Vampires in Different Cultures: Vampires by Culture

This article comes from the Slavic and East European Journal. It discusses the belief in creatures who after death were reanimated and consumed the flesh of living people, Traits of these creatures are a combination of those of the modern vampire, witches, and demons. This article also describes ways to avoid becoming one of these creatures and to destroy them.

In this piece from the International Journal of Russian Studies, we find many examples of short vampire stories from children's oral stories in Russia. The author analyses many of the main features of these stories, specifically a recurring theme of people being baked into a pie. The author tells us that the word 'vampire' was not used in Russia until after the 1980s when cable TV was widespread. These creatures however were seen in children's stories since at least the 18th century.

In this article from Smithsonian Magazine, there are examples of supposed vampire outbreaks in the New England area with specific examples of people who were thought to be vampires after their deaths. The article briefly explains what happened to these people and why the people around them accused them of being vampires.

In this book, we see a South American perspective on the vampire myth. This book reads almost like a book about Big Foot, due to its more modern roots people claim to have actual evidence. To the people that were terrorized by a beast that drained their livestock of blood the vampire-like Chupacabra is very real. The book follows the author as he spends five years looking for and researching the Chupacabra.

This source from the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is a more modern take on a similar belief to vampires. The article discusses the difficulty doctors have in some places in Africa due to a belief that blood can be used for magic and is a lifeforce. This is relevant to many beliefs about vampires in other places, though it is referred to as sorcery in this article.

In this ebook, the author discusses the many myths surrounding women in Africa, specifically the soucouyant, a woman that sheds her skin at night, turns into a ball of fire, and flies around to suck the blood of her victims. The author also discusses the socio-political motives of these stories and why these evil creatures were always portrayed as female.

In this article, the author analyzes many Southeast Asian creatures that are similar to vampires, such as the Aswang, a blood sucking witch. The author discusses the cultural reasons these types of beliefs may have emerged in the Phillipines as well as other nearby Southeast Asian countries.

This artilce from the eTropic Journal discusses the ways that old fears of vampire like beings in Southeastern Asia have changed in modern times. Old beliefs of evil vampiric creatures have slowly phased into a fear of modern organ harvesters who are believed to kidnap people, mostly children, to steal their organs to sell them. The article discusses how these fears are linked.