Of the Hebrews we have the ever popular legend of the female demon Lilith, one of seven demons borrowed from the Babylonians. Like Lamia, which there will be more on later, she took to drinking the blood of children though her reason was believed to be the angst over being rejected from the Garden of Eden. Some people believe that she was Adam's first wife who was rejected because of her will be to on the top in regards to sexual positions. The Talmudists though believe that she was Eve herself. Lilith is also believed to be the cause of wet dreams in men and is seen as the epitome of seduction. In the Bible, Lilith is only briefly mentioned in Isaiah XXIV, 14.

For much of the time Christianity's perception of the vampire was that of a renevent. A being that feared God and his places of worship. That suffered at the sight of his symbols and trembled at his words. It was believed that the wood of the aspen tree, which served as Christ's cross, could be used to impale a vampire. However there was one type of vampire of interest from this religion. The Children of Judas were red haired vampires that killed their victims by draining them with one bite. The bite marks left the symbols XXX which stood for the amount of silver that Judas sold Jesus for.

The Asanbosam of Ashantiland were the men, women and children vampires who bit the thumbs of sleeping people which was perhaps an attempt at explaining where the bite marks came from. Vampire bats rarely would ever bite a human being however if they do, it is typically on the thumb and usually these particular bats are rabid. Old demonic hags known as the loogaroo were a form of vampires in Grenada who supposedly formed a pact with the devil and were to supply him with large quantities of warm blood nightly. In Brazil a form of vampire called the Lobishomen was known to attack women, and upon the women recovering they became nymphomaniacs.

Of Malaysia and surrounding countries there are the stories of the male Bajang who assume the form of a polecat and mews outside the door of his victim (similar to folklore of the Banshee), and then the far more demonic female counterpart, the Langsuir. The Bajang come in two forms; hereditary Bajang which comes from just being in a certain family who's ancestors have done evil, and acquired Bajang which one stands over the grave of a stillborn child and summons the spirit to come forth. The Bajang are said to be able to be caught and become a familiar spirit of someone who would keep it somewhat like a pet. Imprisoned in a tabong they are fed on milk and can be sent out to do harm to those who have angered it's master. Catching the suspected sorcerer after many Bajang attacks is strikingly similar to a witch hunt with such well known techniques as water dunking and others not so well known such as shaving an iron bowl with a razor. If the person under suspicion, who is placed in an adjoining room, looses hair in the exact same spot as was shaved on the bowl, then he is seen as guilty and would be killed. Occasionally sporting the shape of an owl, the Langsuir also was known for her green robes, black, ankle length hair, and a hole in the back of her neck through which she drinks the blood of children. It was said that by cutting the hair and nails of a Langsuir and placing them in the hole of her neck by a mortal, she would become cured of her condition.

India has a plethora of vampire mythology with such creatures as the grave wandering, flesh eating Rakshasas. Somewhat thought of as the blood drinking version of elves sporting fangs and drenched in blood, they were accepted as a reality by the Hindus who wrote of such a creature in the Vedas. They were also reputed to be extremely wealthy and would give money to mothers who had won their favor. The Vetala is an old hag vampire deformed with long slits for eyes, discolored skin and poison fingernails and will only drink the blood of mad and/or drunk women. There is also the Jigar-Khor who steals, with incantations, and eats liver, the Hanh Saburo which with the help of dogs, chase men into a forest where they drink their blood. A few other Indian vampires are the Hant-Pare which cling to the wounds of a person and sucks their blood in the manner of a leech, the Pisachas are a race of flesh-eaters and Mmbyu (Death), also know as Pacu Pati, who is the chief of all malevolent creatures of the night. Last but not least we come to Kali, a vampire-like goddess with dark flowing hair, an idiot's grin and four arms. Her vampirism is attributed to that battle with Raktaviya, the King of Demons, from who she had to drink blood in order to beat. For every drop of his blood that hit the ground, a thousand new demons would spring up for her to battle. Her followers, called Thugs practiced, thugee and were eventually held responsible for quite a number of ritual murders in her name.

From Greece we have the vrykolakas, the apparently ever popular Lamiae, and also from Homer's "The Odyssey" we have reference that the blood of the living empower the dead to speak. The Lamiae attribute their name to the tragic tale of Lamia, the beautiful queen of Libya with whom Zeus (big surprise) fell in love and fathered children with (after all these myths of Zeus and his habitual mortal fonification, one wonders at the definition of love used). Hera, Zeus's eternally jealous wife (who is supposed to be the goddess of family here), yet again schemes up a method of extracting revenge and takes Lamia's children away. Lamia, unable to do anything, in turn believes then that all mortal women should suffer as she has and takes out her woe by wandering and drinking the blood of children. Though they shared the same habits, Lamia was only a normal women where the Lamiae were women with snake-like bodies.

The Dearg-due vampire of Ireland could only be kept in its grave by placing a cairn of stones over the top. Reminiscent to the Langsuir of Malasia, the boabhan sith (pronounced bovan she) of Scotland were vampires who assumed the form of a group of beautiful girls with long golden hair and green dresses who would surround their enchanted victim dancing with gaiety drawing a bit of blood here and there, and then would close in for the kill. The Dakhanavar is an Armenian vampire that assumes the role of a protector of a valley and drinks the blood of his victims through their feet. There can also be found the Chaing-shih of China, the Civateteo of Central America, and even the vampir of Russia.

On a less physical note, many of you perhaps have woken up to a feeling of strangulation or you couldn't move. Many authors attribute such "attacks" to a form of psychic vampire, who comes to someone in their astral bodies to take energy from their sleeping victims. However it's most interesting that these authors forget to point out to the reader that your body becomes paralyzed when in REM sleep so as to inhibit one from acting out their dreams. Ever feel like you couldn't run fast enough while dreaming? That's why. When someone suddenly opens their eyes and become conscious, they're going to notice that they might still be paralyzed from REM sleep. And like anyone, they're going to panic and try to come up with an explanation why. So the mind, still in a sleep state, will project images for the person to conclude as the cause of their state of paralysis. Such beings believed to be the cause of the paralysis and feeling of suffocation have been named in many cultures.

In Greece you have the terms of Ephialtes and Pnigalion, the former which sits on the victims and the later strangles. In Latin the Inuus. Christianity has possibly derived the names Incubus and Succubus from the Latin term. More commonly you come across terms with variations of mar, or mare. The mora in Poland, the cauchemare of the French and Cajun peoples, the kikimara of Russia and the nightmare of the english. From Denmark comes the Mara, a female vampire which by day assumes the form of a human and were some unfortunate man to fall in love with her, he would feel as though he were being strangulated. Sometimes these night attacks would arouse the victim and numerous names were given to such "friendly" vampires. If you recall Lilith, who is considered a Succubi, she was considered the cause of sexual arousal for sleeping men. The Stigoi or Strigae and Moroii of Rumania and Hungary were those who went out at night looking to fornicate with whoever they stumble across. King Stephen I of Hungary went to far as to make it illegal for a Strigae to be out. The Romanian Nosferat would appear as an attractive person of the opposite sex who would enter the homes of their victims repeatedly. The victims slowly would lose vitality and die of illness and exhaustion. Some stories even depict them as those who have been torn apart in life, and in death the other seeks to be reunited with their love. Another form of sexual vampire is the Liderc, a female vampire resembling the Nosferat.

The myth of the sexual vampire in Europe can possibly thank it's introduction to the Gypsy folklore of the Mule who are alive only at night and midday.
The Mule, although dead men, aren't the corpses of their prior bodies.
Instead they wander around in new bodies that are exact duplicates. The Mule, although they don't drink blood, would occasionally reappear to their tribe and ask for their wives. The resulting offspring were given reserved names. The Gypsies of Novopazarski Zandzak and Stari Ras called these children Vampijerovic and would name them Lampijerovic. The Orthodox Gypsies of Kosovo-Metohija called them Vampiric (little vampire) and would name the boys Vampir and the girls Vampirera. The Moslem Gypsies believed that anyone could see a vampire by looking through their legs and that a woman should not resist the sexual assault of a vampire. She may scream but everyone else had to sit still and allow it to continue. The children of such attacks were called a Dhampir and believed to have the power to see vampires and destroy them.

Others could see vampires by having the Dhampir hand his shirt to them and looking through the sleeve while the Dhampir is hunting the vampire. It's also believed that a twin brother and sister, born on a Saturday, wearing their shirts inside out could see a vampire. There were many ways supposedly of dealing with vampires.