Vampire Tales from Around the World, A History
Who doesn’t love some good vampire tales? These stories laid some serious groundwork in the gothic horror literature genre, and continue to evolve today. What started as commentary about religion and homosexuality has branched into an erotic culture, definitely still commentary on religion, and more dystopian scifi aspects are added in. However, vampire tales from around the world differ. The sexy, blood-sucking, cold-to-the-touch, pale men of centuries long ago carries a different beat when we leave western culture.
Nevertheless, life and death are mysterious states, and we know little of the resources either.
J. Le Fanu
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Vampire Tales From around The World
China
Chinese folklore has jiangshi/goeng-si fiction. This fiction is based on a corpse which is controlled by Taoist priests and it wavers between being a zombie and vampire. Quick note: Taoism is a Chinese philosophy focusing on living life in harmony… so take from that what you will!
India
India has stories of the Vetala from Hindu mythology. Which, is not really like vampires and/or zombies. Vetala are spirits that can possess and leave dead bodies whenever they want. Interestingly, the body they possess does stop decomposing while possessed by the spirit… so that can certainly make for some interesting dinner company depending on how long ago the body host passed away.
Africa
In African folklore, there is the Asanbosam. This ferocious beast is said to have iron teeth and iron hooks for feet. It uses its feet to dangle from the trees and grabs people passing by. Based on drawings and physical descriptions, the asanbosam seems more like an ogre or troll.
There is also the Obayifo, while considered a witch, it seems more like a possessed person doing evil things. The spirit/entity of the Obayifo can leave at will and is only identified by a holy priest or white witch. They feed on children’s blood and have a strange obsession with food.
There is a general history here, that people were accused of being an obayifo if they acted jealous towards their neighbors or families… I’m sure nothing good came from those moments in time. (Insert Salem Witch Trials reference here.)
Indonesia/Malaysia/Philippines
The Pontianaks – this is a folklore, let me tell you! Pontianaks are female vampires, and prey on men or weak people. These women come with a manual, so, I’m going to share everything with you to help prevent any Pontianak attacks in your future. Or, this will provide you with the correct tools to help aid in a quicker death. (Too dark?)
There are some language differences, so the Pontianak are also known as Matianak or Kuntilanak in Malay and Indonesian. I will go into the Philippines version in a minute. But, the potianak is the spirit or ghost of a woman who died while pregnant and/or from childbirth.
Pontianak are pale, have dark hair and red eyes. They turn into beautiful women when readying for attack, but have been known to look like vicious monsters. If there is a high-pitched baby scream and/or a dog howling, the pontianak is far away. If the baby has a soft cry and/or the dog is whimpering, the pontianak is close and you should be concerned. More alarming still, a verification of the pontianak’s close proximity is the smell of sweet flowers, followed quickly by the smell of decomposing bodies. Rumor has it, if a pontianak is near and your eyes are open, she will suck them straight out of your skull. Weee….
Pontianaks kill by burrowing their sharp fingers into their victim, then feed off their organs. If the pontianak is killing out of revenge, they just rip the victim’s organs out of their body.
Some important notes:
– Pontianaks find their prey by sniffing through laundry that’s still hanging outside. There are still superstitious Malaysians that will not leave their laundry out overnight for fear of instigating a visit from their local pontianak.
– She cannot be, I don’t want to say defeated, but she can be…tamed? Domesticated, maybe? To achieve this, you thrust a nail into an existing hole in the back of the neck. She turns into a beautiful woman and a good wife and will not revert back to her vampiric state until the nail is removed. A note about this note: the assumption here is that you will need your eyeballs to find the hole to put the nail in. Good luck.
– If there are any pontianak attack survivors out there, please leave your story, and tactics, in the comments below.
The Philippines refer to tiyanak, which is the ghost of a child who died before birth. It takes the form of a crying baby in the woods to attract travelers before turning into its vampiric state to feed. To my traveling friends, beware of baby cries you might hear off-the-beaten path while journeying through the Philippines.
In the Indonesian version, they reference more as kuntilanak, who preys upon virgins. It takes the form of a bird and uses black magic to make the women ill. The symptoms of their illness? Vaginal bleeding. I can only imagine how freaked out virgins were every 21-28 days. But, the solution to this problem seems fairly straight-forward…
Vampire Tales in Books
Carmilla, 1872 – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
What kind of story can you expect from an Irish horror writer in the Victorian Era? A lesbian vampire seductress, of course. Don’t be shocked at the use of homosexuality as the antagonist, but 150 years later, it certainly rings differently (sexy). Carmilla was published before Dracula by 26 years, which is a fun fact if anything. While it doesn’t seem like Le Fanu really cared/struggled with religion, I think he did enjoy using lesbians to freak people out. Le Fanu was a 21st century troll.
Fledgling, 2005 – Octavia Butler
Shori, a seemingly 10 year old, wakes up in a cave with no memory and is injured from burns. First thing she does is kill and drink blood and starts to heal quickly. Hence the word ‘seemingly’. The story has themes revolving around race and polyamorous sexuality. I appreciate that Octavia wrote this as a procrastination from her Parable series, as a challenge to write a vampire tale, and wanted to develop a way to make a vampire’s wish come true.
Anno Dracula, 1992 – Kim Newman
I purchased this book years ago because it hit some of my core guidelines of finding something new to read. SciFi/Fantasy-esque, with a ‘What If?’ storyline, and some humor. This is the start of a series about Dracula’s life after he kills Van Helsing. He marries Queen Victoria, becomes His Majesty Dracula, and there’s some squabbles with Jack the Ripper. Each book in the series jumps through time to a different era – the next one is about Dracula in WWI. Mildly off topic, while doing some research about Kim Newman, I found out he wrote a Doctor Who novella, and I need to get my hands on that.
Tales of King Vikrama, 1921 – Charles Kincaid
These tales were originally written in Sanskrit and they’re from the 11th century. There were a bunch others, but they were lost or possibly destroyed. Initially, books published in English of these tales weren’t translations but just adaptations. I couldn’t get a confirmation if Kincaid’s version is a translation or an adaptation, but he and his son were pretty involved in India and Indian culture. He helped co-author History of the Maratha People with Dattatray Balwant Parasnis, an Indian historian. The Tales of King Vikrama are an ongoing catch-and-release between King Vikrama and a vetala.
This is available on kindle or paperback through Amazon, but I’m also providing a link to a free copy I found online.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, 1660’s – 1740 – Pu Songling
There are over 500 stories from Pu Songling that are part of this collection. It consists of stories about magic, monsters, foxes, and some stories that are a commentary about the Chinese government at the time. They were written throughout Pu Songling’s life, but they weren’t published until after his death in 1740.
The stories are split up into different collections/volumes, but I found them online for free. We all like free.
Vampire Hunter D, 1983 – Hideyuki Kikuchi
I was first introduced to Vampire Hunter D a handful of years ago through the animated video. I did not care for the movie (don’t hate me). But, the premise is super intriguing. It’s the year twelve thousand and change, and here enters Vampire Hunter D, a half vampire, with some gorgeous hair.
I don’t think all of the VHD novels are translated into English, but a decent amount are and since they’re increasing in popularity, publishers are getting better about translating Hideyuki Kikuchi’s newer stuff quicker.
He recently started writing novels based on the same universe, but earlier in time, following different characters. One major reason why I will recommend the books over the movie is because of the translation. There are some reviews about the animated film’s English translation lacking and the part of Dracula is skewed, taking away from the intended story. Which I won’t get anymore specific about to avoid spoilers.
A Small Charred Face, 2017 – Kazuki Sakuraba
I have not read this book, but it sounds lovely. It is illegal for vampires to speak to humans, and there is a friendship of curiosity and survival sparked between Kyo and a Bamboo (vampire). The premise is “Even monsters need families.” A quick note: if you google her, make sure you put ‘author’ or ‘writer’ after her name… There’s a MMA fighter named Kazushi Sakuraba who ranks higher in searches than she does.
The Gilda Stories, 1991 – Jewelle Gomez
I’m partial to speculative fiction, and The Gilda Stories falls into that. And, since it’s written by Jewelle Gomez, who is an activist in the community… you can bet this story is inclusive AF. The Gilda Stories is about a bisexual, black vampire who’s challenging the norms of what a vampire truly is. Her debut novel doesn’t disappoint.
Let the Right One In, 2004 – John Ajvide Lindquist
Trigger Warning: this novel hits a lot of heavy and dark storylines/themes. From depression, anxiety, and bullying to pedophilia, murder, and body mutilation… it gets intense. A human child who’s bullied becomes friends with his new neighbor, a vampire child. While that’s cute, the story, as I’ve stated before, gets pretty dark and sometimes that’s not for everyone.
The House of Aunts, 2014 – Zen Cho
Cho’s story is a pontianak’s coming-of-age tale. Homework, first loves, and navigating through a world of matriarchs. Considering the information I provided in this post about pontianaks, there is an understandable level of apprehension when first approaching this story. The House of Aunts is a short story easily found in Zen Cho’s collection called Spirits Abroad.
Update January 2022 – The House of Aunts is difficult to find at this time. But there is access to other stories by Zen Cho, such as Sorcerer To The Crown.
Have you heard of some of these vampire tales?
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