Creation?

Last time I explored the rituals of how accused vampires were destroyed. Now I would like to discover how late 18th-century Europeans believed this creatures came to be. This led me to a source titled "Vampires Galore!", published in Readers Digest Association (1988). Here the author explores the odd beliefs of how ancient vampires came into existence. The causes of the vampiric outbreak varied in traditional folklore.

As I discussed in my last post, I found that the vampire scare was wide spread over Europe, Russia, Asia and India. So I wondered if there were any similarities surrounding the appearance of vampires and how they came to be? In Asia and Slavic beliefs, it was said that if an animal were to jump over a recently dead body or grave, especially a cat or a dog, was believed to be an omen that the body would become undead. In Russian tradition, it was believed that vampires were once witches that were rejected by the Roman Catholic Orthodox Church, when they were alive that is. Or even if a body with open wounds that weren't treading with boiling water couple be susceptible.

Even more strange are the ways they would prevent recently deceased family members from becoming the undead. Often bodies were buried upside down, while placing objects like sickles and scythes near the grave. Which apparently would satisfy demons that would enter the body, making them less likely to rise the body from the dead. Some of the more interesting traditions from Europe were the severing of the tendons at the knees, then placing seed, millet, or sand on the grave of a possible vampire; this was done in the belief that if a vampire did rise, that it would be forced to count every grain, distracting the vampire for some time.