Vampires and Vampirism E-Book

Wright Dudley

• Herausgeber: PubMe
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

The Greek Church at one time taught that the bodies of persons upon whom the ban of excommunication had been passed did not undergo decomposition after death until such sentence had been revoked by the pronouncement of absolution over the remains, and that, while the bodies remained in this uncorrupted condition, the spirits of the individuals wandered up and down the earth seeking sustenance from the blood of the living. The non-corruption of a body, however, was also held to be one of the proofs of sanctity; but, in this case, the body preserved its natural colour and gave an agreeable odour, whereas the bodies of the excommunicated generally turned black, swelled out like a drum, and emitted an offensive smell. Very frequently, however, when the graves of suspected vampires were opened, the faces were found to be of ruddy complexion and the veins distended with blood, which, when opened with a lancet, yielded a supply of blood as plentiful, fresh, and free as that found in the veins of young and healthy living human beings. For many centuries in the history of Greek Christianity there was scarcely a village that had not its own local vampire stories which were related by the inhabitants and vouched for by them as having either occurred within their own knowledge or been related to them by their parents or relatives as having come within their personal observation or been verified by them.

Leseprobe

Dudley Wright

UUID: fd6d7afc-9a62-431d-937c-ffa67062d752

This ebook was created with StreetLib Writehttps://writeapp.io

Table of contents

PREFACE

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II EXCOMMUNICATION AND ITS POWER

CHAPTER III THE VAMPIRE IN BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, AND GREECE

CHAPTER IV VAMPIRISM IN GREAT AND GREATER BRITAIN

CHAPTER V VAMPIRISM IN GERMANY AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES

CHAPTER VI VAMPIRISM IN HUNGARY, BAVARIA, AND SILESIA

CHAPTER VII VAMPIRISM IN SERVIA AND BULGARIA

CHAPTER VIII VAMPIRE BELIEF IN RUSSIA

CHAPTER IX MISCELLANEA

CHAPTER X LIVING VAMPIRES

CHAPTER XI THE VAMPIRE IN LITERATURE

CHAPTER XII FACT OR FICTION?

PREFACE

The awakened interest in supernormal phenomena which has taken place in recent years has included in its wake the absorbing subject of Vampirism. Yet there has not been any collection published of vampire stories which are common to all the five continents of the globe. The subject of vampirism is regarded more seriously to-day than it was even a decade since, and an attempt has been made in this volume to supply as far as possible all the instances which could be collected from the various countries. How far a certain amount of scientific truth may underlie even what may be regarded as the most extravagant stories must necessarily be, for the present, at any rate, an open question; but he would indeed be a bold man who would permithis scepticism as to the objective existence of vampires in the past or the possibility of vampirism in the future to extend to a categorical denial. If this collection of stories helps, even in a slight degree, to the elucidation of the problem, the book will not have been written in vain.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY