The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes

By Claude Lecouteux

Book Overview

A look at the forgotten ancestors of the modern-day vampire, many of which have very different characteristics - Looks at the many ancestoral forms of the modern vampire, including shroud eaters, appesarts, and stafi - Presents evidence for the reality of this phenomenon from pre-19th-century newspaper articles and judicial records Of all forms taken by the undead, the vampire wields the most powerful pull on the modern imagination. But the countless movies and books inspired by this child of the night who has a predilection for human blood are based on incidents recorded as fact in newspapers and judicial archives in the centuries preceding the works of Bram Stoker and other writers. Digging through these forgotten records, Claude Lecouteux unearths a very different figure of the vampire in the many accounts of individuals who reportedly would return from their graves to attack the living. These ancestors of the modern vampire were not all blood suckers; they included shroud eaters, appesarts, nightmares, and the curious figure of the stafia, whose origin is a result of masons secretly interring the shadow of a living human being in the wall of a building under construction. As Lecouteux shows, the belief in vampires predates ancient Roman times, which abounded with lamia, stirges, and ghouls. Discarding the tacked together explanations of modern science for these inexplicable phenomena, the author looks back to another folk belief that has come down through the centuries like that of the undead: the existence of multiple souls in every individual, not all of which are able to move on to the next world after death.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594773254
• ISBN13: 9781594773259
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Inner Traditions International
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Vampire!

Bella Lagosi is stil among us according to Claude Lecouteux, the author. Were they real? Items of fiction? Misunderstoond figures in literature and film? Lecouteux is someone who believes that belief in vampires predates the Roman Empire. And, modern science, does it explain the unexplainable? Vampires, multiple souls in one individual, blood suckers, and ghouls? Fact, or fiction?

Highly recommended, especially for public library folklore shelves

The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes is an insightful look into the origins of vampire folklore and mythology, examining a diversity of inspirational incidents, records, and myths that may have contributed to the modern concept of the vampire - well before Bram Stoker's classic horror novel "Dracula". Incidents recorded as fact in newspaper and judicial archives long past piece together a variety of different predecessors to the modern-day vampire: shroud eaters, appesarts, nightmares, and even the stafia, which supposedly arose from masons secretly interring the shadow of a living human being into the wall of a building under construction. Anyone curious into the origins of myths in general and the public perception of vampires in particular absolutely must read The Secret History of Vampires! Highly recommended, especially for public library folklore shelves.