Vanessa A. Ryan's Blog, page 7
February 9, 2015
Australian Vampire Legends
Talamaur
The most famous Australian vampire is the Talamaur who could communicate with the spirit world and could make the spirits its servants to use among the living. The Talamaur was considered a living vampire.
There are stories of the Talamaur that say it originates from the Banks Island. These ancient stories tell of a vampire-like beast that can interact with ghosts and bend them to its will.
But what is the Talamaur? It was considered to be a soul that went out and ate the souls that lingered around the bodies of the deceased. In many cases, the Talamaur would actually eat the corpse after making a deal with the ghost of the dead person—the deal was that the ghost would be protected against all evils by the Talamaur.
The Talamaur was not considered to be odd or unsightly. Many people would claim to be a Talamaur and eat the corpses of the dead after death according to aboriginal legend.
Yara-ma-yha-who
The Yara-ma-yha-who is an Aboriginal vampire that was said to take the form of a little red man who stood about four feet tall and had a really large head and mouth. This beast did not have any teeth and legend tells that it swallowed its food whole. According to legend, you could tell the beast by looking at its fingers and toes, which were shaped like the suckers of an octopus or squid.
The Yara-ma-yha-who apparently lived in fig trees and, unlike many western vampires, did not actively hunt for food. It just waited for victims to appear in its vicinity and then would drop on them. It would then place its hands and feet on its victim and drain the victim of their blood to the point that the victim was helpless. It would then return later to consume its victim once its hunger had returned.
After its meal, the Yara-ma-yha-who would go into a deep sleep. Upon awakening, it would then regurgitate any part of its victim that remained undigested. In many legends, the regurgitated victim would still be alive.
The Yara-ma-yha-who would be used by parents to discourage their children from wandering away from the tribe. Many legends said the Yara-ma-yha-who preyed on children, and parents would tell their children not to fight the monster—but to let it swallow them as their chances of survival were much higher that way.
Since the Yara-ma-yha-who tended to regurgitate its victims alive, people did survive its attacks. However, as the legend explains, it made them more susceptible to being attacked again in the future. Each time a person was captured by the Yara-ma-yha-who, they would shrink slightly until they were eventually the same size as the creature. It was also said that over time their skin would become very smooth, and then they would grow hair across their body and gradually be changed into a creature of the forest.
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Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
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February 3, 2015
The Croglin Grange Vampire Legend
Croglin Grange in Cumberland, United Kingdom, was a single story house near a churchyard and accompanying church. Although the legend is not clearly documented, it seems it belonged to a family called the “Fishers” for centuries. In the 1800s, the Fishers moved on and the Cranswells moved in. Three siblings, the Cranswells meant to have a happy life in the house on a hill.
As the story goes, the first encounter with a vampire came when the weather was humid and hot. Amelia went to bed early, feeling unwell. She closed her bedroom window and climbed into bed. Lying on her side, watching out of the window, she saw two bright lights in the churchyard. The lights then moved from the graveyard and started to approach the house. Scared and feeling unwell, Amelia ran to secure her bedroom door and checked the window. She then calmed herself, turned over and tried to go to sleep.
Amelia then heard scratching noises from the other side of her bedroom window. She turned and was horrified to see a shrivelled brown face with glowing eyes. The beast, desperate to enter the property, broke a pane of glass and unlocked the window. It climbed into her room and pounced upon her, biting into her throat. Amelia cried out, and her brothers rushed to her room. They had to break down the secured door to get to her, which gave the “beast” time to escape. One brother attended to Amelia while the other watched in dismay and horror as he watched something race toward the graveyard.
Amelia survived the attack, and once she had recovered enough to travel, her brothers took her to Switzerland to regain her strength. The brothers decided to get revenge on the evil beast that had stalked their sister. When Amelia found out they intended to get revenge, she convinced her brothers to allow her to help by acting as the bait.
The family returned to Croglin, and that evening Amelia took her place in her room. The figure of the beast soon appeared at the window and gained entry to the bedroom. Her brothers were hiding in the shadows, and as the beast stepped forward they both shot at it. A piercing howl erupted from the beast as it turned and fled out of the window and back towards the graveyard. The brothers decided to wait until the following day before going to the graveyard in search of its body.
The following morning, they rounded up all the citizens who lived in the area and together they all searched the graveyard for signs of the beast. Soon they noticed that a crypt door was wide open.
Entering the crypt, they found the scattered remains of coffins and gnawed bones. One coffin had been left untouched. The citizens opened it, and to their horror the beast was lying there. The body was long dead and the clothes were moldy, but yet, there was a fresh gunshot wound in it’s leg. The citizens dragged the coffin into the churchyard and burned the body of the beast in the coffin.
It was unknown where the beast had come from or why it had never shown itself to the Fishers. It was never seen again.
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Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
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January 31, 2015
Pre-Order For The Legacy of Fear (Horror at the Lake (A Vampire Tale) Book 1) Available Now
From Vanessa A. Ryan
Published by Permuted Press
Susan Runcan is on a quest to clear the name of her grandfather Lindon Runcan, the famous archeologist whose career ended under a cloud of suspicion. Although Lindon claimed thieves stole precious artifacts from his last expedition in Egypt, depriving the Egyptian government and his backers of the spoils, Lindon stole them himself.
After the death of her uncle, Susan is the last of the Runcans and inherits the artifacts, along with her grandfather's stately home in Lake Masley. Susan comes to the lake hoping to discover the reason her grandfather risked his career for these artifacts. What she finds is a town filled with rumors and fear. And what she discovers will change her life forever.
Pre-order links:
Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble U.S
You can also pre-order A Palette For Murder (A Lana Davis Mystery) from Vanessa A. Ryan!
Published by Cengage Gale
Lana Davis arrives in New Mexico from Los Angeles, with plans for some sightseeing. But this all-expense-paid trip isn't a vacation. She's here to find Antonio Chavez, the missing beneficiary of a large life insurance policy her company issued, and last seen in Santa Fe. A disgruntled heir insists he should receive the proceeds instead. However bogus his claim is, the public relations nightmare he causes for her company is real. If Lana doesn't find Antonio, her job is on the line.
Lana's search for Antonio brings her into the inner circle of a powerful art gallery in Santa Fe. But she soon discovers, when art and greed collide, the result is deadly. And finding herself a target is more than she signed up for.
Pre-order links:
Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble U.S
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The Legacy Of Fear, Book 1 of Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale Cover Reveal The High Life of the Modern Vampire
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at:
https://twitter.com/vryan333
http://vanessaryanwriter.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/VanessaRyan33
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January 29, 2015
The Bulgarian Fear of Vampires
A deep-seated belief in vampires was widespread throughout Bulgaria and its neighboring countries during the Middle Ages. In fact, the word “vampire” is actually derived from the original Slavic term “opyrb” or “opir.”
Appearing completely normal, a vampire would arrive at a town and live apparently harmless amongst the townsfolk, going so far as to marry non-vampires and even fathering perfectly normal children. At night, they would wander the land in search of blood. These vagabond vampires could be destroyed simply with a stake through the heart.
According to local legend, it was believed that a vampire was actually the lost soul of a thief or outlaw who had died in the forests or mountains, and whose corpse had been eaten by wolves or other wild scavengers.
It was believed during the Middle Ages that such a soul would not be allowed to enter heaven or hell and would remain on earth haunting the place where it was killed, strangling and drinking the blood of anyone with whom it came into contact. It was also strongly believed any corpse jumped over by a cat before burial could potentially become a vampire.
During the first forty days after burial, the bones of a would-be vampire would turn to gelatin, and the vampire would be bound to perform acts of mischief at night like scattering items in people’s homes, releasing animals from pens and even suffocating innocent passersby. However, during the first forty days, the vampire could be destroyed by a Vampiridzhija – a professional vampire hunter capable of seeing a vampire, and the vampire could fall victim to a wolf and be devoured. It was not invincible.
If not destroyed during those first forty days, then the vampire would develop a strong skeleton and become a very dangerous foe.
There were different kinds of vampires in Slavic lore. For example, the unexplained deaths of cattle or other livestock were often used as proof that a different kind of vampire, widely known in Bulgaria as a Ustrel, was nearby. The Ustrel were the spirits of children who had been born on a Saturday but had died before receiving a baptism.
Nine days after its burial, a Ustrel would climb out of the ground and attack sheep, cattle or passersby by draining their blood. It lived only by the rule of returning to its grave before dawn.
A village would have to go through a ritual known as “lighting of a needfire” to kill a Ustrel. This would involve extinguishing all fire in the town on a Saturday morning and rounding up all the cattle and sheep into a large open space. The animals were then marched to the nearest crossroads where two bonfires would have been built and lit by a new fire. By herding the animals between the fires, the vampire would become stranded at the crossroads where wolves, who played a large part in Bulgarian tradition themselves, would devour it. Then safe from the Ustrel, someone took a flame from the burning bonfires and used it to relight all the household fires in the village.
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Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
The Legacy Of Fear, Book 1 of Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale Cover Reveal The High Life of the Modern Vampire
Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at:
https://twitter.com/vryan333
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January 27, 2015
The Last True Case of an American Vampire
The last officially reported case of vampirism in the United States is the case of Mercy Brown from Rhode Island who died in 1892.
The Browns were a wealthy family who were farmers by trade and were popular in their community. Mercy’s mother and sister died of consumption, as did she eventually. With no answers available to solve this disease, her father looked likely to lose his entire family. He was desperate but could do nothing to stop the onslaught of consumption.
When his son, Edwin, contracted the disease, the father began to believe talk within the village that the situation indicated vampirism. As his son wasted away, it was said that all the deaths and illnesses within the family had been caused by vampirism.
Mercy had been temporarily held above ground in a crypt at the local church—the Chestnut Hill cemetery. It was January, and the ground was frozen hard, so she could not be buried until the thaw. Her father and several of his associates went to the cemetery to check her body. Due to the cold weather they found the body well preserved and took this to be a sign of her vampirism.
They cut out her heart and burned it, by all accounts, on a rock. Then they mixed the ashes with a liquid and gave it to Edwin to drink. The father and his associates felt that it would be a cure. Mercy’s remains were then replaced and later buried in a plot next to her sister and mother. Edwin did not recover and died several months later.
And there ends the tale. There are many more similar cases across the world. Wherever there’s the spread of disease—there’s folklore.
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Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
The Legacy Of Fear, Book 1 of Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale Cover Reveal The High Life of the Modern Vampire
Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at:
https://twitter.com/vryan333
http://vanessaryanwriter.blogspot.com
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January 24, 2015
The Origins of the Vampire
The history of vampires begins with a single vampire who created the others. Until recently, we had little idea of how the first vampire came to fruition.
The answer actually lay in a set of age old documents called the Scriptures of Delphi. The Scriptures of Delphi are a collection of writings that included the story of the very first vampire, who started out as a human. His name was Ambrogio, and he was an Italian-born traveller who found himself in Delphi, Greece. Through a series of blessings and, of course, curses found himself transformed into the very first vampire.
The story tells of the Greek god Apollo who, while enraged, cursed Ambrogio so that his skin would burn if it were to touch sunlight again. Ambrogio's run of bad luck continued when he ended up losing his soul to Hades. In turn, Artemis, the goddess of hunting and the moon, made it so that Ambrogio's skin would burn if he touched silver. Artemis, taking pity on the wretched man, gave him the gift of immortality. He would carry his curses—his skin burned by silver or sunlight—but he would remain immortal. Artemis also gave him the strength and the speed to become a skilled hunter and also gave him the ability to suck blood.
Ambrogio hunted swans and used their blood as ink for love letters and poems to Selene, his lady. While this may be considered strange nowadays, it wasn't at all in uncommon in Ancient times to use what you hunted in any capacity you needed it.
Recommended Articles
The Legacy Of Fear, Book 1 of Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale Cover Reveal The High Life of the Modern Vampire
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at:
https://twitter.com/vryan333
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https://www.facebook.com/VanessaRyan33
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January 21, 2015
The Legacy Of Fear, Book 1 of Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale Cover Reveal
Coming February 2015
Horror At The Lake, A Vampire Tale: The Legacy of Fear Permuted PressAbout the Book Susan Runcan wants to clear the name of her famous archeologist grandfather Lindon Runcan, who died fifteen years earlier. Although Lindon claimed thieves stole the ancient artifacts from his last expedition in Egypt depriving the Egyptian government and his backers of the spoils, Lindon stole them himself. Susan inherits the artifacts from her uncle, including a mysterious gold medallion, as well as her grandfather's stately home in the town of Lake Masley. She comes hoping to the lake to learn the reason her grandfather risked his career for these artifacts. But instead, she finds a town gripped with fear ruled by rumors of murders.
About the Author
Vanessa A. Ryan is an actress in Southern California. She was born in California and graduated from UCLA. When not writing or acting, she enjoys painting and nature walks. Her paintings and sculptures are collected worldwide. At one point, she performed stand-up comedy, so her writing often reflects her love of humor, even for serious subjects. She lives with her cat Dezi, and among feral cats she has rescued.She is the author of A BLUE MOON, an urban fantasy, HORROR AT THE LAKE, a vampire trilogy and A PALETTE FOR MURDER, a traditional cozy mystery. Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at https://www.facebook.com andhttps://twitter.com.
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
Follow Vanessa A. Ryan at:
https://twitter.com/vryan333
http://vanessaryanwriter.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/VanessaRyan33
http://www.amazon.com/author/vryan
January 19, 2015
The High Life of the Modern Vampire
The lover, the perfect boyfriend, the girlfriend, the partner, the good guy. I am, of course, describing a modern vampire. A depiction of vampires where their age-old role as monsters has been changed to that the hero.
It’s unclear where this new depiction of vampires came from. The vampire has made the transition from frightener to superhero. A superman with fangs and a great smile. They have immortality, super strength, the ability to influence others and a boat load of desirable trait.
In adaptations like Vampire Diaries, Twilight, True Blood and a host of other shows it seems the vampire no longer has any significant downsides. They can become friends with non-vampires, get invited to parties and all the religious paraphernalia that used to scare them off now doesn’t even make them sweat in the slightest.
Even the sun, traditionally the most commonly know way to kill off a vampire, has become a better friend to the undead. For example in True Blood you can stand on the other side of special glass windows and enjoy your day. In the ever popular Vampire Diaries, it's solved in quick time by getting a witch to cast a spell on your jewellery and, of course, in Twilight you just need to stand in the shade and hope for the best. The sun has been tamed by the modern vampire.
And what of the blood drinking? Well there are options for the modern vampire. Drink synthetic blood out of bags—like they do in True Blood.
Now don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying all vampires have become modernized. It’s just rare to see a traditional vampire these days. 30 Days of Night comes to mind as one of those rare occasions where the vampire is the bad guy. The rogue vampires still exist to frighten unwitting picturegoers but it’s becoming a rarer sight.
But if you are a vampire in a universe like Vampire Diaries or True Blood, it seems to me that either individual vampires dramas or vampire politics are the only downsides to being one of the undead.It seems that vampirism is just a ticket to being perfect, sexy and youthful for hundreds or thousands of years.
So the million dollar question is- Why would anyone not want to be a vampire in these modern depictions?
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
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January 16, 2015
The Traits of a Vampire: Part Two
This is the second part of our three part series about Vampires.
Detecting a Vampire
Vampires share many physical characteristics with humans, they are so close in physical appearance that sometimes it’s incredibly hard to distinguish a vampire from a normal human being. As similar as a vampire may appear to a human it can’t be completely the same. There are some characteristics that a vampire can’t hide and those same characteristics can give them away.
The biggest difference is that vampires cannot stand sunlight and that’s one of the many reasons they ‘apparently’ sleep in coffins or, in older lore sleep hanging upside down. If they do come out in broad daylight they use sunglasses because their pupils cannot stand the same amount of sunlight a human eye can and they tend to stay in shady places. Much folklore points to their sense of smell being far stronger than that of the human and that’s why they can’t stand garlic, they can smell blood and that gives them a sense of excitement.
One of their major physical characteristics of a vampire is that they have severely pale skin, as though they had been ill for a long time. They also have long canines or teeth strong enough to puncture human skin so they can effectively drink blood. There is one very easy way of finding out if someone is a vampire. If you can get them to stand in front of a mirror and they don’t case a reflection then you are standing with a vampire. If you see a reflection in the mirror then they are human and you can relax.
Killing A Vampire
As long as there have been legends of vampires, there have been methods that can be used to either kill them, or protect yourself from them. Before Christianity there were legends of vampires; what then of the use of holy symbols and idols to stave off the visits of a hungry undead individual? Before Christianity it was believed among Slavs and Balkans, and other Eastern European cultures that vampires were obsessive compulsive in their need for order. Some ways to deter vampires would be to hang a tangled net on a gatepost, or sprinkling seeds, or grain outside your home. It was believed that the vampire would become so busy counting the seeds or untangling the net that he’d forget about his victim and become fixed on completing his task.
One of the major protections has always been, of course, garlic; either wearing it, or spraying a thin garlic mist mixed with water in the air or hanging it over doorways. Keeping holly placed around the house is another technique as well as keeping a log of juniper in your home. Ringing bells are even said to keep vampires away, as well as placing mirrors around a home or on doors, and also crossing over running water. Holy water, the consecrated sacrament, crosses, eating blood bread, drinking blood brandy, or even burying wine nearby are also supposed to be protection against vampires.
Killing a vampire can be accomplished by touching the gravestone of the vampire with lead, beheading the vampire, or hammering a stake through its heart. Cremating a vampire is also a sure way to kill it, and piercing it with a blessed sword is also said to kill a vampire.
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
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January 13, 2015
The Traits of a Vampire: Part One
In this first of a three part article we look at the traits of a vampire...
The Basics of the Vampire
The most obvious characteristic of the vampire that you think of when talking about vampires is of course that the creature is dead and yet it walks among the living. Most tales of vampirism tell us that vampires are afraid of sunlight, have fangs, can change their appearance, cry tears of blood and have superhuman strength and speed. It is of course well known that the vampire is immortal, has fangs, are afraid of sunlight, can shape-shift, (i.e. bats and wolves), cry tears of blood and have extreme levels of strength and speed. Of course it goes without saying that this creature is immortal, unless of course killed using those very famous proper methods.
A vampire feeds on the life essence of their victims. This usually takes place by drinking the blood of their victim. The apparent reasons that the vampire needs blood to survive vary some cultures feel that the vampire needs blood to flow through their veins to keep their bodies animated and limit the damage of decay. Others feel that they feed as a sadistic habit in order to wreak fear and havoc among the populace.
This theory also leads some to believe that it may not be the blood that animates the vampire, but the pain and fear they spread.
As stated before different cultures around the world have different ideas and myths about vampires. European’s believe the vampire is dead, almost zombie like, hideously deformed from death and inherently evil. Whereas the American legend has been handed to us by Hollywood. The creature is a sensual, desirable one. Most of our movies and fiction actually combine the myth and legend of Europe and Americana, making a vampire gleaming with seductive beauty, and blessed with brawn as well as brains, and sometimes even a dash of compassion.
Are you predestined from birth to become one of the undead?
In older lore vampires were people who died unnaturally and couldn't face the fact that they were truly dead.
I found some really fun and interesting ways of becoming one with the undead. The most common way of becoming is of course being bitten by a vampire. From here on the becoming a vampire is very bizarre. Let’s start with some of the predisposition's; being conceived on a holy day, being weaned too early, being born the seventh son of the seventh son or receiving a curse. The last two are my personal favourites a mother who did not eat enough salt during pregnancy and a mother being stared at by a vampire while pregnant. Enough of predispositions, let’s move onto ways that you can cause yourself to become a vampire.
Common beliefs in older lore include being a witch or were-wolf, being a particularly cruel or evil person, committing suicide, being murdered or being the murderer. All these things can make you a vampire upon death. But wait there’s more! These are my personal favorites in this category; eating sheep killed by a wolf, leading an immoral life, (i.e. prostitutes & treacherous barmaids), or (for a priest) saying mass while in the state of mortal sin.
That’s it for part one! In part two we will discuss ways to detect a vampire and how to protect yourself from them!
Vanessa A. Ryan is a writer/actor in Southern California
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