~ Vampires Cannot Exist In Sunlight ~ We must remember the date and times of these beliefs were many centuries ago. Vampires were believed to be servants of Satan; they were demons capable of all types of magic and trickery. They were creatures of evil that found strength in acts of darkness. The word darkness actually meant evil, such as the darkness of the soul. The sun represented light, God represented light. The sun is fire, fire purifies. Therefore, if the sun is light, God is light, God created the sun, the sun's light, light purifies, and a Vampire could not stand the light of day. Because its' evil would be destroyed by the purifying rays of the sun, therefore destroying the Vampire.  It is church belief that no evil, not even Lucifer himself, is stronger than God. Therefore in the light of God, i.e.: in the presences of God, no Vampire could survive. This accounts for the belief that Vampires cannot enter a church, stand on holy ground, survive in the light of day, or survive in sunlight. ~ Cross and Holy Water ~ Bram Stoker was Christian, haven't you ever found it amusing to read a Vampire story where the Vampires always attack Catholics or Christians? There has been only one story I know of, well perhaps two, where the Vampire has attacked a Jewish person, or where the Vampire has been a Jewish person.  Again, we come back to church lore, with the cross and crucifix as holy symbols of the Christian faith. The cross represents Christ and in most Vampire movies, Christ is a representation of God. Hence we go back to the original explanations ... the cross represents God, God represents light, light purifies, Vampires are not stronger than God, Vampires cannot be in a holy place ... therefore a cross, which represents God and purification will burn a Vampire, destroy a Vampire and a Vampire cannot look upon a cross.   As far as vampires being burned and repelled by holy water, here again we are dealing with purification. This time not fire, but water. A priest and God bless holy water. That gives it the property of extreme good as opposed to the property of extreme evil. It gives the water a cleansing and purifying nature; hence a Vampire is burned, repelled or destroyed in much the same way as if he were in sunlight; All due to purification.       And now let's look at one of the oldest legends around...

Common Myths

~ Reflection Cannot Be Seen In Mirror ~ Again we are going back to the foundations of good and evil and how it affects the soul. A Vampire is believed to have no soul because it is a demon. For some reason, which was never made clear, it has been a long held folk belief that a soul can be reflected in a mirror. Therefore a Vampire with no soul could not be reflected in a mirror. I have always found this amusing especially with regard to the Catholic church's view on animals having no soul. According to the oldest beliefs of the Roman Catholic church, God bestowed souls only to humans. Animals are believed to have no soul, just as Vampires are believed to have no soul. Vampires have no soul because they are evil; animals have no soul because they are not human. And yet animals are reflected in mirrors.... interesting, is it not? Now we will look at some folk myths, but you must keep in mind the folk myths are still originating from some form of church myths.~ Four Ways To Kill A Vampire ~ ~ Driving a Stake Through The Heart ~• Driving a stake through its heart basically evolved from medical miss-information. There is a disease, which, in another day and time was called 'Consumption'. It was called consumption because it literally consumed the body. The patient lost weight, became very thin and pale, coughed and vomited blood and eventually died. These symptoms are very much like what was supposed to happen when you became a vampire's victim. It was believed, if you did not actually PIN the corpse in its' grave it would rise from the grave at night and infect its' living relatives. At this time in history, there were no iron or metal nails of any kind. Furniture was put together with large sharp wooden pegs. You can see how the natural progression of a pointed wooden object which was used to "nail" a chair together would be enlarged even further to "nail" a body into it's wooden coffin. And that is how the stake was developed. Of course, the act of "nailing" the corpse into the coffin was nonsense but that was the belief of the day. The disease consumption is still with us today but it is treatable with antibiotics and long quiet rests. It is called ... Tuberculosis!

~ Drowning In Running Water ~ •Drowning a Vampire in running water again takes us back to the theory of purification. We must remember the age and time when these beliefs began. It was a time of cisterns, drainage ditches and primitive water storage capabilities. Standing water, i.e.: water without movement, became stagnant. Stagnant water became fouled, impure, contaminated and unfit to drink ... often "evil" smelling, in other words, it stank. Running water, such as in a brook, stream, river, and ocean often was not befouled and, therefore, was more pure. It was the prevailing belief that purity always killed a Vampire. Impure was simply another term for evil. Hence the myths, Vampires could not cross running water and would drown in running water. ~ Destroying A Vampire By Burning ~ •Burning a Vampire to destroy it relates directly back to the religious belief that fire purifies. Strong evil needed strong purification and at this time in history, fire was the only means of purification ~ Beheading and Removing The Heart ~ •It was also believed that Vampires could be killed, or rather destroyed (because you can't kill something that is already dead) by severing its head from its body. It was believed that the evil was manifested in the heart and the brain. If the head was severed it would kill the vampire and in many instances the heart was cut from the corpse and the body of the vampire burned as well as beheaded. At times, the heart was burned and the ashes mixed with a liquid, usually wine, and the one believed to be the victim of a vampire, as well as living members of a Vampire's family, were forced to drink this liquid in the misguided belief it was a sort of vaccine and could prevent the take-over of the soul of the person still living.

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