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#310 | A History of Vampires | Fangs, Fear and Fiction

English Learning for Curious Minds

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The Blood-Sucking Mythical Monsters

In Europe we had Vrikolakas from Ancient Greece, a dangerous creature of the undead which feasts in particular on its victims' livers. In Slavic folklore there were the demon creatures Upyor who drank human blood and could kill with their poisonous breath or deafening screams. Even closer to Transylvanian Count Dracula was the Romanian mythical creature, the Strigoi. These are troubled spirits that have risen from the grave to feast on the blood of victims and gain great strength. But why were people digging up corpses, digging up dead bodies? Well, again this comes down to a misunderstanding about the way that the human body and in particular disease works.

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