FMS408ThorpeNGothicHorror

Werewolves

Lycanthropy comes from the Greek lykoi, “wolf” and anthropos, “man”The movie Van Helsing (2004) May have not had the best ratings,but it had some really epic werewolves!

The legend of the werewolf is one of the most ancient and wide spread. Stories of werewolves can be found as far back as history has been written. These shapeshifter myths can be found all over the word from China to Iceland and Brazil to Haiti.This humanoid creature of myth and folklore had the incredible ability to shapeshift. They are said to shift into the form of a wolf or a human-wolf-hybrid. Some legends have them being able to shift at will and others after being cursed, scratched or bitten.Earliest Accounts of WerewolvesSome of the first accounts of werewolves come from Ancient Greek literature. Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, told of the Arcadian King, Lycaeon. King Lycaeon was visited by Zeus. Not believing him to be a true all-knowing god he decided to test Zeus by serving him human flesh in one of the many dishes served at a banquet in their honor. And not just any flesh — Lycaeon served up his own sons’ flesh. Yikes! His son Nyctimus was just one of 50, so I guess Lycaeon felt he had plenty more where that came from. 

Unsurprisingly, this was not a very smart move… Murder and cannibalism was a major slight indeed. Upon discovering the tainted dish, Zeus changed King Lycaeon into a werewolf — since he obviously liked human flesh, the wolf form would be a more acceptable form to take part in such a vile activity. Zues then brought his son Nyctimus back to life. 

Well Known WerewolvesThe most widely know story of the werewolf would be “Little Red Riding Hood”. The origins of the Little Red Riding Hood story can be traced to a time, likely preceding the 17th century,and various European countries. Making this tale relevant to the werewolf-trials of the time (similar to the witch trials). There are many ancient were legends to worn the fragile, small and easiest of targets — children. “Little Red Riding Hood” features a wolf who talks to Little Red Riding Hood and then dresses in grandmas clothing to fool the innocent little girl. Not something any regular ‘ol wolf could do. 

(Gryphon 2016)

 

Vampires

Vampire folklore within the British Isles is surprisingly scarce, this is mainly due to the fact that the contemporary image of a vampire (a charismatic bloodsucker with a black cape, a mesmerising stare, and a penchant for nubile young women; plus an aversion to holy water, garlic and crosses.) is relatively recent, being the result of Hollywood portrayals of vampires, and the gothic Hammer House Horror productions of the 1960's. The word vampire only came into the English language in 1732, its image developing in fictional works culminating in Bram Stoker's powerful novel Dracula. The main focus of vampire lore comes from Eastern Europe although variants of the vampire are found throughout the world. The real roots of the vampire are based on a mixture of early beliefs and folklore concerning death, the dead and disease. 

Traditions and Folklore important to the Vampire MythIn many ancient societies there are dark traditions associated with the dead and with corpses, which have their reflection in vampire beliefs. The return of a phantom from beyond the grave is a common motif in most cultures, but folklore also tells of animated corpses returning in the small hours, and spreading disease to the living population. In many of these stories the dead person has committed some cardinal sin and is unrepentant on their deathbed. Some tales even mention that the corpse had fed on the blood of the local population, an echo passed right through to the modern vampire myth.The bodies of those driven to suicide, or those who had died on the gallows were thought to be vulnerable to such nocturnal meanderings, and were often buried at crossroads to confuse their restless souls. Some burials have even been discovered pinned to the ground with stakes. Other people at risk of returning from the dead were those accused of witchcraft, those under a curse, and those who had been attacked by suspected vampires. The short period before a corpses burial was also deemed dangerous, for it was believed that if a cat jumped over the corpse, or the full moon shone upon it through a window, then it would return from the grave.Protections against vampires were numerous, and have their echoes in other folklore. Iron was thought to repel them, just as it was thought to repel many supernatural creatures. Garlic was also thought to be useful deterrent, probably because it was thought to have medicinal properties (it was also used during plague outbreaks) and was also a repellent for other denizens of the otherworld. 

The drinking of blood is an important part of vampire folklore, and is a substance that is subject to taboos and superstition through out the world. It was believed that blood held the life force of a creature. To drink it was to absorb that life force and sometimes the attributes of the unwilling donor. This has obvious parallels with a vampire drinking the blood of the living to gain continued life. 

Some British FolktalesThere are a number of British folktales recorded by medieval chroniclers (recorded as factual at the time), which have a very vampiric flavour. William of Newburgh, a monk and chronicler who wrote in the twelfth century, describes an incident in the county of Buckinghamshire, where a recently deceased man returned from beyond the grave. He came in the form of a spectre appearing before his widow and other relatives; to combat this they stayed up during the night and made noises to frighten him away. This only made matters worse, as he began walk in the daylight hours. The Bishop of Lincoln became involved, and seeking advice on how to stop it was told that the body of the man would have to be burned. The bishop ordered the body to be exhumed, whereupon it was found to be as fresh as the day he had been buried. After the body had been cremated the haunting ceased. 

A similar tale is told of Berwick, which has became known as the 'Vampire of Berwick' (obviously after 1732) although the vampire in this case bears no resemblance to the modern concept. The vampire was the ghost of a local wealthy man with a bad reputation who had died sinful, probably of the plague, which periodically flared in the towns and villages of Britain in the Middle Ages. He was buried in un-consecrated ground, and was soon spotted roaming the town as a pale phantom, accompanied by a pack of spectral hounds. The townsfolk became so alarmed at the disease-spreading spectre, that a small group of volunteers were directed to exhume the body, cut it into pieces and then burn it, which we can assume put the peoples minds at rest. At Melrose Abbey in Scotland another corpse of a nightwalker, who had been a priest with a penchant for hunting was burned to stop his nocturnal meanderings. 

Other British folklore suggests belief in creatures that are very vampire like: In Highland tradition some of the remote glens were thought to be haunted by a particularly dangerous female spirit called the Boabhan Sith (A similar root to the Banshee of Ireland). One story tells how a group of young men were attacked while staying at a remote bothan, the similarity with this and the image of a more modern vampire being obvious.Another famous story is that of the Croglin Vampire, collected by Augustus Hare in the 19th century at a wedding party. There is a distinct possibility that the story was fabricated at the time to impress the guests, but recent research suggests that the story may be older. 

An Austrian Tale 

Some of the aforementioned British stories echo the more famous tale of Arnold Paole from Austria, which was recorded in an Austrian Army Officers account from the 1700's, and is one of the earliest stories about a supposed vampire. Arnold was attacked by a vampire while walking through a graveyard in the dead of night; he managed to track the vampire to its grave, cut its head off with a spade, and ate some of the grave dirt in an attempt to ward off the vampires curse, namely that he would become a vampire himself.When he returned to his village all was well for a few years until Arnold broke his neck in a fall from a hay cart. After his interment strange things began to happen, people spoke of seeing Arnold wandering the village in the dark hours, and some of the villagers were discovered dead in the mornings after these sightings, apparently drained of all blood. These incidents could only lead to the speculation that Arnold had succumbed to the vampires curse. The rumours came to the ears of the Austrian army, who were sent to investigate. Arnold body was exhumed and found to be un-decayed, fresh blood was found to be flowing from the mouth, eyes and nose, and fresh skin and nails had grown. They quickly set to the grim task of destroying what they believed to be an undead, and drove a stake through the heart of the corpse, which let out and audible groan and bled from the wound as though it were alive. 

Disease and Natural Effects 

In the past when little was known about the mechanisms of diseases, especially infectious diseases and those that strike without warning, it was easy to blame them on some supernatural entity, which could become the focus for everyone's grief. Also in stressful and dangerous times such as plague outbreaks, superstition and strange beliefs must have held a strong sway over fearful minds. 

Many of the attributes looked for in a vampire grave: bloated well-fed bodies with long nails and blood red skin, are related to the natural effects of decomposition. Gases build up in the body causing it to become bloated, the blood breaks down to give a deep red appearance, and skin shrinks back to make nails, teeth and hair appear longer than in life. Driving a stake through a body would lead to the rupture of gases and gore as though the body were still alive, the noise perhaps being mistaken for a groan or death sigh, especially with the hysteria that would be produced during such a supposed epidemic. 

The Vampire in Literature 

The strongest tradition about vampires exists in central Europe, where the first printed accounts of vampires appeared from the 17th century onwards, indeed the vampires of Eastern Europe were thought to have run amok during the 18th century, which has a parallel with the witch mania of Western Europe. 

The real emergence of the vampire into common knowledge came with its appearance in the pages of fiction. The 1819 novel Vampyre - by Doctor John Polidori - Lord Byron's physician - was the first vampire of British fiction, then came Varney the Vampire written by Thomas Pecket Prest in 1847, as a series of Penny Dreadfuls, and then Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897. Dracula - originally entitled The Undead - was based on the bloodthirsty Vlad VI, known as 'Vlad the Impaler' for his gruesome penchant of impaling his enemies on sharpened spikes. Vlad ruled in Transylvania during the 15th century.Stoker brought together many seperate strands of folklore for his book, and is responsible for defining the image of the vampire, which remains to this day. A few places in Britain will now forever be associated with Dracula, especially Whitby with its gothic abbey ruins, the place where Dracula came ashore as a black hound. Stoker had probably heard about the black dog that was supposed to haunt the cliffs of Whitby and utilised the legend for his novel. 

Today the popularity of the vampire in fictional portrayal is greater than ever before, there is a long list of recent films about their nocturnal exploits, and the cult series Buffy has done much to bring the myth into contemporary focus. In some ways these portrayals may add to the myth, although if Buffy is anything to go by modern vampires are best subdued with a stunning roundhouse kick to the head. Of course Buffy is all in fun but there is also a dark side, with some recent murders having been linked with people delving into dark vampiric tendencies and preoccupations.  (

Parkinson n.d.)

 

Zombies:

(Anon. n.d)

You know what I find really interesting about zombies?  Unlike almost all of their monster contemporaries, they are the only ones who are believed to be entirely fictional.  And I'm talking about the undead, flesh-eating types, not the mind-controlled voodoo ones.  
Nobody claims to have seen a zombie shuffling through the woods or has had investigators checking out zombie tracks from an alleged attack the night before.  There simply aren't sightings like there are for werewolves, vampires, or the Jersey Devil.  Zombies are entirely fictional creatures, at least for the moment. 

You know what I find really interesting about zombies?  Unlike almost all of their monster contemporaries, they are the only ones who are believed to be entirely fictional.  And I'm talking about the undead, flesh-eating types, not the mind-controlled voodoo ones.   

Nobody claims to have seen a zombie shuffling through the woods or has had investigators checking out zombie tracks from an alleged attack the night before.  There simply aren't sightings like there are for werewolves, vampires, or the Jersey Devil.  Zombies are entirely fictional creatures, at least for the moment. 

What are Zombies? 

Though it is difficult to come up with a single definition of what makes a proper zombie, there are enough commonalities between the core mythologies to fashion a fairly simple description.
First things first, zombies don't think for themselves.  Whether they are consumed by rage, a mind-controlling disease or magic spell, or are simply too dead to reason anymore, a proper zombie cannot think for itself.  This is what makes them so scary - there is no reasoning with them, no cure for their infection, they don't get tired, and they don't stop coming at you, no matter what.  Some (particularly more modern) writers have tried to change things up by creating zombies that reason, strategize, and even lead others.  In my opinion, this is where I have to draw the line.  It is no longer a zombie if it can think for itself or reason between any options on a higher level than instinct alone.  You now have a weird, crazy, possibly undead person - not a zombie.
Secondly, a zombie's only real instinct is to feed off of living flesh. At this point we have to separate out the Haitian zombi (which I will from hereon only refer to as a 'zombi'), as these are essentially people whose minds are being controlled by a living person (magical though they may be).  A 'zombie', whether the living dead type or the disease-induced rage type, wants only to kill and to feed, and like a snobby food critic - only wants the freshest ingredients.  I'm not so concerned if one particular mythology describes their walking dead as simply wanting to take a bite out of you, literally eating as much of you as possible, or is picky enough to only want to eat brains.  It's all basically the same thing - feed on the living, the smarter the better. 

At this point it seems fair to be able to split the remaining zombies into two categories - the fast ones and the slow ones.  Again, different mythologies have different definitions, but in our quest to define a "singular truth", provided below is how I would define the two primary types. 

Fast Zombies 

You start with a human being.  That human being is infected with a virus that causes them to lose all control.  They become mindless, rage-filled death machines looking only to kill and feed.  They are not unlike a transformed werewolf in this way.  This 'fast zombie' is essentially like a diseased PCP addict on a rampage, except they seek out 'normal' people to devour for food.  The hunger is what drives them.  As with any virus, it looks to spread.  Essentially the virus overtakes the human's mind and begins controlling it, driving the infected to spread this virus through saliva and blood transmission.
Unlike werewolves or vampires, the bite of a zombie is dangerous in that it contains a virus, rather than a bacteria.  The virus takes over the victim's mind, and it's primary concern is to spread.  This is why zombies do not attack one another.  There is no need to infect someone who is already infected.  The virus is smart.  It knows this already.
So the zombie looks to bite, or to spit blood or saliva on a victim.  Both the blood and saliva of a zombie are teeming with the virus.  The animal part of the creature looks to feed, and so it often tries to eat its victim, which displeases the virus.  But what can it do?  A feeding zombie lives to infect again another day.  The virus is patient that way.  It understands. 

Slow Zombies 

Slow zombies are essentially the "living dead" or "walking dead".  They are the re-animated bodies of dead people and their goal is primarily to feed on living flesh.  The idea here is that their bodies are dead and rotting away and the only way to keep them 'alive' is by consuming living flesh.  Think of it like how a living person can cut himself and have the wound heal over time.  Our bodies are constantly regenerating new cells to replace dead or damaged cells, so it makes sense that zombies would seek this regenerative flesh in order to at least partially restore dead cells in their own bodies.  The slow ones in particular seem to favor brains, possibly because the human brain has significantly stronger regenerative power for the undead than the rest of the body.
How they are re-animated happens in two primary ways.  Like fast zombies, a human can become infected through the transmission of a virus via an exchange of bodily fluids.  Unlike their faster counterparts, the victim usually dies before the body becomes reborn as a zombie.  They are truly just dead people walking around and looking for living flesh to feed off of.  One could create an army of the walking dead using only a virus, but this type of zombie also seems to reconnect with the original Haitian "zombi", where the creatures can be controlled through some form of black magic.  The only real difference between this type of slow zombie and the Haitian "zombi" is that the slow zombie is indeed dead, while the Haitian zombi may still be a living person. 

(Anon., n.d.)

 

I think that our obession with death is channelled into these characters. Especially with the new modern obsession with Zombies, I think it's partly because we want to know if we as individuals would be able to survive in an apocalypse type situation. I mean, I have my Zombie Apocalypse plan. Do you?