dwndrgn

I read today that there is a theory that vampire myths came out of human menstruation. I don't have any supporting info but it really sounds logical to me. Any thoughts?

Leto

Unless it's another clegycal fantasy I'm not aware of, I though phorphyria (a kind of anemia where teeth get proeminent and where subject can't stand sun light) and catalepsy were the two human conditions which led to the creation of modern vampire myth..

And except one homoerotic gothic short story, never seen this explicitly stated.

Where did you read this theory ?

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Alexa

I agree with Leto. PLus there were stories in the past with those buried and found alive looking for their families's house. When the family realized "the dead one" was still hunting them, they unburied the body, turned it with the face down to the earth and used a stake to shove it into his heart. That's the legend of the dead alive.

My gradnmother used to scare me with stories like : "don't go on that street after ten o'clock ! You know the grandfather of that boy is a stregha !" (sp. ?) I must admit it worked. Even today when I cross a graveyard, I feel a cold shudder on the back and fight not to run far away. :biggrin:

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dwndrgn

As I said, it is just a theory, and I read it on a newspaper blog - but that person said they had read it somewhere as a theory too so no telling where it originates. I found it fascinating though.

Leto

Utterly strange as another disease for vampire myth is hemophilia which for title reason can't affect women.

Anyway, they're so many myths, urban legends and folklore restriction about menstruation that's linking it to vampirism sure have a twisted logic it. If you find back the article, please post the link. It certainly worth the read.

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dwndrgn

This isn't it but it is fun nonetheless...

http://www.afn.org/~vampires/myth.html

Leto

Very interesting article indeed. Does Laurel Hamilton know this when she share all her inner fantasy with her readers ? Although to fully understand her, we also need a freudian interpretation of the werwolf

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knivesout

In light of this article, it's hardly surprising that Anne Rice has now turned to antoher equally convenient crutch for weak minds.

BTW, although written by someone who appears to have actually believed in vampires. Montague Summers' The Vampire: His Kith & Kin is probably one of thebest summaries of vampiric lore. You can read it here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/vkk/index.htm

littlemissattitude

Maybe it's just the literary mythology that is this way, since I don't know much at all about the traditional mythology of vampires, but it does make a weird sort of sense in that most of the literary victims of vampires and vampirism are women, especially young women.

Actually, according to this, women can be affected by hemophilia (something I knew since I knew a girl in school who was a hemophiliac):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemophilia

But, as you see, there is a special danger to women who do become affected, due to menstruation.

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Leto

I stand corrected LMA, thanks for the info, I'll pass it on to my biology teacher.

And a good example for women as victims of vampires is the classical tale : Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Older than Dracula, it mix vampirism and lesbianism. And was written by a man.

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