In ancient Rome there was a type of VAMPIRIC WITCH called a strega (“female witch”), or stregone (“male witch”) if the witch was a man (see LIVING VAMPIRE). At night, the strega would shape-shift into a bird or ride upon her flying goat, looking for children to drain dry of their blood. Like many vampires who can be warded off with a common object, the strega is no different, as placing a broom in the child’s room is enough to keep this type of vampire out.

Source: Grimassi, Italian Witchcraft, 3-8, 259-274; Leland, Etruscan Roman Remains, 162; Summers, The Vampire in Europe, 127; Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, 125, 143, 187