Raising the Dead - Tracking The Vampire Mythos Quiz

Answer: Vlad III

Vampire mythology gathers much of its modern roots from Vlad III of Wallachia who, in the fifteenth century, became regarded as Vlad the Impaler in what is now known as the Transylvanian region of Romania. While vampires are not really known as impalers, Vlad was a member of The Order of the Dragon, a group created in opposition to the Ottoman forces from the southeast, and he was known by the name Vlad Draculea-- Son of the Dragon. Of course, Vlad III became the inspiration for Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror staple "Dracula" and has gone down in infamy for his almost reckless, blood-soaked rule of the region.

Answer: Revenant

Derived from the Latin 'reveniens' and the French verb 'renvenir', a revenant is a creature that returns from the grave, though still dead, to torment the living though, usually, this was done with intent. A revenant would often return to haunt their former friends and relatives or, in extreme cases, people who wronged them before death.

While revenant is a broader term, it relates as highly to the vampire mythos as it does to zombies. Revenants were discussed in literature as far back as the twelfth century, making the idea of the vampire a much older one that one would believe.

These days, modern depictions of vampires blend zombies and vampires together to create a more horrifying hybrid.

Answer: Greek

Empusa was a particularly interesting and, unless you're familiar with very specific types of media, lesser-known demon from the Greek demigod collection. The daughter of Hecate, the underworld goddess of necromancy, Empusa was allegedly known to seduce men, drink their blood, and devour their flesh. Empusa would be known to wander the roads, taking in strangers to perform her horrifying deeds.

It should come as no surprise that such a creature would be tied into the story of the vampire. Her name would later appear in "Nosferatu", one of the earliest vampire films, released in 1922.

Her name was also lent to a genus of mantises and a common wild orchid.

Answer: Children

Cursed by Hera when it was discovered that Lamia was sleeping with Zeus, Lamia was forced to wander endlessly, craving the meat of children and eating those she could capture. Like other odd demons of Greek mythology, Lamia also had a taste for blood and, despite the appearance depicted (which is only one such version), she would seduce young men and exsanguinate them for her own needs. Unlike many similar monstrous creatures of Ancient Greek, Lamia was a popular subject for Romantic and Victorian artists and poets, appearing in the Pre-Raphaelite visual arts of John William Waterhouse leading past the Victorian era, and the poetry of John Keats.

Answer: Madagascar

The Ramanga is a particularly interesting piece of folklore from Madagascar, quite the distance away from the myths and creations of Europe. Nonetheless, there are startling similarities between it and the common vampire. Talked of by the Betsileo people in the Madagascar highlands, the Ramanga would be alive-- not dead-- but would be forced to eat nail clippings and drink the blood of the highest class in the tribe.

This particular creation could be found in the central plateau region of the country.

Answer: Iron bars

While stories of premature burials have dotted funerary history for centuries, there's been a bit of uncertainty as to what people were more afraid of-- being buried alive or, alternatively, rising from the dead. While caskets have been made to assist people who may never have been dead in the first place, many people in Eastern Europe, frightened by slower rates of decay in colder areas of the world and, perhaps, their own arbitrary fears, would bury their dead only after driving iron rods through the casket and torso of the deceased.

Answer: Being buried alive

A very distinct phobia, of course, but one that had a certain prevalence for centuries, taphophobia breaks down in its etymology to mean 'fear of the grave', and it's part of the reason many people throughout history created safety mechanisms to help the deceased in case they weren't actually dead (the bell rung from within the coffin is one such instance). Of course, with vampires though, people had inventive ways of preventing the need entirely. For those presumed to be vampires, people have resorted to filling coffins with cement, or burning the body, or in some extreme cases, removing the organs and boiling them down.

At what point does taphophobia weigh out sanguivoriphobia (the fear of blood-eaters...or vampires)?

Answer: Cholera

Although some were less connected than others, all three of these linked, in some way, to vampirism over the years, due mostly to the fact that there was a severe lack in knowledge of the sciences during the introduction of vampire mythology. Haemophilic porphyria, for instance, was called 'the vampire's disease', and while modern medicine has completely discounted the possibilities of it actually being related to vampirism (due in part to its rarity), its connection to blood, skin pigmentation, and mental disturbance provided enough evidence to worry. Rabies has also been linked to vampirism due to sensitivities to light and garlic. Tuberculosis, however, had the strongest link not because of symptoms, but because of the hysteria that resulted when an outbreak hit New England in the late nineteenth century.

Answer: Qing

The Jiangshi is a relatively recent piece of folklore considering China's long history, as the Qing Dynasty stretched from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. In fact, it may only go to show that the vampire mythos has latched onto almost all cultures in some way.

The jiangshi, also known by other names in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, referred to a revenant of any sort who would rise from the grave to suck the blood of its victims. Like the vampire, it would hide in its coffin during the day and only emerge at night to feed on the living.

The most effective ways to fight a jiangshi were mirrors, fire, and rooster crows.

Answer: John Polidori

Polidori wrote the work at the same time and location as Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" while staying at the Villa Diodati in 1816. Following a man allured by a charismatic man named Lord Ruthven, "The Vampyre" featured many tropes that would be seen in countless works to follow and, as the Gothic genre gained hold in the nineteenth century, they would be frequent. Polidori's work would directly influence LeFanu's "Carmilla" (depicted) and Bram Stoker's "Dracula", both of which featured sophisticated, sensual vampires, contrary to the vampires which emerged in the early days of film.