that it was said to be a creature who drank the blood of human beings, and ate their flesh. The legend of the Strix is that their mother, Polyphonte, a companion of the goddess Artemis, fell in love with a wild bear and bore him two sons. These sons hunted human beings to survive, feeding on their flesh, and as a punishment, were turned into animals. One of them became a Strix, a nocturnal bird of ill-omen, and ‘a harbinger of war and civil strife to men’. It was thought that the Strix disembowelled its victims, which could include human infants. Later, in medieval times, the Strix was reputed to be an evil female demon. In Romania, it gave its name to the
strigoi
, or vampire. In this version of the legend, the figure is the troubled soul of a dead person who has taken the form of a wild animal.

In some cases, the strigoi could even be a living person with superpowers, such as the ability to transform him or herself into a shrieking bird.

In Romanian folklore, a person could become a strigoi if he or she died before they were married. Bizarrely, in these cases, the corpse of the dead person might be married to another unmarried living person, in the belief that such a union could stop this from happening. However, in some cases, it was thought, the strigoi might return and try to have sexual intercourse with their former husband or wife. To avoid this possibility, the corpse of the unmarried person might be pierced with a stake, and the usual rites for dispelling vampires observed.

In addition, there were other specific remedies to discourage the corpse from changing shape and becoming a strigoi. One of these was to bury a bottle of wine at the graveside, dig it up a month or two later, and then drink it with the relatives of the deceased. Those who had drunk the wine, it was believed, would not be visited by the strigoi.

Thus it was that the mythological figure of the Strix, or night owl, that made its first appearance in the literature of Ancient Greece and Rome, migrated down the centuries into different cultures, becoming the strigoi of medieval Romanian folklore. As with the stories of bats and werewolves, ancient and medieval peoples observed the behaviour of the animals around them, especially those mysterious animals that were only seen at night, and built legends around them to explain their habits and explore their alien way of life. In this way, these animals played their part in the complex development of human civilization and its relationship to the natural world.

Evil creatures who have morphed from human form into evil nocturnal birds are also a feature of non-European cultures. In West Africa, the Asanbosam, or Sasabonsam, is a legendary figure in the folklore of the Ashanti people. Myths about this creature occur in Ghana, Togo, and the Ivory Coast. The Asanbosam is a vampire-like animal that is said to live in trees and swoop down to attack people. Legend has it that this monster has iron claws and iron teeth, and preys on human beings and other animals, ripping them to shreds in order to drink their blood and devour their flesh.

Another blood-sucking creature from Ashanti folklore is the Obayifo. This is a kind of witch who is able to inhabit the body of a living human being. The obayifo comes out at night, and is said to be visible by its luminous armpits and anus. It is always on the look-out for food, and is said to hang around the house when cooking is going on. It is believed to be able sometimes to enter the bodies of animals so as to attack human beings.

The Obayifo is particularly feared for its ability to suck the blood out of children from afar, also being able to draw the life force out of farm land so that it yields no harvest. It is thought to suck sap out of plants to assuage its thirst, and is often held responsible for diseases in crops. In cases of cocoa blight, for example, the Obayifo will be blamed. In order to combat the monster’s destructive influence, an Okomfo, or witch doctor, will perform various rituals to banish it, and will be supported by the entire tribe in his endeavours. Among some African peoples, the Obayifo is known as the Asiman, and similar stories are told about its evil doings.

In Australia, the mythical figure of the bloodsucking Yara-ma-yha-who would often be invoked by Aboriginal people to stop their children from wandering off on their own. This creature was said to be a small monkey or frog-like man with a large head, whose body was covered in red hair. Its face was dominated by a very wide mouth, and on the tips of its fingers and toes it had suckers like an octopus. It lived in trees, waiting for its victims to stop and rest in the shade, whereupon it would leap down to attack. Placing its suckers on the victim’s skin, it would drain all the blood out of his or her body. It would then swallow the victim whole, wash down the meal with a drink from a nearby river, and then lie down to take a nap.

The next step of the story is a strange one, and demonstrates the gentle, humorous nature of much Aboriginal folklore. According to the legend, after a few hours the Yara-ma-yha-who would wake up and regurgitate its victim alive and unharmed. The only telltale sign of such an attack would be that the victim became a little shorter than before. If a person was attacked several times, he or she might also become a Yara-ma-yha-who, living in trees and waiting to attack innocent victims, especially children.

As has been pointed out by many commentators, the Yara-ma-yha-who is not strictly a vampire, since there is no suggestion that the creature is a revenant from the grave, or an undead soul of any sort; however, the blood-sucking behaviour of the Aboriginal sprite has much in common with the European tradition of the Strix and Strigoi, and with other folkloric sprites and demons from around the world, which have close parallels to the mythic tradition of the vampire.