Archaeologists find Bulgarian 'vampires'

[InfamousI]

I feel like most people probably have heard the theory for the catalyst for vampirism. Europe, already containing a wealth of nonsense folkloric myth and legend; unfortunately, has been plagued by more than just a lack of education with a lot of these stories of anthropomorphic and metamorphic victims. Having gone to school with a couple gentleman from Bulgaria and my exgf being from Albania, I've heard of; needless to say; quite a few real life horror stories. Having been in isolation for so many years, many of the people in these areas obviously aren't going to be even high school diploma savy, especially in the more mountainous regions of eastern Europe. This isn't to say that these people are dumb, but they only have so many ways to explain particular events that they have witnessed but clueless to the concept of. One of those examples is cannibalism. With a lot of eastern European culture being very old world based (Romania, Kosovo, etc) in their beliefs, the idea of eating another human being is something only a "demon" or "devil" could do. Unfortunately, after WWII, many soldiers in this part of the world were forced to walk home from Russia or Germany; due to the horrible treatment Russian military had provided. In many cases even worse than Nazi. During these trials over hundreds of miles, many man were faced with awful decisions to survive the cold trek home. Yup you guessed it. They ate each other. Human flesh, being one of the most addictive substances on earth, was set as a standard for (and I'm not saying very many people) many combat trained veterans. When one comes home back into the conservative slow paced life of farming, and you get caught eating someone, you can only imagine the severity of effort those people would go to keep themselves and their families safe, especially after the fall of a genocidal regime. But that's just part of the story. There's gotta be countless theories for vampires. Mine was more of the modern tale.

[TattooMan]

@ Mider... where do you think the vampire myth originated??? Bram Stoker learned of the vampire myth from eastern Europe and wrote Dracula to romanticize that myth. The vampire legend was around long before Stoker. Same holds true of other myths and legends that were around before they were put into books.

[KNash]

I read that it was also common practice to bury the dead with nets over their bodies so that the "vampire" would be stuck in the grave and would only be able to untie the knots at a rate of one per year before ever being able to get out. And that the heart was sometimes cut out and boiled.

[d e v i c e]

Interesting insight into old customs and beliefs. I think these vampire myths might have arisen from the activities of early serial killers. It may have been too incomprehensible for people back then - as it is for many today - to think that an 'ordinary' person could do such things, so they attributed it to 'supernatural, evil beings' - vampires.

[libstaK]

I thought it originated from Count Vlad the Impaler..

http://en.wikipedia....lad_the_Impaler

But even Count Vlad was chosen by Bram Stoker specifically for his easy assimilation into an existing lore about vampirism I suspect

Edited July 1, 2012 by libstaK

[ThePhantomFlanFlinger]

Just going to put the link to the pictures up that have been released,in case anyone is interested..

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/pictures/120724-vampire-skeleton-toothless-bulgaria-science/#/new-vampire-skeletons-found-bulgaria-box_57053_600x450.jpg

[Super-Fly]

Nice,

interesting.

Thanks,