Through the years there has been many ideas to what goes bump in the night. Mysterious, unsolved happenings blamed on the so-called supernatural. There are many myths, legends and lore based on these so called mysterious happenings. Through this research paper I am going to help to explain the biggest threats, conspiracies, and misunderstandings of aforementioned legends, myths, and lore.
The first subject would be Werewolves. There are many misunderstandings and conspiracies involving werewolf legends and lore. With that being said there are many ideas on how werewolves came to be. "In Ancient Greece, it was believed that eating the meat of a wolf mixed with human blood could transform you and the condition would be irreversible.”
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It is believed that a silver bullet through the heart can do just that, but there is also other ideas to what can kill them. (Vampire bite, Wolfsbane. etc.)
Next I want to introduce to you The Banshee. The Banshee is believed to be ghost woman seen mostly in Irish Folklore. The Banshee is depicted "in Various versions which have been described, from a woman with long, red hair and very pale skin to an older woman with stringy, gray hair, rotten teeth and fiery red eyes.” (darksang.com) The Banshee was also seen as an omen of death. One scream and everybody would fear for their life thinking that they were going to die. Her scream is referred to as “caoine” which translates to “Keening”. (darkensang.com) Nobody knows the precise time that when the stories of banshees were first told, but they can be traced back to the 8th century. "It is believed they were based on an old Irish tradition where women would sing a lament to signify one’s passing. This too was referred to as keening. As many keeners accepted alcohol as payment, which the church frowned upon, many have speculated it was these keeners who were punished in the eyes of God and were forced to become banshees.”
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Weather she warns death or causes it. Looks young or old. Takes the form of a washer lady or a shady ghost. They are all connected someway or another, even if they coexist separately.
The last creature I will talk about is the Vampire. "The vampire’s most are familiar with are the ones that rise from the grave to harm the living; these vampires come from slavic origins only a few hundred years.” (LiveScience.com) "There are clear foundations for the vampire in the ancient world, and it is impossible to prove when the myth first arose. There are suggestions that the vampire was born out of sorcery in ancient Egypt, a demon summoned into this world from some other." There are many variations of vampires from around the world.” (LiveScience.com) There are many variations to vampire weather modern or ancient. Some can turn into bats or wolves while others can’t. Some can be killed with holy water and sunlight while others can’t. Some cast a reflection while others don’t. Though there are many variations to the vampire all drink blood and can be killed in some
Just some of The vampire’s numerous powers are: He can turn humans into the Undead, he is virtually immortal, he has the ability to grow younger by drinking blood, he casts no shadow, he casts no reflection, he has the ability to crawl along walls, he has the ability to control animals, he can control the weather and he also has the power to transform his own shape. Here we can see these powers.
In a world with ghosts, monsters, demons, and ghouls, there is one being that resonates in everyone’s mind. The idea of these creatures can be found in almost every culture on the planet in one form or another. They prey on the weak and they feast on the blood of their victims. They are compared to a fox for being quick and cunning, but also rather seductive in their nature. With their unholy existence one can only describe them as almost demonic. So what is this horrid creature? Well it is none other than the vampire, a creature as old as time itself. Throughout history there have been many different variations of the vampire, each with their own unique abilities. But one cannot help but mention
In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).
Dracula is a mythical creature designed to wreak havoc on the lives of mortals through the terror and intimidation of death by bite. Vampires are undead beings that kill humans for their blood to survive. Human blood is the vampire’s sustenance, and only way of staying alive. Throughout time, humans have come up with ways to repel vampires, such as lighting jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, placing garlic around the neck, a stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. Both beings have a survival instinct, whether it be hunger or safety, both are strong emotions. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the characters Lucy, John, and Van Helsing strive for survival, therefore killing Dracula.
to how much of this applies to real vampires, and how much is pure myth.
These factors include setting, actions of each vampire, the initial reactions to news of them, and how their presence affects the people who live within the region the vampires inhabit.
times we have been fascinated with all sorts of tales about monsters and intrigued by myths and
Gilmore, David D. "Why Study Monsters?" Gilmore, David D. Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. 210.
Arthur Grant, a veterinary student in 1934, was heading home around 1 A.M. He saw something lurking in the bushes, and it immediately bounded onto the road. He swerved and stepped on the brakes, barely missing contact. The headlight was on the 20 foot long creature that had an eel-like head and large humps on its shoulders. What is this creature? Does it even exist? These are the questions many cryptozoologists ask on a daily basis. Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals whose existence is disputed. While many disregard cryptids, the term for these mysterious animals, there are scientists committed to finding the truth. Though there are many fascinating creatures in this field, the three most news-worthy are the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot and Dracula.
They are creatures with mysteries that aren’t yet explained most are but not all are explained. So let's see what is known that were mostly common.
In the book Dracula the vampires would be killed by a stake to the heart, and then the removal of the head (411-12). In The Vampire Diaries however there was many ways to kill them. For example you could use a stake to kill them, but it would have to be a White Oak ash dagger or stake. Also instead of the decapitation you could also burn then to ash. However the easiest thing for the vampires to die from was a werewolf bite. To the vampires the werewolf bite was like a poison to them. Next in The Vampire Diaries they had some vampires called the originals. These vampires are the oldest, and they were the first to ever walk the earth. So if one of the originals were killed then everyone that they turned would also die along with them. This is because there blood has the DNA of the original. Finally we do not truly know how Dracula was created he was the very first vampire. Then over the many years he was alive he made new vampires by feeding off people. In The Vampire Diaries however we do know how they were created. A witch created the vampires in The Vampire Diaries. She later regretted the creation she made, and wanted to undo what she had already
Cheung, Theresa. The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Hauntings. Element Encyclopedia Series. Unknown: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2008.
Vampires appear in literature quite often they are, after all, quite the common monster. There have been rumors of vampires, although they didn’t use the name, since the greeks, and probably earlier. They’re said to have originated in Persia though. Vampires actually didn’t get their name until people discovered while digging up graves some corpses were had limbs chewed off, and sometimes fabric was missing from inside the coffin, and someone wrote an essay about it in 1733. They first appeared in a piece of literature in a poem called The Vampire, in 1748.
The vampire genre is one that is so widely exploited, that anything can be done with it. It can be made into a horror story made to induce nightmares, into a story that displays humans can be just as monstrous as the monster, or into a romance that proves that love conquers all. The mystery and sensuality that shrouds vampires allows for a vampire story to be anything and everything the writer or reader desires.
Ghost stories are a truly timeless form of literature, the ghost, like death, has no end. Stories of the supernatural date back to early ancient manuscripts involving mythology, legend, and religion. The past few centuries have seen the supernatural flourish in Gothic romanticism through tales of fantastic creatures, demonic forces, and parallel dimensions (Scarborough). Interest in the other-worldly has provoked many stories involving the interaction between the living and the returning dead. The well-engineered ghost stories of M.R. James seem to arouse these eerie skin tingling feelings. Techniques aimed at involving the readers awareness James's narrative and folkloric superstitions in “the mezzotint” engage the reader's imagination and psyche. The realistic settings, supernatural elements, and sensational fiction that is doused in mystery, builds anticipation. James's clear an intelligent knowledge of human nerves elicits fear, excitement, and curiosity through imagery, the uncanny, and subtle suggestions that transform into personal supernatural experiences. The oratory nature of James's stories bring the characters and the drama to life and constructs fear in the reader with disembodied texuality; “fearing that these words on the page might spring to life” (Mulbey-Roberts 236).