What are vampires and how did they originate from?
The story of Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) , who lived in part of modern day Romania in the 1400’s, and opposed the Ottoman Empire, is part of the basis for the story. It was written as “Dracula” by Irishman Bram Stoker in the 1800’s. Actually vampire legends were not new, in fact in the area where Vlad was from they were common, but the stories of Vlad and the idea of vampires apparently combined to make “Dracula’. Wikipedia has an article about vampires and the history going back to ancient times. Too much for this post. A person of Eastern European ancestry told me once that the older people believed if a person committed suicide they would become vampires. If a Roman Catholic commits suicide they can not be buried in a Catholic Cemetery therefore they would not have a ‘resting place’. Much like if a Native American dies away from his land his spirit can’t rest, I guess. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the legend or not.
