Stories about vampires go back thousands of years and occur in almost every culture around the world. Their descriptions are different and vary from culture to culture. They have been described as red eyed monsters with green or pink hair in China to the Greek Lamia, that has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged serpent. The vampires we know today are mostly based on Eastern European myths which originated in the far East.

In ancient Rome and Greece there were festivals at set times of the year celebrating the return of the dead. In Rome it was the "Lemuria" and in Greece the "Anthesteria". Those festivals were lasting three days and sacrifices were made all with the purpose of making the dead welcome. The interesting thing about that was that at the end of the three day festival, both, Romans and Greeks householders held its own exorcism ceremony to rid the house of the returned souls and to ensure the blessing for the following year.

The origin of Slavic myths developed during 9th century as a result of conflict between Christianity and pre-Christian paganism. Causes of vampirism between Slavs were: being conceived on certain days, excommunication, improper burial rituals, born with teeth or tail. In order to prevent vampirism, people were placing a crucifix in the coffin or blocks under the chin to prevent the body from eating the shroud.

The thing that remained the same for all of those vampires are blood sucking, preying on humans at night, returning from death etc. Of course, we are also familiar with capes with tall collars, the fact that they are turning into bats and wear evening clothes is just something that has been much more recent inventions. Yet, in modern fiction and film, you can still find many features of the old myths. Such as the placing of millet or poppu seeds at the graveside in order to keep the vampire occupied all night counting seeds.

Now-days, pretty much everyone is familiar with vampires, but in Britain very little was known of vampires prior to the 18th century. The word vampire came to English language in 1732 via an English translation of a German report of the much publicized Arnold Paole vampire staking in Serbia. During the 18th century there was a major vampire scare in Eastern Europe that even government officials were dragged into the hunting and staking vampires.

There are a lot of vampires worldwide, that you might heard of and the ones you never knew they existed. Once again we are going to mention some of them that left the biggest mark in this world and to say a little bit about their lifestyle.

The first one in the line is a German vampire called ALP. Alp has been associated with the bogeyman and the incubus. It is a vampiric spirit that torments the nights and dreams of women. Since his victims were women, he has considered to be male and in its all manifestations the Alp is known to wear a hat. Children can become an Alp, when a mother uses a horse collar to ease childbirth. The interesting thing about Alp is that during the Middle Ages he was said to appear as a cat, bird, pig or other animal, including a lecherous demon dog scene in Cologne, thus linking the werewolf in with this legend. It can ride like a horse, it can fly like a bird and it is credited with a certain gallant attitude, rarely forcing itself on its prey. He drinks blood from the nipples of men and children, but prefers the milk of women. Virtually, the Alp is impossible to kill, because it is so involved in terror of the mind and sleep.

Another interesting type comes from India. Rakshasa is a vampire whose name means "the injurer". It is considered to be a female type of the vampire that lures man to their death. A legend that is from newer ages says that Rakshasa lives in trees and that induces vomiting and indigestion in people who stray into its territory. The interesting thing about Rakshasa is that a child could be transformed into such a creature only if he can be induced to eat human brains.

The information you would probably want to have is that Australian vampire Talamaur is a living vampire. Talamaur could communicate with the spirit world, making one of these spirits its servant, which it could then send among the living. There is a one version of Talamaur that could send out its soul to drain the remaining life essence from a flesh corpse.

And for the end, we are going to mention Zmeu, a vampire from Moldavia. This is a vampiric figure that takes the form of a flame and enters the room of a young girl or widow. Once inside the flame became a a man who seduces her.

Really, can vampires fall in love? Some would say that they can't. Probably because of the early writing of vampires that tells us that they were incapable of love after becoming a vampire. They say that a vampire retains a longing for the people they once loved and that is precisely what makes their loved ones some of the first people the vampire will visit.

A true story about a man who has been stabbed 66 times by a couple who claimed to be vampires!

In the western German town of Bochum, a young couple in their early 30s has been sentenced to  15 years of jail and 13 years respectively in a secure psychiatric hospital. The couple, Manuela and Daniel Ruda claimed to be vampires and killed a man by stabbing him more than 60 times in a satanic ritual.

They both confessed that they killed a man in their apartment surrounded by human skulls, scalpels, cemetery light and incense because the Devil ordered them to do so. Their victim was Frank Hackerts 33 years old, that has been chosen by the Rudas because of his love of the Beatles. He was hit into his head with a hammer, then stabbed 66 times and had a pentagram carved into his chest. Manuela and Daniel claimed that they have been drinking his blood and slept together in a coffin they had in their flat.

In the court house, Manuela told the the judge :" We were not alone – there was a presence there, a powerful force. She said that her husband had "terrible, glowing eyes" as he stood up before delivering the first hammer blow. She claimed that she was the first one drawn to satanism during a visit to Britain. She explained to the court, that she drifted into "gothic" scene after the Devil contacted her when she was 14. When she was 16, she traveled through the Scottish Highlands where she worked in a hotel for few months and enjoyed the emptiness. She spent some time also living in a cave on the Isle Skye.  After she returned from the Germany, she met Daniel and fell in love with him.

Through their entire trial, they did not show any remorse about the killing. They said that since they were following the orders of the Devil, they could not be held responsible for murder. Psychiatric experts told the court that the couple were suffering from " severe narcissistic personality disturbances. Judge Arnjo Kerstingombroke said:"This case was not about satanism but about a crime committed by two people with severe disorders. Nothing mystical or cult- like happened here; just simple base murder"

While their sentence was read out, Daniel stared at his victim's mother and Manuela was chewing a gum. Daniel said:" I want to get on stage, I want everybody knows me..!

Sometimes, reading books can give better satisfaction then watching a movie. So, here are some books you might want to read.

Do you think that vampires are evil? If you say that they are not, then okay. What if they are evil? Who decides if they are evil or not? Is it something that each individual coming to its own conclusion or is it something bigger. 

We are continuing with explanation of worldwide vampires. Some people say that this is a myth, but why would they talk about it, if they think that everything is made up?

We are going to continue with stories about worldwide vampires. Check out these stories and see if there is something that will intrigue you enough to find out a little bit more about the specific vampire whose qualities fascinated you.

When it comes to the poetry, people always seemed to be attached and very interested in vampires and them as main symbols of blood, supernatural and dark. As a matter of fact, vampires were first notices in poetry and not in literature. They first showed up in poems of German writers in the mid-eighteenth century. Their goal was to create a master-piece that will let them leave after their death, which is exactly what vampires do, right? They were using elements of Gothic horror and Gothic romance and creating something that will never dye. 

The most universal characteristic of the vampires is his passion and urge to drink blood. In Bram Stoker's Dracula this was the strongest symbol. When you observe it from the point of the vampires it is their bases of life as they feed off the blood of young souls. He made the blood the basis of passion and sex in his novel: The blood that is full of brutal, violent attacks and used to feed the creatures that stalk the night and feed upon the humans. The blood that has been shared between two people is almost holy and brings them even closer together. Blood represents purity and impurity and it can fascinate us and repulse us at the same time. It can also mean life and death, and they even signify the profane and the sacred. Blood has been considered to be the supreme elixir of life. You all remember the countess Elizabeth Bathory and her craving for blood so she could regain the appearance of youth. Blood is the vital element of vampires survival.