VAMPIRES, MONSTERS, MYTHS, LEGENDS AND ORIGINS.

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WHY DO PEOPLE BELIEVE IN VAMPIRES...and where do the stories and myths originate?
In the past centuries i in Central and Eastern Europe vampire hysteria on various occasions were rampart. This hysteria and fear often coincided with outbreaks and multiple deaths due to tuberculosis and plagues.
The Peasants had to find an explanation why people were dropping dead, one after the other, so they blamed it on witchcraft and vampires.
As late as the 19th century New England tuberculosis wiped out entire families, one after the other died. Superstition had it that the first in a family to die, would feed on the remaining family members.
Between the 16th to the 18th Centuries little was known of what happens to the body of departed people after death.
Often mass graves during various epidemics were used for burial, and often re opened to bury newly dead.
The bodies were exhumed by medical scientists trying to find a cure for the disease.m Vampire stories relates to exhumation weeks and even months after burial, finding bodies with blood round the mouths!
It is interesting that in the decomposition of a body, a fluid resembling blood was a byproduct of the decomposition, but the bodies were then deemed to be vampires and burnt.!
It was also told that the vampire could turn into a butterfly, sometimes into a dog or a wolf, as there were often animal footprints near the graves.
Bunches of garlic was hung at their doors, warding the vampires off, as well as evil spirits. In some countries they burnt turmeric!
Some ancient writings report that vampires were bloated corpses of people with blood round their mouths!
Some claim that the skeletons were found of vampires but this claim has no substance.
The fear of the unknown , the dead and ghosts has always been part of early times.
One of the beliefs is that a vampire is a dead body brought to life by the devil or evil spirit, ever to roam at night, and will feed off the living who venture out at night.

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One of the first recorded beliefs that Vampires are real came from the ancient Indian mythology.
they believe that the Vampires originated in India, and traveled from India to Romania, then to Russia, then to China and Tibet. Interesting that in each of the countries the Vampire stories are also told.
From there the Vampires traveled to the Western countries where many people claimed to have seen Vampires (I think due to the strong influence of folklore)
Some of the Indian vampires were Pay and Paymakiller. Paymakiller devours the flesh of the dying and Pay drinks their blood, Paymakiller is a deadly fearsome beast who dances after his feast!
The Vetalas is another Indian Vampire...She is female, and able to enter the bodies of humans and animals reanimating them. They can also enter living victims and manipulate them.
Another female vampire i the Pichache, a flesh eater, with red swollen eyes and bulging veins, a nocturnal roamer in burial grounds, that can change its form. If a human sees a Pischach , the human will die within 9 months.
Vampires cannot see their images in mirrors, some have beautiful faces and can be of aristocracy, living in majestic castles , where they sleep during the day as they cannot live in sunlight.
The only way a Vampire can be killed is by driving a wooden Stake into the heart, or chopping the head with a silver blade off, or by burning the Vampire.( if you dare to be brave enough)
Each country has it own Vampires and they are named!
I think many of the stories used to keep people in house after dark, or to scare children!
I leave you to decide .