The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

THE GHOUL, A TRADITIONAL MONSTER FREQUENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE VAMPIRE, ORIGINATED AS PART OF ARIBIC FOLKLORE. IT PLAYED A PART IN SEVERAL TALES IN THE ARABIAN KNIGHTS. GHOULS REPRESENTED A MORE DEMONIC ASPECT OF THE WORLS OF JINNS, THE SPIRITS OF ARABIC MYTHOLOGY. THE ARABIC GHUL(MASCULINE) AND GHULAH (FEMININE) LIVED NEAR GRAVES AND ATTACKED AND ATE HUMAN CORPSES. IT WAS ALSO BELIEVED THAT GHOULS LIVED IN DESOLATED PLACES WHERE THEY WOULD ATTACK UNSUSPECTING TRAVELERS WHO MISTOOK THE GHOULD FOR A TRAVELING COMPANION AND WERE LEAD ASTRAY. GHUL-I- BEABAN WAS A PARTICULARLY MONSTROUS GHOUL BELIEVED TO INHABIT THE WILDERNESS OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAN. MARCO POLO, REFLECTING ON THE ACCOUNTS OF GHOULS HE HEARD DURING HIS TRAVELS, SUGGESTED THAT GHOULS, GRYPHONS (AN IMAGINARY ANIMAL), AND GOOD FAITH WERE THREE THINGS PEOPLE FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO BUT DID NOT EXIST.





THE GHOUL RETURNED TO POPULAR CULTURE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THROUGH A MULTITUDE OF MONSTER MOVIES. NEW GHOULS WERE SIMILAR TO VAMPIRES IN THAT THEY WERE REANIMATED DEAD PEOPLE IN HUMANOID FORM. THE GHOUL, HOWEVER ATE HUMAN FLESH, WHILE VAMPIRES DRANK BLOOD.

THE MODERN PHILIPPINES IS A COUNTRY COMPOSED OF NUMEROUS PEOPLE WHOSE BELIEF SYSTEMS SURVIVE, SOME IN RATHER SECULARIZED FORM, IN SPITE OF SEVERAL CENTURIES OF ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HOST OF MODERN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS. THE TRIBES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS HAD AN ELABORATE MYTHOLOGY, WHICH INCLUDED DEMONIC BEINGS, DRAGONS, WERE-ANIMALS, GIANTS, GHOULS, AND VAMPIRES. THE CAPIZ SECTION OF THE ISLALND OF PANAY WAS ESPECIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE VAMPIRE, WHERE MANY WERE BELIEVED TO RESIDE. OF THE VAMPIRELIKE CREATURES, THE ASWANG WAS USED TO DESCRIBE A SET OF DIFFERENT CREATURES THAT WERE ANALOGOUS TO VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES,GHOULS, AND WITCHES, AND IN THE FOLKLORE LITERATURE COULD BE FOUND UNDER ANY ONE OF THOSE HEADINGS.





THE FLYING ASWANG, OR THE BLOOD-SUCKER, USUALLY APPEARED AS A BEAUTIFUL MAIDEN WHO ENGAGED IN VAMPIRIC ACTIVITIES AT NIGHT, ALWAYS RETURNING HOME TO RESUME HER NORMAL LIFE BEFORE DAWN. SOME WOMESN HAVE HAVE AN OINTMENT THAT THEY RUB ON THEIR BODY PRIOR TO THEIR NOCTURNAL ACTIVITIES. THE OINTMENT WAS A SOURCE OF THEIR SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES. IN IT'S VAMPIRIC STATE, THE ASWANG BECAME A LARGE BIRD THAT FLEW THROUGH THE SKY CRYING OUT KAKAK OR KIKAK. IT WOULD LAND ON THE ROOF OF A PROSPECTIVE VICTIMS HOUSE AND LET DOWN A LONG TONGUE WITH A SHARP POINT. THE POINT WAS USED TO PRICK THE JUGULAR VEIN, AND THE BLOOD WAS SUCKED UP THROUGH THE HOLLOW TONGUES TUBULAR STRUCTURE. CHILDREN WERE TOLD STORIES OF THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING ATTACKED BY AN ASWANG. ONCE FILLED WITH BLOOD, THE ASWANG RESEMBLED A PREGNANT WOMAN. UPON RETURNING HOME SHE FED HER CHILDREN, WHO SUCKLED AT HER BREAST. THE ASWANG'S SUPERNATURAL POWERS CEASED EITHER WITH IT'S WASHING OFF OF THE OINTMENT OR THE COMING OF DAWN.





THE ASWANG WAS A COMMON BUG-A-BOO PARENTS USED TO KEEP CHILDREN IN LINE. A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF FILIPINOS GREW UP WITH AT LEAST SOME BELIEF IN IT'S EXISTENCE.THE STRENGTH OF THIS BELIEF WAS DOCUMENTED QUITE VIVIDLY IN THE 1950'S WHEN IT WAS USED AGAINST A GROUP OF INSURGENTS ( THE HUK OR HUKBALAHAP) DURING THE PRESIDENCY OF MAGSAYSAY, A PHILIPPINE LEADER STRONGLY SUPPORTED BY THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. AMERICAN ADVISORS TO MAGSAYSAY CONVINCED HIM TO CREATE A PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE UNIT TO COUNTER THE EFFORTS OF HUK LEADERS TO WIN PEOPLE AWAY FROM THEIR SUPPORT OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. AMONG THE EFFORTS OF THIS UNIT, NOTED IN GENERAL E. G. LANSDALE'S ACCOUNT, WAS AN ATTEMPT TO CONVINCE A HUK UNIT TO ABANDON A POSITION IN FEAR OF AN ASWANG ATTACK.



THE OPERATION BEGAN WITH A RUMOR PLANTED IN A COMMUNITY THREATENED BY HUK ATTACK. PEOPLE WERE TOLD THAT A VAMPIRE HAD MOVED INTO THE AREA. THE HUK WERE BARRICADED AT THE TOP OF A NEARBY HILL. THEY SOON BECAME AWARE OF THE RUMOR THAT WAS SPREADING THROUGH THE AREA. SEVERAL DAYS LATER, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE UNIT WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE A HUK SOLDIER AND KILL HIM BY DRAINING HIS BLOOD. THEY MADE TWO PUNCTURE WOUNDS ON HIS NECK AND LEFT HIM ON THE ROAD NEAR THE HILL WHERE HE WOULD BE FOUND. WHEN HE WAS FOUND, THE HUK BELIEVED THEIR DEAD COMRADE TO BE A VICTIM OF THE ASWANG. THE NEXT DAY ALL OF THE HUK TROOPS LEFT.





BUILDING ON LANSDALE'S ACCOUNT, NORINE DRESSER NOTED THAT IN THE LATE 1980'S SHE FOUND THE STORY OF THE ASWANG AND THE HUK AND OTHER TALES OF THE ASWANG WERE STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE IN THE FILIPINO IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY IN CALIFORNIA. THEY TOLD HER THE OLD STORIES OF THE VAMPIRE CREATURES AND SHE DISCOVERED THAT SEVERAL OF HER INFORMANTS STILL BELIEVED IN THE ASWANG. THEY ALSO REFLECTED ON THE LONG RANGE EFFECT OF THE 1950'S INCIDENT THAT MANY LOCAL PEOPLE, NOT JUST THE HUKS, ATTRIBUTED TO A VAMPIRE. ONCE THE HUKS LEFT, PEOPLE BEGAN TO WONDER WHO THE ASWANG'S NEXT VICTIMS WOULD BE. SOME STARTED WEARING GARLIC NECKLACES. SOME LEFT THE AREA AND THEIR ABANDONED LAND WAS TAKEN OVER BY THE GOVERNMENT AND USED IN IT'S LAND REDISTRIBUTION PROGRAMS. DESPITE THE FEAR CAUSED BY THE INCIDENT, EVERYONE RECOGNIZED IT'S EFFECTIVENESS IN DESTROYING THE HUK'S SUPPORT AMONG THE PEOPLE.







ONE TALE TOLD BY THE ISNEG PEOPLE RELATED THE ORIGIN OF THE VAMPIRE, WHICH THEY CALLED DANAG. ACCORDING TO THE STORY, SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE IN THE FEILDS PLANTING THEIR CROPS WHEN A WOMAN CUT HER FINGER. ANOTHER WOMAN SUCKED THE WOUND AND THEREBY DISCOVERED SHE LIKED THE TASTE OF BLOOD. SHE WENT ON SUCKING TIL SHE HAD TAKEN ALL OF THE BLOOD. THE STORY CONCLUDED BY NOTING THAT THE BLOOD SUCKING REPLACED FARMING.





THE TAGALOG PEOPLE SPOKE OF A VAMPIRE CALLED THE MANDURUGO ABOUT WHICH THEY TOLD THE STORY OF" THE GIRL WITH MANY LOVES." THE YOUNG WOMAN WAS DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TO LIVE IN THE LAND. SHE MARRIED AT THE AGE OF 16. HER HUSBAND, A HUSKY YOUTH, WITHERED AWAY IN LESS THAN A YEAR. AFTER HIS DEATH, SHE MARRIED AGAIN, WITH THE SAME RESULT. SHE MARRIED A THIRD,AND THEN A FOUTH TIME. THE FOURTH HUSBAND, HAVING BEEN WARNED, FEIGNED SLEEP ONE NIGHT HOLDING A KNIFE IN HIS HAND. SOON AFTER MIDNIGHT HE FELT A PRESENCE OVER HIM AND THEN A PRICK ON HIS NECK. HE STUCK THE KNIFE INTO THE CREATURE ON TOP OF HIM. HE HEARD A SCREECH AND THE FLAPPING OF WINGS. THE NEXT DAY HIS BRIDE WAS FOUND DEAD SOME DISTANCE FROM THE HOUSE WITH A KNIFE WOUND IN HER CHEST.





AS THE PHILIPPINE FILM INDUSTRY DEVELOPED AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE VAMPIRE BECAME A SUBJECT OF IT'S ATTENTION. GIVEN THE LARGE ROMAN CATHOLIC INFLUENCE IN THE ISLANDS, HOWEVER, THE FILMS TENDED TO RELATE MORE TO THE EUROPEAN VAMPIRE THAN THE ASWANG OR ASSOCIATED PHILIPPINE VAMPIRE CHARACTERS.









SOURCES:



Dresser, Norine. American Vampires; Fans, Victims, Practitioners. New York: W.W. Norton & Company 1989



Ramos, Maximo D. Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Manila: University of the Philippine Press. 1971



Lansdale, Edward Geary. In the Midst of Wars. New York: Harper and Row. 1972

THE ORDER OF THE VAMPYRE IS PART OF THE TEMPLE OF SET, A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION DEDICATED TO AND CONSECRATED BY SET, AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GOD WHO WAS LATER ADAPTED INTO THE "SATAN" OF THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS. HENCE, THE TEMPLE OF SET IS POPULARLY KNOWN AS A SATANIC RELIGION, ALTHOUGH IT'S INITIATES CONSIDER THEMSELVES "SETIANS," A MORE PRECISE DESCRIPTION. THE TEMPLE WAS FOUNDED IN 1975 BY PRIESTS OF THE CHURCH OF SATAN(FOUNDED IN 1966) WHO HAD DECIDED TO CARRY FORWARD THE SERIOUS WORK OF THE CHURCH IN MORE HISTORIC, LESS ANTI-CHRISTIAN CONTEXT. LIKE IT'S PARENT BODY, THE TEMPLE OF SET IS A STRICTLY ETHICAL AND LAW-ABIDING INSTITUTION. IT IS CONFIGURED AS AN UMBRELLA ORANIZATION THAT HAS A NUMBER OF SPECIALIZED ORDERS WHOSE MEMBERS CONCENTRATE ON SPECIFIC AREAS OF RESEARCH AND BLACK MAGIC APPLICATIONS OF THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH.









VAMPIRISM IS A KIND OF EXTENSION OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS INTO EXTREMES OF HUMAN DESIRES AND BEHAVIOR. IT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ORDER OF THE VAMPYRE NOT MERELY TO ILLISTRATE ( OR CARICATURE) THESE EXTREMES, AS ARTISTS AND NOVELISTS REGULARY DO, BUT RATHER TO IDENTIFY AND UNDERSTAND THEM. THESE EXTREMES ARE THE RAGES OF THE RAW HUMAN SOUL THAT HAVE ALL BUT COMPLETELY SUPPRESSED BY THE MINDS FEAR OF LOOKING DEEP WITHIN ITSELF.





INITIATES OF THE ORDER ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY ASPECTS OF THE VAMPYRIC EXISTENCE TO THEIR CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE. THEY BECOME , IN EFFECT VAMPIRES WHO ARE SENSITIVE IN THE EXTREME TO PLEASURE AND PAIN OF LIFE AND VERY MUCH AWARE OF HOW DIFFERENT THEY ARE COMPARED TO " NORMAL" HUMANITY. IN THIS PROCESS, THE INITIATES DO NOT DRINK BLOOD OF OR OTHERWISE HARM HUMANS OR OTHER ANIMALS IN ANY WAY. RATHER, AN INITIATES SEES, HEARS, FEELS, AND LIVES ACUTELY- BOTH POSITIVLEY AND NEGATIVLEY. THEY BRING TO BEAR EXTRAORDINARY POWERS OF IMAGINATION AND VISUALIZATION AS WELL AS CREATION AND APPRECIATION OF THEMATIC ART, MUSIC, AND LITERATURE. THUS, LIKE VAMPIRES OF FICTION, THE INITIATE IS MORE VITAL THAN HUMANITY IN GENERAL.







THE ENVIROMENT OF THE ORDER OF THE VAMPYRE IS DESCRIBED AS EXHILARATING, BUT ALSO STRESSFUL AND HENCE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR MANY PEOPLE-NOT EVEN THE MAJORITY OF SETIANS. ADMISSION TO THE ORDER IS BY INVITATION ONLY TO SETIANS WHO HAVE ATTAINED AT LEATS THE STANDING ADEPT ii WITHIN THE TEMPLE OF SET. MEMBERSHIP IS INTERNATIONAL, AND THE ORDER HOLDS MEETINGS AND ACTIVITIES ON IT'S OWN AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE REGIONAL, NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL CONCLAVES OF THE TEMPLE OF SET. IT PUBLISHES A NEWSLETTER, NIGHTWING, AND A JOURNAL TITLED THE VAMPYRE PAPERS. THE ORDER MAY BE CONTACTED THROUGH THE OFFICE OF THE TEMPLE OF SET AT PO BOX 470307, SAN FRANSCISCO, CA 94147









SOURCES:



The Crystal Tablet of Set. San Franscisco, ca; Temple of set. 1989

THE LOOGAROO WAS A VAMPIRE ENTITY FOUND IN FOLKLORE OF HAITI AND OTHER ISLANDS OF THE WEST INDIES, INCLUDING GRENADA. THE WORD LOOGAROO IS A CORRUPTION OF THE FRENCH LOUP-GAROU, WHICH REFERS TO WEREWOLVES. THE LOOGAROO AROSE AS SLAVES FROM WEST AFRICA APPROPRIATED FRENCH DEMONOLOGY AND MIXED IT WITH AFRICAN VAMPIROLOGY. THE LOOGAROO WAS QUITE SIMILAR TO THE OBAYIFO OF THE ASHANTI AND THE ASIMAN OF DAHOMEY.











LOOGAROOS WERE PEOPLE, USUALLY OLD WOMEN, WHO HAD MADE A PACT WITH THE DEVIL. IN RETURN FOR CERTAIN MAGICAL POWERS, THEY AGREED TO BRING THE DEVIL SOME WARM BLOOD EACH NIGHT. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK, THEY REMOVED THEIR SKINS, WHICH WERE HIDDEN ON THE SO-CALLED JUMBIE TREE, THE SILK COTTON TREE. THEN, IN THE FORM OF A FIERY BALL OF LIGHT, THEY WOULD ROAM ACROSS THE LAND IN SEARCH OF BLOOD. IN THEIR SPIRIT FORM THEY COULD ENTER ANY HABITATION. ALTHOUGH LOOGAROOS COULD ENTER ANY DWELLING, SOME PROTECTION WAS AFFORDED BY SCATTERING RICE OR SAND BEFORE THE DOOR. THE LOOGAROO, SUPPOSEDLY, HAD TO STOP AND COUNT EACH GRAIN BEFORE CONTINUING ON IT'S WAY.











SOURCES:



Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and KIn. London Routledge, Kegan Paul, Trench, Truber, & Co. 1928

THE LOBISHOMEN WAS A MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE FOUND IN THE FOLKLORE OF SOUTH AMERICA, PRIMARILY BRAZIL, AND HAS OFTEN APPEARED ON LISTS OF VAMPIRES. HOWEVER, LOBISHOMENS, WHICH ORIGANALLY DERIVED FROM PORTUGUESE MYTHOLOGY, WERE NOT VAMPIRES; THEY WERE PORTUGUESE WEREWOLVES

THE LANGSUYAR WAS THE MOST PROMINENT OF THE SEVERAL VAMPIRES OF MALAYSIA. THE LANGSUYAR WAS DESCRIBED AS A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO REACTED STRONGLY TO THE LOSS OF HER STILLBORN BABY. SHE FLEW INTO THE TREES AND BECAME A NIGHT DEMON THAT ATTACKED AND SUCKED THE BLOOD OF OTHER WOMEN'S CHILDREN. THE FIRST LANGSUYAR BECAME THE SOURCE OF A CLASS OF VAMPIRE BEINGS. IF A WOMAN DIED AS THE RESULT OF CHILDBIRTH, SHE WAS A CANDIDTAE TO BECOME A LANGSUYAR. TO PREVENT SUCH AN OCCURANCE, THE BODY WOULD BE TREATED WITH A NEEDLE IN THE PALM OF THE HAND, EGGS UNDER THE ARMS, AND GLASS BEADS IN THE MOUTH. ON OCCASION, LANGSUYARS ASSUMED A SOMEWHAT NORMAL VILLAGE LIFE. THEY WOULD MARRY AND HAVE CHILDREN- AND FEED OFF OF OTHERS IN THE EVENING. THEY HAD LONG HAIR THAT COVERED A HOLE IN THEIR NECK THROUGH WHICH THEY SUCKED BLOOD.





AS REPORTED BY WALTER WILLIAM SKEAT, THE LANGSUYAR HAD A COUNTER PART IN THE PONTIANAK, A STILL BORN CHILD WHO BECAME A VAMPIRE. HOWEVER, IN MUCH OF INDONESIA (SUCH AS IN JAVA) , WHAT WAS TERMED A LANGSUYAR IN MALAYSIA WAS ALSO CALLED A PONTIANAK. IN THE 1950'S CATAY-KERIS PRODUCTIONS BEGAN TO MAKE A SERIES OF FILMS ABOUT THE MALAYSIAN LANGSUYAR, BUT DESIGNATED THE STAR A PONTIANAK, AFTER THE BROADER USE OF THE TERM.













sources:



skeat, walter william. malay magic: an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the malay peninsula, london: macmillan and co. 1900

YAMA, THE GOD OF DEATH, WAS A HINDU VAMPIRIC DEITY WHO ALSO APPEARED IN THE MYTHOLOGY OF TIBET, NAPAL, AND MONGOLIA. PEOPLE WERE THOUGHT TO BECOME SUBJECT TO YAMA BECAUSE OF THE PERFORMANCE OF EVIL DEADS DURING THEIR EARTHLY LIFE. FOLLOWING DEATH, THE SOUL OF SUCH A PERSON PASSED OUT OF THE BODY WITH THE EXCRETA RATHER THAN THROUGH THE TOP OF THE HEAD AS IT SHOULD. THE SOUL, CALLED A PRET, THEN SPENT A YEAR WANDERING ABOUT IN A STATE OF UNHAPPY RESTLESSNESS WHILE AWAITING THE FINAL JUDGEMENT OF YAMA. IT WAS ALWAYS THIRSTY BECAUSE THE GOD OF WATER WATCHED TO KEEP IT FROM DRINKING. DURING THIS PERIOD YAMA ATTACKED THE PRET, AND LIVING RELATIVES WOULD OFFER INNVOCATIONS TO KEEP IT FREE FROM BEATING AND BRUISING. IN TIBET, NEPAL, AND MONGOLIA, YAMA WAS PICTURED AS VAMPIRIC, COMPLETE WITH FANGS AND BLOOD.









sources:



Crooke,William, Religion and folklore of northern india.. oxford university press 1926

SOME VAMPIRES HAVE THE ABILITY TO FLY. FLYING WAS QUITE COMMON AMONG ASIAN VAMPIRES. FOR SOME, SUCH AS THE PENANGGALAN VAMPIRE OF MALAYSIA- WHO FLEW ABOUT AS A HEAD AND NECK AND A SET OF DANGLING ENTRAILS-IT WAS ESSENTIAL. AS SOME CHINESE VAMPIRES GREW OLDER, THEY TRANSFORMED INTO FLYING CREATURES.





IN GENERAL EUROPEAN VAMPIRES DID NOT FLY, THOUGH THEY WERE KNOWN TO LEVITATE. OTHER VAMPIRIC CREATURES , SUCH AS THE BANSHEE-THE WAILING SPIRIT FLEW. THE EUROPEAN VAMPIRES ABILITY TO FLY WAS TIED TO IT'S ABILITY TO TRANSFORM INTO A CREATURE, SUCH AS A BIRD , OR THE EVER POPULAR BAT.

Gypsies believed that some vampires have an asatiable sexual appetitie and will return from the grave to have sex with their widow or young women of their choosing. The vampires continued visits could lead to a woman becoming pregnant. The product of such a union, usually male, was called Dhampir. It was believed the dhampir had unusual powers for detecting and destroying the vampire - a most important ability. Some modern Dhampirs among the gypsies of Eastern Europe placed most of their value in their abliity to locate the vampire, which was simply shot with a pistol if located outside of it's grave. Some individsuals believed to be Dhampirs supplemented their income by hiring themselves out as vampire hunters. The Dhampir was otherwise a normal member of the gypsy community, though some people believed that a true Dhampir possesed a slippery, jelly -like body and only lived a short life, a belief derived from the understanding that vampires have no bones. The powers of the Dhampir could be passed to a male offspring, and ultimately through a family line. While vampire hunting abilities could be inheritated, they could not be learned. Scott Baker wrote a novel about Dhampirs that tied them to a dhampir lineage within the family of Elizabeth Bathory.













sources:



baker,scott.The dhampir, NY Pocket Books. 1982



Trigg, E.B. Gypsy, Demons, & Divinities. The Magical and Supernatural Practice of Gypsies. London Sheldon Press 1973