Vampires Through the Ages (8 page)

In addition to these various forms of magic was a belief that certain physical barriers or sacred sites could not be crossed or trespassed on by vampires. The best example of this is the theory that they could not step foot on consecrated ground. The word
consecrated
means “to associate with the sacred,” and was applied to churches, graveyards, and homes blessed by a priest. Remember: corpses suspected of becoming a revenant were not buried in consecrated ground but in isolated areas or crossroads away from the public. Almost as if to counter this belief, however, in most of the reports of vampire infestations handed down over the centuries, the first place frightened villagers looked for the source of the vampire infestation was in their local graveyard.

Another area traditionally off limits to the vampire was a person's home, which the vampire could not enter without first being invited, under the pretext that evil could not enter a person's home unless it was brought in by the owners. Running water was another barrier they could not cross because of the vampire's association with causing droughts. Bloated bodies suspected of vampirism would also float if cast into water, giving the impression that the water was rejecting them. Because of its life-giving properties and numerous biblical references, water was also an element representing purity and could therefore not be touched by the vampire. The only exception in some traditions was that the fiends could cross water at the ebb and flow of the tide. Finally, other magical barriers existed that harkened back to more ancient times, such as the practice of taking twin brothers and having them plow a furrow around a house or village with a team of oxen. As long as the furrow remained intact, no vampire could cross it.

The Rites of Burial

When crucifixes and magic spells failed to do the trick, many Eastern European communities developed complex burial rituals meant to address the continuous threat of the vampire. Since evil spirits relied on decaying corpses as their vehicle to wreak evil upon the world, it only made sense that bodies be prepared in a manner that ensured they did not rise again. Such a process began shortly after a person's death with the ritual cleaning of the body by the family of the deceased. The corpse was normally washed in either water or wine, but in some cases, such as among the Wallachians, it was also rubbed with the lard of a pig killed on St. Ignatius Day. The clothing the person died in was usually exchanged for new garments, with the old set taken out and burned immediately. If the death occurred in the house, it too was cleaned from top to bottom. This ritual cleansing was a means to purify the body and the home and protect the soul, which still lingered about, from the evil influences that might lead to it becoming a vampire.

Once this was accomplished, the arms of the corpse were folded across its chest in the form of a rudimentary cross and the eyes were weighted shut with coins. Not only did the coins prohibit an infected corpse from casting the evil eye, but they were also part of an earlier tradition that believed the soul needed money in the afterlife to pay Charon “the Ferryman of Hades” to transport it across the river Styx and into the land of souls. The mouth of the corpse was stuffed with cloth or wool before being shut, or in some cultures with items such as garlic, gold coins, or religious icons as well. In areas such as Saxony, lemons were used, while in China jade served the same purpose.

The act of stuffing and binding the mouth fulfilled two very important purposes: the first was to prohibit demons and evil spirits from entering the body, while the second ensured the corpse could not begin to feed upon its burial shroud and spread disease. Recently, Italian archeologists unearthed the body of a woman from a mass grave on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island, near the city of Venice, where she had been buried with a small brick deliberately placed between her upper and lower teeth. The 1576 plague victim was suspected of having been a vampire, and gravediggers routinely stuffed bricks in the mouths of such corpses to prevent the spread of the plague.

Other items of significance that were left on dead bodies included shards of pottery or wax crosses bearing the inscription “Jesus Christ Conquers.” Among the Greeks a candle known as the
isou
was crafted at the time of the person's death and placed on the chest of the corpse until burial. Once lighted, it was thought to provide enough illumination for the soul so that it would not become lost in the forty days it was required to roam the earth after death.

While the body awaited burial, family and friends kept a constant vigil over it in order to guarantee that the proper respect was being shown and that all the necessary funeral rites were observed. After all, they were the ones who had the most to lose if the person came back as a vampire since traditionally it chose its first victims from among those closest to them in life. Any mirrors in the home were also covered to make sure the wayward soul did not become trapped within them, and clocks were stopped in order to place the soul in a type of suspended state that protected it from the ever-present demonic forces at work. Finally, crosses were painted on the exterior of the house in tar or other substances in a last-ditch effort to seal it from contaminating influences.

When the appointed time for the burial did finally arrive, the utmost care was taken when removing the body from the safety of the home. Often the body was removed through the back door feet first, or a hole was cut in the wall or roof for its removal in the hopes that if the body did rise again it would be unable to find its way back home. Even the route of the procession followed a prescribed pattern, usually traveling from east to west along the path of the sun—and failure to observe the ritual meant the corpse would become cursed along with those accompanying the body. Finally, if the person had lived an upright and moral life, following the precepts of the church, they were eligible for burial in sacred ground consecrated by the church among the family and friends who went before them.

Once the body was in the grave, the local parish priest performed the church rites according to the faith of the deceased, which sometimes included a mass. After the last shovelful of dirt was cast atop the body, food was sometimes left at the grave under the pretense that a well-fed corpse had no need to rise from the dead and sup upon the blood of the living. In some regions, such as Germany, the act was merely symbolic and constituted little more than sprinkling rice or grain over the grave in a token offering. Among those of the Greek Orthodox faith, a supplemental burial was performed after a specified period of time in which the body was disinterred and examined for signs of vampirism. If none existed and the body's process of decomposition seemed natural, the bones were cleaned with boiled water or wine and reburied in a new funeral shroud with all the previous burial customs.

If a person, however, had led an immoral life, was excommunicated by the church, committed suicide, or suffered some breach in burial protocols and there was even the slightest chance they might return as a vampire, means were devised to confuse or deceive the creature with something akin to early psychological warfare. This could in some cases mean simply burying the corpse facing downwards, so that if it attempted to dig its way out (thinking it was right side up) it would instead dig its way deeper into the earth. Often enough this was also a precaution for those later digging up the corpse to examine it for signs of vampirism, as the gaze of the revenant could kill a man or drive him crazy.

In many of the legends surrounding the creatures, they were not only known for their bloodthirsty habits but also for suffering from a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior, which crafty villagers were often quick to capitalize on. Sand and seeds were frequently left within the grave or coffin of the vampire, who in turn could not help but to stop and count each grain at the agonizingly slow pace of one a year. In a similar approach, some bodies were wrapped in fishing net; the vampire felt compelled to untie each and every knot before it could arise, in much the same fashion as with the grain-counting procedure.

Grave Restraints and Corpse Killing

If a few parlor tricks couldn't do the job, then oftentimes cultures found ways to physically restrain or imprison the corpse so that it could not claw its way from the grave. One manner of achieving this was to pin the burial shroud of the corpse to the inside of the coffin and thus restrict its movements. Another, more popular version was simply to bind the arms and legs with leather thongs or ropes. In many areas heavy stones were also laid across the top of the grave, not only to keep scavengers from getting to the body but also to keep the body from getting out of the ground.

One ancient tale of such methods originated in County Derry, in Ireland, after a chieftain named Abhartach, who was renowned for his cruelty, was killed in a battle against a rival clan. Following his burial, Abhartach began reappearing to his kinsmen in search of blood to drink. Time and again the clansmen struck him down with swords and other weapons and reburied the body, but each night he rose again to wreak havoc among the people. At their wit's end, the clan elders finally consulted a local Druid, who advised that they carve a wooden sword from a yew tree, and after striking him down with the sword, bury the corpse upside down with a heavy stone atop the grave. The next night when the vampire appeared again, the people did as the Druid instructed and the bloody chieftain arose no more.

An alternative method included restraining the corpse with the branches of particular trees thought to have extraordinary powers. The aspen, for example, protected people from numerous types of evil because it was thought by some to be the same wood used to make the cross Christ was crucified upon, and so when laid over a grave it bound the vampire within. The Wallachians laid the thorny branches of the wild rose over the body during burial so that if it tried to rise it would become entangled. The Russians, however, preferred to place corpses suspected of vampirism in strong coffins bound with heavy iron bands, which they placed in a special chamber of the church and set a guard upon for a period of time.

Some cultural conventions even espoused ritualistically killing the corpse for a second time. Sharp needles, spikes, or swords were thrust into the ground above the grave in order to impale the body of the vampire should it attempt to dig its way out again. Similarly, in Serbia, after a person died and was taken from the house for burial, the women of the village would gather that night and stick five hawthorn pegs or old kitchen knives in the ground above the body corresponding to the chest, arms, and legs. Another example of the practice can be found among the Morlacks (of modern Croatia), among whom a body suspected of vampirism would be dug up and pricked all over with needles, after which the hamstrings were cut to prevent the corpse from walking again. Other forms of corpse mutilation appeared in places like Transylvania, where exhumed bodies had iron forks thrust into their eyes and heart before reburial upside down.

Even up to the nineteenth century, grisly customs such as these popped up from time to time in places like Romania, where at the conclusion of the funeral rites the coffin was shot with a gun. In fact, to this very day acts such as these continue to surface in the more remote districts of Eastern Europe. On November 24, 1998, for example, a curious article appeared in the Romanian newspaper
Ziua
under a headline translated as “A Gorjean Stuck a Nail through the Heart of Her Dead Lover.” The piece went on to explain that Romanian police in the region of Gorj were currently looking for a thirty-five-year-old woman named Vasilica Popescu, who was suspected of desecrating the corpse of her former lover by driving a six-inch nail through his heart. She told reporters that it was an ancient custom in her village and ensured that the heart of the deceased did not start beating again. She continued by stating that while he was alive, her lover routinely performed the same service for many others buried in the village cemetery.

Weapons of War

Yet even if all the necessary precautions were taken, an isolated community could still find itself in the deadly grip of a vampire infestation, towards which they had no choice but to take a more direct approach. In circumstances such as these, it was first necessary to identify the source of the vampirism. In most cases this was a simple affair, as the creature could through a little deduction be traced back through the family and friends it chose to make a meal of. All that remained was to follow the body trail back to the grave of the monster and in the full light of day dispatch it with ease. Unfortunately, in the real world, where things are not as easy as they sound, it wasn't always clear who the vampire might be. If it was an invisible spirit or an unrecognized stranger in the community, or if family members were afraid to come forward and admit its identity, other means of identification had to be relied upon.

One method popular in Eastern Europe was as elaborate as it was dramatic. It involved placing a young, virginal boy atop a stallion that had never mated or stumbled and was without blemish. In some versions, the stallion had to be pure white while in others it needed to be completely black. Either way, the horse was set to wander the graveyard of the probable vampire until it reached a grave it refused to cross over even after repeated blows across its flanks. This, then, according to the logic of the times, marked the daylight resting place of the revenant. Other signs included graves that were disturbed by wolves or dogs, who were the natural enemy of the creature, as well as holes the size of a person's finger from which the vampire came and went from the grave. Disturbed coffins, vandalized tombstones, strange mist, and hovering blue flames also pointed to the presence of the vampire.

Wooden Stakes

Once the location of the revenant was rooted out, the average villager had a number of means by which to end the creature's reign of terror. The first included driving a wooden stake through the heart or body of the vampire. While commonly used among the Slavic countries, the origins of the practice may have its roots in Egyptian theology, in which the heart was seen as the seat of the soul, emotions, and intelligence.