Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Central Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published.
Most people might say vampires come from Transylvania, Romania, because it is the homeland of Count Dracula. However, if you investigate other legends of the bloodthirsty undead, you may be surprised to discover that creatures similar to vampires exist all around the world.
If vampire stories have a true home, it's in Eastern European countries like Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. All of the above carry some of the most detailed and feared vampire traditions in Europe. The word “vampire” itself even entered the English language in the early 18th century from Slavic sources.
In the Rynek Underground Museum in Poland, there are graves in which the deceased were buried in a fetal position, with their hands bound and heads cut off and placed beneath their feet—to slow their rise from the earth.
Jure Grando Alilović or Giure Grando (1578–1656) was a villager from the region of Istria (in modern-day Croatia) who may have been the first real person described as a vampire in historical records. He was referred to as a štrigon, a local word for something resembling a vampire and a warlock.
The 2023 discovery of a mass burial site of 450 individuals in a sleepy Polish town is testament to that fact – especially since many of the cadavers were dismembered as part of anti-vampiric rituals and practices popular at the time.
The concept of the vampire as an undead creature inflicting harm originated in Eastern Europe, specifically in Bulgaria, a thousand years ago. Make no mistake, this was a legend isolated among the Slavic people. It was not widespread or well-known.
Vampires are probably the most consistently sexualized monster in modern media. And is it really any wonder why? A vampire penetrating your flesh with its fangs and exchanging fluids is a pretty obvious sexual metaphor, which can be used to explore and address the nuances of sexuality and sexual taboos.
Known Original Vampires. Mikael was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe, as well as a Viking warrior from the Kingdom of Norway, before he and his family moved to the New World. They made their new home in what would eventually become Mystic Falls, and found themselves neighbors with a pack of werewolves ...
But seeds of the modern concept have appeared in mythologies since the beginning of recorded history. The story of Sekhmet, the Egyptian feline warrior goddess associated with both plague and healing, is considered by some to be one of the oldest vampire tales.
According to the predominant mythology, every vampire was once a human, who, after being bitten by a vampire, died and rose from the grave as a monster. Vampires crave the human blood and hunt humans during the night. They use their protruding fangs to puncture their victims' necks.
All are in deepest Transylvania, Romania. Some of these castles are linked to Bram Stoker's vampire – Dracula. And some are associated with an altogether more terrifying character – the 'real life Dracula', or Vlad the Impaler. You see, Bram Stoker's fictional vampire, Dracula, was based on a real person.
New Orleans, a city famed for its vibrant culture, rich history, and mysterious allure, is also known for its deep connection with the supernatural. Among its many legends, the tales of vampires stand out, weaving a tapestry of myth, history, and popular culture.
There are three types of real vampires: sanguinarian, psychic, and hybrids. Sanguinarians feed on very small amounts of human blood, generally just a few drops.
You won't actually find vampires in the Bible. Werewolves, zombies, vampires, and other such fictional beings are creatures originating from medieval folklore and ancient mythology. Legend suggests that vampires are corpses who leave their graves at night to drink the blood of sleeping humans.
In modern times, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures (such as the chupacabra) still persists in some cultures.
Mercy's was the last of five alleged Rhode Island vampire cases, dating back to 1796. After the Mercy Brown exhumation in 1892, nobody in Rhode Island ever dug up the body of a suspected vampire again, probably because in 1882, it was discovered that tuberculosis (or "consumption") was spread by bacteria.
Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Central Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published.
The modern incarnation of vampire myth seems to have stemmed largely from Gothic European literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, about the time vampire hysteria was peaking in Europe.
Sheridan Le Fanu published "Carmilla" in 1872. The story of female vampire Carmilla (also known in the story as Millarca and Mircalla, the Countess Karnstein, all anagrams of "Carmilla") is a Gothic work, noted as one of the first stories of vampire fiction.
Mikael is the father of the Original family and is also technically the first ever vampire. He's very authoritarian, especially toward Klaus, resulting in his children fearing him. As a wealthy landowner in Eastern Europe, he and his wife, Esther, start a family.
New Englanders in late 18th and early 19th century believed in vampires, due in part to the tuberculosis epidemic. Desperate villagers dismembered suspected vampires to stop the spread of disease. Rituals included burning organs and beheading corpses to prevent vampires from rising again.
Creation. The Originals were created around the turn of the 11th century, when Mikael, the father of the Originals, wanted to find a way through magic to make himself and his remaining children immortal, as well as to make them superior to werewolves in speed, strength, fangs of their own, and heightened senses.
