Discover 5 bloody interesting myths about Vampires !

We’ve compiled 5 fascinating Vampire legends told throughout history.

Vampires are fascinating creatures who roam the world at night searching for people whose blood they feed upon. Most people associate vampires with Count Dracula, the legendary hero of Bram Stoker’s epic novel, Dracula. But the history of vampires began long before Dracula was published, through many myths & legends.

The legend of Elizabeth Bathory

One of the most famous “historical vampires” was Countess Elizabeth Bathory who was accused of biting the flesh of girls while torturing them and bathing in their blood to retain her youthful beauty. She ended up locked up in her castle for the rest of her life after being tried for her crimes, however, she marked history, known as “ The Blood Countess” and “Countess Dracula “.

The Legend of the Rhode Island Vampire

Mercy Brown was a young farmers’ daughter from Exeter, Rhode Island who died of tuberculosis in the late 1800s. Since medical explanations to illnesses were rare at the time, it was very common to blame afflictions on the supernatural, so the townspeople accused the young girl of vampirism.

When Mercy’s body was exhumed and didn’t display severe decay (not surprising, since her body was placed in an above-ground vault during winter), the townspeople accused her of being a vampire. They cut out her heart, burned it, then fed the ashes to her sick brother ( who died shortly thereafter).

A Vampire in greek Mythology ? Meet Ambrogio !

Ambrogio was a very unlucky man in Greek mythology, who managed to anger several gods. It began with the sun god Apollo cursed him, so that his skin would burn should it ever touch sunlight again. Ambrogio's bad luck followed when he ended up gambling his soul away to Hades. The next curse came via Apollo's sister Artemis who made it so that Ambrogio's skin would burn if he touched silver.

However, Artemis, taking pity on the poor young man, gave him the gift of immortality. Blood-sucking is also included in this "blessing". Legend says he’s still living in Florence to this day...

Vampires in Chinese Mythology.

Chinese vampires were called a ch’iang shih (which translates to corpse-hopper) and had red eyes and crooked claws. They were said to have a strong drive to prey on female victims exclusively. As they grew stronger thanks to their victims’ blood, the ch’iang shih were believed to gain the ability to fly, grew long white hair, and could also change into a wolf.

You must be wondering… Are Vampires real ?

A very real medical condition called Porphyria causes symptoms that resemble Vampirism - it’s even referred to as the “vampire disease”.

This blood disorder affects the skin, making it blister and burn in the sun. In most cases of porphyria, blood transfusions can provide relief from the symptoms. This means that, in principle, it is possible to relieve the symptoms of porphyria by drinking blood--another possible link with the vampire stories.

Discover 5 bloody interesting myths about Vampires !