In New Guinea and the islands off the coast of northern Australia, there is a vampiric ghost known as a forso. An ENERGY VAMPIRE, the forso feeds off the emotions, life energy, and sexual energies of its victims, in addition to cursing them with bad luck and depression. Intangible and invisible, the forso seldom travels far from its gravesite but will take advantage of any opportunity to attack anyone who comes close to its grave. Charms and prayers can be used to ward off its attack but only if in life the forso was an immoral yet religious individual. Papuans consider the forso a being to be pitied, a lonely soul looking for attention. Therefore when a forso is discovered, its burial mound is located and its bones exhumed and taken into a family’s home. By adopting the forso and making it feel welcome, it no longer feels the need to feed off or curse people.
In Iceland there is a type of flesh-eating REVENANT known as a fyglia (“following spirit”) who has the odd behavior of climbing onto rooftops and kicking shingles loose when looking for its victims. To destroy this vampire it must first be captured, beheaded, and then reburied with the head positioned under its body.
Source: Dillon, Winter in Iceland, 272
Фиглья
В Исландии есть вид ревенанта, под названием фиглья («следящий дух»), который поедает плоть и обладает необычной повадкой в поисках жертв подниматься на крышу дома и пинать черепицу. Чтобы уничтожить этого вампира, его сначала нужно поймать, обезглавить, а затем перезахоронить, поместив голову под труп.
The Iroquois tribes of the northeastern United States have a vampiric creature in their folklore aptly named the flying heads. It is a large head with fiery red eyes, stringy HAIR, and rows of sharp teeth within a huge mouth that has locking jaws. It has wings where its ears should be. Flying heads glide through stormy skies, keeping aloft by the undulating of their HAIR while they look for prey. Once a suitable victim is found, the head dives down, biting into the person, its jaws locking into place.
Luring in a creature capable of flight so that it can be close enough to kill would be a difficult thing to do in the best of circumstances; fortunately, flying heads are not exceeding bright. The Iroquois would roast chestnuts over a fire made of many small coals. Then, they would eat them, making loud exclamations of how delicious the nuts tasted. The flying heads, wanting to eat something as wonderfully tasting as the nuts, would swoop down and grab up a mouthful of the red-hot coals. Once the jaws locked shut, the coals would begin to burn, and soon, the flying heads would ignite and burst into flames.
Source: Beauchamp, Iroquois Trail, 95; Canfield, Legends of the Iroquois, 125-126; McLeish, Myths and Legends, 199; Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons, 124; Wonderley, Oneida Iroquois Folklore, 92
This invisible tutelary spirit from Norway, the flygia, only appears to people in their dreams. If the flygia is seen while the person is awake, then it is regarded to be a death omen. There are a few stories connecting the flygia to the DOPPELSAUGER. The notion of a spirit connected to a person for his entire life is not uncommon. In fact, it was a well- accepted concept in Roman times when it was called a daimonion.
Source: Einarsson, Saga of Gunnlaug, 40; Grimstad, Volsunga Saga, 88
Флюгья (Фюльгья)
Флюгья, этот невидимый норвежский дух-хранитель, показывается людям только во сне. Если флюгья видна, когда человек не спит, это считается предвестием смерти. Есть несколько историй, связывающих флюгью с доппельзаугером. Представления о духе, связанном с человеком на всю жизнь, не редкость. Во времена Рима это, фактически, было общепринятой концепцией, и такой дух назывался даймонион.
Источники: Einarsson, «Saga of Gunnlaug», 40; Grimstad, «Volsunga Saga», 88
The Irish Potato Famine lasted about six years, beginning in 1845. In those desperate times in the areas hit hardest, some people turned to the eating of relish cakes — a small cake made with oatmeal, turnip greens, and fresh blood let from the necks of animals. After the blight ended, it was believed that some people had developed a taste for relish cakes and did not give them up. It was only then, in the years after the Irish Potato Famine had ended, that the vampiric creature known as the fir gorta (“hungry man”) came into existence, a skeletal being carrying a staff in one hand and a begging cup in the other. Stories of the creature warned that it would go to the back door of a home where these cakes were still being eaten. Then, in a weak and feeble voice, it would ask for money or food. If nothing was given, sickness befell the home’s occupants.
Source: Curran, Vampires, 57; Macafee, Concise Ulster Dictionary, 119; McLean, Event and Its Terrors, 73; Tuke, Visit to Connaught, 18-19
The Cajun people of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia in the United States say that the feu-follet is the harmless, returned soul of a family member who escaped purgatory in order to beg its family for prayers and masses said in its name. The Irish people who settled near the Cajuns believe that the feu-follet are elves and fairies dancing, while the Basque claim that it is their guardian spirit warning of danger.
However, the African-Americans in the same areas believe that it a vampiric spirit. They say the feu-follet (“dancing light”) is the soul of a person that God sent back to earth to do penance, but rather than doing good, it decided to do evil instead. If a person sees it (a glowing orb of electricity that occasionally emits a lightning bolt), he must quickly stab his knife in the ground, as it may buy him just enough time to run home and change his clothing. If he does not, he will be struck by its lightning. Should he go back the following day to collect his knife, the blade will have blood on it.
Mischief makers, feu-follet also have INCUBUS- and SUCCUBUS-like tendencies in which they draw blood to drink. There is the belief that if a feu-follet can consume enough human blood, it will become a physical vampire.
Source: Boatright, The Golden Log, 115; Bryant, Handbook of Death, 99; Senn, Were-wolf and Vampire in Romania, 71; University of Missouri, University of Missouri Studies, vol.10, 75, 104
In Ireland there are patches of earth that have vampiric tendencies. Known as fear gortagh (“hungry grass”), it is the spot where a person has died from starvation. Looking like the grass all around it, there is nothing to give it away for what it is until another person happens to walk upon it — suddenly he will find that he has become very hungry. Retreating from the spot will not reverse the effects, as the fear gortagh has already begun the process of eating away at his life-energy. In order to save himself, the victim must quickly eat and drink something or he will succumb to hunger pains and die (see ENERGY VAMPIRE).
Source: Jones, New Comparative Method, 70, 73; Kinahan, Yeats, 73; Royal Society of Antiquaries, Journal of the Royal Society, vol. 72-73, 107; Wilde, Ancient Legends, 183, 226
In Hungary, werewolf and vampire stories were not uncommon, so it would not be wholly inconceivable that the two mythos would cross. If a werewolf ever ate the flesh of an executed person, when it died, it would rise up as a REVENANT vampire called a farkaskoldus.
It rises from its grave at night, and using its ability to shape-shift into a cat, dog, or goat, it makes its way discreetly through town looking for its next victim. When it has found someone suitable, it lies on top of its prey, drinks his blood, and returns to its grave before the sun rises. If a deceased person is suspected of being a farkaskoldus, his grave must be exhumed. If he is in fact a vampire, the corpse will show little or no signs of decomposition nor will it smell like death or decay; rather the body will be filled with fresh blood.
Once a farkaskoldus has been discovered, there are a number of ways it can be destroyed. The simplest way is to burn the body to ash or soak the corpse in holy water. However, if it is felt that a more severe method is necessary, a stake can be driven through the heart or a nail through the head, after which the body must be burned to ashes. An even more extreme method of destruction is to sever the arms, legs, and head, remove the heart through the vampire’s back, and then burn everything to ash. Finally, place the remains in a sack and throw it into a deep river.
Source: Inge Heinze, Proceedings, 270; Kenyon, Witches Still Live, 39, 52; Volta, The Vampire, 144
Until blessed and transformed through religious service, the Eucharistic Wafer is merely a piece of unleavened bread. The Roman Catholic Church considers the Eucharistic Wafer to be a holy object, the embodiment of the flesh of Jesus Christ, the symbol of His purity. The Bible says that during the Last Supper “The Lord took bread”, and without any further information to go on it can thereby be assumed that the bread being used was wheaten bread, as Jesus, being Jewish, would have used unleavened bread.
Source: Rubin, Corpus Christi, 118, 130; Sofer, Stage Life of Props, 31-32; Stephens, Demon Lovers, 221-240
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