Werewolf Looks

While in human form werewolves look like normal men and women.

They don’t fear sunlight or religious objects. They may be restless or melancholy. But their appearance wouldn’t give away their secret.

Ancient Traditions describe the werewolf while in wolf form to be inseparable from the animal. He runs on all fours. After removing all clothing and shoes the transformation will begin. If killed in wolf form he’d transform back into a naked human.

Those who didn’t want to become a werewolf will suffer shame and disgust, after a transformation for their deeds. Some may wish they die, they may try to commit suicide. However the Grim Reaper can only by certain means.

Those who wished to become werewolves. They may have become one through: incantation , potions, or spells. They enjoy their strength and ability to strike fear in the hearts of those who hear their howls on the full moon.

Some modern movies and novels describe the werewolf as a shape-shifter wolf-like being. He walks on two legs, is hairy and fanged. While shape-shifting the clothes and shoes are ripped or shredded. This werewolf is usually barefoot, and slightly clothed as it fills its lust for blood and flesh on the full moon.

**This month’s Full Moon is named Awakening Moon.**

Blut Avssauger

The Blut Avssauger or “drinker of blood” is a vampire revenant from the folklore of Bavaria, Bosnia and Germany.

Blut Aussauger is similar to the Bluats Avger, but there are enough differences to be a separate species. They may share an ancestor.

Blut Avssauger can convert people if a human eats dirt from its grave (by force or trickery.) A person can become a Blut Aussauger if they eat meat killed by a wolf, commits suicide, dies unbaptized, dies a witch, leads a immoral life, or if a nun walks over his grave.

His nightly search of human blood reveals his true form. Waxy pale skin, large eyes, and slightly hairier than a normal person, are normal vampire characteristics I’ve already told you about.

The Blut Aussauger has no skeletal system, this gives its supernatural strength a little extra because it’s movements aren’t hindered. It also allows it to attack from any angle or location.

It can also shape-shift into a bat, dog, rat, snake, and wolf.

Sunlight and garlic can keep this vampire away, but so can black dogs that have eyes painted in white on their heads. You can also hang some Hawthorn or smear garlic paste in your window if you don’t want to paint white eyes on your dog’s head. If you palnt Hawthorn on your property it will keep the Blut Avssauger off your land.

Garlic is important in killing the Blut. Trick or force feed it some garlic that will weaken it enough to be able to stake it through the heart. Holy Water and of course garlic need to be placed in the grave. You should burn incense during the burial.

If you can get some garlic in the Blut Avssauger’s mouth prolong exposure to sunlight will also kill it.

Got to love Bella Lugosi

Vampire Vs Vampire “Vampire Syndrome” Style

Today I have a really special treat for all you vampire-philes!! Daven Anderson from “Vampire Syndrome” agreed to write a special article for Vampire Wednesday. I’m honored to present. . .

“Vampires versus vampires”
Daven Anderson

One of my main motivations when crafting the Vampire Syndrome universe was to create a world where vampires make sense in both scientific and folkloric terms.

This was not an easy task.

Making sense of science’s yin and folklore’s yang ultimately required two types of vampires. Human vampires, and alien vampires.

A spaceship full of carnivorous predatory humanoids crashes in what is now Romania 25,000 years ago. A number of normal humans are suffused with the aliens’ DNA over time, creating mutant hybrids known as human vampires.

Many science fiction authors would say that aliens are a “convenience” for writers, allowing them to explain almost anything scientifically. And they’re right.

But when you analyze existing life forms on Earth, and compare them to many folkloric attributes of vampires, you find many things that simply do not apply to any animal on Earth.

Does any animal on Earth disintegrate to dust in direct sunlight? Does any animal above the jellyfish level lack an “end-of-life” aging sequence in their DNA? Can large animals cling to flat-surfaced walls and ceilings without the aid of claws or tools?

The human body has millions of years of evolved tolerance for direct sunlight. Could even DNA mutation change this (without killng the host)? I don’t think so. Thus, my human vampires can go about in daylight, just as normal human beings do.

The aliens, or “Pures”, are another story. Since the Pures evolved on planet Sek’Met, which has full cloud cover, they have no tolerance for direct UV radiation. Or for acidic plants such as onions and garlic (!!) which don’t exist on their home world.

Ironically, a scientific case could be made for “immortality”, as it may become possible in the future to slow or stop humans’ end-of-life DNA programming through scientific means. In my case, the infusion of the “immortal” alien DNA merely slows down the humans’ aging process to one-tenth its normal rate. A personal choice here, as I could have gone for “immortality” by this means. Folklore is reconciled by the fact that normal humans would not live long enough to see human vampires age very much, hence the presumption of immortality.

The Pures’ immortality reflects the conditions of evolving on Sek’Met, where all life forms are predators. Evolution has gifted them with inner gravitational forces, an important advantage for survival on any planet. An advantage no life form on Earth enjoys.

However, the human vampires’ evolved tolerance for sunlight and normal food (among other things) give them a huge advantage for survival on this planet, consequently they far outnumber the alien vampires.

The human and alien vampires are also metaphors for the vampires of modern fiction and the vampires of ancient folklore respectively. A conflict has arisen in the last century as the vampire has evolved from the revenant to the revered. Many readers long for the “good old days” when vampires inspired terror instead of teenage lust.

With “Vampire Syndrome”, I give my readers human vampires that are fully human, far beyound simply being “goody-goody” paranormal romance tropes. And the fans of the classic “monster” will take delight in the Pures, the human vampires’ terrifying yet realistic foes. The demon bloodsuckers that haunt your dreams, at last reconciled with science.

Vampires versus Vampires. And you, the reader, win.

***Daven Anderson Bio***

On June 13, 2009, Daven Anderson’s life changed. After forty years of reading other people’s stories, the impetus to create finally struck. Daven set about to fill two large “voids” in the field of modern fiction. One; to create a story where a person with special needs is portrayed as a wise, dignified hero, without being bogged down in a mawkish sentimentality that turns many readers away. The other; create a new class of vampire book where the back story makes complete sense in both scientific and folkloric terms. Where the conflict betweent two types of vampires, human and alien, lets readers explore (and debate) what it really means to be “human.”

Many would see the concepts of “a wise hero with special needs” and “vampires struggling to define and maintain their humanity” to be mutually exclusive, yet “Vampire Syndrome” proves these pair of concepts can be seamlessly integrated, and complementary. People with special needs struggle to define and maintain their humanity on a daily basis. As Daven’s main character Jack Wendell finds out, becoming a human Vampire besets him with a myriad of new problems. The challenges he faced in becoming a record-setting Special Olympics champion athlete pale next to the road he now must run. The hidden world of the Vampires, where even living to see the next sunrise will be a challenge for him. Even if he survives the challenges from other human Vampires, Jack will also have to deal with the alien Vampires.

When Daven first submitted his novel to publishers, his “pitch” drew widespread attention. PDMI Publishing LLC was able to see beyond the single-sentence “Forrest Gump meets War Of The Roses” pitch, and appreciate the true meanings behind “Vampire Syndrome.” To deliver the message of “a dignified hero with special needs” to those who would never read a book like “Forrest Gump.” To build a vampire world free of the “plausibility holes” that pause many readers dead in their tracks. And to be the first book that offers a sensible explanation for the menacing Blue Mustang statue at Denver International Airport. Unlike many other vampire novels, You do not have to check your sense of humor at the door to read “Vampire Syndrome.”

Daven’s writing credo is simply this: “Build the world first, and the writing will follow.” All too many speculative fiction writers build their stories’ universes as the writer goes along, and it shows. As several readers have said, “The scariest part of Vampire Syndrome is that everything makes sense.”

***Links***
Meet The Vampires

Vampire Syndrome

Vampire Syndrome.org

Muse With Coffee book review

Purchase on Amazon Links:
Paperback (YA)

Kindle (YA)

The Asiman

The Dahomey people of Africa have a legend of the Asiman.

“Asiman?” you ask.
I can see you sitting there.
“Mari, I’ve never heard of it.” You shake your head from side to side but you hear a little nagging voice. You want to roll your eyes but this voice tells you to listen.
“She hasn’t failed you yet, and today is Vampire Wednesday. Stick around, we’ll learn something new.”it says.
I can see you nod just slightly.

Okay then, now that we’ve gotten over that, let’s get back to the vampires.

The Asiman is what we call a living witch. She eats human food, can be in the sunlight, she’s just like you and me.
Wait let me take that back, she’s not just like you and me; actually, she’s a living vampiric witch. She became a vampire by her magic.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/obayifo

A very specific spell gives her these special evil vampire powers but it’s permanent.

Remember the corpse candle vampires we talked about last week?

Well, guess what. She’s one of those too; she can remove her skin and fly through the air to hunt humans.

That isn’t all, she can shape-shift into animal form too, only while in this form can she be killed.

We’ll look at some more corpse candle vampires next week. Some very similar to Asiman.
Stay tuned!

Aswang Mannanggal

This is one crazy vampire. This post is not for the weak of the heart or stomach. Are you still here? Remember I warned you.

All right let’s get into to this.

The Aswang Mannanggal is a vampire from the Philippines.

There seems to be two different creatures here. The Aswang, Mannanggal. The Aswang Mannanggal is a common variation of Mannanggal.

Aswang Mannaggal is a vampire witch (Love how most old myths involve witches turning into vampires. Both of my loves in one, or it may show how evil people think witches are. Either way I’m in heaven. :D)
So Aswang Mannaggal gets her name from the Tagalog word TANGGAL, meaning, “To separate” weird right. There’s a reason her name means “Separate”.

This vampire has a very different way of creation too. No, protecting yourself from her bite, or drinking her blood. No that’s not the way this vamp rolls. From what I can tell, men aren’t changed. Therefore, women pay attention. An Aswang Mannanggal will trick another woman into drinking cooked blood of another person. Never eat anything an Awang Mannangal gives you! Listen to me, never trust her, and remember she tricks you into eating.

All right, so someone didn’t listen to me right. She’s all like “This vampire-phile doesn’t know what she is talking about. Free food, I love free food. I gotta bounce.” Aswang Mannanggal hears this and tricks her into eating. Now she’s transformed into a vampire too. Aswang Mannanggal’s are portrayed as a beautiful woman with long luscious hair. Cool right and they live like normal humans most of the time.

Remember that “Separate” part?

Here’s where it gets freaky! On the full moon, another transformation takes place and her true form it revealed. Large leather like wings with clawed hands erupts through the skin of her back. Her teeth get longer and sharper and her tongue grows longer and forked at the end. Now “Separate” she rips her upper torso from her lower body. She flies through the night with her guts dangling out of her torso in search of unborn children (her favorite delicacy) she’ll even tear them from the womb. If she can’t find a pregnant woman, she’ll feast on human entrails.

Aswang Mannaggal is vulnerable while separated from her body. The only way she can be killed is by finding her lower body and rubbing salt or garlic all over it. When she returns the top, half won’t be able to reattach to the lower half. When the sunrises she’ll return to her human form and die.

There are other vampires who can separate their bodies the Penangglan, the Asema, Asiman can remove the skin from their bodies.

When I came to the Aswang Mannanggl, I thought it would make a great post. As soon as I started researching, I found there are another six or so Aswang variations. I’ll run one or two each week until we cover them all.

Photo Credit: http://movies.sopaipleto.com/2011/11/07/philippine-mythical-creatures-stories-that-needs-to-be-filmed/

Vampire characteristics

Lets take a look at new and old characteristics of vampires.

I’m in one of my list moods so this is kind of in list format.

Both have a Need for blood.
Vampires of old had fangs. Some of the newer ones don’t or they’re retractable.
Old vampires would wear formal wear or opera capes. Not anymore, or not always.
Both have pale complexions.
It was believed vampires from days gone by would sleep in coffins. Some modern vampires do, some don’t. Some don’t even sleep!
What is most commonly believed was vampires could only roam during the night. They would be in a coma during day. This isn’t true for vampires of old or new times.
One of the most common traits of vampires is that they have red eyes. This isn’t always the case now.
It seems having a cold touch is a characteristic that survives today.
Vampires of old couldn’t enter house unless invited. Now they can sneek in to your house.

SUPERNATURAL POWERS:
Both new and old have Speed, night vision, and strength.
Some have the  ability to levitate,  have hypnotic powers, or shapeshift.

AVOID:
It’s believed garlic, sunlight, sacred symbols, holy water were avoided.
Some vampires may need to sleep on native soil.
Most are killed by a stake in the heart, sunlight, fire, and or decapitation. Give or take one or two.

This is a partial list I wrote up when I was studying vampire characteristics for my novel. Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you want to know more about something.