Vampires Encyclopedia

Romania and that region of Eastern Europe is what most people consider is the birthplace of the vampire. Vlad the Impaler ( Dracula ) was from present day Romania. In the English speaking world Vlad is most famous for giving Bram Stoker the ideal for his novel Dracula. Vlad had the nasty habit of having people impaled. Quite often even his own people.

Anyone and everyone that Vlad thought or even imagined he might have a problem with he had impaled. During his reign as King he had anyone who could have any claim to the crown impaled. And he loved to impale the Turks who were his major enemy.

By Vlad's own claims he claimed he had over 23.000 men, women, and children impaled. Anyone that Vlad considered a threat to him in any way Vlad ordered to be impaled. And it caused great fear and hatred among Vlad's own people and his enemies the Turk's and the Ottoman Empire.

Vlad Dracula was killed in battle against the Turks near the present day town of Bucharest. It is said that the Sultan had Vlad's head cut off and he had it displayed in Istanbul to let people know that Vlad the Impaler was finally dead.

When Bram Stoker came across the real story of Vlad the Impaler he didn't believe that people would even believe that someone like Vlad the Impaler had actually lived and so he based his book Dracula loosely on the real life Dracula who was in fact Vlad the Impaler.

It was during the 18th century that there was a frenzy of vampire sightings and vampire stories were told every where frighting people and most people of the time believed very strongly that vampires existed and walked among them.

Even high government officials took part in the vampire hunts and many people were dug up when they were suspected of being vampires. Peoples bodies were dragged out of coffins and staked and quite often the entire body would be burned and the ashes were either poured into a local river or scattered to the four directions to make sure the vampire could not come back.

And there were many cases that were well documented saying that real vampires had been discovered and destroyed. The Catholic Church had actual priests whose job was hunting down and destroying vampires. There is even some evidence that Catholic Church sponsored Vampire Hunter Priests still exist today.

The vampire scare spread all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to America and there were hundreds of vampire hunts in present day New England where people were dug up and their hearts or bodies were burned to rid communities of the vampires that were preying on them. You can read about the story of one of these Mercy Brown by Clicking Here.

Vampire Murders

There have been many unexplained vampire murders in New Orleans and the French Quarter section of New Orleans. Many people believe that there are many real vampires in New Orleans. You have voodoo and ghosts as a large part of the local culture of New Orleans and many people in New Orleans believe very strongly in Vampires. Click Here to read about the Infamous Vampire Murders of New Orleans.

In 1933 terror came to St Augustine Florida like never before. On the morning of October 5th 1933 a man coming to see his brother in the city discovered the dead bodies of his brother, his brothers wife and their three children. All of the dead had open oozing wounds in their throats where someone or something had fed and sucked on the blood from the now dead family. The Turners all appeared according to a local doctor to have been dead for two to three days when they were discovered. Every mirror in the house had been broken and several crosses and other religious items the family owned had been thrown out a back window into the back yard.

The families cat had been savagely killed and its headless body was thrown on the hall floor. Its head was never found. Blood was smeared on walls through out the house and it was clear that someone had taken a lot of time smearing the blood around.

Neighbors said that they heard nothing but a neighbor man two doors down said that he saw a very dark man dressed all in black leave the house just before daylight a day or two before. He said the man walked past him and he clearly heard the man make a hissing sound at him as he walked by him.

Police at the time conducted extensive searches and blood hounds were even brought in but no trace of who ever or what ever committed the horrible crime was ever found. The local and Jacksonville newspapers at the time both placed the headlines across the front of their newspapers with the headline, Vampire Stalks St Augustine. In time the murders were forgotten but they actually did happen and even to this day they remain unsolved.

More Vampire Stories

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More Vampire Murders

it is interesting to note that murders called Vampire Murders have occurred at various times all across the southern United States. Two different times in history that we know of very brutal vampire murders occurred in New Orleans. Click Here to read about those murders.

Do you know of other documented Vampire Murders at other locations in the United States please feel free to post about them below in the comments section.