Etymology



Becoming a Vampire:


  1. The 7th son of the 7th son
  2. A cat jumping over corpse turns the corpse into a vamp (England); in Romania the same but the cure (antidote) is to put a piece of iron into the corpse's hand or place Hawthorn in the coffin
  3. A baby born with teeth or a caul or stillborn
  4. A dead body that has been reflected in a mirror
  5. Someone bitten by a vamp
  6. Suicides
  7. People who die suddenly & violently
  8. Those who do not receive proper burial
  9. People who have eaten he meat of a sheep that has been killed by a wolf
  10. Having red hair (Greece only)
  11. By renouncing the Eastern Orthodox religion (which is why the peasants may have thought Vlad was a vampire)
  12. By being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox church
  13. Wild dogs jumping over a corpse
  14. Never leave any KNOT in the coffin -- a tie or a rope since it was thought to prevent the corpse's decay and to disturb the dead person's ability to make the transition into another life

Apotropaics

or
The art of Fooling and Controlling Vampires (and the dead in general)
These are methods of turning away evil:
  1. Take the most tortuous route home from the cemetery in order discourage ghosts from following you
  2. Wear unfamiliar clothing (disguise)
  3. Wear grotesque makeup (disguise)
  4. Impaling the corpse or breaking its legs and severing its head (so it can't see and can't run ... that ought to do it!). A severed head was sometimes p