The vampire legend is universal. In Poland, vampires are called "upirs"; in Greece, Brucolacas. The villagers of Uganda, Haiti, Indonesia and the upper Amazon all have their local vatiety of noctunal blood-seeker. American indians, Arctic Eskimos and many Arabian tribes know the vampire well and have as many elaborate precautions agaisnt the undead as do the inhabitants of transylvanian villages

His face was a strong-very strong-aquiline, with a high bridge of the nose and perculiarly arched nostrils; loftly domed forehead and hair growing scantily around the temples but profusly elsewhere. His eyebrows were massive, almost meeting over the nose, the mouth was fixed in and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth, which protruded over the lips.

The beastly black powres of the European vampire grew with each generation. he was as strong as a dozen men, abe to transform himself not only into a bat but also a wolf, and able to command the rat, the owl ,the moth and the fox. He was able to see in the dark and travel on moonbeams and mist, at at time he could vanish in a puff of smoke. His hypnotic powers were also irresistable!

Now, when one knew that a vampire was flapping around in the dark, there were a number of precautions that could be taken. Wolfbane, the Lotus flower, wild garlic, sacred objects, a crucifix, and sacred water, all rendered the vampire powerless. A branch of wild roses placed on his coffin would keep him there. If you could find his resting place, you could drive a stake through his heart as he sleeps. You could destroy his coffin while he was out on his nocturnal hunt and the early morning sun would scorch him into ashes. Oh, and the vampire has no reflection within a mirror!

Even at the dawn of the scientific age, scholars and members of the clergy were convinced of the vampires existance. In the eighteenth century, a Benedictine monk, Dom Calmet, turned his skillful pen to the subject, trying to present a "scientific" explanation. "Chemical substances of the soil may conserve a corpse indefinitely. by the influence of warmth, teh nitre and sulfer in the earth may render liquid coagulated blood."

Today we recognize a vampire's psychosis wherein the individual may become convinced that his life depends upon drawing fresh blood from human victims, and in extreme cases may believe himself to be dead.

for almost a week in February 1960, women in the town of Monteros in Argentina were terrorized by the attacts of a 'vampire". Fifteen women were victimized by a vampire who crept into through windows left open due to a heat wave. They hysterically told police of savage teeth biting into thier throats and drawing blood. When officers finally tracked the "vampire" to his lair, they found a young man sleeping in a coffin which he has secreted in a cave on the outskirts of the city. He lay in a black cloak in deep sleep with fresh blood on his lips. in custody, the vampire indentified himself as Florenico Fernandez, age twenty-five, a stonemason. he was a complete loss to explain his attacks.