Vampires

Since ancient times people have talked about evil spirits and monsters, among which were detached vampires, hideous creatures that feed with blood.
In the mythological context, vapires are reanimated corpses that can not come to daylight, their skin is cold and white, have sharp canines, they change the eye color and are immortal. No one knows with certainty when the first vampire appeared, but no data as in Mesopotamia people face such beings. Mesopotamian legends speak about Lamastu, a goddess-demon that fed with humans, daughter of the god Anu (Sumerian god of heaven). She's associated with Lilith, a prominent figure in some Jewish texts. According to an old legend, Lilith was created from the earth by God with Adam, but she left Eden and gave birth to their own children.God sent three angels to persuade her to return, and because she refused, he promised that it will kill 100 children each day until she will be back in Eden, transforming her into a real killer of children .

In Greek mythology there is a similar creature, Lamia, a goddess with the head of a woman and a body of a snake. Legends say that Lamia was one of Zeus' lovers. Full of jealousy and anger, the wife of Zeus, Hera, curse Lamia to eat all the children who will give birth. To protect them from the curse she began to eat only the blood of her children.
Vampires appear in Asian mythology. In Indian folklore, were Rakshasa (a creature that changes its shape) and Vetal.
Chinese legends tell us that some deaths could rise from the grave and return in the world.
                                                                  Vampirism in Eastern Europe
Vampire legends were much enriched by eastern european cultures. The moste famous vampires in eastern europe are the russian upir, greek werewolf and romanian hobgoblin ( rum:  strigoi ).. 
According to the legends, hobgoblins ( strigoii ) are spirits of dead people and came back among the living.
In other parts of Eastern Europe were called ghosts and vampires ( ex: Serbia ). In the 18th century the vampirism hysteria were spreded  in all Eastern Europe.  People say they see their relatives walking and attaking the living and the authorities had to exume and burn the dead to identify the vampires. 

Vampirism, a disease?
Most scientist have tried to investigate the phisycal origins of vampirism. It seems that there are some diseases that cause vampirism behavior. The most known disease is prophyria, which is characterized by a deficiency in blood production of a pigment rich in iron.
People who suffers from this disease are sensitive to the light and their mouth and teeths are reddish. A possible treatment for this disease is a regular consumption of blood, but there is no evidence in this regard.
Another disease is catalepsy associated with epilepsy, scizophrenia that affects the central nevous system. Durring an attack of catalepsy the muscles become very rigid, stiff body increased, decreased heart rate and the breathing becomes more slow.
A crisis of catalepsy may last from several hours to several days, so some "dead" people went up in coffins when they were taken to the grave.


Ghost ( Moroi )


 Moroiul ( Ghost, there's no translation in english for this word ), in romanian mythology it is an evil spirit came from a dead child, not baptized, killed and buried alive which was not made religious service. It is belived that the night comes from the grave in the form of a ghost to inflict evil to the living.



 Fairies ( Ielele )


 The mythological form is of a maiden with great strenght and magical powers of seduction, accumulating attributes from the Nymphs. In romanian mythology they were priestess of Dacian deities. They appear at the moonlight in hidden places, crossroads dancing naked wrapped in transparent waves and bells on their feet. The place where they danced is burnd and the grass is unable to grow. Sometimes they appear as an immaterial ghosts. In the romanian folklor they are young, beautiful and seductive womens.