Vampires
A survey of the myth of the undead, its continuing power to fascinate and to frighten throughout the world and throughout history.
In Britain a law requiring suicides to be buried at crossroads with a stake through the heart was only repealed around 1824.
In Book XI of Homer's Odyssey Odysseus summons the spirits of the dead from the underworld by offering them rams' blood, and hence a temporary renewal of life.
Dracul in Romanian means both dragon and devil. It was a title bestowed on Dracula's father as an honour for his services to the Holy Roman Empire in its sense of 'dragon'. The word's double meaning was a linguistic coincidence that just happened to fit his infamous son very appropriately...
Werewolves
A survey of the myths and the history of the werewolf, its continuing power to fascinate and to frighten throughout the world and throughout history.
The word werewolf literally means man-wolf in old Anglo-Saxon. Variations include garwolf, warwulf and warg, the term used by Tolkien in The Hobbit for the wolves that trap Bilbo and his friends up trees. In France and Haiti a werewolf is a loup garou.
The doctor and philosopher Giambattista della Porta (1540-1615) recorded that in Naples in his day the country folk often nailed the heads of wolves over their doors to guard against sorcerers and witches.
In Balkan countries being born on Christmas Day was thought likely to turn a boy into a werewolf, a girl into a witch.
Witches
A survey of the myths and the history of witchcraft, its continuing power to fascinate and to frighten throughout the world and throughout history.
What has come to be seen as the traditional witch's pointy hat possibly derives from the conical black hat that the Spanish Inquisition used to put on the heads of heretics before they were burned.
In Scotland witches can be kept away by hiding or burying old shoes in the north east corner of a house, the point at which it is most vulnerable to supernatural entry.
In modern witchcraft brooms are often used to cleanse an area spiritually before rituals commence.
