The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

More cool people from Vampire Rave







Selene is one if the most approachable and friendly people you will ever get to know in VR...
Selene is always there to have a chat to when she is online and is more than willing to drop by your profile and give an honest remark to any updates that you have made.

You can check out her Profile by clicking on her Image










Lozy is another one of Vampire Raves greats, that hails from a wee bit of Land North of England called Scotland.
She was one of my Coven Sisters when I was a member of the Coven of Murmur and we grew to be great friends.
Again this girl definately deserves to be added to your friends list.
Feel free to check out her Profile in the same way as you will anyone in this box by clicking on her image









Fox666London gets onto my cool people of VR list for so many reasons...

He can make me laugh my head off when I am feeling pissed...

Never has a bad thiing to say about no one that I have ever come across.

Plus he is a 100% top guy....Right down to his Custom Scooter, I cant wait to get to meet this guy at the London meet at the end of the month.
Check out his Porfile in the usual manner to the rest here

















psychopup is one of my friends in real life as well as here in Vampire Rave.
We have our moments like any friendship does, but I know and so does he if the shit ever hits the fan then we are there for each other
Add this guy, as he will prove to be a good friend to you if you let him be.
Man you rock see you about London sometime we need to go and get hammered









whisper0666 you could say is my VR Sire, it was through a link she left somewhere that I came across the Rave
She is very approachable and always there to chat if you wish to do so.
whisper0666 was one of the 1st people I ever really talked to on the Rave and she will always be in the top of my list of cool people here on this site.

Druidism



As some may have noticed in the Rave I am a practicing Druid.

I know this does not have much to do with Vampires, however the question has arised a couple of times asking me what this involves.

So I have decided to describe the meaning of Druidism here on my Profile to help the curious of the Rave.



History of Druidism in the UK




It is Nennius who brings us one of the very few glimpses of the survival of Druidism in Britain after the Roman Conguest in the story of Vortigern. Of what we know of Nennius though he was well known for mixing fact and legend. However he reposts that the British Leader Vortigern invited twelve Druiids to assist him after being excomminicated by Germanus.


The Irish maybe the ones that can teach us more about early Duidism in the UK. As Druids are both frequently and reliably mentioned within Irish literature. Their functions on the island also seem to corresponf quite well with the ones they carried out in Gaul.


Infact the modern Irish word for 'magic' draiocht derives from Old Irsih druidecht. However, even in the very early days Bards usurped many of the Druidic duties and finally overtook all our roles with the spread of Christianity.


The most vital of Irish documents are contained in manuscripts of the 12 century, however many of the original texts date as far back as the 8th century. Within these stories Druids main tasks were as advisors to kings. Once again however elements of legend appear to have crept in. It is said they had the ability to foretell the future.


I could bore you with lots more information about Druidic History but I wish not to bore your minds, with stuff that may not form any real substance due to tales of their deeds growoing to legendary proportion.



The Druidic Revival



England and Wales experienced a revival in the interests of Druidism in the 18th century.

With the help of such names as the poet William Blake, John Toland, John Aubrey anf William Stukely being at the forefront of the revival.

It is said that William Blake may have been the Archdruid of the period. The Ancient Druid Order which exsisted from 1717 right up till 1964 when it split into two groups. Never actualy used the term Archdruid for any of its members, however they did credit Blake as being Chosen Chief from 1799 to 1827.

Infact it was John Aubrey who was the 1st modern writer to connect Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments to Druids. However it is false to say that Druids were involved in the building of the monument. This is a grose misconception that shaped ideas of Druidry during much of the 19th century.

It was infact invented in the sixteenth century that Druids were associated with Stonehenge, which is infact a Prehistoric Monument that was abandoned long before any Druids came to Britain.

It is reputed by some modern Druids and their enthusiasts that Aubry was himself an Archdruid in the possession of an uninterrupted tradition of Druidic knowledge. It has to be stated however that Aubrey himself an collector of lore and gossip never entered a word of evidence in his many survivng notebooks that backs up this fact.

Toland was fascinated by Aubreys connection with Druidism and Stonehenge, so much infact thet he himself wrote his own book about the monument, it has to be noted however he makes no attempt to acredit this information to Aubrey.
It was Toland who founded the Ancient Druid Order in London in the year of 1717. Funnily enough modern Freemasonry was founded in the same year and location. The Apple Tree tavern of Covent Garden.

Druidism also began to feature heavily in British culture in the advent of Romanticism. Les Martyrs, Chateaubriands 1809 novel told of the doomed love of a Druid priestess and a Roman Soldier. Although Chateaubriands theme was infact the triumph of Christiantiy over pagan Druids.



Modern day Druidism




Some strands of modern Druidism (a.k.a. Modern Druidry), such as the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), are a continuation of the 18th-century revival and thus are built largely around writings produced in the 18th century and later. Members may be Neo-Pagan, Christian, or non-specifically spiritual (monotheistic or polytheistic).
Other strands could be classified as eclectic neo-paganism, and may mix elements from other cultures such as Shamanism and Native American; they are typically more interested in modern experience than in scholarship.
A third strand, more akin to Celtic Reconstructionism, rejects the 18th-century revival entirely and tracks the latest scholarship on the relatively sparse Roman and early medieval written sources, archaeology, and comparative linguistics in an attempt to get as close as possible to Ancient Druidry.
Modern Druidism has two strands, the cultural and the religious. Cultural Druids hold a competition of poetry, literature and music known as the Eisteddfod amongst the Celtic peoples (Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Breton, etc).
It is not always easy to distinguish between the two strands, because religiously-oriented Druid orders may welcome members of any or no religious background while culturally-oriented orders may not inquire about the religious beliefs of members. Both types of Druid order, then, may contain both religiously-oriented and non-religiously oriented members. Many notable Britons have been initiated into Druidic orders, including Winston Churchill. Churchill's case illustrates the difficulty of distinguishing between the two strands, because historians are not even certain which order he joined, the Ancient Order of Druids or the Ancient and Archaeological Order of Druids, let alone for what purpose he joined.
Fragments of a Druidic Lunar Calendar may be preserved in the Coligny Calendar, fragments of a calendar engraved on a bronze tablet, discovered in 1897.



What does Being a Druid mean to me?



Like most Pagan's I dont tend to worship a given Diety like the Christians do God.

I worhsip Gaiah or in laymens terms I worship nature itself.

I do not believe that there is such a thing as a wrong path in life, however to move further up the road of the Druidic Tree.I do need to learn from the obstacles that are placed before me on this lifes journey.

More simply put, as long as I gain some sort of knowledge from things that are hindering my progress, then I have been successful so it was not wrong.

However if I blunder through the said hinderance and learn nothing from the experience, then I have gained nothing and my Druidic journey is palced within a fluxx.

This does not make me any less of a person or my actions as being wrong. It merely means I was not ready to advance on my lifes journey, hopefully next time I face a similar experience I am ready for it and take the necessary knowledge I need to carry on my given journey.

I hope that this has helped any questions you may have wanted to ask of myself being a Druid

The Real Mearhinas Get to know me better

I am one with the darkness....I pound the dark streets of London UK...My interests are anything Vampiric/Supernatural/Paranormal.

I am aged 37 years old.

I run a Promotions Company called Purple Aura Promotions. Promoting anything Alternative in London and
the surrounding areas.



My favourite haunts are:

Devonshire Arms {Camden London}
Intrepid Fox {Soho London}
Synthetic Culture {Camden London}
Junkion7 {Nottingham}
Partying with my friends in London



My favorite Music is:
Torshorse
Nothin to Lose
Killing Miranda
EMO
EBM
Goth
Marilyn Manson
Feeder
The Damned
Bauhaus
Nightwish
The Cult
Rammstein
The Cure
The rasmus
All About Eve
Killing Joke
The Mission
Ministry
Faith no More
Sisters of Mercy
Soundgarden
Alien sex Machine
Souxsie and the Banshees
Anything J.Rock{and not the Rapper}
Counting Crows
Soft Cell
Greenday
Travis
Coldplay
Prince
Def Lepard
Pink Floyd{Roger Waters}
Marilion
Black Sabbath{Ozzie}
HIM,
Keane
JackViper
cruxshadows
Steve Vai
Robin Black

There is more music that I like but I dont want to bore youo to much with adding it here it would take days to read.

Dislikes:

Chavs {Preps}

People who look down at me and sneer because I have the balls to be myself.

Rascists {there is no point so such mindless hatred and bigotry}

People who think I am a Devil Worshipper because I am a Goth {I may or may not be but who the hell do they think they are that they can place me into a category}

Bullshitters {Get a life and be real}

Politicians {They are the worst kind of bullshitter you can come across}

Rap Music

People who pretend to like me so they can hang with the people I know {Bloody get to know them yourselfs..If you are real and true to yourself my friends will more than likely like you..You dont need me to become their friends.}


Those who hurt the ones I love or class as friends {Dont go there you wont like aftermath nor will I}

The rest I cant add here as they are personal to me.

Likes:

People who are real and themselves.
Honesty {If your honest with me even if i dislike it or dissagree with you. I wont have a problem with your views. If it hurts me your a friend, I may get pissed but I can forgive}

The colour purple {There should be more purple in the world}

Goth and everything else that goes with the culture

Motorbikes {especialy Kawasaki Ninja's even more if they are purple}

Anything Chinese {What a culture}

Druidism {Practicing and the culture}

The Alternative lifestyle and scene {Alternative London RAWWWWRKS}

Everything to do with Vampirism, Supernatural or the Paranormal and yes I know the last two are one in the same so please dont point this out to me.

I am sure there is more but I cant think of it just now.

Loves:

My Children

Scotland

California {Hopefully will live there one day}

Prague {The epitomy of a Gothic City}

Legendary People or Creatures

My friends {To me they are my family}

Going to Gigs

Regrets:

Hurting my Fiancee {though unintentional it hurt her and I will never forgive myself for this}

The death of my beautiful daughter before she had the time to enjoy life to its fullest.

Well I thin that should cover my Bio...If there is anything else you wish to know feel free to leave a mesage in my Inbox. After all that is what its for!!!!!

Highgate Cemetery Vampire

No one can really estimate when the story originates. However I find it one of the most intriguing vampire stories from the UK.

Hampstead East has always been a sinister area of London, Highwaymen flourished in the area. Like the most coveted of British Highwaymen Dick Turpin, whose Ghost loiters round a pub in the area.





The village of Highgate stands on top of a hill overlooking the city of London sprawled across on the River plain below. The name Highgate describes its function aptly. It served as the point of entry for goods such as food from farms and clothing from textile towns to the city.

Highgate cemetery was founded in 1839. It was envisioned as a Garden Cemetery and a place of beauty where Londoners cold escape the smoke and smog of the city. The Cemetery is the final resting place of: A Prince of England, William Makepeace Thackery, Lady Byron, as well as karl Marx and friends of Shelley. It also landed the likes of: Christina Rossetti, George Elliott and the family of Charles Dickens.





Among the artistic souls buried in the western half of the graveyard was Elizabeth Siddal, muse, mistress, and eventually wife to Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. A hat maker's assistant, beautiful Lizzie had been wooed by the dashing Italian immigrant, who refused to settle down after he'd won her heart. Increasingly depressed after a stillborn child, Lizzie took her own life with an overdose of laudanum in 1862. At the graveside service, distraught Rossetti placed a handwritten volume of poems on the pillow just before the coffin lid was sealed.
Rossetti's fortunes faltered after his muse removed herself from the mortal plane. He became convinced that he was going blind and losing his painterly skill, that he was destined to be remembered as a poet rather than as a painter. His questionably scrupulous agent persuaded Rossetti that he could cement his reputation if only he'd publish the poems consigned to Lizzie's grave. In October 1869, permission was granted to exhume the coffin, as long as it was done by night and did not upset the neighbors or patrons of the cemetery. By flickering torchlight, workmen peeled back the damp rich dirt of England.
This is perhaps where our story begins in earnest: When Lizzie's coffin was forced open, all that remained of her beauty was the silken mass of her auburn mane. The grave robbers brushed tendrils of hair from the silk-bound manuscript, which was fumigated, then published by the profligate poet. Lizzie's sad remains were returned to the cold autumn ground.
The story was leaked, possibly by one of the horrified torchbearers, to Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. Elizabeth Miller in her book Dracula: Sense and Nonsense theorizes that Bram Stoker read the news while working on Dracula, since the paper also reviewed the Lyceum's production of King Lear, with which Stoker was involved. If that's the case, Lizzie Siddal served in death as another man's muse, transmuted into Lucy Westenra and given life beyond the grave. David J. Skal reports in V is for Vampire that Stoker was once a neighbor of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's.





Whether Highgate Cemetery was the churchyard described by Stoker remains a matter of debate. In Dracula, Van Helsing says, "Lucy lies in the tomb of her kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, and where wild flowers grow of their own accord." The fictional newspaper reports of Lucy's postmortem attacks on children are headlined Hampstead, the town west of the heath. Highgate lies on its eastern edge.
Perhaps, the story begins. In March 1969, the British Psychic and Occult Society heard tales of a tall black apparition amidst the graves at sunset or after dark. The original sighting was traced to an accountant referred to as Thornton in the Society's report, Beyond the Highgate Vampire. Thornton had been exploring the cemetery. At dusk, as he attempted to leave, he became hopelessly lost. A sudden sense of dread caused him to turn. Over him loomed a dark specter that transfixed him with its glare. He lost all sense of time and felt drained of energy when it finally released him.
The Society investigated the cemetery. Mostly, it discovered widespread vandalism: "vaults broken open and coffins literally smashed apart." A vault on the main pathway had been forced open and the coffins inside set afire.
Though this clearly had a human origin, sightings of the dark figure continued. The Society decided to perform a seance in the cemetery at midnight on August 17, 1970. They cast a protective circle on the ground, sealing it with consecrated water and salt. After the seance began, they heard muffled voices coming toward them. The police had decided belatedly to patrol the cemetery. Despite the dangers of leaving the circle before the spirits were banished, Society members scattered. Society president David Farrant was arrested as he tried to slip past the police. Among the paraphernalia he carried was a short wooden stake with a string for measuring out the magic circle. This was taken as evidence that he had been hunting vampires.
Farrant was acquitted, since legally Highgate was open to the public, even at midnight. The magistrate likened the hunt for vampires to the search for the Loch Ness Monster: foolish, but harmless.
In his book, Farrant meanders off on a justification of his Wiccan faith and the evils of Christianity. This is at odds with the photo of him included in the booklet (published 1997) "hunting a vampire" clutching a crucifix and "Holy Bible." Apparently his beliefs about the efficacy of the crucifix have evolved over the last three decades. posits a ley line that runs from a haunted pub in Highgate Village called Ye Olde Gatehouse under the old "yew" tree in the center of the cemetery's columbarium. (In all other references, the tree is a cedar -- hence, the area's designation as the Circle of Lebanon.)





The British Psychic and Occult Society officially closed its examination in 1973 due, Farrant writes, to the "concern of the cemetery authorities and the police who saw the Society investigation as being responsible for a marked increase in damage and desecration at the cemetery." He neglects to mention that he was in court again in June 1974. The prosecution contended that "Farrant was the vampire of Highgate," according to Rosemary Ellen Guiley in her book Vampires Among Us. Farrant was charged with maliciously damaging a memorial to the dead, interfering with a dead body, tampering with witnesses by sending them poppets, and possession of a firearm. The last charge earned him several years in prison.
Perhaps this was neither the beginning nor the end of the story.

Two years later, stories about an infamous and supposedly haunted house situated at the corner of Crescent Road and Avenue Road in Crouch End, North London, began to appear in the local newspapers following complaints from residents of the old people's home next door about vandals. A journalist found evidence of a witchcraft ceremony in a top floor room, and his report goaded Manchester to perform his own investigation accompanied by a psychic and skeptic friend. According to Manchester the trio's resulting ordeal included mysteriously destroyed equipment, inexplicable noises, suddenly moldy food and being trapped inside their car by a terrifying evil force. He further states that the following morning he entered the basement of the ill-omened house and found his missing vampire laying in its casket. Having learned his lesson, this time Manchester drove a stake through the vampire's heart, then he and his friends dragged the coffin out into the yard, where they cremated the viscous slime left after the impaled creature degenerated. There is a denouement involving Lusia carrying on the vampire's infection of evil, but the Highgate Vampire itself was no more.
There is no doubt that Sean Manchester believes in everything he says. He even thinks he knows how the vampire came to Highgate, in the guise of a foreign nobleman who leased the home of Sir William Ashurst (Lord Mayor of London in 1694) that used to be on the site after Sir William's demise. But is the story of the Highgate Vampire true? After all, there's at least one woman in America who passed a lie detector test questioning her contention that she is currently living with Elvis Presley!! The Friends of Highgate are deeply reluctant to talk about anything relating to vampires, and the tour guides usually pretend ignorance of the stories if any of the fee paying guests have the temerity to ask. Author Felix Barker implicated the British Occult Society in the impaling of numerous corpses in the first edition of his book 'Highgate Cemetery: Victorian Valhalla', but later editions remove the charge. Authors Judi Cuthbertson and Tom Randall, however, write in their 1991 book 'Permanent Londoners'; "Graves were desecrated by the High Priest of the British Occult Society. This lofty figure broke into at least two dozen tombs and drove stakes through the hearts of the deceased. He received four years in jail for his anti-Dracula activities".
Manchester denies this unequivocally, saying that the accusations refer to the 1974 conviction of Farrant (which had nothing to do with Highgate cemetery) and are based on inaccurate newspaper reports, but it remains somewhat unclear whether any other criminal charges have ever been brought against Manchester or other members of the Society





Highgate cemetery have been restored well out of their 1969 squalor, and the Crouch End house has been demolished, although part of the original house is still visible within the new structure built on the site. Anyway, if faith and belief alone are not enough to convert unbelievers it is difficult to determine what type of evidence would be enough to be convincing. Except, of course, a first-hand encounter with one of the Highgate Vampire's relations!'

Although I cannot say I have hands on experience of the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery A lot of research has gone into this phenomenon that I leave you to come to your own conclusions on the matter.





Human Living Vampires {HLV's}

Human Living Vampires {HLV’s}







Human Living Vampires or HLV’s are strongly tied into todays society and also its culture. Many of them express feelings of alienation, which probably has much to do with other factors within their lives. Such as high intelligence, sexual orientation or non mainstream religious beliefs. As well as having affinity’s to other sub cultures like being Goth or such like.

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Most HLV’s cling to parts of 20th century Vampire myth, whilst at the same time attempting to debunk this myth in their works.

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Most HLV’s are not particularly bothered in explaining themselves on any grounds. They are more interested in coping with the needs and abilities that impact upon their lives. Although particular explanations of their origins are popular, along with scientific theories in general.

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No HLV claims to be an immortal, or to have any supernatural power.{except maybe psychic powers such as Clairvoyance or even the power of Astral projection, Abilities that some people of normal society claim to be able to do}

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Although some do claim to have enhanced strength, stamina and even resistance to disease. In no case have these traits been proven to be outside the limits of the human norms.

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Human Living Vampires are human beings who are born, grow up, age, and fully expect to die at the end of a conventional lifespan. They are prone to any illness or injury that afflicts human beings.

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They can procreate and often do have children and they do have normal nutritional needs.{Although some to claim unusual cravings and allergies}. They are also bound by natural law.

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Most HLV’s cannot understand the request by normal people to be turned, and oftern respond to such request with antagonism. Often they are anxious to insist that being HLV offers them no glamour or special privileges

Vlad The Impaler



Vlad the Impaler

Every man and their dogs have heard the legendary tales of Dracula and most people know that the story is based on a real person Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. Here is my tale of the life of Vlad the Impaler..This account is taken from studying various writings about the Prince.

Legend has it that from the time of Walachia was founded in the year of 1290 by a Transylvanian by the name of Rudolph Negru or Rudolph the Black. Dracula’s Grandfather. Who reigned from the years of 1386 to 1418. In which time he spent protecting the country from the Turks.

The Throne of Walachia was not passed down from Father to Son like most Thrones as we know. The new Prince was elected by the nobles of the land known as Boyars. Obviously this caused feuds within families and even assassinations. Eventually the Royal House of Basarab was split into two factions: Mircea’s descendants and the descendants of a Prince called DanII the Danesti.

Mircea had an Illegitimate son. Vlad was born in the year of 1390 and he grew up in the Court of King Sigismund. More than likely starting off as a Hostage and then as a Paige. Sigismund became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410 and founded a secret order of Knights {Order of the Dragon}. Their charge was to uphold Catholicism and to fight Turkey. Probably in the year of 1431 Vlad was sworn into the Order. The Nobles of Walachia began calling him Dracul meaning Dragon. Vlads second Son was to be known as Dracula or Son of the Dragon. Strangely enough Dracul also means Devil, so inevitably Dracula’s enemies called him Son of the Devil.

Vlad was made the Military Governor of Transylvania a position he held from 1431 to 1435. He spent this time dwelling in the Town of Schassburg. Where you can still visit the Citadel and even the house that Vlad’s son Dracula was born. There is a restaurant there on the second floor now.{One I hope to visit some time soon}

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Dracula’s young days.

Dracula was born in December 1431, he was named after his Father Vlad. Dracula was the middle child of three. He had an older Brother Mircea and a younger Brother Radu the Handsome. His Mother is said to have tutored Dracula in his early years, but he was trained for Knighthood by an old nobleman who had fought against the Turks.

Vlad the Father was not content with his position of Governor and approximately early 1437 usurped the Throne of Walachia from its current occupant and member of the Danesti family Alexandru I. Dracul killed Alexandru and became Prince VladII.

His Reign was short lived however. Due to the fact that he was a Vassal of Hungary and was paying tribute to Hungary’s enemy Turkey. Transylvania was attacked by Turkey in the year of 1442. Although Vlad attempted to remain neutral, he was blamed for the invasion by Hungary. Who’s Rulers in return ran Vald out of Walachia. The Throne was returned to the Danesti family and Basarab II was named as the new Prince of Walachia.

Vlad retook the Throne with the aid of Turkey the following year. In 1444 he sent his two younger Sons to Turkey as proof of his Loyaly. Vlad {Dracula} was 13 at this time. He spent the next four years with the Turks as a Hostage.

In 1444 the Hungarians went to war with Turkey. Calling Vlad to battle. A member of the Order of the Dagon ordained him to go to war as instructed. Not wanting to anger the Turks Vlad sent his eldest Son Mercia in his place. The Christian Army was demolished in the Battle of Varna, to which both Vlad and Mircea blamed Janos Hunyadi.

1447 saw the murder of both Vlad and Mircea. The Assassinations were placed at the hands of Hunyadi by some. Although I find no evidence to prove this. With both Vlad and Mircea dead and both young Vlad and Radu still in Turkey. The Throne was again in the hands of the Danesti Clan. This man was known as VladislavII and his succession to the Throne was aided by none other that Hunyadi.

The Turks were not pleased at having a Hungarian Puppet in charge of Walachia, so in the year of 1448. At the age of 17 they released Vlad and gave him an Army.

Radu chose to remain in Hungary, where he remained loyal to the Sultan.

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The Reign of Dracula

Dracula seized the Throne of Walachia, with the help of the Turkish Army. However he only held it for two months before Hunyadi forced him into exile to Moldavia. VladislavII again had the Throne of Walachia.

Prince Bogdan of Moldovia was assassinated 3 years later and Dracula fled the country. Vladislav was now a supporter of Turkey to the dismay of Hunyadi. Everyone switched sides and Dracula became a Vassal of Hunyadi. {Got to love World Politics heh} In the year of 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turksh Serbia while Dracula invaded Walachia. The resulting battles saw Hunyadi killed and Dracula killing the Denasti VladislavII regaining the Throne of Walachia.

This is where the evil of Dracula begins. Dracula was reputed to have invited beggars, old and sick people to a banquet. Of course these poor and desolate people accepted such an offer. After the guests drank a toast to their new Prince. He asked them how the would like to without cares and lacking of nothing in this world.. They enthusiastically replied yes.

Dracula then boarded up the Castle and burned it to the ground. Cruel indeed but the Prince kept his promise. No one made it out alive and that was the end of their problems.

In to another story, he invited 500 boyars to a banquet and asked them how many princes had ruled in their lifetimes. They said they had lived through many reigns. Shouting that this was their fault because of their plotting, Dracula had them all arrested on the spot. The older ones were impaled; the others were marched 50 miles to Poenari where they were forced to build a mountaintop fortress. They worked a long time; when their clothes fell off, they worked naked. Most of them died, of course. And of course Dracula seized the boyars' property and passed it out to his supporters. In that way he created a new nobility, loyal to him.

The ruins of the Poenari fortress can still be seen. You have to climb nearly 1,500 steps and cross a little bridge to reach it. It's now called Castle Dracula, but several places are called that.

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I could go into how Dracula was overthrown but this article is already getting overwhelmingly long. So I will jump straight to the death of Dracula.

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The Death of Dracula

In 1473, Dracula's brother Radu lost the Walachian throne to a member of the Danesti clan, Basarab the Old. Radu died of syphilis in January of 1475, and in 1476 Dracula invaded Walachia with the help of Moldavia and Transylvania. They drove Basarab out of the country, and Dracula again became Walachia's prince. Most of Dracula's army then went home to Transylvania.
The Turks attacked a few months later. Dracula was killed while fighting near Bucharest in December 1476. Some say he died at the hands of a Turkish assassin posing as a servant, or that he was accidentally killed on the battlefield by his own men because he had disguised himself as a Turk to confuse the enemy. The sultan displayed Dracula's head on a pike in Constantinople to prove that he was dead. His body was buried at the island monastery of Snagov, which he had patronized. But excavations in 1931 failed to turn up any sign of his coffin!

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Foot Note:

By 1462, when he was deposed, he had killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people, possibly more. He always thought up some excuse for these executions. He killed merchants who cheated their customers. He killed women who had affairs. Supposedly he had one woman impaled because her husband's shirt was too short. He didn't mind impaling children, either. Afterwards he would display the corpses in public so everyone would learn a lesson. It's said that there were over 20,000 bodies hanging outside his capital city. Of course, the stories about Dracula's cruelty might have been exaggerated by his enemies






Elizabeth Bathory




Elizabeth Bathory

Born in Hungary in the year of 1560. Around about 100 years after the death of Vlad the Impaler. Her Ancestor Prince Steven Bathory served as a Commanding Officer for Vlad Dracula who helped him reclaim the throne of Wallachia..

George and Anna Bathory the parents of Elizabeth were members of Hungary’s richest family at the time of her birth. Her cousin was the Prime Minister of Hungary. Whilst another member of her family was also a Cardinal. Whilst her Uncle later became the King of Poland. Although the Bathory family was rich and famous, it also had some less savoury and very strange relations. One of her Uncles was well known to be a Devil Worshiper, whilst other members were either mentally insane or perverts.

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Elizabeth married at the age of 15 in the year of 1575, to the Count Ferencz Nadazdy who took on the name of Bathory so Elizabeth could retain her family name. The young couple moved into the mountaintop Fortress Castle Csejthe, overlooking the village Csejthe in North Western Hungary.

Count Ferencz came to be known as the Black hero of Hungary later in life, more than likely for the fact that he was a brave and daring soldier on the battle field. Which he spend most of his life doing protecting Hungary from the Turks,

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Elizabeth spend a lot of her time visiting her aunt Countess Klara Bathory. It was in this time that Elizabeth began to develop an interest in the Occult. An old maid known as Dorka instructed Elizabeth in the art of Witchcraft. Dorka became her helping hand, encouraging her sadistic tendencies like torturing people. Both Dorka and Elizabeth took to the task of disciplining the female servants, and torturing in an underground chamber.

With the help of Iloona Joo, Johannes Ujvary and Anna Darvula, Elizabeth and her crew of macabre helpers, turned Castle Csejthe to a place of pure evil.

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Ferencz died in the year of 1600 and Elizabeth’s period of terror began. Firstly she sent away her much hated Mother in Law, and then she began to enjoy a new kind of bath that no one had yet heard off. Shortly before her Husbands death something happened, that changed Elizabeth’s life forever.

A young Chambermaid accidentally pulled Elizabeth’s hair whilst combing it. Instantly earning herself a slap around the head that was so hard, blood spurted from her nose onto the hand of Elizabeth. Elizabeth thought that where the blood touched her flesh, it took on the look of the young chambermaids skin. At this time Elizabeth Bathory was about 40 year old.

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She then called upon the services of Johannes Ujvary and Dorka, who aided her in undressing the girl. Forcing her to hold her arms over a big vat. Upon doing so they sliced her arteries, draining the blood from her body. Once the girl was dead, Elizabeth stepped into the vat and took a bath in the young chambermaids blood. Elizabeth was now sure that through this act of vampirism she had found the secret of eternal youth.
Elizabeth’s evil helpers, provided her with many young girls over the next ten years. Under the guise of hiring them as servants for the castle. Once inside the castle, they were mutilated and the Countess took her baths in the blood of the victims. Elizabeth is reputed to have sometimes drank the blood to gain some sort of inner beauty.

Elizabeth soon began to believe that peasant blood no longer was enough to sustain her youthfulness. Soon she began to use girls of noble families as well. Elizabeth was now becoming careless with her actions. Rumors began to circulate around the surrounding villages. These rumors soon reached the ears of the Hungarian Emperor, who in return ordered her own cousin to raid the castle.

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On December 30, 1610. A band of soldiers led by Elizabeth's own cousin, raided Castle Csejthe at night. They were horrified by the terrible sights in the castle. A dead girl was lying in the main hall, drained of blood, another girl, who had her body pierced, was still alive. In the dungeon they later discovered, were several girls waiting in prison cells, some of whose bodies had been tortured. Below the castle, they found the bodies of some 50 dead girls.
During the trial 1611, a register with the names of around 650 victims, was found in the Countess's living quarters. But the trial was largely just for show and to make the occasion "official". A complete transcript of the trial was made at the time, and it still remains today in Hungary. All of Elizabeth's four accomplices were sentenced to death.

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Only Elizabeth was not brought before a court and tried. She remained confined in her castle while her four sadistic accomplices were tried for their crimes.
But she got her punishment, when the Hungarian Emperor demanded her condemn to lifelong imprisonment in her own castle. Stonemasons were brought to her Castle Csejthe, to wall up the windows and the door to the bedchamber with the Countess still inside. Here she would spend the remaining days of her life, with only a small opening for food to be passed to her.

Arnold Paole

The story of probably the 1st Recorded Vampire In European History



Arnold Paole was a Serbian Soldier from the 1700’s who claimed to have been attacked by a Vampire whilst he was in Gossowa. Paole claimed to have eaten some of the dirt from the Vampires grave and to have covered his body in the creatures blood. This was believed to have been the only true way of ridding one of the Vampire in them days.

Around about the year of 1727. Paole left the Military and returned Meduegna his home town. Situated close to Belgrade. Purchasing some land he built himself a home and began to establish himself within the community. Paole soon became engaged to a local girl. The girls fathers land bordered that of Paole and the two soon got married.

Arnold soon confessed to his new wife that he was haunted from fears of an early death. Paole had been stationed in Greece whilst in the military. Where it was locally believed that the dead had the ability to come back and haunt the living in the form of Revenants or Vampires. In his confession to his wife he told her that he had been visited by an undead being. He claimed that he hunted down the undeads grave and exacted his Revenge upon the creature as was the custom of that time. Burning the Corpse of the Vampire. However Senior Officers thought that the Trauma of this incident was to great on him, and after advice from his superiors he resigned from the Army.

Paole fell from a great height in an accident shortly after he was married. Meeting his death a few days later. More than likely from internal injuries from the fall. He was buried in the towns cemetery, and a month after his death rumors began to circulate of sightings of Paole around the town. A few of these sightings were even in the homes of some of the townsfolk. On the whole very little fear was derived from these sightings until a short period later. Several weeks later all the townsfolk who had claimed to see Paole in their homes, began turning up dead with no explainable reason. A group of the townsfolk was assigned with the task of exhuming Arnold Paole.

This group contained five people in total a member of the local church, two military Officers and two army Surgeons. When the group exhumed they found that Arnolds body was still a fresh corpse. His body had no signs of any decomposition at all. There was no evidence of decay, his skin and nails had fallen away and had been replaced with fresh nails and skin. Fresh blood was pouring from his orifices and their was also fresh blood found upon his lips. The villagers drove a stake through Paoles to which they claimed he groaned and blood erupted from the Vampires body. They then scattered garlic around the remains{More than likely where Hollywood got the idea} They did the same thing to every grave of whom Paole had been claimed to have made his victims.

Vampire Stories part 4


The Berwick Vampire

Vampiric Stories are scarce in the UK, although not entirely unheard off. One that dates back to the Victorian ages happened in the small town of Berwick in the Scottish Borders.

Berwick is a small town situated about 30miles from Scotland.Prooving that these creatures were not restricted to Eastern Europe.
The Berwick Vampire was introduced to Folklore by the much respected Canon William of Newburgh. The Canon lived during the reign of Richard I in the thirteenth century. In the same period as when whole towns were devastated and whole cities were wiped out in one destructive sweep by the plague. The Northern towns of England and those of Scotland included.

The Canons story of the Berwick Vampire concerns the tale of a rich merchant who succumbed to the deadly grip of the plague.The merchant was a religious and thoughtful man and obviously a man of great respect. It was not until his death that the villagers discovered this man had led a life of deceit and corruption, Sine his life was sinful the villagers denied him a burial on consecrated ground. Inexplicable and terrible occurances began to happen in Berwick soon after the merchants burial. Rumors began to surface of the deceased merchant had begun to rise from his resting place, in the serch for human flesh and blood from the same villagers that refused his burial on sacred ground. Tales of the demented demon would run through the streets looking for victims screaming and bellowing "Until my body is burned you folk of Bewrick shall have no peace." It is said that a pack of howling dogs followed him, their loud holws keeping the villagers awake.
Ten young farmhands were given the task of exhuming the merchants grave and dismember his corpse. Once the body was fully dismembered they had to burn the remains until only ashes remained. Which they did in the hope of ending the horror that befell the town.

Tragedy did not leave the town of Berwick however at the destruciotn of the Vampire. The Plague returned to Berwick levelling half the population. Claims of the terrible sound of baying hounds and the fearful screams of the Vampire could be heard as the villagers burried their dead were reported.

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The vampire of Melrose

Another Vampire of the Scottish Borders is brought to us by the Reputed Canon William. This time in the town of Melrose. The vampire in this case was the Hundeprest. A priest who enjoyed the material pleasures of life and hunting.

After the death of the priest, his former mistress complained that his loud groaning haunted her bedchamber. It was decided by the church to help this woman, and they sent four monks to rid her of the ghostly priest. They kept vigil at his grave to see if he would rise again. This was before the days of streetlighting and the four monks sat in complete darkness. The monks expected the Hundeprest to emerge during the witching hour, this past without indident and no sign of the dead priest { no surprise there} Three of the chilled through monks seeked warmth and refuge in a nearby cottage.

The Hundeprest attacked the one remianing monk taking the guise of a terrible monster. The happless monk stood his ground as the monster rushed towards him. Side stepping the monk swung his axe, thrusting it deep into the creature. The beast groaned and fled into the night with the brave monk in pursuit {me thinks he had been on fortified wine}. Soon reaching the grave, where the Hundeprest dissapeared.
With dawn breaking the other three monks returned to their companion. Shocked at the tale of their friend, they decided to open the grave. Blood seeped through the ground as they exhumed the body, as the corpse was finally uncovered, the Hundeprest looked fresh it also sported a huge gaping bleeding wound. The corpse was removed from its resting place and was burned to ashes.

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Mearhinas