Wanted Undead or Alive:. Джонатан Мэйберри

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СКАЧАТЬ carriers, and either infect with their bite or carry with them a pervasive air of pestilence that can wither humans, livestock, and crops. After all, the dreaded word “nosferatu” means “plague carrier.”

      Vampire Tunnel

      Built in 1918 by British soldiers, Vampire Tunnel lies deep below the ground near Ypres, Belgium. According to Andrew Curry in his article “Under the Western Front” (Archaeology Magazine, July/August 2009), “no one is sure why World War I mapmakers named the dugout after the bloodsucking creature of the night, but it may have had something to do with the pale, silent soldiers who crept out of the tunnels under the cover of darkness.” Intended to house troops, the dugout was never completed; the Germans attacked and captured Vampire Tunnel before the British could make use of it.

      FIEND FINDING

      Identifying the resting place of a vampire is a crucial skill for vampire hunters. Not all of the world’s vampire species are undead Einsteins. Most are mindless or near mindless monsters that rest in their graves because they lack the imagination to book a room in Motel 6, or because they are compelled to do so for some reason tied to their supernatural nature. In either case, they are fairly easy to find. Or are they? Most cemeteries have a number of fresh graves. Hopefully not all of them contain vampires. Digging up every dead body in order to drive stakes or lop off heads is likely to result in some violent resistance on the part of disgruntled relatives. Can’t blame them. Furthermore, not all vampiric attacks are perpetrated by vampires who have risen from the dead. Folklore is filled with stories of vampires who are not actually dead or were never human beings.

      On the other hand, in regions where revenants are common, the graveyard is a good place to start. In such cases there are several useful ways to locate the correct grave. Here are some examples:

      Grave concerns

        Leading a white horse through a cemetery will result in the horse reacting violently to a grave where evil lies. In Europe this method required a white stallion, and sometimes a stallion that is still a virgin.

        Another variation requires that a virgin human (generally a teenage girl, and occasionally nude⁶) rides a white horse through a graveyard.

        An Eastern European version has the vampire hunter leading a virgin boy through the graveyard. And there are lots of variations of the whole virgin/graveyard thing.

        In some Western European countries the horse doesn’t need to be a virgin (or bearing one) but it does need to be black. In Albania, however, it definitely has to be white.

        Discovering open ditches, holes, or other disturbances of the ground are viewed as suspicious. They might be the routes by which monsters travel from the grave to the surface world.

        In parts of the Appalachians, dead birds found around a grave will indicate evil, especially if they are carrion birds.

        Conversely, in Asia, the presence of live birds around a grave indicate that a monster is in residence.

      He looks so natural

        The appearance of a corpse is often a tip-off. For example, disinterred bodies that are flushed and healthy looking are considered to be well-fed vampires.

        Ditto for corpses with blood on their mouths.

        A body that shows no signs of normal decomposition is another red flag.

      Necrolysis

      There is a likely medical basis for corpses having a ruddy or healthy appearance. It’s a phase of decomposition called “necrolysis,” which is the separation or exfoliation of necrotic tissue, often leading to a temporarily ruddy appearance to dead flesh.

      Vampire CSI

        The presence of a vampire in the neighborhood can be deduced by the signs of its predation. Typical evidence would be bite marks that are too large to have been made by bats or other animal predators.

        The unexpected death of livestock is regarded worldwide as being unnatural. Though, to be fair to vampires, there are a lot of monsters in world folklore that prey on animals.

        Crop failures have long been attached to vampire beliefs, particularly if the poor harvest is the result of plant blight.

        Disease outbreaks in humans have also been associated with vampires for many centuries. Remember, the frequently used label for vampire—nosferatu—means “plague carrier.”

      MAKING THE DEAD DEADER

      So, how do you kill a vampire?

      In most legends and popular tales, vampires are hunted by Joe Ordinary rather than a professional. It’s the family of a risen vampire who usually has the burden of disposal. Or villagers (with or without pitchforks and torches).

      However there were—and are—people who claim to be professional vampire hunters. These pros vary from clerics, for whom fighting all manner of evil is an expected part of the job; to people whose destiny aims them at the undead; to half-vampire offspring with a real case of parental resentment.

      If the nature of the vampire is frequently misunderstood and the qualities of a vampire vary from region to region and culture to culture, the problem of knowing how to kill them becomes extraordinarily tricky.

      THE UNKINDEST CUT

      Beheading is a fan favorite, and it doesn’t require a sanctified sword or sacred axe. Anything with a heavy blade and a sharp edge will git ’er done. When in doubt, decapitate.

      The trick, of course, is getting close enough to a vampire to swing a sword or an axe. Many vampires are enormously strong and unnaturally fast. Most vampire hunters are content to wait until the vampire is asleep and helpless in its grave before playing slice and dice.

      A few vampires are not vulnerable to the blade, however. Notable among them is the Draugr, a demonic spirit that enters the grave of a fallen Viking, inhabits its flesh, and then rises as a virtually indestructible monster. The creature is immune to any weapon. Only a hero whose heart is pure and is in good standing with the gods of Valhalla can stand up to the Draugr with any hope of victory, let alone survival. But the hero needs to defeat and destroy the monster in empty-handed combat.

      WELL—THAT STINKS!

      Many cultures ascribe spiritual qualities to garlic (allium sativum). Most often garlic is held to be something good and wholesome, and true to its use in herbology, it’s used as a blood purifier. It has antibacterial and antiparasitic qualities, and there is solid thought that these attributes could prevent the kinds of infections that lead to delusions and other psychosis related to disease.

      In variations on the vampire-destroying ritual of Exorcism, garlic is usually placed in the mouth of the monster in order to purify the connection between the flesh and the spirit, which thereby eliminates tainted spiritual energy.

      However there’s an early Christian belief that when Satan left Eden, garlic plants grew from his left footprints and onion from the right. In Islamic beliefs, the Koran says: “Whoever eats onions, garlic or leeks should not go to the mosque because his breath may disturb the angels and the people.”

      Jason СКАЧАТЬ