Where does "Undead" come in?

[RKCoon]

Just outta curiousity, ive noted quite a few shows and so on (Hellsing comes to mind) where vamps are considered "undead". maybe this is covered somewhere and i missed it, but where in historical lore does that stem from, anyway?

[Craze]

It stems from the belief that vamires were reanimated corpses that preyed on the blood of the living to keep up their psuedo life. Its impossible to pinpoint were exactly this originated, because its rampant in a variety of old mythos from various cultures and countries. It was popular to stake corpses in their coffins to prevent such rising.

[RKCoon]

Well that i knew - i was wondering if there WAS anything more specific, source or origin to the myth. just me being picky tho :p

[Malcaius]

undeath has been around since the greeks, and before them more than likely even sumaria has anchient myths of the dead rising and living through the lifeforce of others

[dreamguardian1]

It stems from the belief that vamires were reanimated corpses that preyed on the blood of the living to keep up their psuedo life. Its impossible to pinpoint were exactly this originated, because its rampant in a variety of old mythos from various cultures and countries. It was popular to stake corpses in their coffins to prevent such rising.


Well said, not sure if its true or not with all the new "stories" coming out and writers editing their books every month. Bit i read somewhere that the term undead arose after the store of Vlad Dracul, smething about returned from the dead after he feasted on raw meat in front of his impaled victims etc etc etc. Im sure everyone has heard that story but it would be intersteing to get a firm defintiion of where it originated. Because IMO Vampires fall into a different category than ghosts, Wraiths or Poltergeists ( or are those essences) hell it gets so confusing.

[shadow]

also....there is the question as to how they become the undead. there are several such as improper burial(i.e. burying on unconsecrated ground, ritual performed improperly, etc.) also the famous killed by a vampire and then fed on the vamps blood before dying, i believe i have also read that an evil spirit can possess a body after death causing the person to rise and need blood to sustain the body.
I'll try and find sources on all this when i have a minuite.

[theoutsider]

The myth of 'undeath' comes from certain facts about recently dead humans... The fact that certain parts of the person seem to keep growing after death (hair, teeth, fingernails, ect) as well as the fact that after going through rigor mortis a body can start to move again on it's own... (gasses build up and muscles relax in differeing amounts, depending on how large they are.)

Tie that to the fact that people are very superstitious about death, and that in historic times if one person died it usually wasn't a sigle occurance (if it wasn't an accident, anyway) and you get a myth about the dead moving among the living, feeding off them and bringing them into the world of the dead.

How it got tied to vampires? I'd theorize that before embalming, corpses leaked fluids from the mouth, looking like they had blood on their lips... But that's just a theory.

[Vicereine]

vampirism has been around in lore and myth for as long as devils and angels and gods and goddesses, in different forms.

The more 'recent' surge of vampirism propagander can be traced back to the black death. Due to the number of people dying a fair amount got buried whilst technically still alive. There are stories of them waking and scratching at the inside of the coffin until the air ran out and their fingers were bleeding (well you would wouldnt you). Also the 'recent' resurgance of vampires in literature.

Back to Polardi (sp), Byron, Bram Stoker .... you know the rest. Literature was more available to a wider scope of the classes and not exclusively for the upper classes. Literature replaced the story telling word of mouth. And it permeated society.

In conclusion, from what I remember of my studies into this. Initially vampirism was an aspect of certain gods and godesses. It then became the main characteristic of lesser creatures. Hence the undead element, a way of scaring good behaviour into the populace. Then it was 'proven' with the slightly ahead of themselves burials of plague victims (there have obviously been more than the black death) and as stated earlier the apparant continued growth of hair and nails. As gums receed on a corpse the canine teeth would look more pronounced.

Its a mish mash of misunderstood early science, folklore and storytelling. I think.

[Shadowpsi]

i think it comes from the idea that you were dead and now your un-dead

tho I think i gave a over simple answer

I think it could have come from judus' hanging of himself since many of the weakness of a vampire come from that