Sunday, March 15, 2009

/still/ with the vampires

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Medieval stories of revenants have common features....

"Several stories imply that sucking of blood has occurred. Because of this, revenants have sometimes been described as 'vampires' by a number of authors of popular books about vampire legends, starting with Montague Summers. Medievalists are, however, largely skeptical towards this interpretation, possibly because vampire legends are believed to have originated in Eastern European folklore and became known to the Western public only later through reports coming from the East in the 18th century. Vampires do not appear in Western fiction (with modifications) until the late 18th century and early 19th century, starting with authors such as Robert Southey, Lord Byron and John William Polidori. However, anthropologists and folklorists tend to blur distinctions between the various forms of 'walking dead', for which counterparts exist in the myths and legends of nearly every civilization dating back to earliest history."

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