parasite withdraws back into another dimension of time and space, thus leaving the confused human being alone, charged with murder, while the true assassin has escaped.
Certain psychical researchers have created a kind of pattern profile of what may occur when someone has become the unwilling host of an uninvited spirit guest.
The host-being may begin to hear voices that direct him to perform acts that he had never before considered. He may begin to use obscene and blasphemous language in situations that make his friends or relatives feel very offended or uncomfortable. Friends and family will remark that he is acting like a “totally different person.” He may frequently see grotesque images of the parasite spirit as it exists in its paraphysical dimension.
In the weeks and months that follow, the host-being may fall into states of blacked-out consciousness, times of which he has absolutely no memory.
On occasions, in the midst of conversations, the host-being may find his conscious mind blocked and a trancelike state will come over him.
The host-being will be observed walking differently, speaking in a different tone, and acting in a strange, irrational manner.
In the worst of cases, the parasitic spirit will completely possess the host-being’s mind and body. The evil inhabitation may reach a climax with the host-being committing murder, suicide, or some violent antisocial act.
It is hardly comforting to read the reports of some investigators of such phenomena who state that possibly everyone at one time or another may become susceptible to a spirit parasite.
An examination of the case histories of diagnosed schizophrenics reveals that many of them underwent a period of severe stress prior to the onset of the illness. People under stress seek to control the tension in their lives. Unfortunately, far too many use alcohol or drugs in order to put themselves into a relaxed state—which very often deteriorates into a drunken or a drugged stupor. Alcohol and drugs leave the user wide open to spirit parasites.
Traditionally, researchers of the human psychological condition have assumed that the change of personality in one habituated to drugs or alcohol is due to the ingestion of the substance of preference. Certain psychical researchers have found that parasitic spirits frequently move into the mind and body of drug and alcohol users and actually encourage the host-beings to use more drugs or alcohol, for they are more easily controlled while under the influence of mind-altering substances.
The physical appearance of a vampire in European folklore is a grotesque, nightmarish creature with twisted fangs and grasping talons (illustration by Ricardo Pustanio).
Current literary and cinematic portrayals of the vampire have made the ancient blood-sucking creature of darkness the most popular monster in the world. In this present book, however, we deal with Real Vampires who continue to prey mercilessly on their victims and brush aside human values.
A Gallery of Classic Vampires
At the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences held in Denver, Colorado, in March 2009, Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy said that he may have forensically examined the first skeletal remains of a vampire.
While excavating the mass graves of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576 on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo, Borrini found the skull of a woman with a brick in her mouth. According to Borrini, grave-diggers placed small bricks in the mouths of vampires, those men and women who were suspected of spreading the plague, as well as drinking people’s blood.
Undoubtedly, during the demon-haunted Middle Ages, there were many corpses buried with bricks in their mouths for there were numerous recently deceased individuals under suspicion of being vampires. In the popular mind, Vlad Tepes, Dracul (1431–1476), might well have been responsible for creating a good number of blood-drinking night stalkers.
Vlad Tepes, King of Wallaschia, present-day Romania, may have been one of the inspirations for Bram Stoker’s classic work Dracula, and his very name may be synonymous worldwide with vampires, but he will not be included in our Gallery for the very good reason that he was not a vampire. His bloody sobriquet, Vlad the Impaler, did not come from fangs that impaled the throats of his victims, but from the stakes that were driven though the warriors who had yielded to him in battle. History records that Vlad might have tortured, roasted, boiled, and impaled as many as 100,000 enemy soldiers, but he was never seen drinking a single drop of their blood.
In 1410, King Sigismund of Hungary had founded a secret fraternal order called the “Order of the Dragon” to defend Christian Europe from the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks. The emblem of the order was a dragon, wings spread, defending a cross. Vlad Tepes’s father was known as “Vlad the Dragon” in honor of his courage in warfare against the Turks. Therefore Vlad Tepes (Vlad III) became at his birth Vlad Dracul or “Son of the Dragon.”
In present day Romania, Vlad Dracul is regarded as a national hero for his success in resisting the invading Ottoman Turks and for establishing at least a brief period of peace, independence, and sovereignty. To call Vlad Dracul a shape-shifting creature of darkness while a tourist in Romania would be comparable to visitors to the United States naming our Colonial hero and leader George Washington a vampire.
However, there does exist a historical connection between Dracul and the first true vampire in our Gallery. In 1476, Steven Bathóry of Transylvania, whose family crest also bears the image of a dragon, helped Vlad Tepes regain his throne. In 1560, Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathóry was born.
Born into a family of aristocrats, Elizabeth Bathóry inherited a dark reputation from her family. The name of Bathóry had either been that of the wisest rulers or the most depraved despots.
At age 15 Elizabeth, known for her beauty and her flawless complexion, became engaged to Ferenc Nadasdy on New Year’s Eve 1575. Nadasdy was another family name with a sinister reputation, and the young Count Ferenc had a streak of barbaric cruelty and intense sadism running through him.
Together they were a perfectly matched pair. Elizabeth was constantly at Ferenc’s side as the jaded young aristocrat dabbled in the dark arts. An intelligent, educated woman, Elizabeth could read and write in four languages and was completely capable of managing the affairs of the castle or uttering complex satanic rituals. Elizabeth and Ferenc were married on May 18, 1575, with a wedding that included about 4500 guests. Elizabeth retained the Bathóry name because her family’s name was more powerful than that of her husband.
History records that Vlad might have tortured, roasted, boiled, and impaled as many as 100,000 enemy soldiers….
It is likely that Elizabeth would have remained just another depraved aristocrat if her husband had stayed at home to keep her happy. Instead, Ferenc vented his lust for blood by becoming one of Hungary’s greatest warriors, earning the title of The Black Hero for his constant battles against the Turks. In 1578, Nadasdy was named the commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army, and he led the troops to fight another war with the Ottomans.
Although Nadasdy was often away for months at a time, in 1585 Elizabeth bore their first child, a daughter, Anna. A few years later, another daughter, Ursula, and a son, Andrew, were born, but they died at
