It probably varies by culture and it’s so old that there probably isn’t one true vampire origin. Most cultures seem to have some kind of story about a dead person who eats people.
A ‘fun’ one that I heard was that back in the day sometimes people weren’t as dead as they thought when they buried them - catatonic, epileptic, or some other kind of comatose. If they were in a shallow grave, they might wake up and escape before wandering around town. Likely with some kind of trauma or brain damage that might make them erratic, or just simply that people were afraid that someone they had buried got up for a stroll.
The solution then is to find some means of keeping them in the ground. Burying them deep, coffins chained shut, staking or decapitating the deceased. This is not much comfort to you if you weren’t as dead as you were declared, but at least your neighbours will sleep better.
Depends on where and when you are talking about. There was a doctor in the 60s that proposed a misunderstanding of the disease Porphyria was the ancient origin of vampire folklore. The disease makes you extremely photosensitive, making your teeth seem longer and fang-like by causing your gums to recede, and causes your urine to appear red.
Other people have suggested that rabies was the origin, for more obvious bite related reasons.
One of the most recent vampire hysterias in history was caused by the spread of tuberculosis in the United states in the 18th and 19th century. The disease made you pale, cough up blood, and gave you a complexion that was considered by Victorians to emanate youthful beauty. People dying of consumption would be blamed for deaths in the family or community, being accused of stealing life from the people around them.
What makes them scary isn’t the fear they’ll hurt you. It’s the fear of being one.
Wasn’t the original inspiration for them something about skin retracting after death?
It probably varies by culture and it’s so old that there probably isn’t one true vampire origin. Most cultures seem to have some kind of story about a dead person who eats people.
A ‘fun’ one that I heard was that back in the day sometimes people weren’t as dead as they thought when they buried them - catatonic, epileptic, or some other kind of comatose. If they were in a shallow grave, they might wake up and escape before wandering around town. Likely with some kind of trauma or brain damage that might make them erratic, or just simply that people were afraid that someone they had buried got up for a stroll.
The solution then is to find some means of keeping them in the ground. Burying them deep, coffins chained shut, staking or decapitating the deceased. This is not much comfort to you if you weren’t as dead as you were declared, but at least your neighbours will sleep better.
Depends on where and when you are talking about. There was a doctor in the 60s that proposed a misunderstanding of the disease Porphyria was the ancient origin of vampire folklore. The disease makes you extremely photosensitive, making your teeth seem longer and fang-like by causing your gums to recede, and causes your urine to appear red.
Other people have suggested that rabies was the origin, for more obvious bite related reasons.
One of the most recent vampire hysterias in history was caused by the spread of tuberculosis in the United states in the 18th and 19th century. The disease made you pale, cough up blood, and gave you a complexion that was considered by Victorians to emanate youthful beauty. People dying of consumption would be blamed for deaths in the family or community, being accused of stealing life from the people around them.