Vampires Read online

  Contents

  Introduction

  The SAU in Action

  European Vampires

  North American Vampires

  African Vampires

  Asian Vampires

  South American Vampires

  Conclusion

  Introduction

  From the highly regarded classic to the downright ridiculous, vampire stories have fascinated humanity for centuries. But is there more to these narratives than poetic license? Similarities in the depiction of the creatures and their behavior within these texts is clearly evident, and real-world reports of vampire-related events have contributed to the cultural history of almost every continent in the world, be it through oral retelling or actual documentation.

  There has been little respect for studies into the existence of vampires, a creature that is long considered to have been a product of superstition, given life by the whispers of legend and folklore. The authors of this guide are great admirers of vampires and have spent many nights researching and documenting vampire species from around the globe. In fact, it was during our own separate lines of research that we first crossed paths. From the moment we began debating Séan Manchester’s theories put forward for the case of the Highgate vampire incidents from the 1970s, we knew we had found a kindred spirit in one another.

  In 2009, our work attracted the attention of the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – a United Nations agency that sponsors programs in arts, communication and culture. UNESCO had been playing close attention to our research as we delved headfirst into the vampire underworld. We saw the worst the species had to offer during our time behind the front lines. We wanted to understand the creatures better: where do they come from? What is their motivation? Are they merely victims of scapegoating? The information our research has uncovered is both fascinating and alarming.

  During our work with UNESCO, the organization was able to confirm one startling piece of information that the authors had long suspected: hunters the world over have been independently fighting vampires for millennia. Until now, their activities had stayed mostly hidden and the vampire threat was kept relatively under control. But now the underworld is a hive of activity as the “undead” prepare to assemble their forces and rise up against humanity.

  UNESCO is reacting by aggressively stepping up the recruitment and training of its own counter-units. Vampire hunters are being deployed across the globe to fight the massing hordes of vampires. Dubbed SAU (Special Action Units), these groups are using every piece of information at their disposal to neutralize the growing threat.

  What we have compiled is a handbook of sorts: a basic background to the vampires, drawing on information that we have gathered through our research and first-hand experience with these deadly and uncompromising creatures. Within these pages, you will find explanations of a number of vampires in areas across five continents: Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and South America. We have focused our content on a select number of vampire subspecies – those that present the biggest threats to humanity now and in the foreseeable future – within the three principal classes of vampire: haemophages (blood drinkers), psychics, and a combination of the two.

  Studying our targets’ origins will allow a greater understanding of their behavior and motivations. We reach far back into prehistory, beyond even the first recorded mention of the creatures in the Russian Primary Chronicle (1047), a historical text that features a Novogorodian priest known as Upyr’ Likhij (Wicked Vampire). Though the Slavic origin of the “vampire” has established Europe as a hotbed of vampiric activity for more than a thousand years, our research proves that the reach of the vampire is far greater than we could have ever imagined.

  Strigoi, the classic European vampires, are extremely difficult to photograph. Not only do they generally not want their pictures taken, but their images seem to slide off film in a way not completely understood to science. This situation has somewhat improved with the rise of digital photography, but authentic photographs of vampires remain a rarity.

  No guide to vampire hunting would be complete without an analysis of the methods used to destroy the enemy. As each vampire has evolved in its surroundings, hunters have retaliated by adapting their skills and techniques to take on the threats in their locale. The comprehensive examination of each hunter, from their humble beginnings to their current practices and successes, is told with a view to inform. Today’s vampire hunters should look to the styles that follow to influence their own methods as they prepare to fight every type of vampire, as more and more species migrate from their native countries to integrate themselves into foreign covens. A new, global empire is on the horizon, one that will threaten the existence of the human species as we know it.

  Our studies have been prepared to arm any potential vampire hunter with the knowledge required to support their training and become skilled in their profession. Forget everything you thought you knew about vampires – your education starts right here.

  A still from the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu. After a legal battle involving the Bram Stoker estate, all copies of the film were ordered destroyed by the German courts. Thankfully one copy survived this purge. Many have interpreted the incident as an effort by European vampires to suppress knowledge of their existence. (Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy)

  THE SAU IN ACTION

  At dusk on the evening of September 13, 1995, an unusual religious service was held in the chapel of the UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force) base at Divilji Barracks, in Split, Croatia. Operation Deliberate Force, the UN’s belated response to the siege of Sarajevo and the atrocities being committed by Serb forces in Bosnia, was two days old.

  Gathered in the chapel were a dozen men and women from as many nations; the Catholic priest now blessing them had heard their confessions and was now saying Mass for the group who, to any outsider, might have looked like Special Forces operatives or private security contractors. They had no definitive uniform, other than that they all wore black and crucifixes hung around their necks. Piled by the door were their UN-issue blue helmets and their weapons: automatic shotguns and high-powered assault rifles, all low-velocity types. Clearly, whatever ammunition they fired was intended to stay in the target. Each gun carried a torch, at first glance apparently white light or infrared, but all actually ultra-violet.

  Closer inspection would also have revealed that the body armor they wore was acid-etched with Biblical inscriptions in Latin and Serbo-Croat, and religious iconography was subtly worked into the metal and ceramics. Their weapons also held unusual ammunition. The shotgun rounds fired flechettes of consecrated, carbonized wood or ball-bearings of silver, also blessed. The assault rifles, all 7.62mm caliber, used silver or carbon graphite slugs converted to illegal dum-dums.

  Just after midnight, the team of the innocuously named First Special Action Unit climbed aboard two British Army Lynx helicopters, part of the Heli Ops flight based at Split. It could have been carrying an SAS unit out on a night insertion, and was a pretty regular sight at Split. The blue UN helmets were still in the chapel when the Lynx took off and headed off into the dark. Air attacks were under way across Bosnia, and the Lynx flight was just two aircraft amongst dozens on the move that night.

  They headed towards the Dinaric Alps that ran next to the Adriatic Sea, along the Croatian coast. Flying just above the treetops, the Lynx flight was heading towards a hidden cave deep within the rugged mountain chain.

  The 1st SAU’s (nicknamed “saw”) mission had begun the week before – the actual dates and times remain largely classified. The unit had inserted itself into the UNPROFOR base with ease. Many nations had contingents at the base and new faces came and went with monotonous frequency. There was a veritable bazar of uniform types
. It was easy for those on missions of questionable veracity to come and go. The SAU’s mission was one known to very few select members of the UN mission and NATO high command, and a few government officials. The unit received the most classified intelligence but also had access to the very latest reconnaissance imagery from across the war-torn region. But it also drew information from all manner of sources. The unit looked at raw news footage and reports from journalists throughout the war zone, from Special Forces patrols, UN inspectors and aerial reconnaissance interpretation units. They even interviewed prisoners of war and defectors. And if anyone asked why – and they rarely did – they were gathering evidence for war crimes tribunals.

  This shot of unmarked Black Hawk helicopters is thought to be the only photographic evidence of SAU activity in Bosnia. (US Department of Defense)

  But their real target was something far more deadly, the Strigoi.

  Centuries of hunters had made the Strigoi rare in their home territories. However, the breakup of Yugoslavia changed that. As Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia fractured and the specter of ethnic cleansing fell upon the region, reports began to emerge of renewed activity by the Strigoi. No longer capable of lording it over terrified peasantry, their castles had long since fallen to ruin and their mausoleums had been destroyed by terrified locals. Their lairs remained undetected, but as the situation in the Balkans degenerated, rumors began to circulate that not all of the killing could be attributed to the work of frenzied paramilitaries or genocidal militias killing unfortunate Muslims. It seems the Strigoi initially tried to cover up their activities by burning their victims, but UN pathologists exhuming a grave in northern Bosnia found the dead to be exsanguinated. The report was initially attributed to some kind of ritualistic behavior by a guerrilla unit and largely ignored, but it piqued the interest of regional vampire hunters. Word spread throughout the hunting community and officials at the UN began investigating in earnest.

  As the situation around Sarajevo worsened in the summer of 1995, the first real signs of Strigoi activity appeared (and were subsequently classified and obfuscated). Mass killings hinted that the vampires, after decades – even centuries – of isolation and near-extinction, and with so much real killing going on to hide their own appetites, found themselves like foxes in a hencoop. They killed without restraint. A UN vehicle patrol near Tuzla in August 1995 found a busload of women and children killed. There was no attempt to hide the bodies, which had clearly been exsanguinated. There was nothing organized in the butchery, nothing to suggest an execution. It was enough to bring real fear to the locals, while the UN troops (from Holland) were immediately transferred out of the region to stop any rumors spreading. UN special pathologists arrived on the scene the following night and treated the bodies of the dead (using decapitation and cardiac puncture), which were then cremated.

  The Strigoi’s lack of finesse eventually gave them away. A shepherd boy had discovered what appeared to be a new cave system high in the Dinaric Alps. He also reported seeing large, red-furred bats. A UNESCO science team, ignoring the situation in the region, decided to investigate, hoping the boy might have discovered caves similar to the Movile system in Romania, with its unique groundwater ecosystem.

  A photographic reconstruction of one of the Strigoi encountered by SAU agents during their mission of September 13, 1995.

  Two days after arriving at the caves, and after some exciting initial finds, the team reported seeing a beautiful, red-haired woman watching them from the cave. That night, the boy guide vanished. By the following day, contact with the team had ceased. The general conclusion was that they had been kidnapped, or worse.

  In Split, the SAU followed the reports with interest. Under the guise of investigating the disappearance, the SAU launched their mission of September 13.

  After rappelling into the ravine from the helicopters, the team used night-vision goggles (NVGs) to negotiate their way to the cave entrance. There was a strong smell of ammonia. Prepared for such an eventuality, they put on gas masks and entered the cave.

  Deep inside, they discovered a massive bat colony. The conditions could only be described as hellish. Huge dunes of guano (which rained down constantly from the roosting bats in the cave roof) were covered in a seething mass of cockroaches and other bugs. The smell was appalling and the constant flittering of the bats cluttered the NVGs, drawing light from the bioluminescence emanating from the rotting dung.

  Struggling up the guano dunes and further into the caves, the SAU had their first inclination of something amiss when one of the team spotted a large, red-furred bat overhead. When it was hit by a beam of UV torchlight, it emitted an incredibly high-pitched scream.

  Shortly after, the SAU was attacked.

  Corroborated reports tell us what happened in those caves. Harpy-like Strigoaică (female Strogoi) descended out of nowhere, and in seconds at least two SAU members were dead. The roar of gunfire echoing around the caves stirred up the bats, who took to the air in a whirlwind of wings. Chaos ensued and the team were forced to retire, but not before at least two Strigoaică were hit by fire. One lay screaming and flapping, her wing shredded by a flechette round. One of the team shot her in the chest and throat with silver shotgun rounds. A second was blasted out of the air by a shot to the chest, which vaporized under a storm of wooden darts.

  In disarray, the team made it out of the cave, but five were dead and three were injured – one by friendly fire, hit in the shoulder by silver shotgun pellets. The others were scratched but none bitten.

  Evacuated by the helicopters, the survivors called down fire from an orbiting AC-130H Spectre gunship operating with the 16th Special Operations Group out of Brindisi. Cannon fire collapsed the entrance of the cave but it remains unknown if any of the Strigoi escaped. To be certain that the entrance remained properly sealed, two Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from the guided-missile cruiser, the USS Normandy, into the cave entrance, their huge 1,000lb warheads bringing the cave and surrounding ravine crashing down.

  The hunt was now on for any Strigoi who may have fled the battle, while the SAU retired to lick its wounds.

  The USS Normandy, which fired the final shots (a pair of Tomahawk cruise missiles) during the September 13, 1995 mission. (US Department of Defense)

  European Vampires

  Early History of the Strigoi

  The fear of returning from the dead dates back to prehistory, and if there was ever a geographical center for that fear, it was Europe. In an Iron Age site in Bavaria, a violently killed woman was buried beneath a large stone, presumably to keep her from rising from her grave.

  Ancient Greece was an early home of the vampire legend. Empusa was the demonic daughter of the goddess Hecate, herself often associated with witchcraft, magic and crossroads. Empusa drank the blood of men she seduced as a beautiful young woman. Another goddess, Lamia, drained young children in revenge for the killing of her own infants by Zeus’ wife, Hera, after the latter discovered Lamia’s affair with her husband.

  An Albanian Shtriga, a variety of Strigoi that dispels the myth that all vampires are beautiful. (Reconstruction by Hauke Kock)

  Despite their apparently unnatural origins, the first vampires were still limited by certain laws of nature. As a “top predator,” their numbers remained small and they were limited by slow reproductive rates, whether via actually breeding or by the “turning” of victims. Even so, around the Carpathians and eastern Alps, vampires became an increasing hazard for the local population.

  It was in the first few centuries AD, and largely through the Christianization of the region, that the first countermeasures were developed against these first “true” vampires, now known as the Strigoi. Hunters used to dealing with wolves and bears refined methods to kill vampires that were initially fairly straightforward: beheading, burning and staking, often all three.

  However, with the region’s population becoming more firmly Christian in the following centuries, it seems the first amuletic defences started to becom
e common. Studies indicate that this use of religious symbols to ward off vampires may have arisen as a result of local Christians being turned into vampires. Devoted in their beliefs, it is possible that these victims felt themselves cursed or demonized, and as such vulnerable to Christian symbols such as the cross and holy water. These beliefs could have been psychosomatically very powerful, to the extent that they took on actual physical manifestations, and if the vampires’ beliefs were powerful enough it was passed on culturally within the colony. As such, a psychological belief became an instinctive one, possibly passed on at an almost genetic level.

  It was also during the 5th and 6th centuries that the first warrior priests appeared. They were trained in local monasteries, but as boys were already well versed in the art of hunting wolves and bears, and with a deep-rooted familiarity with the surrounding landscape. As such, they knew the likely hideouts of vampires, be it a cave system or an abandoned farmstead, and how to track them to their lair. For the first time since prehistory, humanity was taking the fight to the vampires that they had named the Strigoi.

  TYPES OF STRIGOI

  Like many top predators, the Strigoi have cultures adapted to specialist prey. This has led to the rise in a belief that there are a number of different European vampire types. Actually, they are all now believed to be the same species of the Strigoi vampire, and are found throughout Europe.

  Pijavica: a Strigoi particular to the Balkans and Czech Republic, said to be a vampire created by the incestuous union of mother and son, and limiting their prey to family members. (The incestuous union could actually be a case of vampirism interpreted as a sexual act.)

  Shtriga: An Albanian variation that lacks the usual beautiful female appearance and is instead hideous or demonic, or like an ancient crone. However, they still favor the blood of infants. Reports claim that a Shtriga can prevent the turning of her victim by spitting in their mouth. This has been interpreted as a possible natural “antivenom” contained within the Shtriga, and efforts are under way by SAU to capture one of these particular specimens. They are thought to be vulnerable to garlic and pig-bone crosses.