It is not just coincidence that at about the time I discovered well-researched, scientific-minded publications explaining supernatural and paranormal phenomena, I not only became interested in science but also began enjoying bad low-budget horror movies again. So it was with great interest that I read two nonfiction investigations into vampire phenomena.
As for the first, "Vampires Among Us," by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, most readers of this journal should be reasonably familiar with this sort of product, and I think product is an appropriate word.
This kind of thing starts with a professional writer who writes a considerable amount about psychic phenomena, reincarnation research, and other mysterious happenings. He or she then embarks on another book, surveying and condensing the more interesting literature on the subject. The writer interviews the more outspoken believers in the field and repeats what they have said. Such writers are usually fond of statements like "We all, ultimately, determine our own reality" and "Who can determine what is really true?" Ultimately the book becomes a paperback.
The only thing that makes "Vampires Among Us" stand out in the crowd is its unique subject, something that the author terms "Vampire Reality." Unfortunately, she never says what Vampire Reality really is, but apparently assumes that the reader will understand. I never did catch on, I'm afraid.
The book has ten chapters, covering a wide variety of disparate vampire-related phenomena. Among the subjects discussed are a survey of vampires in movies and historical legends; a few local modern-day folklorish tales concerning vampires and vampire-like ghosts; a group of evil, vampirelike spirits who manifested themselves through a Ouija board and possessed some high school girls; and some people who have had incredibly realistic dreams about vampires.
Chapter 5 covers a 1970 vampire panic in a London cemetery that culminated in a media circus, with a man named Sean Manchester allegedly killing a vampire with a wooden stake. Manchester has published two contradictory accounts of his story.
Chapter 8 deals with stories about "psychic vampires," human and otherwise, who exist by draining off people's "psychic energy" with no physical attack involved. Like the book itself, these reports show little consistency, documentation, or depth. The concept of what this psychic energy might be is left completely unexamined.
At times, rather than arguing for the existence of any sort of vampires, the author appears to be surveying belief in vampires in present-day England and America through a series of interviews with believers and devoted vampire fans. I found these interviews disturbing and ultimately depressing. The social context was often difficult to get a handle on. The subjects appeared to be a long line of confused, pale people united in their wish to become genuine undead vampires, and in their love of horror movies and the Anne Rice fictional vampire series. These people did generally seem to believe in the reality of vampires, often claiming to be in contact with them, but the book makes no attempt to follow up on these claims.
When the author attempts to go beyond reporting others' claims, she does not do well. For instance, she makes mistakes in her descriptions of lucid dreaming and attacks of the "night hag," a peculiar form of sleep paralysis and hypnopompic hallucination. There are also sections where she expounds on "psychic self-defense" and "psychic vampires." The reader is left in the dark about the sources of these statements and who believes them. Were they the author's personal opinions or were they derived from her reading? Did they result from some sort of research claim from some shadow science? There's no way to know. Although the book is labeled "nonfiction," I think the giveaway of the intended audience lies in the final pages, where Pocket Books advertises its Occult Fiction list. Last summer I read Stephen King's vampire thriller, "Salem's Lot." I suggest that those looking for undocumented vampire thrills read that instead. Although I did not expect "Vampires Among Us" to convince me of the reality of vampires, I had expected to enjoy it. I had hoped for a collection of documented, interesting historical and contemporary incidents that might resemble a vampire legend. I had expected these to be tied together with some clever arguments explaining how vampires might exist in today's world and what they could be, whether undead, living, or disincarnate spirits, or otherwise. With a little luck these incidents and arguments might have provided some mysteries to try to solve and perhaps to find more conventional explanations for. They did not.
For those who desire to investigate vampire legends in a rational manner, however, I suggest they read Paul Barber's Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. Barber traces the substance and spread of the vampire legends of Eastern and Middle Europe. Such beliefs, like those in witchcraft and werewolves, were often taken quite seriously and could cause panic over wide regions. The author then tries to determine what could cause rational, thinking people to believe they were being stalked by undead beings.
Barber is a folklorist who began to suspect that many European vampire legends and scares could be attributed to a poor understanding of the spread of disease and the behavior of decomposing human bodies.
For instance, someone in a peasant village might get sick and die before his or her intended time, and this might be followed by other deaths. The inhabitants, at a loss to explain such happenings, might blame the first person to die, who they believe may have become a vampire. They would then dig up the body and discover that it was not stiff, as they had expected, but was bloated and had blood on its mouth. The peasants would then drive a stake into the body, and there would be a terrible stench and a horrible scream.
One scientific explanation would be that the first victim might merely be the first caught by a minor plague. Surprisingly, dead bodies do not remain stiff; after a period of time they return to limpness. Also, as the body begins to decompose gas is produced and the body becomes bloated, often driving red bloodlike liquid out of the mouth. When a stake is driven into such a body, it will often drive gas up through the larynx and produce a screaming noise as well as a strong stench.
Barber became quite interested in this sort of explanation and surveyed the literature in many fields, including vampire-related folklore, forensic science, embalming, and the methods used to dispose of corpses in a wide variety of cultures. He does an admirable job of research. His book should be a classic in explanations of folklore for some time.
Much as I admire Barber's work, this book is most certainly not for everyone. Considerable space is devoted to describing the behavior of corpses in a detailed and scientific manner, and it can at times be quite gruesome. Still, the emphasis on detail is valuable, and Barber's book provides a fascinating piece of investigative research into traditional supernatural beliefs and their explanations.
Peter Huston is a teacher and writer who currently lives in Taiwan.