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Vampires: Origins and Real History — Transcript

by Fortress of Lugh · 3,918 words · 633 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:04tales of vampires are quite popular in
0:06modern times and never is that more true
0:08than as the season draws near to samhain
0:11aka halloween
0:13they're often presented more as exotic
0:15than terrifying
0:16and this portrayal has its origins in
0:18the 19th century tales most especially
0:21bram stoker's dracula which presents a
0:24vampire as an intelligent seductive
0:26creature that might lure men or women to
0:29destruction through their wiles
0:32dracula is able to live the life of a
0:34transylvanian lord while being a vampire
0:37but where do these 19th century stories
0:40of dracula and vampires come from we're
0:43titillating stories of these romanian
0:46vampires literary inventions or do they
0:49have a more ancient origin scouring
0:52tombs and tomes of medieval and ancient
0:54europe i will attempt to find the true
0:57origin of the vampire
1:01hi friends i'm kevin maclean don't
1:03forget to like subscribe and consider
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1:07or paypal a thousand thanks to all of my
1:10supporters
1:12bram stoker a great irish writer is most
1:15famous for popularizing the more modern
1:18conception of the vampire with his
1:20depiction of dracula making very tenuous
1:24connections to vlad the impaler the
1:26reality is that bram stoker's dracula
1:30was based almost entirely on bram's own
1:33imagination not
1:36any historical figure bram had spent
1:39extensive amounts of time studying
1:41eastern european folklore in preparation
1:44for writing his novel
1:46many texts had been circulating europe
1:48since the 17th century dealing with the
1:51question of vampires
1:53with even the famous philosopher
1:54voltaire
1:56weighing in on the existence of the
1:57creatures
1:59john polidori an english writer released
2:01one of the first influential works of
2:04fiction on the question with his
2:06novelette the vampire
2:09released in 1819 the vampire in his work
2:12is named lord ruthvin and he seems to
2:15have been a strong basis for bram
2:18stoker's dracula in the vampire however
2:21much of the drama takes place in greece
2:24rather than transylvania they both
2:26picture the vampire as seductive elite
2:29and intelligent
2:31with a great desire to corrupt people
2:34before killing them
2:36however stoker incorporates more
2:39folkloric elements into his tail and
2:41brings up the matter of god and of evil
2:45which polidori strangely ignores
2:48but one interesting aspect seems to be
2:51that he incorporates the genuine idea
2:54found in greek and romanian folklore
2:57that the vampire in fact starts off as
3:01mortal and is therefore more akin to a
3:03witch or sorcerer but for those of
3:06central and eastern europe at least
3:08during the middle ages and into the
3:10early modern period vampires were not
3:12some interesting characters in fantasy
3:15or folklore but were very real at least
3:18in the minds of the people of the time
3:21to really begin this investigation into
3:23the origin of vampires and the tales
3:26that inspired writers like bram stoker
3:29it's best to start with the word itself
3:33vampire isn't a romanian word
3:36something which may be a surprise to
3:38some the word for vampire in romanian is
3:41actually strigoi a name likely going
3:44back to the greek stryx meaning
3:47screecher referring to a screech owl but
3:51in antiquity also referring to an ill
3:54omen bird or a witch
3:57giving us our first clue
3:59to ancient continuity
4:02but the term vampire is actually derived
4:04from slavic and it is found for a word
4:07for a creature akin to a vampire in most
4:10slavic languages appearing as upir in
4:13russian and something similar in most
4:16others
4:17some have claimed that it was actually a
4:20turkic borrowed word
4:22but recently this theory has been
4:25largely discarded it might have even
4:28been the other way around
4:29where tartars borrowed the word ubir to
4:33refer to a witch
4:36it appears to be of proto-slavic origin
4:39meaning something like flyer
4:42and we can then look at the romanian
4:44roman and greek stigay and how it refers
4:48to the owl but in some cases also to a
4:51witch or a vampire
4:54so vampire likely refers to a flying
4:58creature
4:59and this stig-oi also refers to a flying
5:02creature specifically an owl and so both
5:05of these although different words likely
5:08come from a very similar origin
5:11we can compare this
5:13to the similar
5:15volcola in english meaning the werewolf
5:18from volk meaning wolf and dulk meaning
5:22a pelt or hair it's a wolf pelt or wool
5:25fur
5:26a slightly different construction but
5:29with exactly the same meaning as
5:31germanic werewolf
5:33showing that this idea had an
5:35indo-european root
5:38[Music]
5:40in contrast the vampire appears to be
5:44linked to sorcery and witchcraft
5:47in some european cultures at least a
5:50similar shared idea may have existed
5:52about a creature that took the form of a
5:55deadly nighttime bird
5:58one important concept about the vampire
6:01in
6:01several iterations
6:03is that it consumes human blood or human
6:07flesh
6:08our most ancient sources that deal with
6:11the dead's need for blood is none other
6:13than homer
6:15in the odyssey odysseus must travel to
6:18the land of the dead to obtain knowledge
6:20from the deceased seer teresius he
6:23likewise speaks to the ghost of his
6:25mother achilles and agamemnon before
6:28speaking to him they must be allowed to
6:30drink the blood of a goat he has emptied
6:32into a pit the blood gives strength to
6:35the spirits to recall their life and to
6:38speak with him and they greatly desire
6:40it it is in fact the blood which draws
6:43them there like moths to a flame
6:47only teresius is able to recognize him
6:50and speak before drinking the blood due
6:52to his exceptional abilities the vampire
6:55likewise must consume blood to maintain
6:57its strength this was not only a
7:00literary practice thethonic blood
7:02sacrifices were occasionally made to
7:04dead heroes typically at the sight of
7:06their graves at night there was a
7:09widespread belief across ancient europe
7:11that the dead still required food the
7:14bell beaker indo-europeans were burying
7:17people with food as early as 2400 bc the
7:21purpose of this food is sometimes
7:22thought to be symbolic but if we look at
7:25the ancient beliefs and folklore that
7:27comes down to us even from much later
7:29times
7:30it's very likely that this food had a
7:33real purpose intended for consumption by
7:36the deceased person or their spirit
7:39romans would later leave cakes grains or
7:42give milk to deceased relatives and it
7:45was thought their spirits were nourished
7:47in some way by these offerings in some
7:49more extreme examples there are holes
7:53bore through stones that cover the
7:55entrance to some tombs
7:57in ireland we know from medieval
7:59accounts that sometimes food was
8:01actually passed through these holes as
8:03offerings to the dead within from this
8:06general idea of pacifying the hunger of
8:09the dead
8:10we don't have far to go to understand
8:13the origin of the vampire
8:16[Music]
8:19the hungry dead were feared for if not
8:21placated they may decide to roam from
8:24their resting places and find something
8:26to eat while the scene from the odyssey
8:29concerns spirits though exactly how
8:33spirits can consume blood is something
8:35of a mystery there are figures like the
8:38norse draugr and various scenes from
8:41gaelic tales which show the belief that
8:44the corpse itself rises and walks again
8:48they dwell in burrows and they have the
8:50potential to leave them like vampires
8:54the draugr can shapeshift often into the
8:57form of a seal they are able to enter
8:59people's dreams
9:01and prefer the night though are not
9:03harmed by the daylight and we will see
9:06neither are vampires
9:08to destroy the draugr sometimes requires
9:11it to be wrestled back to its grave or
9:13to be headed as found in many later
9:16vampire tales they were conscious
9:18intelligent beings not zombies but they
9:22were attached to the physical corpse of
9:24a dead person how ancient some of these
9:27beliefs are is impossible to say but we
9:30do know a certainty that they at the
9:33very least predate any written records
9:36and may even shape burial practice
9:40why is it that many were kept in sealed
9:43tombs beneath stones status certainly
9:46played a role
9:47but the nature of the burial also serves
9:50as a type of prison for the corpse more
9:53secure than simply earth
9:56sometimes strange practices have been
9:58uncovered such as people buried face
10:01down bound or with heavy stones placed
10:05upon them or even jammed into their
10:07mouth after death showing a fear that
10:10these dead bodies may still pose some
10:12kind of threat
10:14roman and greek sources say that
10:16germanic and celtic people used to go to
10:19the grave mounds in order to commune
10:21with the dead they would sleep upon the
10:24mounds and receive dreams or visions
10:27from dead persons interred within
10:30something reflected in some of the old
10:32norse sagas the god odin also
10:35communicates with a dead ciris to obtain
10:38prophecy for just like in the tale of
10:40odysseus
10:42the dead possess greater knowledge of
10:44things that have been and things that
10:46have yet come to pass
10:48the dead possess great knowledge and so
10:50the highly intelligent vampire is not an
10:54anomaly but in keeping with similar
10:57beings across europe
11:02the oldest samhain or halloween tale
11:04known from ireland is out of nera who is
11:07dared to go in the middle of the night
11:09and put a loop around the foot of one of
11:12the hanged men who are still swinging
11:14from a tree outside
11:16criminals executed likely as part of a
11:19ritual sacrifice held the day before
11:22agreeing to the challenge he does this
11:26but the dead man speaks to him
11:28demanding that he be carried to a nearby
11:31house for a drink
11:32nara has no choice but to comply
11:35and when the dead man reaches the house
11:38he drinks from all the buckets of water
11:41and slop that is within then he spits it
11:44into the mouths of the sleeping people
11:47inside
11:48killing them with the drops of water
11:50from his lips
11:52the tale says this is why one should
11:55never keep basins of water slop pails or
11:59fire without sparing once you have gone
12:02to sleep for the walking dead may well
12:05enter your house and use it to kill you
12:08unfortunately there isn't much we can do
12:11with modern toilet design
12:13maybe ensure you close the lid on that
12:15thing before sleep especially on samhain
12:19with draugr and the gaelic revenants
12:22there is a sense that they spread
12:25disease and sickness
12:27death perhaps linked to the corruption
12:30and uncleanliness of the dead
12:32knowledge of germs is modern but ancient
12:35peoples were aware that unclean things
12:37were associated with sickness and death
12:40and various ritual practices also came
12:43to express this the idea of purifying
12:46oneself from wrongdoings is often
12:48carried out with some type of physical
12:50cleansing ritual in pagan traditions
12:53even in christianity the baptism with
12:56water symbolizes this ritual cleansing
13:00which removes one's sins
13:02evil manifested in various forms spread
13:05disease sickness often became worse at
13:08night in the dark flu season begins with
13:11the onset of winter and longer periods
13:14of darkness
13:16crops die off in the winter the sun
13:18loses its strength in the winter and so
13:21all of these things get linked and form
13:23the basis of a dualistic notion of the
13:27cosmic cycle
13:28though the vampire may have had
13:30similarities to these other european
13:33undead beings they also had their
13:35particularities the greek name for the
13:37vampire is
13:39vrykolakas
13:41but this is not greek and origin but
13:43slavic but it doesn't actually mean
13:45vampire vrykolakas has the same origin
13:49as volkalak it means werewolf not
13:52vampire
13:54confused
13:56in some slavic regions like croatia the
13:59word is also used to refer to a vampire
14:03this is likely due to a similarity
14:05between both which we postulated earlier
14:08when looking at the etymology
14:10one figure associated with owls and
14:13flight and another with wolves
14:16in later times in some places these
14:19separate figures become one or mixed and
14:22matched this shows up in some vampire
14:25literature where vampires are said to
14:28also transform into wolves and bats
14:31effectively combining both werewolf and
14:34vampire into a single creature
14:37the greek vampire also does not drink
14:40blood specifically but will devour human
14:43flesh they also appear linked to the
14:46spread of disease or plague unexplained
14:48ailments or sudden death as in fact many
14:51vampires are
14:53historical accounts of vampires from
14:56moravia now part of the czech republic
14:59say that they might appear to people
15:01they knew in life shortly after their
15:03death and the person who saw them would
15:05die within a few days if their bodies
15:08were dug up they would still appear soft
15:10colorful and undecayed but would smell
15:13terrible if someone was suspected of
15:16being a vampire the body was dug up
15:18examined and if they were undecayed they
15:21would be beheaded staked through the
15:23heart and then burned such accounts are
15:27also related in hungary and romania in
15:30one case the victim's father who had
15:32been dead for 10 years sat down at the
15:35table with him and he was dead the next
15:37day
15:38the body of the father was exhumed and
15:40found to be in perfect condition
15:42with blood like that of a living man the
15:45corpse was beheaded in another case a
15:48man rose up after being dead 30 years
15:51and killed his brother his brother's son
15:54and their servant by drinking their
15:56blood from the neck which killed them on
15:58the spot this vampire was ended with a
16:00spike through the temple from the region
16:03of transylvania the historical accounts
16:05say that vampires could drain the blood
16:07of the living like leeches and fill
16:10themselves on it until they were so full
16:13that the blood would pour from their
16:14eyes and seep from the pores of their
16:17skin
16:18making them absolutely bloated with
16:20blood
16:21sometimes those who have been sucked by
16:23a vampire will also become a vampire in
16:26death although that is not guaranteed
16:29at least one individual hoped to cure
16:32himself from vampirism by eating the
16:34dirt of the vampire's grave but to no
16:38avail he still became a vampire after
16:40death he was staked through the heart
16:43and let out a terrible scream and then
16:45his head was cut off and the entire body
16:48consumed by fire
16:50in the 16th and 17th century they began
16:54to perform this upon anyone who died
16:56whom it was suspected may turn into a
16:59vampire
17:00so that they might put an end to the
17:02vicious cycle
17:03when a few years later a young girl died
17:06of vampirism and cited seeing the dead
17:08child of a local man it was found that
17:11they hadn't considered that if someone
17:13consumed the meat of a cow which had
17:15died of vampirism they would also become
17:18a vampire
17:20the body was dug up found to show all
17:22the signs of vampirism and was beheaded
17:25staked and burned then they dug up 40
17:28other bodies 17 of which showed signs of
17:32vampirism and carried out the remedy
17:35these actions in romania were all done
17:38under the law with judicial sanction
17:41laws on the books in the region laid out
17:43legal procedures for dealing with
17:46vampires and professionals did exist
17:49that specialized in it what we might
17:51call vampire hunters for the situation
17:54gets more complicated even once living
17:57vampires get into the picture
18:00the strigoi does not only refer to an
18:03undead vampire but also to a living
18:06witch or sorcerer some of whom at least
18:09send out their spirits during the night
18:11to drink blood
18:13though most often associated with
18:15romania the strigoi are also known in
18:17many other romance languages strika in
18:21french refers to a bird woman who sucks
18:24blood the stregonin in italian refers to
18:27a witch or sorcer
18:29greek has strix the name is even found
18:32in polish which must have been borrowed
18:35from a latin-based language sometime in
18:37the middle ages and refers to what is
18:40usually a female demon or vampire-like
18:42creature
18:44but it was the romanian strigoi and its
18:47specific myths that bram stoker most
18:50utilized for dracula
18:52he used the name vampire because it was
18:55a more well-known term in english and
18:58because in many places there wasn't much
19:00if any difference between a strigoi and
19:03a vampire with the terms often being
19:06used interchangeably
19:07however there does appear to be several
19:10differences
19:11in many cases except in romania the
19:14strigoi is more often female and refers
19:18specifically to a witch while vampires
19:20in many slavic regions do not
19:23specifically drink blood
19:25consuming human flesh instead or simply
19:27killing the victim without touching them
19:30at all
19:30something common to all vampire tales
19:34the specific drinking of blood or
19:36drinking of blood from the neck is
19:39something recorded in a minority of
19:41tales
19:42when the witch or sorcerer streagle it
19:45dies
19:46they would reanimate and become even
19:48more powerful but someone might become a
19:51strigoi in a number of ways though and
19:54through an unholy life through improper
19:57burial practice through a curse and of
20:00course by having their blood sucked by
20:03another strigoi in many cases or by
20:06being killed or coming in contact with a
20:09street roy male vampires in balkan
20:12countries were also thought to seek out
20:14the love of women motivated by strong
20:18sexual desire a theme that comes up in
20:21dracula and even earlier fictional
20:23vampire tales the union of vampire and
20:27mortal woman could actually result in
20:30children who would become a dampier who
20:33some thought would gain certain
20:35abilities of vampires without becoming
20:38one
20:39in romania there are likewise the moroi
20:43children of the strigoi with normal
20:45women they would be born hideous and
20:48with a great amount of hair
20:50the full extent of the powers of the
20:52real tales of the vampire
20:54shift a little over time and depends on
20:57the region however one thing you can be
20:59sure about if you find yourself under
21:02attack by a real vampire daylight is
21:05unlikely to save you the vampire
21:08generally has a preference for night but
21:11there is nothing to stop it from
21:12appearing at high noon or walking in and
21:15sitting down at your breakfast table
21:17uninvited perhaps making you its meal
21:21they could take many different forms but
21:23they varied widely in their intelligence
21:26with some being very smart and others
21:28being more like drones often people are
21:31made ill or die from vampires without
21:34the creature even touching them or
21:36draining their blood simply seeing the
21:39thing is enough it's sort of like
21:42foretelling one's death
21:44however unless you are related to a
21:46vampire you are not nearly as likely to
21:49be attacked by one because in the
21:51surviving accounts they generally went
21:53after family members often those closest
21:56to them the vampire is also prone to a
21:59strange ocd type behavior found in other
22:02beliefs about the dead so if one fills
22:05the grave with many pebbles or other
22:07small objects they would be forced to
22:10count them iron could ward them off as
22:13well as it does with fairies and the
22:16gaelic she garlic of course is a staple
22:19and will provide a shield of scented
22:22protection and big stakes to trap the
22:25dead beneath the earth are always a good
22:27idea one thing that i do not believe was
22:30ever fully worked out however
22:32is if the vampire truly rose from its
22:35grave this soil would clearly be
22:38disturbed how the vampire gets out and
22:42then returns to its grave again is very
22:45mysterious this led to some postulating
22:49that they took the form of mist to get
22:51into and out of their graves
22:54all of these curious abilities make the
22:56vampire something between a ghost and a
22:59ghoul
23:00it isn't entirely physical and yet at
23:03the same time it is physical
23:06this point was one avenue of criticism
23:09that skeptical church officials and
23:12scholars used to try and debunk the
23:14obsession with vampires that exploded in
23:17the 17th and 18th century
23:20the catholic church at the time seems to
23:23have largely denied the existence of
23:25vampires calling the belief in them
23:28pagan superstition
23:29in my own view it seems that the idea of
23:32the vampire becomes conflated in some
23:35cases with the idea of a witch
23:37establishing some unique characteristics
23:40but largely being influenced by the
23:43slavic vampire romania is nestled among
23:46slavic speakers and was ruled by various
23:49slavic groups from time to time vlad the
23:52impaler often brought into connection
23:54with dracula is a good example of this
23:56because his name vladimir is clearly of
24:00slavic origin as are many other romanian
24:02names but the strigoi although their
24:05name originates from roman stryx linked
24:09to the murderous witch and the
24:10ill-omened owl but this has been
24:13combined with the slavic undead vampire
24:16which was perhaps earlier on much more
24:19like the norse draugr and other such
24:22beings in european myth
24:24and i think at least some of the deaths
24:27attributed to vampires appear more
24:29likely to have been caused by diseases
24:32but why were people suddenly obsessed
24:36with vampires at this period of time
24:39because this was an exceptional
24:42circumstance
24:44my hypothesis of why there was suddenly
24:47in medieval europe this
24:49obsession about vampires
24:52had to do with the hungry dead and that
24:55is that the dead were no longer being
24:57fed people used to routinely leave
25:00offerings to their ancestors
25:03they would visit their grave sites pour
25:06libations for them leave them small
25:08cakes or other things but the church did
25:11away with these
25:12practices practices that had
25:15gone on in european peoples for
25:18thousands of years and this cultural
25:20change might have caused great anxiety
25:24about the state of the dead and about
25:27how the dead thought about and would
25:30treat the living
25:32and this is in fact why
25:34the dead always appeared to the
25:36relatives because it is those loved ones
25:39who felt a kind of fear
25:42trepidation guilt even so that the dead
25:46were not able to rest in peace at least
25:49in the minds of their loved ones
25:52many people were convinced in the
25:54reality of vampires
25:56so much so that they would dig up the
25:58graves of their relatives cut off their
26:01heads drive stakes through them
26:04it is a gruesome task which someone
26:06isn't going to undertake easily some
26:09believe that the idea of the vampire
26:11began with people being buried alive
26:15it is also the case that when people die
26:17or are killed on battlefields
26:20their nerves and the contraction of
26:22muscles can sometimes cause them to sit
26:24up or move slightly something terrifying
26:28to witness very likely connected to the
26:30idea of the walking dead
26:33perhaps there are some vampires out
26:35there but likely the majority of these
26:38past cases were the result of an idea
26:41and conviction that spread among people
26:44far more than vampirism itself they
26:46became obsessed with this idea it is a
26:50frightening warning about how far
26:53everyday people are willing to go to
26:55enforce an idea dogma belief or ideology
26:58which has taken hold of their mind
27:01time and modernity has not made man more
27:04rational thinkers but rather that he
27:07cloaks irrational beliefs in the guise
27:10of science or progress or any number of
27:13other things which he treats no
27:15differently in practice
27:17than those who dug up the graves of
27:19their fathers
27:20to cut their heads off
27:22and prevent another vampire attack
27:26but what do you think are the vampire
27:29legends true
27:30let me know in the comments below and be
27:32sure to share your vampire stories with
27:35us all don't forget to give a like
27:37thumbs up subscribe and as always stand
27:40tall

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