VAMPIRE – in the lower mythology of the peoples of Europe, a dead person who rises from the grave at night or appears in the form of a bat, sucking the blood of sleeping people and causing nightmares. VAMPIRES were those who died an “unclean” death – criminals, suicides, those who died prematurely, and those who PERISHED from the bites of VAMPIRES. It was believed that their bodies did not decompose in the graves, and their evil deeds could be stopped by driving an aspen stake into their body, beheading them, etc. Garlic, iron, bell ringing, and