By Anthony North
Vampires can be seen to have many possible explanations other than the obvious reality of the undead. In this essay I want to look at one of these areas in particular ? the idea that various forms of sickness can fuel vampire mythology.
The supernatural idea of the vampire has been heightened, over the centuries, by a large number of seemingly inexplicable anecdotes. Typical was the fate that befell Meduegya, a town in Serbia, in 1732.
VAMPIRE CONSCIOUSNESS
Following a spate of deaths, rumours circulated that a vampire was stalking the town. The ensuing panic convinced the government to send soldiers to the town to restore order. Three army surgeons accompanied the soldiers, and one of their first actions was to dig up the graves of the recently dead.
Thirteen graves were dug up in all. Three of the corpses were decomposing as expected, but the other ten showed no signs of decomposition at all, and still contained fresh blood. They were promptly decapitated and burned.
Anecdotes such as this prompted famed French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau to write: ?If ever there was in the world a warranted and proven history, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking; official reports, testimonials of persons of standing, of surgeons, of clergymen, of judges; the judicial evidence is all ?embracing.?
However, today a more rational explanation would be offered for the above incident.
Rather than being stalked by a vampire, it is more likely that Meduegya had experienced some form of coma inducing plague, leaving suffers pale and possibly cataleptic. Apparently showing signs of death and lack of blood, the vampire mythology caused the townspeople to bury sufferers alive.
THEY?RE SCARY, YOU KNOW
Such premature burial was common in the days of insufficient medical knowledge. For instance, in the early 1980s an 18th century Parisian graveyard was dug up to make way for a new car park. A third of its graves were occupied by corpses showing signs of attempting to break out of their coffins.
Vampire mythology became most rampant in the Balkans, where the above incident came from, and also happened to be the home of the fictional Dracula. Populated throughout most of history by Slavs, an ideosyncracy of Slavic culture could also be seen as important in fuelling vampire mythology.
A most insular people, interbreeding used to be the norm, particularly among nobles. It is now known that such interbreeding can lead to genetic disorders in offspring. One particular genetic deformity that struck Slavic nobles was the rare disease known as ?erythropoietic proto porthyria.?
A pigment disorder, the body produces excess protoporthyrin, causing anomalous red blood cells. The disease leads to itching and edema, and if the sufferer is exposed to sunlight, the skin can crack and pour blood.
Sufferers were grotesque to look at and shunned daylight, preferring to emerge only at night. To a superstitious society, such sufferers would easily be seen as vampires, and feared accordingly. And a further, common, illness can also be seen to have affected ideas of the vampire, as seen by America?s most famous ?vampire?, Mercy Brown.
MERCY BROWN
Living in Exeter, Rhode Island, Mercy died following an illness in January 1892. Her father, George, had already lost his wife and two children to tuberculosis, and following Mercy, another son became ill. Friends told George that the only way to save the son was to dig up those who had already died to see if one of them was a vampire, feeding on the other members of the family.
Eventually, this was decided upon. And with Dr Harold Metcalf in attendance, Mercy was found to be undecayed. The doctor advised that this was not unusual - she had only been dead nine weeks - but at their request, Dr Metcalf took out her heart, burned it and mixed her ashes into a medicine.
This was fed to the ill son, but he still died. Over the years the incident was embellished, with claims of seven family members dying before Mercy was exhumed; and to this day a strange blue light and far away voice are said to be experienced by her grave.
TUBERCULOSIS
The vampire/tuberculosis link exists in many other cases. When Capt Isaac Burton married in 1790 in Vermont he didn?t expect to be soon a widower. But soon after the wedding his bride, Rachel Harris, died of TB.
Eventually Burton married a second time, to Hilda Powel. But she, too, became ill with TB - although friends were convinced the cause was Rachel, returning as a vampire to kill the second wife.
Acting on advice, in February 1793 a thousand people gathered to watch Rachel?s body exhumed, whereupon vital organs were cut out to be fed to Hilda as a cure, and the body burned. Regardless of this, Hilda died in September.
On 5 Feb 1970 Franz von Poblocki in the Polish town of Kantrzyno, was buried in the local graveyard. Two weeks later, his son Anton also died, while other members of the family experienced debilitating illness and terrifying nightmares.
To the locals, the answer was clear. Even in the late 20th century, Franz had become a vampire, and was feeding on the souls of his family.
The family brought in a vampire hunter who beheaded Anton?s corpse and headed to the graveyard to exhume Franz. The undertaker immediately went to the priest, who tried to stop them, but that night, Franz was dug up and beheaded. The obvious cause of the deaths was TB, and the family and hunter were put on trial and found guilty. Though a court of appeal dropped the charges.
Today we are generally less superstitious of illness. But in the past we can say vampires existed in a sick society in more ways than one.
http://beyondtheblog.wordpress.com/2007 ... -sickness/
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