The Vampire Dictionary
Imagine a world in which it’s possible for the dead to return to life to feed on the living. In that world, soon after burying a loved one who died mysteriously, you must watch as other members of your family begin growing weaker, as if life itself is slowly being drained out of them.
One by one, they too begin to die. Finally, when you yourself begin losing your strength, you are forced to face the horrible truth, that your dead loved one may be a vampire. You go the grave and exhume the body to look for the telltale signs and discover it has hardly decayed, its hair and finger nails have continued to grow, its stomach is swollen, and, the most telling sign of all, a stain of blood surrounds the corpse’s mouth.
Upon further examination, you discover the heart itself is filled with blood. With trepidation you must cremate the heart and decapitate the corpse. Soon afterward, however, you and your surviving family members begin feeling better and eventually recover fully. The curse of the vampire has been broken.
Imagine, on the other hand, that, you have grown too weak to hunt down the unholy creature responsible for your illness. In fact, you’re so ill, you black out. When you finally come to, you’re cold and in utter darkness. Soon you realize you’ve been buried alive. You begin kicking and screaming until exhaustion overcomes you. Then, just as you’re about to gasp your last breath, the top of your coffin breaks open and, to your relief, you see that your family and neighbors have arrived to rescue you in the nick of time.
You want to smile and thank them but you’re too busy trying to recover your breath. You can only feel how grateful you are your nightmare is over. Then, just as you attempt to stand, one of your rescuers shoves a wooded stake through your heart, and once again your world falls into blackness, this time forever.
Today these chilling accounts seem possible only in the dark imaginations of horror novelists like Ann Rice and Stephen King. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, zombies or any other creatures that return from the dead to terrorize the living are considered purely fictional. The imaginary world I just described makes for frighteningly good entertainment but nobody in their right mind would consider it real. Or would they?
I submit to you that until about a hundred and fifty years ago, the world I’ve just described was the reality for most people. Virtually every known culture that has ever existed has believed in some form of vampire, from the ancient Sumerians to the inhabitants of New England just a few generations ago.
Today, through the eyes of science and modern medicine, we realize the deadly plagues that swept through the Middle East, Europe and Asia during in the 6th and 14th centuries, responsible for the deaths of 175 million people, was the bubonic plague, caused by rats, not vampires. We also know the low mortality rate of children, throughout history and today is caused by poverty and poor health conditions, not because vampires like the blood of children more than that of others. And, when an otherwise healthy infant dies suddenly in the night for no apparent reason, we no longer assume a demon of the night is responsible. We simply call it SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which may not be any less mysterious, but somehow sounds better to our modern rational minds.
Today our vampires have become our diseases.
In this dictionary, learn the terminology associated with the Vampire and the world of the night. See life through the eyes of the children of the night.
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One by one, they too begin to die. Finally, when you yourself begin losing your strength, you are forced to face the horrible truth, that your dead loved one may be a vampire. You go the grave and exhume the body to look for the telltale signs and discover it has hardly decayed, its hair and finger nails have continued to grow, its stomach is swollen, and, the most telling sign of all, a stain of blood surrounds the corpse’s mouth.
Upon further examination, you discover the heart itself is filled with blood. With trepidation you must cremate the heart and decapitate the corpse. Soon afterward, however, you and your surviving family members begin feeling better and eventually recover fully. The curse of the vampire has been broken.
Imagine, on the other hand, that, you have grown too weak to hunt down the unholy creature responsible for your illness. In fact, you’re so ill, you black out. When you finally come to, you’re cold and in utter darkness. Soon you realize you’ve been buried alive. You begin kicking and screaming until exhaustion overcomes you. Then, just as you’re about to gasp your last breath, the top of your coffin breaks open and, to your relief, you see that your family and neighbors have arrived to rescue you in the nick of time.
You want to smile and thank them but you’re too busy trying to recover your breath. You can only feel how grateful you are your nightmare is over. Then, just as you attempt to stand, one of your rescuers shoves a wooded stake through your heart, and once again your world falls into blackness, this time forever.
Today these chilling accounts seem possible only in the dark imaginations of horror novelists like Ann Rice and Stephen King. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, zombies or any other creatures that return from the dead to terrorize the living are considered purely fictional. The imaginary world I just described makes for frighteningly good entertainment but nobody in their right mind would consider it real. Or would they?
I submit to you that until about a hundred and fifty years ago, the world I’ve just described was the reality for most people. Virtually every known culture that has ever existed has believed in some form of vampire, from the ancient Sumerians to the inhabitants of New England just a few generations ago.
Today, through the eyes of science and modern medicine, we realize the deadly plagues that swept through the Middle East, Europe and Asia during in the 6th and 14th centuries, responsible for the deaths of 175 million people, was the bubonic plague, caused by rats, not vampires. We also know the low mortality rate of children, throughout history and today is caused by poverty and poor health conditions, not because vampires like the blood of children more than that of others. And, when an otherwise healthy infant dies suddenly in the night for no apparent reason, we no longer assume a demon of the night is responsible. We simply call it SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which may not be any less mysterious, but somehow sounds better to our modern rational minds.
Today our vampires have become our diseases.
In this dictionary, learn the terminology associated with the Vampire and the world of the night. See life through the eyes of the children of the night.
The Vampire Dictionary
Imagine a world in which it’s possible for the dead to return to life to feed on the living. In that world, soon after burying a loved one who died mysteriously, you must watch as other members of your family begin growing weaker, as if life itself is slowly being drained out of them.
One by one, they too begin to die. Finally, when you yourself begin losing your strength, you are forced to face the horrible truth, that your dead loved one may be a vampire. You go the grave and exhume the body to look for the telltale signs and discover it has hardly decayed, its hair and finger nails have continued to grow, its stomach is swollen, and, the most telling sign of all, a stain of blood surrounds the corpse’s mouth.
Upon further examination, you discover the heart itself is filled with blood. With trepidation you must cremate the heart and decapitate the corpse. Soon afterward, however, you and your surviving family members begin feeling better and eventually recover fully. The curse of the vampire has been broken.
Imagine, on the other hand, that, you have grown too weak to hunt down the unholy creature responsible for your illness. In fact, you’re so ill, you black out. When you finally come to, you’re cold and in utter darkness. Soon you realize you’ve been buried alive. You begin kicking and screaming until exhaustion overcomes you. Then, just as you’re about to gasp your last breath, the top of your coffin breaks open and, to your relief, you see that your family and neighbors have arrived to rescue you in the nick of time.
You want to smile and thank them but you’re too busy trying to recover your breath. You can only feel how grateful you are your nightmare is over. Then, just as you attempt to stand, one of your rescuers shoves a wooded stake through your heart, and once again your world falls into blackness, this time forever.
Today these chilling accounts seem possible only in the dark imaginations of horror novelists like Ann Rice and Stephen King. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, zombies or any other creatures that return from the dead to terrorize the living are considered purely fictional. The imaginary world I just described makes for frighteningly good entertainment but nobody in their right mind would consider it real. Or would they?
I submit to you that until about a hundred and fifty years ago, the world I’ve just described was the reality for most people. Virtually every known culture that has ever existed has believed in some form of vampire, from the ancient Sumerians to the inhabitants of New England just a few generations ago.
Today, through the eyes of science and modern medicine, we realize the deadly plagues that swept through the Middle East, Europe and Asia during in the 6th and 14th centuries, responsible for the deaths of 175 million people, was the bubonic plague, caused by rats, not vampires. We also know the low mortality rate of children, throughout history and today is caused by poverty and poor health conditions, not because vampires like the blood of children more than that of others. And, when an otherwise healthy infant dies suddenly in the night for no apparent reason, we no longer assume a demon of the night is responsible. We simply call it SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which may not be any less mysterious, but somehow sounds better to our modern rational minds.
Today our vampires have become our diseases.
In this dictionary, learn the terminology associated with the Vampire and the world of the night. See life through the eyes of the children of the night.
One by one, they too begin to die. Finally, when you yourself begin losing your strength, you are forced to face the horrible truth, that your dead loved one may be a vampire. You go the grave and exhume the body to look for the telltale signs and discover it has hardly decayed, its hair and finger nails have continued to grow, its stomach is swollen, and, the most telling sign of all, a stain of blood surrounds the corpse’s mouth.
Upon further examination, you discover the heart itself is filled with blood. With trepidation you must cremate the heart and decapitate the corpse. Soon afterward, however, you and your surviving family members begin feeling better and eventually recover fully. The curse of the vampire has been broken.
Imagine, on the other hand, that, you have grown too weak to hunt down the unholy creature responsible for your illness. In fact, you’re so ill, you black out. When you finally come to, you’re cold and in utter darkness. Soon you realize you’ve been buried alive. You begin kicking and screaming until exhaustion overcomes you. Then, just as you’re about to gasp your last breath, the top of your coffin breaks open and, to your relief, you see that your family and neighbors have arrived to rescue you in the nick of time.
You want to smile and thank them but you’re too busy trying to recover your breath. You can only feel how grateful you are your nightmare is over. Then, just as you attempt to stand, one of your rescuers shoves a wooded stake through your heart, and once again your world falls into blackness, this time forever.
Today these chilling accounts seem possible only in the dark imaginations of horror novelists like Ann Rice and Stephen King. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, zombies or any other creatures that return from the dead to terrorize the living are considered purely fictional. The imaginary world I just described makes for frighteningly good entertainment but nobody in their right mind would consider it real. Or would they?
I submit to you that until about a hundred and fifty years ago, the world I’ve just described was the reality for most people. Virtually every known culture that has ever existed has believed in some form of vampire, from the ancient Sumerians to the inhabitants of New England just a few generations ago.
Today, through the eyes of science and modern medicine, we realize the deadly plagues that swept through the Middle East, Europe and Asia during in the 6th and 14th centuries, responsible for the deaths of 175 million people, was the bubonic plague, caused by rats, not vampires. We also know the low mortality rate of children, throughout history and today is caused by poverty and poor health conditions, not because vampires like the blood of children more than that of others. And, when an otherwise healthy infant dies suddenly in the night for no apparent reason, we no longer assume a demon of the night is responsible. We simply call it SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which may not be any less mysterious, but somehow sounds better to our modern rational minds.
Today our vampires have become our diseases.
In this dictionary, learn the terminology associated with the Vampire and the world of the night. See life through the eyes of the children of the night.
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The Vampire Dictionary
The Vampire Dictionary
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940011937811 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Gregory Branson-Trent |
| Publication date: | 10/13/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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