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German Vampires:
08:13 Apr 10 2010
Times Read: 648

German Vampires:

Germany had mainly two names for vampires: Nachtzehrer ("night waster") used in Northern Germany and Blutsauger ("bloodsucker") used in Southern Germany and Bavaria. The Nachtzehrer was similar to the Slavic vampire in that it was known to be a recently deceased person who returned from the grave to attack family and village acquaintances. It usually originated from an unusual death such as a person who died by suicide or accident. They were also associated with epidemic sickness, such as whenever a group of people died from the same disease, the person who died first was labeled to be the cause of the group's death. Another belief was that if a person's name was not removed from his burial clothing, that person would be a candidate for becoming a Nachtzehrer.

Nachtzehrers:

Nachtzehrers were believed to chew on their own extremities and cloths until they had been satiated. They would then rise out of their graves and devour the bodies of others like ghouls. They were often accompanied by the corpse of a woman who had died during childbirth. If the vampire had been buried in a coffin, the corpse would be found lying in pools of blood because he had gorged himself to the point where he could not retain all the blood he had consumed.

Blutsaugers

In Bavaria, people who were not baptized Roman Catholic, were involved in witchcraft, lived an immoral life, or committed suicide became Blutsaugers. Those that ate the meat of an animal killed by a wolf, or had an animal or nun jump/step over their grave also were likely candidates. They were pale in color and resembled zombies.

Bavarians protected themselves by smearing garlic over their doors and windows and placing hawthorn around their houses. Those residents with a black dog could paint an extra set of eyes on the animal, which was also thought to ward off vampires. Blutsauger could be killed by driving a stake though their heart and stuffing garlic in their mouths.

As among the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, the vampire has had a long history in Germany, and the German vampire has closely resembled the Slavic vampire By the tenth-century Slavic expansion had reached into the land along the Jeetze River and through the eastern half of Germany. Slavic and Germanic people have mixed together through to the modern era. Thus, vampires in the region were difficult to distinguish from those of their neighbors such as the Kushubian people of northern Poland The most well known of the German vampires was the Nachtzehrer, or "night waster," the vampire of northern Germany. The southern German (Bavarian) equivalent was the Blautsauger, literally "bloodsucker," a term used in popular speech to describe disagreeable people. Other literary references to vampires, mostly modern descriptive names, also appear as Nachttoter or "night killer" and Neuntoter or "killer of nine." Like the Slavic vampire, the Nachtzehrer was a revenant (a recently deceased person returned from the grave to attack the living, usually family and village acquaintances).

Also like the Slavic vampire, the Nachtzehrer originated from unusual death circumstances. A person who died suddenly from suicide or an accident was a candidate for vampirism. Similar to the vjesci of Poland, a child born with a caul (an amniotic membrane that covers the face of some babies) was destined to become a vampire, especially if the caul was red. The Nachtzehrer was also associated with epidemic sickness. When a group of people died from the same disease, survivors often identified the first to die as the cause of the other's death. Among the characteristics of the Nachtzehrer was the belief that if a person's name was not removed from his or her burial clothing that person might return as a vampire.

In the tomb, Nachtzehrers were known for their habit of chewing on their own extremities and clothes (a belief likely derived from the finding of bodies that had been subject to predator damage after being buried in a shallow grave without a coffin). Thus, their faces would be intact, but their hands and other appendages would appear cut open and devoured. The activity of the vampire in the grave continued until he ceased consuming his body and his clothes. The vampires would then rise and, like ghouls, eat the bodies of others, often accompanied by the corpse of a woman who had died in childbirth. Their deeds were traced by a sucking sound attributed to the woman nursing a baby. When their coffins (those who were wealthy enough to have been buried in one) were opened, the Nachtzehrers were found laying in pools of blood, because the vampires gorged themselves to the point that they could not retain all of the blood they had consumed.

To prevent the vampire from attacking, various preventive measures were proposed. Some people placed a clump of earth under the vampires' chins; others placed a coin or stone in their mouths; still others tied a handkerchief tightly around their necks. As a more drastic measure, people cut off the potential Nachtzehrer's head, drove a spike into its mouth to pin the head to the ground, or fixed the tongue into place.

Some belief in the vampire also survived in rural Germany. Affons Schweiggert investigated the Blautsauger of Bavaria in the 1980s. He not only found that the belief in vampires continued to exist, but several unique aspects of that belief existed as well. In appearance, the Blautsauger was pale in color and resembled the description of a zombie.

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