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Myth/Folklore: Vampires

  • Nov 4, 2019
  • 4 min read

Vampire is a well-known folklore over the world.

I believe that people of different ages have heard about vampires before.Vampires are known as fictional bloodthirsty monsters, but legends from regions all over the world have a distinct explanation about the origin of the vampire. However, the most common one was about when the Ottoman Turkish Empire invaded Transylvania.

The origin of vampires, Transylvania.

It was seen in front of Dracula's Castle by the invaders that 20,000 or more people were pierced by the spears that stood straight up from the ground, and the rotten corpses were placed just the same way, without being removed from the lances. The invaders were frightened by this horrible scene, so they ran back to their land and told the people of their experience.

Count Dracula has become a major representative of the vampires.

Nowadays, people are not as afraid of vampires anymore. Kids even disguise themselves as vampires during Halloween. However, the vampires are very powerful according to myths told in the past. They had super strengths, eyes that can hypnotize, could turn into bats, and can even outrun a car. Although they seem to be so formidable, myths also infer that vampires are afraid of stakes, fire, sunlight, decapitation, and garlic. These weaknesses of the vampires are also recorded in the novel Dracula.

According to myths, vampires are strong with special powers but with weaknesses too.

Yes, the mystery about vampires was so great that it was even written into a novel of a more complete version. At the beginning of the story of Dracula, Jonathan Harker, a young London lawyer traveled to Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase an estate in England, so he began his one-month life living in Count Dracula’s castle. Later on, he started to discover all the strange things: there wasn’t any servants in such a big castle; there wasn’t any doors or windows to the outside world; and the three female vampires who he thought only appeared in his dream but were real figures. Jonathan realized that he was trapped in the castle and that Count Dracula will kill him after his purchase of the estate. He decided to escape and almost died but finally succeed at last. In the meantime, back in Whitby, England, Jonathan’s fiance, Mina Murray, was having a good time with her friend, Lucy Westenra, while worrying about not receiving any letter from Jonathan. Finally, when she knew that Jonathan was in a hospital in Budapest, she hurried to the hospital and married to Jonathan.

From the left to the right are Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, and Lucy Westenra.

Later on, Lucy Westenra received proposals from three men—Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood. At last, Lucy accepted Arthur and rejected the other two. She lived some blessed days with Arthur but then found herself sleep-walking, getting weaker and weaker every day. When Dr. Seward discovered the illness of Lucy, he asked his old mentor, Dr. Van Helsing, for help. Dr. Van Helsing soon sees the problem from the two red marks at Lucy’s throat, that a vampire has been sucking Lucy’s blood. Dr. Seward and Dr. Van Helsing tried to save Lucy from transfusing their own blood into Lucy’s pale body. Unluckily, they couldn’t save Lucy from the fierce vampire. Even more unfortunate, Lucy became a vampire after her death, coming out from her coffin and sucking children’s blood at night. After asking Arthur’s permission, Dr. Van Helsing worked with Dr. Seward, Quincey, and Arthur, cutting down Lucy’s head and stabbing a stake through her heart. The four determined to revenge for their dear love.

From the left to the right are Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood, Dr. Van Helsing.

When Mina and Jonathan came back from Budapest, they joined the team, wanting to kill the Un-Dead. The six of them chose Dr. Van Helsing’s hospital as their base, gathered all their paperwork, including their diaries, letters, phonograph...and everything that may exist a clue of the vampire. After organizing the papers, they found out the fiend. It was the Count. They prepared themselves and was ready to kill the Count, but then found out that Mina got bit by Count Dracula too, slowly becoming a vampire herself. They didn’t have much time left.

The first edition of the novel Dracula was written by Bram Stoker in the year 1897.

I don't want to ruin the next events in the story for the ones who haven't read the book before, but if you are interested in the vampire and its legends, you must not miss this one! Other than this novel, the folklores about vampires are also made into movies such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula II: Ascension, Dracula III: Legacy, Van Helsing, Dracula: Untold, and so on. Even though these films were all based on the plot of the original version in the novel, they all became famous due to the new scenes and the contents added. If you are a fan of this mysterious folklore of Dracula or vampires, you might want to watch them someday!

The figure of Count Dracula and her daughter, Mavis, from the famous cartoon, Hotel Transylvania, were both based on the original features of the vampires, with sharp teeth and long nails.

 
 
 

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