Vampire Area

There are many possible routes of becoming a vampire. Some of the more prevalent mythological routes are:

The first candidates to become a vampire are those who commit crimes against man or religion.

This is certainly the broadest, if not most abundant, category for potential vampires. As society needed a scapegoat to blame for the calamities of these times, people on the fringes of society and the church made an easy target and were quickly disposed off, living the kingdoms and the Church free of potential trouble-makers.

Suicidals, eretics, schismatics and excommunicants

The Church has long considered suicide one of the unforgivable sins. It was commonly believed in Christian Europe that such souls were unable to rest in the grave, especially in hallowed ground. Their bodies could not decay and return to their original dust (the most commonly accepted proof of vampiric infection) and they left their graves at night to prey upon the living who were granted the chance of salvation that they were denied. The act of excommunication prohibited one from receiving the sacraments of the church. This case is similar to that of the suicide. He who died excommunicated was believed to be unable to return to dust or to find release from the body.



Sinners

Those who were particularly cruel or violent in life were believed to be prime candidates to return from the grave as vampires. Bulgarians included robbers, highwaymen, arsonists, prostitutes, deceitful and treacherous barmaids and other dishonourable people. Those who led dissolute or debauched lives were also likely to return as vampires. This, of course, was only the case for those individuals who did not repent and receive absolution before death. Again, the soul was believed to be bound to the body, preventing the natural decomposition of the body. And while the soul was bound to the body it was also bound in servitude to Satan.

Witches and wizards

Those who practiced black magic or summoned spirits were believed to servants the devil and particularly subject to vampirism. If a witch or a black sorcerer died unrepentant he, like the suicide or the excommunicant, was bound to earth and unable to pass into the next world. Also, the witch or sorcerer was more subjected to demonic infestation. The offspring of a witch or a sorcerer were also subjected to becoming a vampire after death. This was especially true if there was reason to suspect that the child might be the result of a union between a witch and an incubus or a sorcerer and a succubus.

Werewolves

There was a strong link between the werewolf and the vampire. Unlike the vampire, the werewolf was not generally believed to be immortal. It was commonly held that when a werewolf died he was most likely to return as a vampire. Also, those who were killed by a werewolf were thought to be prime candidates for resurrection as a vampire. Often the two curses were to be found in the same geographic regions.

Natural-born vampires


Frequently people become revenants through no fault of their own, as when they are conceived during a holy period, according to the Church calendar, or when they are the illegitimate offspring of illegitimate parents. Indeed, in Romania it is reported that merely being the seventh child in a family is apt to cause one to become a revenant.

Similarly, there were a number of other physical signs that people watched for at birth in order to detect children who might be potential vampires: in Slavic countries where most had dark hair and eyes, any child who was blue-eyed and redheaded would become vampires after death.

Some children were born with specific abnormalities that were meaningful to those involved in vampire folklore:

Children being born with teeth have obvious implications, as vampires are known for their sharp teeth and biting.

Similarly suspicious are children with an extra nipple; with a lack of cartilage in the nose, or a split lower lip; or with features that are viewed as bestial, such as fur down the front or back or with a tail-like extension of the spine, especially if it is covered with fur (likewise fur or a tail would point to werewolves).

Not to forget children born with a membrane covering their heads (cauls). In this case, it was possible to prevent the change by burning the caul and feeding the ashes to the baby.

The vampire’s kiss

The most common and sure-fire method of becoming a vampire is to die from a vampire bite. The sanguinary bite (or "kiss") of a vampire is its method of perpetuating its breed, and those rising from the dead to become vampires are subject to the will of the vampire that originally bit him/her.

The bite of the vampire is usually detected as two small but swollen puncture wounds; often referred to as "the Seal of Dracula". Most vampires prefer to attack victims of the opposite sex.

Vampires do not necessarily kill their victims; it seems that they need a relatively small amount of blood daily from their victims. Being evil, most vampires take pleasure in killing their victims, justifying their act by the desire to remain secret or to save their victim’s soul from being damned.

If the victim is not killed, he/she will turn into a vampire within 2 to 7 days (varying according to the stories). The master will then initiate the newborn vampire until he can survive by himself. The victim must drink the blood of the vampire. This is the act that van Helsing calls 'the vampire's baptism of blood.’ Once the victim has swallowed the vampire blood, the victim dies as for a poison to reborn as vampire.

The victim is under the mental domination of the master vampire and can only exert an independent will during the daylight hours or when the master vampire consciously releases his control. Only the death of the master vampire can free the victim from its curse and only if he has not killed to sustain his blood feed.