.jpg)
His narrator was opium-sozzled throughout and by the end of this I was kinda wishing I was too…. One summer evening in , a group of friends got to discussing tales of the supernatural, and challenged each other to write their own story. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently, the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it, and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned.
Ruthven is attractive but his eyes are strangely inexpressive, giving no clue to his feelings. The susceptible, inexperienced Aubrey…. Discovering that Ruthven intends to travel abroad, Aubrey arranges to go too, and soon the men become travelling companions. But over time, Aubrey begins to realise that his friend is not necessarily a very nice man…. Aubrey could not avoid remarking, that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence by the misfortunes attendant even upon virtue, that he bestowed his alms;—these were sent from the door with hardly suppressed sneers; but when the profligate came to ask something, not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to wallow in his lust, or to sink him still deeper in his iniquity, he was sent away with rich charity.
Aubrey tries to give him the benefit of the doubt, even though he can see that Ruthven preys on young women, in rather unspecified ways , leaving them and their families ruined and disgraced. But here, tragedy strikes — and soon Aubrey will become convinced that his one-time friend is hiding a terrible secret…. There was no colour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life that once dwelt there: So, did you write a story? Umm… well, yes, I did. She holds out a massive manuscript.
Oh, you know, the usual stuff. She riffles through the tiny sheaf of pages. That should be… fun! I feel a bit embarrassed now. At least you wrote a story. Mary was right — this is… fun! Not terribly well written fun, it has to be said, and not very vampirish either, to modern eyes. However, apparently it started the whole fictional vampire obsession, so it deserves praise for that. In truth, I found the story of the story more interesting than the story.
Clearly the porpy has a sweeter nature than I…. Mary, your book is wonderful! I predict it will become one of the foundation stones of modern literature! I shuddered, I cried, I got angry, I shivered in fear! Your creature will fire imaginations through the centuries! Please feel free to share this: But Fairy Water is full of charm with a delightful first-person narrator who grows ever more likeable as the book progresses.
Mr Trevor is a delightful combination of self-satisfication and self-deprecation — a man who claims to live for pleasure only, but whom we come to realise is a staunch friend to those he loves. His voice is what makes this story special — he is deliciously snobbish and a little wicked about the society in which he moves…. Old friends welcome me for the sake of Auld Lang Syne, to speak in the hideous idiom of a people whose accent I detest, and whose ways are abhorrent to me — one degree less abhorrent only than their primitive ballads, always suggestive of the screech of a bagpipe.
Young couples welcome me for the sake of the dead and gone; people whose position is assured, because, like dear Lady Mary, who plays a little part in this story, it is quite safe to whisper secret scandals, and the latest and most wicked bon mot in my ear; and the nouveau riche, because, poor wretches, they believe I must be somebody. When the rather boorish, bullying cousin marries a girl young enough to be his granddaughter, Stafford finds himself befriending her; and later, when the cousin dies, he becomes a kind of surrogate father to Mary, the young widow, and unofficial guardian to her several children.
He is also attached to a young man, Valentine Waldrum, the son of a woman he once loved. Valentine has become the owner of Crow Hall — the haunted house — following the tragic death of his father who had been driven mad by the ghostly presence there. To help Valentine, Stafford will attempt to rid Crow Hall of its resident spectre. But while Stafford tries to do his best for the young people, he still has time for plenty of humorous commentary on the various characters involved in the story.
Scare factor very low — entertainment factor very high! This time our narrator is a young man, Harry Patterson, who works as a clerk in the law firm of Mr Craven. On their books is River Hall, the property of a young girl orphaned when her father took his own life in the library. Mr Craven keeps letting the house, but tenants never stay long. Eventually one aggrieved tenant complains bitterly that he should have been warned that the house was haunted.
With his reputation at stake, Mr Craven is reluctant to continue letting the house, but our intrepid clerk offers to live in River Hall himself and lay the ghost, if he can. It is as well to confess at once that I was for the moment frightened. Subsequently I saw many wonderful sights, and had some terrible experiences in the Uninhabited House; but I can honestly say, no sight or experience so completely cowed me for the time being, as that dull blackness to which I could assign no shape, that spirit-like rapping of fleshless fingers, which seemed to increase in vehemence as I obeyed its summons.
Doctors say it is not possible for the heart to stand still and a human being live, and, as I am not a doctor, I do not like to contradict their dogma, otherwise I could positively declare my heart did cease beating as I listened, looking out into the night with the shadow of that darkness projecting itself upon my mind…. The spookiness aspect of this is stronger than in Fairy Water but still of the mild shiver variety rather than the hiding behind the sofa kind.
The storytelling in this one is more direct, giving it a better flow overall, and while the mystery might not be the hardest in the world to work out, it gives an added element of interest to the plot. I found both of these to be highly enjoyable page-turners, with enough spookiness to entertain but mild enough for the scaredest of scaredy-cats out there. The quality of the writing is excellent, with a touch of Victorian sentimentality but not too much, and the warm humour makes both books pleasingly amusing. Apparently Riddell wrote lots of short ghost stories too, and I look forward to seeking them out.
The porpentine was amused too…. Lovecraft is known for his long, verbose, weird fiction but he could do short, Gothic and scary with the best of them when he tried. This little story seems perfect to wake the fretful porpentine from hibernation…. Most of the other rooms are empty, but on his first night in the house, he hears strange music being played in the garret room above his own. On enquiring from the landlord, he learns the tenant of that room is Erich Zann, a strange, old, dumb viol-player.
Thereafter I heard Zann every night, and although he kept me awake, I was haunted by the weirdness of his music. Knowing little of the art myself, I was yet certain that none of his harmonies had any relation to music I had heard before; and concluded that he was a composer of highly original genius. Grudgingly the old man agrees and takes the student to this room.
Its size was very great, and seemed the greater because of its extraordinary bareness and neglect.
Reviews of books…and occasional other stuff.
Of furniture there was only a narrow iron bedstead, a dingy washstand, a small table, a large bookcase, an iron music-rack, and three old-fashioned chairs. Sheets of music were piled in disorder about the floor. The walls were of bare boards, and had probably never known plaster; whilst the abundance of dust and cobwebs made the place seem more deserted than inhabited.
When the student is in the room with him, he plays well but conventionally. There in the narrow hall, outside the bolted door with the covered keyhole, I often heard sounds which filled me with an indefinable dread—the dread of vague wonder and brooding mystery. It was not that the sounds were hideous, for they were not; but that they held vibrations suggesting nothing on this globe of earth, and that at certain intervals they assumed a symphonic quality which I could hardly conceive as produced by one player. I heard the shrieking viol swell into a chaotic babel of sound; a pandemonium which would have led me to doubt my own shaking sanity had there not come from behind that barred portal a piteous proof that the horror was real—the awful, inarticulate cry which only a mute can utter, and which rises only in moments of the most terrible fear or anguish.
He finds the old man unconscious, and when he comes to, he agrees to tell the student the secret of the music. It would be useless to describe the playing of Erich Zann on that dreadful night. It was more horrible than anything I had ever overheard, because I could now see the expression of his face, and could realise that this time the motive was stark fear…. This woke the porpentine with a shriek!
As it reaches its crescendo, I swear to you that I actually gasped out loud! I wish HPL had stuck to Gothic rather than creating his weird Cthulhu Mythos — for my taste, these short tales of sheer horror have far more impact. I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
This is a short collection of four horror stories, all linked by a play called The King in Yellow which, we are told, reveals truths so awful that anyone who reads it will be driven to madness and despair. It could not be judged by any known standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of purest poison lurked.
The very banality and innocence of the first act only allowed the blow to fall afterward with more awful effect. For this new edition, Pushkin Press have extracted the four that are linked and omitted the other six, which reviews tell me are mostly of a different style. In truth, I found it a rather disappointing collection, with only one story that stood out for me. The awful truths contained in the play of The King in Yellow are not revealed to the reader, so fortunately at least I was spared from being driven insane.
I wondered idly if that had been the case at St. The Repairer of Reputations — a story told by a madman, driven mad obviously by having been foolish enough to read The King in Yellow. He is convinced he is entitled to become a King which involves him having to bump off the man he believes stands in his way. All very weird, but not really in a good way. The Mask — a sculptor, Boris, has discovered a solution that turns living things into the purest marble including sweet little bunny rabbits — you have been warned, animal lovers!
I gave this one 5 stars. Although I knew nothing of chemistry, I listened fascinated. Instantly the liquid lost its crystalline clearness. For a second the lily was enveloped in a milk-white foam, which disappeared, leaving the fluid opalescent. Changing tints of orange and crimson played over the surface, and then what seemed to be a ray of pure sunlight struck through from the bottom where the lily was resting.
At the same instant he plunged his hand into the basin and drew out the flower. That golden ray is the signal. He held the lily toward me, and I took it in my hand. It had turned to stone, to the purest marble. What sculptor could reproduce it? The marble was white as snow, but in its depths the veins of the lily were tinged with palest azure, and a faint flush lingered deep in its heart. He becomes obsessed by the organist — a dark figure who keeps appearing wherever he goes. Is he paranoid, driven to madness by the play? Hmm — I found this OK-ish, but nothing special, and gave it just 3 stars.
The Yellow Sign — An artist and his model seem to be sharing a common nightmare about the artist being in a coffin in a hearse. This one has some quite good horror aspects, though, and a nice sense of creepiness to it. Oh, his face was so white and — and soft? It looked dead — it looked as if it had been dead a long time. So a mixed bag. The question is — would I recommend it? Five years ago I reached the goal, and since then every day has been a preparation for what we shall do tonight.
Similar authors to follow
He proposes to carry out a brain operation on his young ward, Mary, which, he claims, will allow her to look into the spiritual world closed off to our normal brains — to see the Great God Pan, as he puts it. Something might go wrong; you would be a miserable man for the rest of your days. As you know, I rescued Mary from the gutter, and from almost certain starvation, when she was a child; I think her life is mine, to use as I see fit. Anyway, needless to say, it all goes horribly wrong…. Clarke quailed before them. They shone with an awful light, looking far away, and a great wonder fell upon her face, and her hands stretched out as if to touch what was invisible; but in an instant the wonder faded, and gave place to the most awful terror.
Le Faune by Carlos Schwabe. Poor Mary collapses, shrieking. When Clarke sees her next, three days later, she is lying in her bed, grinning vacantly. Fortunately, Dr Raymond manages to be quite philosophical about the whole thing…. However, it could not be helped; and, after all, she has seen the Great God Pan.
This is all in the nature of a prologue. The story then jumps forward some twenty years or so and the scene shifts to London. Clarke has remained interested in the occult and makes a habit of gathering strange stories. These stories are relayed to the reader as a series of snippets or brief sketches with a variety of narrators.
To the people involved these incidents seem entirely random at first. But after a while, Clarke begins to see a pattern emerging. Fabulous illustration by sandpaperdaisy at deviantart. Being Victorian, we are spared the details, but Machen manages to get his meaning across.
Of course, the woman is the one who succumbs to the dark pagan powers — but then the men succumb to the equally dark force of female sexuality. No wonder it was considered pretty shocking at the time! So disgusted were the morally upstanding Victorians, in fact, that it apparently shot to the top of the best-sellers list…. The ruins of Roslin Castle sit on the bank of the North Esk river just a few miles south of Edinburgh. The castle dates back to the 14 th century, and is built on the site where an even earlier battle was fought between the Scots and English in , during the First War of Independence.
As the battle hung balanced, an English knight and his great hound fought bravely, but at last the knight was slain by a Scottish warrior. The battle turned — the Scots were victorious and the remnants of the invading English army were sent scuttling homewards…. Later that night as the triumphant Scots caroused, the hound appeared again, howling into the darkness, till the soldiers panicked and fled.
Each night the hound returned, howling, searching… until finally one night it came face to face with the man who had slain its master…. All that is known is that the warrior never spoke again… and three nights later, he died. They say that, when storms are abroad and the wind blasts through the ruins of the castle, the phantom hound can still be heard… howling for vengeance into the darkness of the night….
Then here are a few the Fretful Porpentine recommends…. The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier. The Polar Express — the movie. Mad Maudlin by Rosy Thornton. Three Blind Mice by Anonymous. A Fable by Edgar Allan Poe. When two young men who are canoeing down the Danube in the middle of a great flood decide to camp for the night on a tiny island, what could possibly go wrong? After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow-bushes.
Our unnamed narrator I shall call him Jim and his friend, known only as the Swede, have travelled far along the Danube on a pleasure excursion in a little canoe. They have reached a place where the river splits into three branches, and know that a high flood is due. They decide to continue anyway, both being experienced rivermen and having done many journeys together before. Driven forward by the fast waters and a howling wind, they have some difficulty landing for the night on one of the small temporary islands that spring up in this swampy stretch of the river, but finally they manage it….
Then we lay panting and laughing after our exertions on the hot yellow sand, sheltered from the wind, and in the full blaze of a scorching sun, a cloudless blue sky above, and an immense army of dancing, shouting willow bushes, closing in from all sides, shining with spray and clapping their thousand little hands as though to applaud the success of our efforts. Already Jim has shown that he feels the river as a mighty presence with its own character. At first he sees it as friendly….
How, indeed, could it be otherwise, since it told us so much of its secret life? At night we heard it singing to the moon as we lay in our tent, uttering that odd sibilant note peculiar to itself and said to be caused by the rapid tearing of the pebbles along its bed, so great is its hurrying speed. We knew, too, the voice of its gurgling whirlpools, suddenly bubbling up on a surface previously quite calm; the roar of its shallows and swift rapids; its constant steady thundering below all mere surface sounds; and that ceaseless tearing of its icy waters at the banks.
How it stood up and shouted when the rains fell flat upon its face!
- The Most Blessed People On Earth.
- !
- The Top 256 Rules of Paleontology.
And how its laughter roared out when the wind blew up-stream and tried to stop its growing speed! But once on the island and with night approaching, a strange feeling of dread begins to fall over the travellers. The willows seem to give off a threatening air…. Some essence emanated from them that besieged the heart. A sense of awe awakened, true, but of awe touched somewhere by a vague terror. Their serried ranks, growing everywhere darker about me as the shadows deepened, moving furiously yet softly in the wind, woke in me the curious and unwelcome suggestion that we had trespassed here upon the borders of an alien world, a world where we were intruders, a world where we were not wanted or invited to remain—where we ran grave risks perhaps!
As night sets in, Jim finds himself unable to sleep and wanders out of the camp.
By now his imagination — or is it? What, I thought, if, after all, these crouching willows proved to be alive; if suddenly they should rise up, like a swarm of living creatures, marshaled by the gods whose territory we had invaded, sweep towards us off the vast swamps, booming overhead in the night—and then settle down! As I looked it was so easy to imagine they actually moved, crept nearer, retreated a little, huddled together in masses, hostile, waiting for the great wind that should finally start them a-running. I could have sworn their aspect changed a little, and their ranks deepened and pressed more closely together.
The Swede seems stolidly unimaginative at first and Jim relies on this to keep his dread at bay. But it soon transpires that the Swede, far from being unaffected, is way ahead of Jim in interpreting the strange events… and has come to a chilling conclusion…. He knew from the very beginning, apparently. But at the moment I wholly missed the point of his words about the necessity of there being a victim, and that we ourselves were destined to satisfy the want….
Well, this is a classic for a reason! The descriptive writing is fabulous, and Blackwood gradually builds up an air of creepy menace guaranteed to send shivers down the stoutest spine. There is the same suggestion of ancient and malign alien beings, with men caught up as irrelevant victims of a power at which they can only vaguely guess. Nature is used brilliantly, at first as something for man to admire and revel in, and then, gradually, as something immense and uncontrollable, reducing man to tiny insignificance, fumbling to make sense of forces so great that they are incomprehensible to his limited mind.
Great stuff — the porpentine highly recommends it! Careless Talk Costs Lives! First published in , this is a charming little tale of murder and revenge from beyond the tomb — a warning to all of you who may be contemplating bumping off your spouses. I have often heard it scream. No, I am not nervous, I am not imaginative, and I never believed in ghosts, unless that thing is one.
Whatever it is, it hates me almost as much as it hated Luke Pratt, and it screams at me. One night, an old man has a friend visiting him in his isolated cottage. The cottage used to belong to his cousin, Luke Pratt and his wife, known to us only as Mrs Pratt. The old man tells his friend of the strange and terrible scream that often disturbs the night…. Sometimes, about this time of year—hallo! The old man thinks he knows why he is being haunted. Not long after a visit he had paid to the Pratts, Mrs Pratt died, apparently in her sleep. But the old man thinks there may have been a darker cause….
If I were you, I would never tell ugly stories about ingenious ways of killing people, for you never can tell but that some one at the table may be tired of his or her nearest and dearest. I have always blamed myself for Mrs. If I had not told that story she might be alive yet. That is why the thing screams at me, I fancy. Illustration by mgkellermeyer via DeviantArt.
Did you never hear that tale? The fourth husband managed to keep awake and caught her, and she was hanged. The Exiled Prince Dark Parables: The Final Cinderella Dark Parables: The Thief and the Tinderbox Dark Parables: Guardian of Flames Dark Realm: Lord of the Winds Dark Realm: Princess of Ice Dark Realm: Queen of Flames Dark Realm: Curse of Bluebeard Dark Romance: Heart of the Beast Dark Romance: Kingdom of Death Dark Romance: Romeo and Juliet Dark Romance: The Monster Within Dark Romance: The Swan Sonata Dark Romance: Vampire in Love Dark Romance: Winter Lily Dark Romance: The Initiation Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers Dark Strokes: Daughter of Thunder Dawn of Hope: Skyline Adventure Dawn of Hope: Toymaker Deadly Sin Deadly Sin 2: Shining Faith Deadly Voltage: Rise of the Invincible Dead Reckoning: Brassfield Manor Dead Reckoning: Broadbeach Cove Dead Reckoning: Death Between the Lines Dead Reckoning: Lethal Knowledge Dead Reckoning: Silvermoon Isle Dead Reckoning: Sleight of Murder Dead Reckoning: Snowbird's Creek Dead Reckoning: The Crescent Case Dead Reckoning: Ghost Library Death Pages: The Seacliff Tragedy Delaware St.
Emily's Childhood Memories Delicious: Emily's Honeymoon Cruise Delicious: Emily's New Beginning Delicious: Emily's True Love Delicious: The Adventure of Derek Demon Hunter: A New Chapter Demon Hunter 3: Revelation Demon Hunter 3: Revelation Collector's Edition Demon Hunter 4: Riddles of Light Demon Hunter 4: Riddles of Light Collector's Edition Department The Mystery of the Nine Dependable Daisy: The Wedding Makeover Deponia: Banker's wife Detective Agency 3: Ghost Painting Detective Quest: The Crystal Slipper Detective Quest: Sherlock's Heritage Detective Riddles: Sherlock's Heritage 2 Detective Stories: Hollywood Diamond Drop 2 Diamon Jones: Amulet of the World Diamon Jones: Devil's Contract Diamon Jones: Flo Through Time Diner Dash: Hometown Hero Diner Dash: Dark Mystery Revealed Donna Brave: And the Deathly Tree Donna Brave: And the Strangler of Paris Donna Brave: At the Boardwalk Dora the Explorer: Daisy Pet Vet Dr.
The Strange Case Dr. Practice of Horror Dracula: Love Kills Collector's Edition Dracula: The Path of the Dragon - Part 1 Dracula: The Path of the Dragon - Part 2 Dracula: Chambers of the Dragon Whisperer DragonScales 2: Beneath a Bloodstained Moon DragonScales 3: The Book of Air Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water Dream Chronicles: Married in Manhattan Dream Day Wedding: Captured Magic Dream Inn: Curse of the Swamps Dreampath: Curse of the Swamps Collector's Edition Dreampath: Guardian of the Forest Dreampath: Guardian of the Forest Collector's Edition Dreampath: The Two Kingdoms Dreampath: The Drama Queen Murder Echo: Royal House of Stone Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows Echoes of the Past: The Citadels of Time Echoes of the Past: The Kingdom of Despair Echoes of the Past: The Revenge of the Witch Echoes of the Past: Wolf Healer Echoes of the Past: Project Rainforest Eden Eden's Quest: The Hunt for Akua Edge of Reality: Lethal Predictions Edge of Reality: Ring of Destiny Edge of Reality: New Worlds Egypt II: The Fate of Ramses Egypt Picross: The Bewitched Tree Elven Legend 3: The New Menace Elven Legend 3: The Incredible Journey Elven Legend 4: The Fateful Tournament Elven Legend 5: The Darkest Secret Empress of the Deep 2: Song of the Blue Whale Empress of the Deep 2: Legacy of the Phoenix Empress of the Deep 3: A Dark Seed Enchanted Kingdom: A Stranger's Venom Enchanted Kingdom: Fog of Rivershire Enchanted Kingdom: Fog of Rivershire Collector's Edition Enchantia: Wrath of the Phoenix Queen Enchantia: Frozen Path Endless Fables: The Minotaur's Curse Endless Fables: The Case of Shadows Enigma Agency: The Ghosts of Maple Creek Enigmatis: The Mists of Ravenwood Enigmatis: The Shadow of Karkhala Enigmatis 3: Strings of Deception Entwined: The Perfect Murder Epic Adventures: Cursed Onboard Epic Adventures: La Jangada Epic Escapes: Dark Seas Epic Slots: Knobby's Quest Eternal Journey: New Atlantis Eternal Journey: Realm of Souls Eternity European Mystery: Flowers of Death European Mystery: Scent of Desire European Mystery: The Face of Envy European Mystery: Slavic Fable Collector's Edition Eventide 2: Sorcerer's Mirror Eventide 3: The Lost Halloween Evil Pumpkin: The Dark Piper Fabled Legends: The Beanstalk Fairy Tale Mysteries: Fresh Start Family Feud: The Sisters Family Vacation 2: House of Brass Fantastic Creations: Time Travel Fantasy Mosaics Fleeing from Dinosaurs Fantasy Mosaics Parallel Universes Fantasy Mosaics Unexpected Visitor Fantasy Mosaics Fourth Color Fantasy Mosaics Ancient Land Fantasy Mosaics Six colors in Wonderland Fantasy Mosaics New Palette Fantasy Mosaics Explore New Colors Fantasy Mosaics Castle of Puzzles Fantasy Mosaics On the Movie Set Fantasy Mosaics Summer Vacation Fantasy Mosaics Magic Forest Fantasy Mosaics Deserted Island Fantasy Mosaics Wedding Ceremony Fantasy Mosaics Fairytale Garden Fantasy Mosaics Secret Colors Fantasy Mosaics Into the Unknown Fantasy Mosaics 7: Our Home Fantasy Mosaics 8: New Adventure Fantasy Mosaics 9: Ancient Rome Farm Frenzy: Gone Fishing Farm Frenzy: Heave Ho Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season Farm Frenzy: Ice Domain Farm Frenzy: American Pie Farm Frenzy 3: Ice Age Farm Frenzy 3: Madagascar Farm Frenzy 3: Russian Roulette Farm Frenzy 3: Art Prison Fatal Passion: Paranormal Case Fear for Sale: City of the Past Fear for Sale: Endless Voyage Fear for Sale: Hidden in the Darkness Fear For Sale: Nightmare Cinema Fear for Sale: Phantom Tide Fear for Sale: Sunnyvale Story Fear for Sale: The 13 Keys Fear for Sale: The Dusk Wanderer Fear for Sale: Hansel and Gretel Fearful Tales: Feline Sight Fierce Tales: Marcus' Memory Fierce Tales: The Dog's Heart Fierce Tales: Trick or Treat Fill and Cross: Trick or Treat 2 Fill and Cross: Fill Up 2 Film Fatale: Death on the Silver Screen Final Cut: Encore Collector's Edition Final Cut: Fade to Black Final Cut: Fame Fatale Final Cut: Homage Collector's Edition Final Cut: The True Escapade Final Cut: Depths of Time Fishdom: Depths of Time Collector's Edition Fishdom: Virtual Aquarium Fitness Bustle: Two Doves Flights of Fancy: Epic Fail League Forbidden Secrets: Alien Town Forbidden Secrets: The Call of Love Forest Legends: The Enchanted Crown Forgotten Books: Dream of Ruin Forgotten Kingdoms: The Ruby Ring Forgotten Kingdoms: Regained Castle Forgotten Riddles: Master of Death Frankenstein: The Dismembered Bride Frankenstein: Dark Exposure Fright Chasers: The Haunting of Majesty Manor G.
Christmas Edition Gardenscapes Gardenscapes: From Rakes to Riches Gardens Inc. The Road to Fame Gardens Inc. Bridal Pursuit Gardens Inc. Blooming Stars Gardens Inc. Elisa Cameron Ghost Encounters: The Face of Guilt Ghost Files: Bones of Meadows Town Ghosts of the Past: The Cats of Ulthar Ghost Towns: Riddle Of The Universe Gizmos: Spirit Of The Christmas Gizmos: Masters of Defense Gnumz 2: The Lost Legacy Golden Trails 2: Celebrity Secrets Gothic Fiction: Dark Saga Gothic Fiction: Great Expectations Gourmania 3: Zoo Zoom Gourmet Chef Challenge: House of Deadlock Gravely Silent: Pandemic Pandemonium Grave Mania: Lost in Mountains Great Adventures: Da Vinci Great Secrets: Nostradamus Great Wall of Words Greed: Old Enemies Returning Greed: Fun on the Farm Griddlers: A Deadly Dowry Grim Facade: A Wealth of Betrayal Grim Facade: Hidden Sins Grim Facade: Monster in Disguise Grim Facade: Mystery of Venice Grim Facade: Sinister Obsession Grim Facade: The Artist and the Pretender Grim Facade: The Cost of Jealousy Grim Facade: The Message Grim Facade: The Red Cat Grim Facade: The Forsaken Bride Grim Legends: Song of the Dark Swan Grim Legends 2: The Dark City Grim Legends 3: Bloody Mary Grim Tales: Color of Fright Grim Tales: Crimson Hollow Grim Tales: Graywitch Collector's Edition Grim Tales: The Bride Grim Tales: The Final Suspect Grim Tales: The Heir Grim Tales: The Legacy Grim Tales: The Stone Queen Grim Tales: The Time Traveler Grim Tales: The Vengeance Grim Tales: The White Lady Grim Tales: The Wishes Grim Tales: Threads of Destiny Grim Tales: Threads of Destiny Collector's Edition Grimville: The Gift of Darkness Guardians of Beyond: Witchville Guardians of Beyond: Witchville Collector's Edition Guardians of Magic: Amanda's Awakening Gummy Drop!
Gunpowder Gunslinger Solitaire Gunspell Gutterball: Samhain Collector's Edition Hallowed Legends: Ship of Bones Hallowed Legends: Templar Collector's Edition Halloween: The Pirate's Curse Halloween: Trick or Treat Halloween: Mysterious Griddlers Halloween Stories: Invitation Collector's Edition Halloween Stories: Hidden Object of Desire Harrowed Halls: Hell's Thistle Harrowed Halls: Lakeview Lane Harrowed Halls: Fears from Childhood Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium Haunted Halls: Nightmare Dwellers Haunted Halls: Revenge of Doctor Blackmore Haunted Halls: Ancient Bane Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward Haunted Hotel: Death Sentence Haunted Hotel: Eclipse Collector's Edition Haunted Hotel: Eternity Collector's Edition Haunted Hotel: Lonely Dream Haunted Hotel: Lost Dreams Haunted Hotel: Personal Nightmare Haunted Hotel: Phoenix Collector's Edition Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters Haunted Hotel: The Axiom Butcher Haunted Hotel: The Thirteenth Haunted Hotel: The X Haunted Hotel: Faulty Creatures Haunted Legends: Monstrous Alchemy Haunted Legends: Stone Guest Haunted Legends: The Black Hawk Haunted Legends: The Bronze Horseman Haunted Legends: The Cursed Gift Haunted Legends: The Curse of Vox Haunted Legends: The Dark Wishes Haunted Legends: The Iron Mask Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades Haunted Legends: The Secret of Life Haunted Legends: The Undertaker Haunted Legends: Lord of Mirrors Haunted Manor: Painted Beauties Haunted Manor: Queen of Death Haunted Manor: Realm of Ghosts Haunted Past: Clashing Worlds Haunted Train: Frozen in Time Haunted Train: Spirits of Charon Haunted Train: Pearl Harbor Hawaiian Explorer 2: Lost Island Heart's Medicine: Season One Heart's Medicine: Olympia Heroes of Hellas 3: Athens Heroes of Hellas 4: New York Hidden Clues 2: Dawn of Prosperity Hidden Expedition: Midgard's End Hidden Expedition: Smithsonian Castle Hidden Expedition: The Crown of Solomon Hidden Expedition: The Curse of Mithridates Hidden Expedition: The Eternal Emperor Hidden Expedition: The Fountain of Youth Hidden Expedition: The Golden Secret Hidden Expedition: The Lost Paradise Hidden Expedition: The Pearl of Discord Hidden Expedition: The Uncharted Islands Hidden Expedition: Chicago Blackout Hidden in Time: Looking-glass Lane Hidden in Time: Royal Family Secrets Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets Hidden Mysteries: The Forbidden City Hidden Mysteries: Home Makeover Hidden Object: Home Makeover 2 Hidden Object: A Christmas Tale Deluxe Holly 2: Magic Land Hollywood Files: Christmas Edition Home Sweet Home 2: Suite Success Hotel Dash 2: House of Doors: Evil Inside House of Doors: Family Secrets House of Doors: Serpent Flame House of Doors: The Palm of Zoroaster House of Doors: Babies Come Home Howlville: Identity Quest I Am Vegend: Zombiegeddon I Am Vegend: Natural Hero Ice Cream Craze: Black Lotus Immortal Love: In Cornwall to-day cross-roads are most carefully avoided after night-fall,[34] but this may be because it is commonly accepted that at the cross-roads.
It seems more likely that these particular spots are avoided because of the vampires, for Henry Boguet tells us: It is then that the thorn that sprang at Glastonbury from the Sacred Crown which the holy old man, S. Joseph of Arimathea, brought with him from Palestine, when Avalon was still an island, bourgeons into fragrant blossoms. The Cornish miners seem to hear the sound of singing choirs that arise from submerged churches by the shore, and others said that bells, beneath the ground where villages had been, upon that eve yearly ring a glad peal. At midnight the oxen, the cattle, and all the beasts kneel and adore, as they adored in the stable-cave at Bethlehem.
No evil thing hath power, and as the Officer in Hamlet [37] tells us:. Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. In certain districts of East Prussia on Christmas Eve candles are kept burning all night in the houses and no window is shuttered. It is supposed that the spirits of the dead will return in friendly-wise and the opportunity is given to them to warm themselves, so that on future occasions when they haunt the villages with more malicious intent they may remember those who are kind to them Christmas after Christmas and spare those houses from molestation and injury.
Not only are those who die excommunicate, that is to say solemnly and officially cursed by the Church, liable to become vampires, but more, those who die under any kind of such ban, especially if it be the malison of a parent, or if it be a man who has perjured himself in a grave matter and called down upon his own head damnation and all manner of evil should. The belief in the fearful power of a curse, especially the curse of a father or a mother, which, whether rightfully or wrongfully adjured, works out its vengeance through the whole stock of kith and kin, involving in misfortunes and destruction, innocent and guilty alike, finds supreme illustration in the masterpieces of Greek tragedy.
It is the mighty theme of the trilogy of the Oresteia , for from the very outset of the Agamemnon there is a brooding and oppressive sense of multitudinous crimes, of sins done long years ago which have swelled and accumulated their guilt like some black cloud of transgressions about to burst over the doomed race in a welter of tragedy and blood. The evil wrought by Thyestes, the crimes of his grandsire Tantalus, the atrocious banquet of Atreus, have yet to be expiated in misery, in anguish and affliction.
When the weird Trojan woman approaches the threshold she scents the carnage of the shambles and horrors manifold, and as the pang of inspiration thrills her she shrieks aloud: It is the crime of Atreus and of Thyestes which they hunt, and woe will follow woe. Sophocles also no less fearfully shows us the tale of Oedipus and his children, the legend of the house of Laius, whose family was as equally famous among the Greeks as the stock of Atreus for its overwhelming disasters, the bitter fruit of an undying curse which destroyed the whole race. Laius, the son of Labdacus, had wrought a mighty evil.
He married Jocasta, the sister of Creon of Thebes, and the oracle warned him that his son should kill him. When a boy was born to the royal pair they cruelly exposed their child, a helpless infant, to the. Many years after as King Laius is riding privately in his chariot attended by only five servants they meet a young man upon the road.
The king bids him make way, commanding him in rough and insolent terms. The stranger, a stalwart warrior, strikes down the master and certain of the servants, but one escapes and fled away for his life. Presently Oedipus solves the riddle of the monstrous Sphinx, when the Thebans, in gratitude, since their old monarch has been slain by robbers on the highway elect him to rule over them, giving him the lady Jocasta to wife.
He governs the state in great prosperity, and four children are born to him, two sons, Polyneices and Eteocles; two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. It is the calm before the storm; a fearful plague afflicts the city, and when the divine Phoebus Apollo is consulted he answers that the murderer of Laius must be driven from the land. The old prophet, Teiresias, the mystic whose converse is in heaven, but who yet in his stern pride still retains much of humanity, is asked to rede the enigma. He answers with deep sighs and groans, seeking to be led home again, until goaded by the impatience and hot temper of the king he flashes forth the truth.
But it is not immediately recognized, and Oedipus begins formally to inquire into the circumstances of the death of his predecessor. Detail is heaped upon detail and at last the horrible revelation forces itself upon his soul. Mad with terror, Jocasta hangs herself within her bed-chamber, and Oedipus tearing from her dress the buckles and clasps of gold strikes out his eyes that are unworthy to look upon the golden light of day.
One moment a king, the next a beggar, red with parricide, polluted with the fires of incest, accursed of God and man, in the bitterness of utter dereliction he must go forth desolate and alone. He dare not even bid farewell to his sons and daughters for they are the children of doom, seed of that admixture too fearful to be named. In the next play, the Oedipus Coloneus , we find him many years afterwards, a mysterious figure set apart by heaven in awful loneliness.
He is waiting in a place of peculiar sanctity, the reverent groves of the Semnai Theai, the holy goddesses of divine retribution, waiting for his silent passage to the shadowy world. And even here the evil ambitions of his sons would. But he is far removed from the strife and passion of this world, and when young Polyneices, fair, false and fickle, endeavours to enlist his father's sympathies the lad receives the awful answer: Here then is your reward: Nor does Creon, the respectable Creon, weak and spiteful, impotent, yet a tyrant, escape scathless.
His malice is sharply punished, owing to his own folly and cruelty he loses both wife and son, for he has forgotten that great truth which S. Thomas enunciated, that "reason is the first principle of all human works,"[40] and "the secular power is subject to the spiritual even as the body is subject to the soul. It has seemed worth while thus very briefly and inadequately to review these two great themes of Greek tragedy, since in both instances they set forth in detail the terrible and relentless working of a curse, which it may be said has something of that divine vengeance that visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation.
Even to-day there are places and there are properties in England which owing to deeds of blood and violence in their acquisition entail some dire misfortune upon all who seek to enjoy and possess them. De male quaesita non gaudet tertius haeres , says the old adage, and it is well known that lands wrested from the Church will not descend in due course owing to a failure of heirs. Such a case has come under my own observation, and Aubrey in his Miscellanies cites Hinton Charterhouse.
So did Cromwell's generals and adherents transmit a troubled inheritance to their descendants. Fairfax House, Putney, had its haunted chamber which was never used. It must be remembered that a solemn curse is not merely an expletive or an imprecatory exclamation, perhaps quite meaningless, but it is far more than this; it is significant and operative. The malediction is conceived as having a certain efficacious power, and it may be noted that this force if rightly launched does not seem to exhaust itself.
No more terrible fate could be imagined than for a man to become a vampire, and this was the inevitable consequence if he were not cleared of a merited malison. The old proverb says:.
This adage is terribly exemplified in the vampire who is supposed when he returns from his grave first to attack those who on earth have been his nearest and dearest. Of all curses the parental malediction is most dreaded, and curiously enough in Macedonia, Mr. Abbott tells us that a godfather is regarded with even greater respect than the actual parents and his "malediction is dreaded even more than that of a Bishop.
Such imprecations as the following are in common use. Since even the curse uttered by a man in moments of anger and impatience may have such terrible effects, in Greece it is necessary that there should be some expedient which may dissipate and dispel the forces to which these words have given an impetus capable of producing the most serious and horrible results.
- Navigation menu.
- Was vorhaben muß man: Aphorismen (German Edition).
- Follow Me;
- .
- tuesday terror! – FictionFan's Book Reviews.
- Count Dracula - Wikipedia.
Accordingly at a Greek death-bed there is carried out a certain ritual to attain this end. A vessel of water is brought to the bedside and he throws into it a handful of salt, and when this is dissolved the sick man sprinkles with the lymph all those who are present saying: This ceremony absolves all persons whom he may have cursed in his lifetime from the evil of a ban which after death he would no longer be able to revoke.
The relations and friends then solemnly forgive the dying man for ought that he may have done against them and all present declare that they bear no grudge nor anger in their hearts. It is said that if the passage be a difficult one it is supposed that somebody whom the sick man has injured has not forgiven him. If it can be guessed who this may be, he is if possible, brought to the bed-side to declare his forgiveness of any injury he may have suffered.
If, however, he be dead a portion of the cerements must be sought and burned to ashes in the bed-chamber of the dying person, who is fumigated with the smoke. These elaborate precautions and the extraordinary care which is taken, for it must often be a matter of very great difficulty either to secure the attendance of the living individual or to get hold of a portion of the necessary shroud, serve to show what immense importance the modern Greek attaches to the absolution from a curse, and what horror the thought of a vampire inspires.
It is obvious that those who die unbaptized or apostate will be liable to become vampires after death, and throughout the south of Europe there still persist large numbers of ceremonies and superstitions connected with a christening whose object it is to secure the child a long, happy and healthy life. In England as in many other countries it is thought lucky to be born on one of the great church festivals, especially if it be a Sunday. In certain districts of Yorkshire even to-day it is commonly said that "Sunday children are secure from. It is very probable that as Saturday is the seventh day of the week those born upon this day are considered as akin to a seventh son, who was so popularly believed to possess extraordinary powers of healing and the like.
The old English rhyme is well known, and perhaps the following is one of the most usual forms:. Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is sour and grum, Thursday's child has welcome home, Friday's child is free in giving, Saturday's child works hard for his living. And the child that is born on Christmas Day Is great, and good, and fair, and gay.
Although, as we have said, in England it is considered am omen of a happy life to be born upon some festival the exact opposite is the case in Slav countries. Even during life such a child is a Callicantzaros. The Callicantzaros is one of the most extraordinary and most horrible of all the creatures of popular superstition. Leone Allacci says that they only appear and have power during the week from Christmas to New Year's Day,[45] but other authorities extend this time until Twelfth Night.
During the rest of the year it is vaguely supposed that they sojourn in some mysterious Hades or under-world. Local traditions differ as to whether they are actually demons or whether they are human. Allacci, who certainly inclines to the latter view, says that children born in the octave of Christmas are liable to be seized with a terrible mania, that they rush to and fro with the most amazing speed, that their nails grow to a.
If they meet any person on the highway they seize him and put the question: It is difficult to convey any idea of the popular notions concerning the appearance of a Callicantzaros, as almost every local account differs from others in almost every particular. For the most part they are considered to be very gaunt[48] and of enormous strength. On the other hand there are some who are dwarfed and stunted. The larger variety generally appear as ineffably hideous monsters with black distorted faces, eyes glaring red like fire, huge ears such as those of a donkey, great gaping mouths furnished with a slobbering scarlet tongue and sharp gleaming teeth, from which streams their fetid breath in horrid gusts.
Again the pigmy Callicantzaros may appear in the shape of a child, but in this case it is usually deformed in some grotesque and painful manner. On the other hand they are sometimes harmless hobgoblins, full of mischief maybe, but objects of laughter rather than fear, though they may play many a naughty and tiresome trick not unlike the kobold and the leprechaun. A hundred tales are told of their pranks, but it is the more gruesome and the fiercer monsters with whom we are mainly concerned since it is from their ranks that the vampire is recruited, for most of them become vampires after death a fact which seems to point to their human origin , and not infrequently they are supposed to indulge their vampirish.
It will be noticed that in the various accounts of the Callicantzari there exist many contradictions, and we must bear in mind that such diversities are often due to the original conception of these creatures, whether they are regarded as demons or monsters who are suffered to plague the countryside for a certain number of days during the Christmas season, or whether they are regarded as human beings afflicted with a terrible curse, the victims of a most horrible possession, doomed never to rest not even in the grave.
Near akin to the latter conception is the werewolf, who may be regarded as a man or woman, who either of his or her own will through black magic is able to change into the form of a wolf, or who in classical times was believed to be so changed owing to the vengeance of the gods; and in later days was believed to be so changed owing to the enchantment of a witch or some manner of diabolic possession.
Moreover, a werewolf may be a person who without any actual metamorphosis is obsessed with all the savage passions and ferocity of a wolf, so that he will attack human beings in the same way as the actual wild animal.
*Spoiler Alert* Walkthrough for puzzle levels
It may be asked, is it possible that a person should be so transformed? Henry Kramer and James Sprenger, the learned authors of the supremely authoritative Malleus Maleficarum , in discussing the question distinctly answer "No, it is not possible. This glamour or ocular illusion is sometimes known as "sight-shifting," a convenient correlative to the accepted term "shape-shifting" which is conceived of as an objective fact.
Nor do I think the devil can form any soul or body into bestial or brutal members, and essences; but they have an unspeakable way of transporting man's phantasy in a bodily shape, unto other senses this though it be not corporal, yet seems to carry itself in corporal. Now this phantasy may appear unto other senses in a bodily shape, and a man may seem to himself to be such an one as he often thinks himself to be in his dream, and to bear burdens, which if they be true burdens indeed, the devils bear them, to delude men's eyes with the appearance of true burdens, and false shapes.
In early days it was recognized that a werewolf might be a person who was afflicted with a horrible mania, and Marcellus Sidetes, who lived in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, circa A. He says that Lycanthropy is a disease, a kind of insanity or mania when the patient was afflicted with hideous appetites, the ferocity, and other qualities of a wolf.
He further tells us that men are attacked with this madness chiefly in the beginning of the year, and become most furious in February; retiring for the night to lone cemeteries and living precisely in the manner of ravening wolves. Under Lycanthropia , Burton[49] notes as follows: Some make a doubt of it whether there be any such disease. Donat ab Altomari Cap. Daemonum , 1, 3, cap.
He hath another instance of a Spaniard, who thought himself a bear; Forrestus Obseruat. Schernitzius will have it common in Livonia. They lie hid most part all day, and go abroad in the night, barking, howling, at graves and deserts; they have usually hollow eyes, scabbed legs and thighs, very dry and pale Ulcerata crura, sitis ipsis adest immodica, pallidi, lingua sicca saith Altomarus Cap. Hydrophobia ; he gives a reason there of all the symptoms, and sets down a brief cure of them.
It is also remarkable that the malady is reported as being very prevalent in Bohemia, Hungary, and Livonia, countries in which the vampire is most frequently found. There is in fact a very close connexion between the werewolf and the vampire, and the lycanthropist is liable to become a vampire when he dies. In parts of Greece, particularly in Elis,[50] it is said that even those who eat the flesh of a sheep that has been killed by a wolf are apt to become vampires after their death, and this serves to show how powerful the pollution of the werewolf was supposed to be.
In Norse saga, Ingiald, the son of King Aunund, was timid whilst a boy, but after eating the heart of a wolf he gained strength and courage and became the boldest of heroes. Curiously enough in Uganda the Baganda greatly fear the ghosts of sheep, which they believe would return and kill a man if they saw him give them the fatal blow.
Hence when a sheep is to be killed one man occupies its attention in some way and another, whose presence the animal must not suspect, swiftly slaughters it before. In this way the sheep is tricked because the ghost does not know whom to haunt and punish for its death. Moreover, sheep give health and protection to cattle, and a ram is almost invariably sent into the pastures with a herd of cows.
Should a sheep die in a house nobody must dare openly to mention the fact, which may only be alluded to in the most covert and circumlocutionary phrase, for were anyone to say, "the sheep is dead," its ghost sorely angered would assuredly afflict the unlucky speaker with some disease and possibly even kill him outright. Even as some kind of vampirish infection was held to proceed from the wolf, the vampire himself will even more strongly convey this taint, and therefore, unless the most drastic and immediate remedies are applied, a person who is attacked by a vampire and whose blood has been sucked will become a vampire in turn imbued with a craving to pass on the horrible pollution.
This is perhaps, and with good reason, the most dreaded quality of the vampire, and examples thereof occur again and again in legend and history. It is far more curious that it should be thought that those over whose dead bodies a cat or any other animal has passed should become vampires. This belief widely exists amongst Slavonic peoples, and is to be found in some parts of Greece. It also prevails in China where a cat is never allowed to enter a room with a corpse for the body still contains the Kuei, the lower or inferior soul of Yin original, and by leaping over it the cat will impart something of its original savage or tigerish nature and the dead man may become a vampire.
It is believed among Slavonic nations, as it was firmly believed throughout England and in many districts of France, that witches turn themselves into cats, and among the Oraons or Uraons a primitive hill tribe of Bengal, we have a vampire cat who is a Chordewa , a witch who is able to change her soul into a black cat and who then visits and frequents the houses where there are sick and dying people. Such a cat has a peculiar way of mewing quite differently from the noise of other cats, and is easily recognized.
It steals quietly into a house almost like a shadow leaps lightly on the bed, eats of the food that has been prepared for the sick man and gently licks his lips. When it is able to accomplish this latter the invalid has no chance of recovering, in which connexion we must remember, as has been remarked before, that the soul is supposed to take its departure from the mouth of a dying person.
Even if this cat be seen it is extraordinarily difficult to catch it, since it has a supernatural activity and will fight and scratch with the malice of a demon. However, they say that persons have sometimes succeeded, and then the woman out of whom the cat her soul has come remains insensible, in a state of coma as deep as death, until the cat re-enters her body.
Any wound inflicted upon the cat is produced upon her. For example if they cut it, or break a leg, or destroy its sight, the woman will simultaneously suffer the same mutilation. So great a horror had the Oraons of these witches that formerly they used to burn any person that was suspected to be a Chordewa. It is a circumstance of very frequent occurrence in the witch trials of all countries that a witch who has appeared in the likeness of a cat, a hare, or any other animal and has met with an accident or been mutilated under that form is found to be marked with the same wound or to be suffering from the same harm in her human shape when this is resumed.
It is not difficult then to see why, if some animal of ill-omen,--and the cat seems to be particularly unfortunate,--leaps over a corpse, the dead person should be considered in danger of becoming a vampire.
Paganism and Victorian shenanigans…
In Greece, particularly in Macedonia, the most pious care is taken to prevent any such calamity. The body is watched all night long by relatives and friends,. It is well to scatter mustard seed on the roof and on the threshold, and the wise man will barricade his door with brambles and thorns. Should the vampire return he cannot fail to occupy himself with counting the seeds, and it will be dawn, when he must return to his grave, long before he completes the tale.
Should he endeavour to pass through the bushes he will inevitably be caught and held fast by the briars. Ralston tells us that the Serbs and the Bulgarians keep this vigil even more carefully than the Greeks. The flight of a bird above the body may also be attended by the same terrible results; and so may--in the Ukraine--the mere breath of the wind from the Steppe.
The reason for this has been entirely forgotten, but the survival is very remarkable as showing that once there existed a dread of vampires in England which to-day is entirely forgotten. Thomas Pennant says that in Scotland: It is reckoned so ominous, their doing so that the poor animal is killed without mercy. It is believed that a cat will not remain in the house with an unburied corpse; and rooks we know will abandon the place till after the funeral, if the rookery be near the mansion.
The explanation given by John Jamieson[60] that if a cat has leapt over a corpse the first person on to whose lap he may afterwards jump, or who may take him up in his arms, is stricken with blindness would seem to be a later invention, a reason made up to explain the ill-omen, when the vampire tradition had disappeared, and so the real reason had been entirely forgotten. Although the belief varies in different parts of the world, and it is generally understood that vampires only operate by night, as King David says: Again, how does a vampire leave his grave?
For we must remember that the vampire is tangible, and can make his presence felt in a very unmistakable and terrible manner. This difficulty has been very clearly stated by Dom Calmet who writes as follows: And after all that how can it go back again into the grave, when it will be found fresh, incorrupt, full of blood exactly like a living body? Can it be maintained that these corpses pass through the earth without disturbing it, just as water and the damps which penetrate the soil or which exhale therefrom without perceptibly dividing or cleaving the ground?
It were indeed to be wished that in the histories of the Return of Vampires which have been related, a certain amount of attention had been given to this point, and that the difficulty had been something elucidated. Is it actually the soul of the dead man which has not yet departed to its final destination, or is it a demon who causes them to be seen in an assumed and phantastical body? And if there bodies are spectral, how do they suck the blood of the living? We are enmeshed in a sad dilemma when we ask if these apparitions are natural or miraculous.
Jeanin, a Canon of the, Cathedral of Olmutz, asked for his company to a village named Liebava, which the good canon was officially about to visit as Commissary of the Episcopal Court to investigate the well-authenticated reports concerning a Vampire who had recently caused much trouble and disorder in the village Liebava. The witnesses gave evidence that a certain well-known citizen who had formerly resided at Liebava after his death had sorely tormented the whole district, inasmuch as for a space of three or four years he had issued forth from the cemetery and had entered several houses.
It was true these visitations were now ceased, because a certain Hungarian who passed through the village at the time when the terror was at its height avowed that he could cope with the evil and lay the Vampire to rest. In order to fulfil his promise he mounted the clock-tower of the church, and watched for the moment when the vampire came out of his grave, leaving behind him in the tomb his shroud and cerements, before he made his way to the village to plague and terrify the inhabitants.
The Vampire in due course returned and not finding his sere-clothes cried out mightily against the thief, who from the top of the belfry was making signs to him that he should climb and recover his winding-sheet if be wished to get it back again. The Vampire, accordingly, began to clamber up the steep stair which led to the summit of the tower, but the Hungarian suddenly gave him such a blow that he fell from top to bottom.
Thereupon they were able to strike off his head with the sharp edge of a sexton's spade, and that made an end of the whole business. They only received the reports of the peasants of that district, a folk who were very ignorant, very credulous, very superstitious, and brimful of all kinds of wonderful stories concerning the aforesaid Vampire. If we adopt the last hypothesis it follows that the Devil can endue these corpses with subtilty and bestow upon them the power of passing through the earth without any disturbances of the ground, of gliding through the cracks and joints of a door, of slipping through a keyhole, of increasing, of diminishing, of becoming rarified as air or water to penetrate the earth; in fine of enjoying the same properties as we believe will be possessed by the Blessed after the Resurrection, and which distinguished the human Body of our Lord after the first Easter Day, inasmuch as He appeared to those to whom He would show Himself for 'Jesus cometh, the doors bein shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you,' Jesus uenit ianuis clausis , S.
We are not told that God allows him the exercise of any such power, and it is hard to believe that a material body, gross and substantial can be endowed with this subtility and spirituality without some destruction or alteration of the general structure and without damage to the configuration of the body. But this would not be in accord with the intention of the Devil, for such a change would prevent this body from appearing, from manifesting itself, from motion and speech, ay, indeed from being eventually cut to pieces and burned as so often happens in the case of Vampires in Moravia, Poland, and Silesia.
These difficulties which Dom Calmet with little perception has raised can be very briefly answered, and they are not only superficial, but also smack of heterodoxy. In the first place, the story that he tells is far from satisfactory, and even if it were--what it may be--much exaggerated one can hardly brush aside the vast vampire tradition because one instance proves to be overdrawn. In any case the business of the watcher from the belfry and the demand that the Vampire should regain his shroud by climbing the stairs to the top of the tower do not bear the mark of truth, but what is certainly significant is that the Vampire was decapitated and that then the hauntings ceased.
I conceive that the story of the cerements is mere elaboration, but that the grave of the Vampire was traced, opened, and that his head was severed from his body. This eliminates some highly charged details whilst it does not touch the facts of the case. So we see that the story when divested of these trappings offers nothing impossible, that is to say nothing extraordinary or unusual in such histories. Dom Calmet asks are the appearances of Vampires to be attributed to God, or to the souls of those who return or to the Devil?
I answer that for the hauntings of a Vampire, three things are necessary: Just as we know, for we learn this from the Malleus Maleficarum , that there are three necessary concomitants of witchcraft, and these are the Devil, a Witch, and the Permission of Almighty God Part 1. So are these three necessary concomitants of Vampirism. Whether it be the Demon who is energizing the corpse[64] or whether it be the dead man himself who by some dispensation of Divine Providence has returned is a particular which must be decided severally for each case.
So much then for Dom Calmet's question, to whom are the appearances of Vampires to be attributed. Can the Devil endow a body with these qualities of subtilty, rarification, increase, and diminishing, so that it may pass through doors and windows? I answer that there is no doubt the Demon can do this, and to deny the proposition is hardly orthodox. Thomas says of the devil that "just as he can from the air compose a body of any form and shape, and assume it so as to appear in it visibly, so, in the same way,.
In his Modern Spiritism , Mr. Many such remarkable instances of apport and of matter passing through matter have been observed under the strictest possible test conditions, and will be found recorded in the late Leipzig Professor Zoellner's deeply interesting work Transcendental Physics. The writer has himself observed one instance of this kind in a private house, and in circumstances entirely precluding the possibility of deception.
There is, perhaps, no phenomenon which so distinctly exhibits the action of extraneous and independent intelligence as this one. We may, if we will, adopt the ectoplasmic theory to explain the mode whereby the Vampire issues from his grave, but although this is very probably true in some instances at all events it is not necessarily the only solution of the problem. According to Catholic theologians evil spirits, if permitted to materialize their invisible presence, to build up a tangible and active body, do not absolutely require the ectoplasm of some medium.
Not very dissimilar to the dilemma of Dom Calmet are the views hold by an eminent authority, Dr. In his well-known work, On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions , he devotes his second Letter, or rather Chapter, to "Vampyrism," concerning which he says "The proper place of this subject falls in the midst of a philosophical disquisition," but he adds for the benefit of the inquirer that it is "a point on which, in my time, school-boys much your juniors entertained decided opinions. Do I believe it? To be sure I do. The facts are matter of history: You suppose, then, they died frightened out of their lives, as men have died whose pardon has been proclaimed when their necks were already on the block, of the belief that they were going to die?
Well, if that were all, the subject would still be worth examining. But there is more in it than that. Accordingly a stake was driven through the chest of the Vampire who uttered a terrible screech whilst blood poured in quantities from the wound. Then it was burned to ashes. Moreover, a number of other persons throughout the district had been infected with vampirism.
Of the facts there can be no question whatsoever. The documents are above suspicion, and in particular the most important of these which was signed by three regimental surgeons, and formally counter-signed by a lieutenant-colonel and sub-lieutenant. Mayo is obliged to allow: It appears to establish beyond question, that where the fear of Vampyrism prevails, and there occur several deaths, in the popular belief connected with it, the bodies, when disinterred weeks after burial, present the appearance of corpses from which life has only recently departed.
With the utmost suavity and breadth of mind he continues: That would be to adopt, not to solve the superstition. Let us content ourselves with a notion not so monstrous, but still startling enough: We have thus succeeded in interpreting one of the unknown terms in the Vampyr-theorem. The suspicious character, who had some dark way of nourishing himself in the grave, turns out to be an unfortunate gentleman or lady whom his friends had buried under a mistake while he was still alive, and who, if they afterwards mercifully let him alone, died sooner or later either naturally or of the premature interment--in either case, it is to be hoped, with no interval of restored consciousness.