- A large, ugly and frightening imaginary creature.
- An inhumanly cruel or wicked person
- A thing of extraordinary or daunting size
- A congenitally malformed mutant animal or plant.
The word monster originated from the Latin word monere meaning warn. It then slightly changed to monstrum meaning portent or monster. The last change was it becoming the word we know today.
The monster that I am looking at today is the Vampire!! A Vampire is a mythical being that is said to live of the life of human beings. There have been many adaptations of what a vampire might look like from Stephanie Myers sparkly Edward to Bram Stoker's scary Dracula. Vampires were originally thought to have been bloated and dark skinned however in the 19th century that image was changed rather drastically to the pale and gaunt looking vampires we think of today. Vampires are a widely known legend and in the 18th century many stories including these foul creatures led to actual human corpses to be staked.
The start of the vampire phase is all down to one man. John Polidori wrote a book called 'The Vampyre' which was one of the best selling books of the 18th century. However it is Bram Stoker's Dracula that people automatically think of when the word vampire is said and it is probably the basis of the modern vampire style and legend.
There are many myths around that surround the Vampire such as that they have no reflection and don't cast a shadow (this could be because they lack a soul). Another thing is that garlic is said to harm vampires along with things like a rosary, holy water or a crucifix. It is also said that a vampire can't walk on consecrated ground such as a church or temple. They also can't cross running water. It is also thought that they sleep in a coffin and come alive at night. Lastly they can't enter a home without permission, but after the first invitation they can come and go as they please. Legend says if you're trying to kill a vampire you gotta have quite a bit of strength in you as a stake to the heart or decapitation are the more popular ways, and they don't sound easy
Now how did the vampire legend come about? Back in medieval times many people were buried alive due to the lack of medical knowledge. This caused people to scratch at the coffin causing fingernail marks making people believe the person had come alive. In the worst case the person may bang their head and face against the coffin door causing blood to come the face making it look as though they had been 'feeding'. And an easy explanation for the noise coming from the coffins is the natural gas being released from a decomposing body. Sounds lovely eh......
The start of the vampire phase is all down to one man. John Polidori wrote a book called 'The Vampyre' which was one of the best selling books of the 18th century. However it is Bram Stoker's Dracula that people automatically think of when the word vampire is said and it is probably the basis of the modern vampire style and legend.
There are many myths around that surround the Vampire such as that they have no reflection and don't cast a shadow (this could be because they lack a soul). Another thing is that garlic is said to harm vampires along with things like a rosary, holy water or a crucifix. It is also said that a vampire can't walk on consecrated ground such as a church or temple. They also can't cross running water. It is also thought that they sleep in a coffin and come alive at night. Lastly they can't enter a home without permission, but after the first invitation they can come and go as they please. Legend says if you're trying to kill a vampire you gotta have quite a bit of strength in you as a stake to the heart or decapitation are the more popular ways, and they don't sound easy
Now how did the vampire legend come about? Back in medieval times many people were buried alive due to the lack of medical knowledge. This caused people to scratch at the coffin causing fingernail marks making people believe the person had come alive. In the worst case the person may bang their head and face against the coffin door causing blood to come the face making it look as though they had been 'feeding'. And an easy explanation for the noise coming from the coffins is the natural gas being released from a decomposing body. Sounds lovely eh......
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