Facts about Vampires and

This is my ode to those who believe that they are vampires and werewolves but most likely dont even know where the myths began. Enjoy.

The Werewolf and Vampire legends and myths are not as most people believe. Werewolves have always been a metaphore for the beast within , the animal instincts that are always present , humans have been afraid of their feral side for centuries , ever since we started to live a more "civilized" life. The belief that is the origin of the werewolf myths is that those whom embrace their feral side , are forever lost to it , driven mad like a bloodthirsty animal , people all over the world tried to find a way to depict it , werewolves of europe are just one example , another is the skinwalker of native american legends (who has to kill his entire family and eat their hearts to gain its powers of transformation in legends).Many people believed that those whom had a hair growth defficiency were either werewolves or a different species of feral humans.

While for the vampire legends ...thats a whole different story , unlike most vampire myths never had things such as you turning into one when you are bitten nordeath by garlic haha. The origin of the modern day vampire myths is in its ancient homeland the Balkan area of eastern europe which mainly accompanies the slavic countries of Romania (in the past known as Valachia) , Serbia , Bulgaria , Macedonia , Croatia and Bosnia. The myth originated in the rural areas of eastern Serbia and western Romania , and also spread like wildfire to the whole area. The word Vampire comes from the slavic language Serbian the original spelling is Vampir , while the commonly known other variant in "vampire lore" is Vampyr which is actualy a mispelling that has been adapted in the late 20th century , it is just an attempt to make Vampir spelled more english since the pronounciation is incredibly simmilar. The Myth started as a notion that the dead (mostly those in non sanctified grave or ones that seek vengeance) would rise up to slay the living and return back to their grave to rest. The people of villages often created hunts for such creatures opening coffins to see shriveled white skin , elongated nails and blood coming out of the mouth during decay. But they believed those were the telltale signs of vampirism , today medicine explained it as the trapped gasses and bodily decay leading to blood coming out of the mouth , skin retracting causing nails to appear longer. They had elaborate ways to stop them from rising again , from driving a stake through their heart , to cutting off the head and putting it underneath their legs to even putting bricks in their mouths and then smashing the jaw on it. Things such as Garlic were meant to protect from vampires in the sense that they would not come near the place where it is hung. Albino or pale skinned people were always a subject of suspicion to as if they are or not vampires. People with tuberculosis also were suspected of vampirism due to them caughting up blood. Later on Bram Stoker went off to use the inspiration of Vlad Draculia Tepes and the myths to create Count Dracula and start todays vampire craze. His work lead to fictional ideas of vampirism being a transmitted disease and an eterenal life.There are other myths of more demonic blood sucking creatures such as the philiphinean Aswang or even in some legends the Rusalki.

I hope this information helps you understand the common mistake most people make.