How Vampire Legends Have Evolved?
The legend of the vampire, a supernatural creature who exists on the blood of the living, is perhaps one of the oldest “horror” legends in human society. Every culture seems to have its version of the vampire; each of them has evolved over time through literature, folklore, and history. Each of them, too, is terrifying.
Answering the question of how vampire legends have evolved involves considering what vampire legends were like in the past and comparing that to how vampire legends look today.
Ancient Vampire: A Genuine Threat
In very ancient society, the idea of creatures drinking blood was associated with evil and the Devil; it was also not considered a story. In 1672, the first vampire was recorded; in the area that’s now Croatia, a deceased villager was said to come back to the village at night and drink the blood of various townspeople.
The vampire legend didn’t gain wide exposure, however – and didn’t cause mass fear – until the 1700s, when Eastern Europe was taken over with the idea of vampires. As the story spread, so did the hysteria, and vampire hunting became a source of genuine terror. Exhumations, stakings, and claims of nighttime visitors with fangs were a common occurrence, and were documented by government officials and multiple official writings of the time.
Today, it’s largely understood that the vampire is indeed a fictional legend, although vampire superstition and sightings are still common in some areas of Europe such as Romania, where an exhumation of a suspected vampire was performed as recently as 2004.
Vampire in Literature
The vampire legend as we now understand it evolved largely through literature. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in 1847, is the most famous of vampire writings; the novel is the source of many of the traits of vampires that still exist in today’s image of them. The novel was, in fact, based loosely on a true story – that of Vlad Tepes, the Prince of Wallachia, known as “Vlad the Impaler.”
Today's Vampire
The modern image of the vampire evolved in an interesting way. In fact, there are two specific images of the vampire that appear in today’s culture and that show how vampire legends have evolved from the frightening vampires of old: the sexual vampire and the de-fanged vampire.
Sexual Vampire
Contemporary novels and movies, particularly those aimed at young adults, tend to depict the vampire as a sexual being; the image draws largely on the sensual symbols of a vampire breaking into the bedroom of an innocent woman and sinking his teeth into her neck, and turning her into something evil.
De-fanged Vampire
Vampires are still considered creatures of horror and fear, but much like Frankenstein’s monster and other horror creatures of the past, there is a “version” of the vampire legend that doesn’t contain all of the horror. Think about the children’s Halloween costumes depicting these monsters, with the feeling of genuine danger entirely removed from them. It’s an interesting way, and one of many, in which the legend of the vampire has been incorporated into our culture.