by Brian Righi
A second ward, briefly mentioned in the case of the Polish man above, is salt. While generally utilized as a food preservative and seasoning, it’s not only the oldest mineral used by man but also essential in sustaining human life as one of the primary electrolytes in the body. In some traditions its powers went even beyond these, and it was placed in the cribs of infants to protect them from evil until they could be baptized or upon coffins before burial to keep evil spirits from entering the corpse. Even in today’s world of scientific reasoning and rationalism, glimpses of its former use still remain in the superstition of throwing a pinch of it over the shoulder if a salt shaker is accidentally knocked over.
As with garlic, there were a number of plants and herbs employed as wards against the vampire, including mustard seeds, which were sprinkled on the rooftops of many European homes to keep the creature out. The same effect was achieved in certain South American countries by hanging an aloe plant behind a door. In Bosnia, one interesting ritual, practiced by women when visiting a neighbor’s house in which a death had recently occurred, acted not so much as a repellent to vampires but rather as a distraction. Before setting out, a woman placed a small twig of hawthorn in her apron pocket. After her respects were paid to the grieving family, she set out once again for home, and along the way dropped the twig on the road behind her. If the recently deceased neighbor had suffered the misfortune of becoming a vampire and was trying to follow the woman home, it would come across the hawthorn twig lying in the road and spring on it without hesitation, allowing its would-be victim time to escape unharmed.
Another type of ward that found its way into the folklore of the vampire included the use of certain metals such as copper, iron, steel, and silver, which were most often fashioned into amulets or other objects. The more precious the metal, the more power it held over evil—with silver topping the list against both werewolves and vampires, who found its very touch toxic to their system. Silver was particularly favored from ancient times because of its associations with purity and the mysterious powers of the moon, and it was used as an antidote against maladies brought on by evil spirits, including diseases, sicknesses of the mind, and the effects of the evil eye. In some countries, silver nails were used to seal coffins and therefore any vampires or evil spirits trying to escape from within. Because of silver’s highly reflective surface, it was also worked in much the same way as a mirror. Since tradition held that revenants had no souls and could not cast reflections or shadows, it was only logical then that a creature of such kind who came across a mirror or similar surface and did not see itself reflected back would immediately become terrified and flee.
Even certain colors played a role in the traditions surrounding the vampire. For instance, though the color red was often linked to the condition of corpses suffering from vampirism, it was also a hue guaranteed to drive them away. In the Slavic countries, peasants frequently tied red ribbons to the horns of their cattle to protect the livestock from vampiric infection, as such an infection could in turn be passed to any humans consuming the meat. Red ribbons were also woven into the hair of women and children to protect them not only from vampires but from the power of the evil eye as well. In Greece the primary color was blue, which was painted on windowsills and door frames to keep the undead from entering the house uninvited. Necklaces of blue beads with the image of an eye were worn in a like manner for a more personal defense.
In some localities the practices that developed to ward off vampires demonstrate more clearly the true desperation that many felt in the face of the vampire threat. For instance, some remedies against vampire attacks included digging up the body of the suspected vampire and covering oneself in its blood or at the very least the dirt from its grave. In the famous cases of Arnod Paole and Peter Plogojowitz, the grisly custom was observed, but unfortunately for the victims in both cases it seemed to have little effect. In parallel traditions the blood or ashes of a cremated vampire could be mixed with wine or baked into bread in the hopes that it would serve as an antidote against the threat. In other areas it was the smoke that resulted from burning the body of the creature that promised a measure of protection, and villagers lined up to pass through the burning cloud of the pyre on such occasions. Vestiges of these practices continued at least into the late nineteenth century in rural areas of Rhode Island and Connecticut, where accounts emerged of families exhuming tuberculosis victims, burning their hearts, and consuming the ashes to protect themselves from a disease they thought very similar to vampirism.
Perhaps the most commonly associated ward in the long struggle against the vampire, thanks in part to its frequent appearance in modern vampire films, is the crucifix of the Christian church. Considered one of the most powerful talismans against evil, its origins actually predate the founding of Christianity by many centuries and has been linked to the worship of sun gods among the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and others. In the first century BCE, it began appearing on the facades of tombs in Italy as a protective ward and on Roman coins bearing the stamp of Jupiter, the ruler of the gods. In the Christian church the crucifix came to symbolize the sacrifice of Christ and the authority of the church over the world. To the European peasant it was a potent device representing all that was good and divine, and therefore could be used against witches, demons, and vampires, all of whom were forced to flee at the very sight of it.
Even making the sign of the cross, either on the body or in the air with one’s hand, carried the power to thwart all manner of evil. During the infamous witch burnings of the Middle Ages, inquisitors repeatedly made the sign of the cross in the presence of suspected witches to counteract any spells they might cast. The use of religious objects wasn’t limited to the crucifix, however, and the particular device depended on the beliefs of the culture using them. For example, Shinto seals from holy shrines in Asian folklore were most effective in dealing with vampires from those countries.
Magic Spells and Sacred Sites
Closely related to talismans and other protective wards was the application of magic when fighting vampires. Also known as sorcery, the ancient art relies on a series of prescribed actions and words imbued with mystical power to bring about a desired result. In Malaysia, for example, primitive sorcerers developed potent spells against the feared langsuir, a demoness similar to Lilith, as in the following fragment:
O ye mosquito—fry at the river’s mouth,
When yet a great way off ye are sharp of eye;
When near, ye are hard of heart.
When the rock in the ground opens of itself,
Then (and then only) be emboldened the hearts
Of my foes and opponents!
When the corpse in the ground opens of itself,
Then (and then only) be emboldened the hearts
Of my foes and opponents!
May your heart be softened when you behold me,
By grace of this prayer that I use, called Silam Bayu.
(Summers 2005, 255)
In the more Christianized countries of Europe, acts that suggested any form of magic were often disdained as witchcraft and could therefore be punished by imprisonment, torture, and even death. While many Christians believed magic to be derived from the dark powers of the devil, in truth many of their own practices mirrored that of the supernatural craft or in some cases evolved from it. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer, church litanies, or reading aloud from the Bible were methods used to exorcise demons, deflect curses, and drive off vampires. In some customs, spitting on the ground in the presence of a vampire would deter it from attacking—the act being a remnant of pre-Christian times when people believed the soul was in some ways linked to a person’s saliva and the action of spitting an offering to the gods for good luck.
In Bulgaria there was one unusual method designed to trap a vampire that incorporated a unique blend of both pagan and Christian elements. A sorcerer, or djadadjii, armed
with the picture of a saint, would lay in wait for the undead creature to pass by on one of its nocturnal outings and would spring out in ambush with the holy icon before him. The vampire in turn would flee the djadadjii and race about looking for a safe place to hide, but whether it chose the dark corners of a barn or the hollowed-out trunks of trees, the wily sorcerer rooted it out. Eventually the vampire had no other option but to take refuge in a bottle that the djadadjii specially prepared with a fragment of the saint’s picture within. Once the vampire was inside the bottle, the sorcerer corked the bottle tight, and after saying the proper prayer cast it into a fire and the vampire would be no more.
In addition to these various forms of magic was a belief that certain physical barriers or sacred sites could not be crossed or trespassed on by vampires. The best example of this is the theory that they could not step foot on consecrated ground. The word consecrated means “to associate with the sacred,” and was applied to churches, graveyards, and homes blessed by a priest. Remember: corpses suspected of becoming a revenant were not buried in consecrated ground but in isolated areas or crossroads away from the public. Almost as if to counter this belief, however, in most of the reports of vampire infestations handed down over the centuries, the first place frightened villagers looked for the source of the vampire infestation was in their local graveyard.
Another area traditionally off limits to the vampire was a person’s home, which the vampire could not enter without first being invited, under the pretext that evil could not enter a person’s home unless it was brought in by the owners. Running water was another barrier they could not cross because of the vampire’s association with causing droughts. Bloated bodies suspected of vampirism would also float if cast into water, giving the impression that the water was rejecting them. Because of its life-giving properties and numerous biblical references, water was also an element representing purity and could therefore not be touched by the vampire. The only exception in some traditions was that the fiends could cross water at the ebb and flow of the tide. Finally, other magical barriers existed that harkened back to more ancient times, such as the practice of taking twin brothers and having them plow a furrow around a house or village with a team of oxen. As long as the furrow remained intact, no vampire could cross it.
The Rites of Burial
When crucifixes and magic spells failed to do the trick, many Eastern European communities developed complex burial rituals meant to address the continuous threat of the vampire. Since evil spirits relied on decaying corpses as their vehicle to wreak evil upon the world, it only made sense that bodies be prepared in a manner that ensured they did not rise again. Such a process began shortly after a person’s death with the ritual cleaning of the body by the family of the deceased. The corpse was normally washed in either water or wine, but in some cases, such as among the Wallachians, it was also rubbed with the lard of a pig killed on St. Ignatius Day. The clothing the person died in was usually exchanged for new garments, with the old set taken out and burned immediately. If the death occurred in the house, it too was cleaned from top to bottom. This ritual cleansing was a means to purify the body and the home and protect the soul, which still lingered about, from the evil influences that might lead to it becoming a vampire.
Once this was accomplished, the arms of the corpse were folded across its chest in the form of a rudimentary cross and the eyes were weighted shut with coins. Not only did the coins prohibit an infected corpse from casting the evil eye, but they were also part of an earlier tradition that believed the soul needed money in the afterlife to pay Charon “the Ferryman of Hades” to transport it across the river Styx and into the land of souls. The mouth of the corpse was stuffed with cloth or wool before being shut, or in some cultures with items such as garlic, gold coins, or religious icons as well. In areas such as Saxony, lemons were used, while in China jade served the same purpose.
The act of stuffing and binding the mouth fulfilled two very important purposes: the first was to prohibit demons and evil spirits from entering the body, while the second ensured the corpse could not begin to feed upon its burial shroud and spread disease. Recently, Italian archeologists unearthed the body of a woman from a mass grave on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island, near the city of Venice, where she had been buried with a small brick deliberately placed between her upper and lower teeth. The 1576 plague victim was suspected of having been a vampire, and gravediggers routinely stuffed bricks in the mouths of such corpses to prevent the spread of the plague.
Other items of significance that were left on dead bodies included shards of pottery or wax crosses bearing the inscription “Jesus Christ Conquers.” Among the Greeks a candle known as the isou was crafted at the time of the person’s death and placed on the chest of the corpse until burial. Once lighted, it was thought to provide enough illumination for the soul so that it would not become lost in the forty days it was required to roam the earth after death.
While the body awaited burial, family and friends kept a constant vigil over it in order to guarantee that the proper respect was being shown and that all the necessary funeral rites were observed. After all, they were the ones who had the most to lose if the person came back as a vampire since traditionally it chose its first victims from among those closest to them in life. Any mirrors in the home were also covered to make sure the wayward soul did not become trapped within them, and clocks were stopped in order to place the soul in a type of suspended state that protected it from the ever-present demonic forces at work. Finally, crosses were painted on the exterior of the house in tar or other substances in a last-ditch effort to seal it from contaminating influences.
When the appointed time for the burial did finally arrive, the utmost care was taken when removing the body from the safety of the home. Often the body was removed through the back door feet first, or a hole was cut in the wall or roof for its removal in the hopes that if the body did rise again it would be unable to find its way back home. Even the route of the procession followed a prescribed pattern, usually traveling from east to west along the path of the sun—and failure to observe the ritual meant the corpse would become cursed along with those accompanying the body. Finally, if the person had lived an upright and moral life, following the precepts of the church, they were eligible for burial in sacred ground consecrated by the church among the family and friends who went before them.
Once the body was in the grave, the local parish priest performed the church rites according to the faith of the deceased, which sometimes included a mass. After the last shovelful of dirt was cast atop the body, food was sometimes left at the grave under the pretense that a well-fed corpse had no need to rise from the dead and sup upon the blood of the living. In some regions, such as Germany, the act was merely symbolic and constituted little more than sprinkling rice or grain over the grave in a token offering. Among those of the Greek Orthodox faith, a supplemental burial was performed after a specified period of time in which the body was disinterred and examined for signs of vampirism. If none existed and the body’s process of decomposition seemed natural, the bones were cleaned with boiled water or wine and reburied in a new funeral shroud with all the previous burial customs.
If a person, however, had led an immoral life, was excommunicated by the church, committed suicide, or suffered some breach in burial protocols and there was even the slightest chance they might return as a vampire, means were devised to confuse or deceive the creature with something akin to early psychological warfare. This could in some cases mean simply burying the corpse facing downwards, so that if it attempted to dig its way out (thinking it was right side up) it would instead dig its way deeper into the earth. Often enough this was also a precaution for those later digging up the corpse to examine it for signs of vampirism, as the gaze of the revenant could kill a man or drive him crazy.
In many of the legends surrounding the creatures, they were not only known for their bloodthirsty habits but also for suf
fering from a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior, which crafty villagers were often quick to capitalize on. Sand and seeds were frequently left within the grave or coffin of the vampire, who in turn could not help but to stop and count each grain at the agonizingly slow pace of one a year. In a similar approach, some bodies were wrapped in fishing net; the vampire felt compelled to untie each and every knot before it could arise, in much the same fashion as with the grain-counting procedure.
Grave Restraints and Corpse Killing
If a few parlor tricks couldn’t do the job, then oftentimes cultures found ways to physically restrain or imprison the corpse so that it could not claw its way from the grave. One manner of achieving this was to pin the burial shroud of the corpse to the inside of the coffin and thus restrict its movements. Another, more popular version was simply to bind the arms and legs with leather thongs or ropes. In many areas heavy stones were also laid across the top of the grave, not only to keep scavengers from getting to the body but also to keep the body from getting out of the ground.
One ancient tale of such methods originated in County Derry, in Ireland, after a chieftain named Abhartach, who was renowned for his cruelty, was killed in a battle against a rival clan. Following his burial, Abhartach began reappearing to his kinsmen in search of blood to drink. Time and again the clansmen struck him down with swords and other weapons and reburied the body, but each night he rose again to wreak havoc among the people. At their wit’s end, the clan elders finally consulted a local Druid, who advised that they carve a wooden sword from a yew tree, and after striking him down with the sword, bury the corpse upside down with a heavy stone atop the grave. The next night when the vampire appeared again, the people did as the Druid instructed and the bloody chieftain arose no more.