October. The month where the clock chimes backwards, moving us deeper into conflicted dualities… a place somewhere between a cosy darkness and the quiet dread of fallen nights and leaves. Outrageous beauty gifted by the colours of trees and chunky jumpers ends with spookiness on All Hallows Eve, the 31^st, where the veil between our world and the charmed realm (spirit world) is at its thinnest and weakest.

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Recently, I shared a video about my experience of what I believe lies beyond this life, in the spirit realm, after surviving a 100mph motorbike crash (yes, really). Is it real? This is what most people want to know, and I can confirm from what I saw and felt in those harrowing moments and conditions, yes. It is. And the space between the two worlds is not to be dismissed.

            Enter, vampires.

Once portrayed as grotesque ancient creatures, and yes, I have a diploma in vampirology (really. Again), vampires today have become alluring and fascinating immortals. They possess a romantic edginess, a certain dark seduction, with their powers modernising alongside their villainous traits; they have taken on an almost magical hue.

Thousands of stories involving vampires have been (and will continue to be) written, but the question I’m bringing to your table is not is the other world real, but… Are vampires real?

The first written evidence about vampires can be found in a poem dating back to the 1700s. It is widely thought vampires originated in Transylvania; however, this is not true. They originated from Eastern Europe, mainly from the Slavic people and vampires are based on Eastern folklore and thought to be jealous and bitter of the living. 

According to Slavic lore, a person who becomes a vampire after their death has an invisible shadow around their corpse for 40 days, which, as they feed on blood, grows in strength, and the shadow eventually turns to a boneless jelly structure until the body looks as it did before they died. Many tactics were used to prevent suspect corpses from rising from their graves, and indeed, modern archaeologists have discovered many old graves and coffins across Europe with these measures in place.

I could write for a week on this topic, but let’s just dip a toe in today and explore who’s most likely to become a vampire, their traits, how to recognise one, and how to repel them. Cause you’ll need to know this if they are real, right?

Who becomes a Vampire?

The following reasons are said to be the causes why some people became (or become) vampires:

·      Practising witchcraft or sorcery

·      Physical disfigurement

·      A strange birth, for example, a child born with teeth in their hair

·      Those who have committed suicide

·      A child of a vampire

·      Having red hair

·      Talking to yourself

·      Neglected religious beliefs

·      A dead body being leapt over by a black cat

Traits of Vampires

Vampires have particular traits, whilst these have evolved over the years, listed below are a few of the core ones:

·      In folklore, vampires dress in what they died in, their eyebrows meet in the middle, and their fingers are all the same length

·      They need to drink blood

·      They are immortal

·      They have supernatural powers such as flying

·      They are powerful, strong, and fast

·      They can be killed by fire and a stake through the heart

·      They must be invited into a house or building to be able to enter it, after which they can come and go as they please

·      They can’t enter a church or any holy place

·      They can’t be seen in a mirror, which began in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

·      They sleep in the day as they dislike sunlight – this trait began in the Nosferatu film in 1922

Recognising a Vampire

Other obscure ways to recognise a vampire used by the ancients and many since… just in case they rock up in leather and grandeur like The Salvatore brothers (Vampire Diaries —#teamdamon), and you’d like to be sure! 

1.     If a suspect’s grave is opened, even years after their death, their corpse will be unusually intact

2.     They are often unexpected deaths of family or animals

3.     They return at night and may eat food or knock things around

4.     Female vampires often return to be with their children

5.     Their activity continues even after a priest reads holy words and verses at their grave

6.     There is a hole the size of a serpent on their gravestone. The size needed for a vampire to exit

7.     A white horse will not walk over the grave of a vampire

How to repel a vampire

Each of these has its own explanation as to why and how they work, but if you are ever concerned about the proximity of a vampire, reach for one of these solutions:

• Place a brick or stone in the corpse’s mouth when burying it. Archaeologists have found numerous vampire graves where the corpses are buried in this way
• Bury them at a crossroads — it confuses vampires
• Decapitate the head of the corpse and place the head between its feet, or behind its buttocks in the coffin. Garlic can also be placed in the mouth of the head
• Garlic
• Hawthorn
• Holy water
• Religious symbols such as the Crucifix and The Star of David
• Fire
• Roses — wild roses placed on the top of the coffin stop the vampire from leaving it without harming them
• Salt or seeds
• Sunlight
• Wine
• A wooden Stake

But are they real?

Surely not, you may assume. Before you answer, suspend your disbelief for a moment, and lean in.

There are two sets of real vampires in society today:

The Sanguinarias – these exchange blood

Psychic vampires ­– these exchange psychic energy

The sanguinarias exchange blood following an official contract, and use implements such as surgical scalpels or razors. No teeth are allowed, and ‘donors’ are used for the blood exchange.

Real vampires tend to live in the larger cities like London, New York (in particular, Manhattan) and New Orleans. Societies, including gatherings, special vampire clubs and courts, exist everywhere. A special society for vampires has been around for some decades in the UK, and a vampire research centre exists in New York. 

It is estimated that in 2015 the UK has 15, 000 real vampires. 

I’ll leave you to wonder if your neighbour is who they say they are as I sign off from intro-ing you to a different world. You may believe vampires, much like mermaids, are fictitious, fantastical characters, the result of imagination with no actual proof, but let me ask you this: can you prove to me they don’t exist?

Happy Halloween!

• P.S. My favourite vampire film? The Lost Boys and MY GODDESS do I wish I’d written it. (Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam did). If you haven’t seen it yet, give it a watch. And while you’re at it, keep an eye out for my new witches-and-vampires book series, releasing march next year! Get all the updates here.

Spreading the sorcery love,

annaliese