Vampire Myth and Legends

We all assume that vampires, are cold to touch, pale, very fast and very strong and not much can fatally harm them, apart from the one way you can kill them.
For years vampires have gotten all sorts of well known legends about themselves. These myths include:

- Steak through the heart: certain types of wood were said to be the most effective towards these old vampires, such as maple, hawthorn and aspen.

- Bats: Since the film Dracula by Bram Stoker, this is what made the legend that vampires turn into bats, however it wasn't that far off as some old legends believed that certain types of vampires could turn into animals.

- Water: Two main things with waters and vampires is that they can't cross running water and that holy water can burn them, but once again these myths are down to authors, TV series and films creating things that can defeat such evil characters.

- Mirrors: Back when people genuinely thought that vampires were real, they did believe that they didn't have a reflect in a mirror as they believed mirrors reflected souls and that evil beings do not have a soul.

- Fangs: Again it is down to authors, films and TV series that have created vampires to have fangs, whereas folklore believed very few vampires had fangs. The use of fangs to create vampires was to add a more scary effect to the character.

- Sunlight: Another myth is that vampires can't go out in sunlight as this is another way to kill vampires, but again it is down to folklore and fiction that this myth has come about, but again in folklore they believed that some could walk in daylight.

- Blood: This is the biggest belief in folklore, that vampires drink blood, its evitable that vampires drink blood as after all blood is life, so the undead would feed on blood to survive.

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http://www.vampires.com/top-10-vampire-stereotypes-explained/
[Accessed: 01/04/2015