Dr Van Helsing Diary
After many years of studying and tracking down the fiend know as “Dracula“, I have decided to put my life’s findings in a place where vampire hunters around the world will have easy access to. Use wisely these rules and always remember every confrontation has its own special circumstances. The vampire is a unique beast and its mutations are as numerous as the stars that fill the night sky. Below is the information from Dr Van Helsing Diary that I have compiled and it has proved consist of my encounters with Nosferatu. Be strong and faithful, and you will be triumphant in this eternal battle against evil.
Needs Of Vampires
Vampires must drink the blood of the living to sustain their un-life. This can include humans (fresh or taking from a blood bank) and animals, but blood from the deceased can be deadly to a vampire. Vampires are able to exchange blood among themselves.
Vampires must rest in their native soil. It hasn’t been until the 19th century that the coffin became part of the vampire mythology. Vampires usually have “ghouls” or “familiars”. They are either humans, animals, or both.
They are dedicated to protecting the vampire while he sleeps. Renfield from Dracula is a perfect example. They do share some the powers of their master (i.e. strength, psychic link to their master, etc).
Power of Vampires
- Superhuman strength.
- Vampires can control creatures like rats, wolves, humans, and the elements were at their command.
- Vampires can take the form of a bat, or any other animals, as well as a mist.
Becoming A Vampire
The victims of a vampire either dies or becomes a vampire. The legends range from one to three feedings by a vampire, before a victim turns into a vampire.
Vampires could also be made in a variety of ways:
- A child born under certain omens.
- A cat or other animal jumping over a dead body.
- Someone who committed suicide.
- Practicing witchcraft.
Detecting A Vampire
- Vampires do not cast a reflection in a mirror.
- Vampires can not cross running water.
- Garlic, Hawthorn, and the mountain ash (rowan) can be used to detect or ward off vampires. If a person doesn’t like garlic than they are probably a vampire.
- A vampire does not like religious symbols, but one must have true faith for it to work.
- They cannot enter a place uninvited
Protection Against Vampires
- A cross can be used, but only if you have true faith.
- Eucharistic wafer (i.e. wafer) can be used to ward off vampires.
- Holy water blessed by a priest.
- If confronted by a vampire, throw a hand full of seeds at him. Vampires will stop and count every single seed.
- Silver was not as traditional a protective metal as supposed in popular fiction - iron was the material of choice. Iron shavings were placed beneath a child’s cradle, a necklace with an iron nail was worn, and other iron objects were placed strategically around the place needing protection.
- Garlic, Hawthorn, and the mountain ash (rowan) can be used to detect or ward off vampires.
Destroying A Vampire
- Sunlight will destroy a vampire. (Before the rise of the literary vampire, medieval legend spoke of vampires walk around in the daylight)
- A stake through the heart can be used to incapacitate a vampire. By destroying the heart which pumped the blood, you can stop a vampire. The most effective types of wood: ash, aspen, or juniper. Don’t remove the stake or the vampire will rise again. (Originally, before coffins were so readily available to all, stakes were used to affix the corpse within the grave so it wouldn’t escape. Traditionally the corpse was a stake through the stomach or back)
- Cremation. Fire can be used to destroy a vampire.
- Decapitation. Afterward, you “must” stuff its’ mouth with garlic to prevent any further return from the grave.
- A vampire can be destroyed by touching it with a crucifix.
- Drenching a vampire in holy water and garlic.
- Stealing his left sock, filling it with stones and throwing it in a river.
- Using a “dhampir”, or a vampire’s child. Dhampirs were allegedly the only people who were able to see invisible vampires, and they often took advantage of this by hiring out their services as vampire hunters.
Prevention From Becoming a Vampire
- Put coins on the corpse’s eyelids. This acts as payment before the soul could travel to the world of the dead.
- Stuff the corpse’s mouth or coffin with garlic.
- Bury the corpse facedown. If the corpse tried to dig itself out, it would just dig itself deeper into the ground.
- Bury the corpse at a crossword. Crossroad was always considered unholy, thus a vampire buried in unhallowed grounds would be trapped forever.
- Watch over the corpse until it’s buried. This would prevent animals from jumping over or moonlighting falling on the corpse. Two things that were seen as the cause of vampirism.
- Stake the ground above the corpse. If the corpse was to become a vampire, it would impale itself when it tries to escape.
- Bind the corpse’s hands and feet. Prevented the vampire from escaping the grave.
- Place a headstone over the grave. Headstones were originally used not as a remembrance, but as a weight to prevent a vampire from escaping the grave.
- Fill the coffin with seeds. A vampire would have to count every seed before attempting to escaping the grave.
- Tie the corpse with hundreds of tiny knots. Similar to the seeds, vampires are required to untie every knot put before them.
- Decapitate the corpse. By burying the head in a separate grave, the vampire would be forced to find its head before going to feed.
- Stake the corpse. Why wait???
- Bury the corpse with food. A well-fed vampire would have no need to feed on the living.
- Place a crucifix or a Eucharistic wafer within the coffin.
