Email received while in Cornwall:
Dear Alex,
Upon my return from the Basque country to the Island of Great Britain, I stumbled across something that you may or may not have heard
about. It was through researching my current fixation of bodily hair and fur that I read with much excitement about the Greek Isalnd of
Santorini. In reading this information I thought of you and your current obsession with Vampires. I do hope this will enlighten you.
An interesting description of the process by which a victim of vampire becomes a vrykolakas from a priest on the island of Crete was
published in 1898 :
“It is a popular belief that most of the dead, those who have lived bad lives or who have been excommunicated….become vrykolakes; that
is to say, after the separation of the soul from the body there enters into the latter an evil spirit which takes the place of the soul….
it keeps the body as its dwelling place, and it runs swift as lightning wherever it lists….And the trouble is that it does not remain
solitary, but makes everyone, who dies while it is about, like to itself, so that in a short space of time it gets together a large train
of followers. The common practice of the vrykolakes is to seat themselves upon those who are still asleep and by their great weight to
create an agonizing sense of oppression. There is great danger that the sufferer might himself expire, and himself too be turned into a
vrykolakas….This monster, as time goes on, becomes more audacious and blood-thirsty, so that it is able to devastate whole villages.”
This quote is found in “Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion” by John Lawson, and in “The Vampire in Europe” by Montague
Summers.
I particularly enjoyed the idea of the Vrykolakes using their body weight to sit upon their victim until they too became a vampire. There
is alot of information to be had about them.
I do hope you and your companion are enjoying Cornwall.
Much Love to you both, Hayley xx
