The myths surrounding vampires go back for thousands of years, and have occurred in different cultures around the world. From red-eye monsters in China to Greek Lamia, the variety of vampires is almost endless. The type of vampires that we�re familiar with today largely have Eastern European origins. Vampire myths in Europe came from the Far East, and they spread along the Black Sea area to the Balkans, Greece, and over to the Carpathian Mountains, including Transylvania and Hungary.

The modern perception of vampires still retains threads of its former �manifestation� such as the return from death, preying on humans, and blood drinking. However, the costumes involving evening clothes attire and the vampire that turns into bats are recent concepts. Many aspects of the old myths, such as placing poppy seeds at the grave to keep the vampire occupied counting seeds, instead of preying on humans, have almost disappeared from modern perception.

Among the Eastern European countries, there is a large variety of vampires:

The Slavic Vampires

From Russia to Serbia to Poland, the Slavic people have the richest folklore surrounding vampires. It is important to look into the history of these countries to understand the variation in their belief. The Slavs came from the north, where they closely related to the Iranians. Christianization began almost immediately after they arrived in 8^th century AD.

But because the Roman Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church struggled for supremacy, the Orthodox Church formally broke off in 1054 AD. The split caused a huge difference in vampire lore. The Roman Church believed that these beings were saints, while the Orthodox Church thought that they were vampires. In this folklore, vampires can be killed by decapitation, staking, burning, putting holy water on the grave, repeating the funeral service, and exorcism.

Romanian Vampires

Surrounded by Slavic countries, it is not surprising that Romania developed its own version of the vampire. Romanians called their vampire Strigoi from the Roman term strix, which means owl, demon, or witch. There are various types of strigoi, including witches that will become vampires or strigoi mort (reanimated bodies that will suck flood from family, neighbors, and livestock). Romanian vampires can be killed by driving a stake through the body, decapitation, and putting garlic in the mouth.

Additional Readings on Vampire History

The History of Vampires

Dracula: The History of Myth and Myth of History

Myth, Legend and History of Vampires

Gypsy and Vampires

Gypsies and Vampires

Encyclopedia Mythica: Vampire

Vampires and Bats

The Vampire Bat

Biologeography of Vampire Bat

Britannica Encyclopedia: Vampire Bat

Vampire Controversies

The Eighteenth Century Vampire Controversy

Monstropedia: Vampires

Vampire: Eighteenth Century Controversy