EUROPEAN VAMPIRES

Not all vampires wear the cloak, nor even the face, of the Western vampire derived from |Bram Stoker|'s influential work, and the movies which followed from the 1920's on.

Germany gives us the alp and the neuntoter. The former is a nightmare, bloodsucking demon, which has also been known to suck the nipples of both men and women. The latter has an excremental stench about it and is covered with disfiguring sores. It spreads the plague.

Mara: a demon of Scandinavia similar to many in Europe. She is a beautiful succubus. According to southern Slavs, when a mora (their version of mara) tastes a man's blood, she is so enamored of him that she returns night after night to relentlessly torment his sleep with nightmares.

A Bulgarian version of the vampire has only one nostril and a long, pointed tongue with a barb or sting at the end. The ubour is blamed for freeing cattle and throwing household items, but it is cruel, too, choking people and generally tormenting the living. When not smearing dung on everything, it will eat manure, and even regular food. This creature doesn't need blood unless other nourishment is unobtainable.

The murony is a Romanian vampire (found in Wallachia) that shapeshifts into almost any creature, mammal or bloodsucking insect. Its victims will assume this is a natural creature. Though it completely drains the blood, the expected fang marks won't be found on its victims. Know a murony in its grave by these characteristics: fangs, sharp talons and fresh blood dripping from ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth.

"Nosferatu" is also the original cinema vampire, played by Max Schreck in the 1922 silent film directed by F.W. Murnau.

Portugal's demon has the characteristics of both vampire and werewolf. The bruxsas seduce and torment lonely travelers and fly home on the wings of a gigantic night bird, to suck the blood of their own offspring.

A Russian word for vampire is upir or upyr. The traits of this vampire vary, but are most developed in the Ukraine and Byelorussia. This creature is another bloodsucker, but has an interesting variation in its behavoir. It goes about during the day, usually between noon and midnight, as opposed to being a night hunter.

There is at least one vampire possessing Western and Eastern traits. It belongs to Russia. It is both an animated corpse preying on victims, and also something mercilessly homicidal lurking in graveyards. These horrible creatures go beyond blood-drinking, tearing their prey to shreds and devouring them like the Arabian ghul or ghoul.