Did You Know Thursday: Halloween Legends and Lore, Part 1: Vampires & Werewolves

Did you know that each of the creepy beings that are associated with Halloween has an origin legend based in history?

Halloween actually had ancient Celtic roots as it originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) where Druids (ancient Celtic priests) would build sacred bonfires and people would dress up to ward off ghosts (more on that in the coming weeks).

Most Halloween legends and lore focus on witches (which I covered last week, here), vampires, werewolves, zombies, and ghosts.

This Did You Know Thursday will cover vampires and werewolves because they just go together, don’t they?

Generally speaking, vampires are known as evil mythological beings who wander the world at night searching for blood to feed upon. Most of us equate all vampires with the most infamous of them, Count Dracula. He was the legendary subject of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, published in 1897. But the truth is that the history of vampires far outdates Bram Stoker.

“A woman feeding on a man’s life essence(his blood) which they need to be immortal .” *The Vampire* (1897) by Philip Burne-Jones. Wikimedia.

What do we know about vampires?

They feed on blood. They use their fangs to drain their victims. They hunt at night. They have super strength. They cast no shadow and have no reflection. They have a hypnotic effect on victims. Different legends suggest different interpretations of the vampire, but it is generally acknowledged that sunlight is a no go.

Most of us have heard of Vlad the Impaler, the alleged inspiration for Stoker’s Dracula. Vlad Dracula was born in Transylvania, Romania and ruled periodically from 1456-1462. He was known for being brutally cruel and earned his nickname because it was his favorite way to kill his enemies. That’s right, good ole Vlad liked to impale people with wooden stakes.

Vlad Ţepeş, the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia (1456-1462) (died 1477). Wikimedia.

As if impaling them wasn’t enough it’s rumored that he liked dining with his dying victims. Not only that but he dipped his bread in their blood, yeesh. You can see how Vlad was the inspiration for Count Dracula. Although some argue that Count Dracula was not based on Vlad the Impaler…you be the judge!

Vampire legend picked up steam through the Middle Ages and it was helped along by the plague. You see, the black death was often accompanied by bleeding mouth lesions. To the uneducated masses, this was a sure sign of vampirism.

According to History.com, researchers have pointed to porphyria, a blood disorder, causing severe blisters on the skin when exposed to sunlight, as a disease that could be connected to the vampire legend. Interestingly, or is it disgustingly, some symptoms of porphyria can be temporarily relieved by ingesting blood.

People did not take chances when it came to a suspected vampire’s death. Most corpses were either disinterred to search for signs of vampirism, staked through the heart or burned, ya know, just in case!

“The Vampire”, lithograph by R. de Moraine (1864). From: Féval, Paul-Henri-Corentin. (1864) “Les Tribunaux Secrets.” Paris: Boulanger et LeGrand. Vol. 2, p. 112. Wikimedia.

Today we are still interested in the vampire, off the top of my head I can think of several interpretations: “The Lost Boys” (cults classic 80’s film), “Interview with a Vampire”, “True Blood”, and of course, the sparkly vampires of “Twilight.” There seems to be a morbid fascination with these blood drinking dynamos.

Werewolves as we know them are, according to legend, people who morph into vicious, formidable wolves. Others suggest that they are some sort of mutant combination of human and wolf. Generally, they are bloodthirsty beasts, hell bent on killing anything in their path. Cursed shapeshifters with no control. A wolf only in the light of the full moon.

Werewolves show up very early in history, in fact, they date all the way back to the oldest known Western prose, The Epic of Gilgamesh. In this prose, Gilgamesh rejected a potential lover because she had turned her previous mate into a wolf. Even if that isn’t the exact interpretation that we have of werewolves today, they also show up as early as Greek Mythology.

In Greek Mythology werewolves are introduced in the Legend of Lycaon. According to the myth, Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, angered the god Zeus when he served him a meal made from the remains of a sacrificed boy. I mean, who wouldn’t be angered by that? As punishment, the furious Zeus turned Lycaon and his sons into wolves.

Lycaon Transformed into a Wolf. Holland, published 1589. Wikimedia.

Perhaps my favorite early interpretation of werewolves comes from Nordic lore (surprise, surprise, right?). In the Saga of the Volsungs a father and son discover wolf pelts that have the power to turn people into wolves for ten days (not sure why it was 10 days). The duo wore the pelts, transformed into wolves and unfortunately, went on a killing spree. Their rampage abruptly ended when the father attacks his son. The father causes a lethal wound. But wait, there is a happy ending here, the son survived thanks to a kind raven (perhaps Oden) giving the father a leaf with healing powers. See, happy ending!

Many who were believed to be werewolves were actually serial killers. Take, for instance, sixteenth-century murderers, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun. Who allegedly swore allegiance to the devil and claimed to have been turned into wolves. After confessing to violently murdering numerous children, both were burned at the stake. It was generally believed that burning was one of the very limited ways to kill a werewolf.

German folklore holds one of the most notorious werewolves in the form of, Peter Stubbe. According to legend Stubbe turned into a wolf at night and devoured many of the citizens of Bedburg, Germany. Eventually, some hunters claimed that they saw Stubbe shapeshift into a wolf.

One thing is for certain, throughout history, people have used werewolves and other mythical beasts to rationalize the unexplainable. Much like vampires, I think we are still pretty enthralled with the idea of werewolves. There are sightings and reports of these mythological beasts yearly, to this day. Hollywood hasn’t helped with classics like “The Wolf Man”, “An American Werewolf in Paris”, The “Under World” franchise, “Harry Potter”, and oh yeah, “Twilight.”