With the imminent release of the final part of the Twilight Saga: Part 2 Breaking Dawn on 16th November 2012, we at Door2Tour thought it would be fun to research a bit further into the world of Vampires and provide some fun (if you can call it that) facts about our pointy tooth foes! Take a look at what we have discovered below and let’s hope things don’t go bump in the night for you on Friday…
1) The oldest known vampire legends come from Babylonian and Sumerian mythology.
2) Female demons called the Lilu were said to hunt women and children at night and their blood.
3) Vlad III Tepes was also known as Vlad Dracul for his incredible cruelty, allegedly killing over 30,000 people at one one time!
4) Vlad Dracul’s bloodthirsty reputation inspired Bram Stoker to write his famous novel “Dracula”.
5) A vampire costume is the second most popular adult fancy dress costume.
6) The Ghanan Asasabonsam vampire has iron teeth and hooks for feet which they drop from treetops onto unsuspecting
victims – totally dispelling the idea that vampires are sensual & romantic (as if they ever could be)!
7) Some people believe that Cain was the first vampire, cursed by God for slaying his brother Abel.
8) Usually people turn to stakes, fire and sunlight to kill a vampire but there are many other ways including, beheading, boiling in vinegar, pounding a nail through the navel or scattering birdseed on their tomb.
9) Popular tradition states that vampires can shape-shift into wolves, bats or clouds of mist.
10) Romanians believed that Saturdays were the best day of the week to tackle a vampire as they lay powerless in their grave.
11) All European vampires are said to have an hypnotic gaze that draw in their victims
12) Bavarian vampires are said to sleep with the left eye open
13) The Upyr vampire is a vicious vampire that has a human appearance and sleeps at night. It can be destroyed by burning its body however once burnt, the body will burst releasing hundreds of maggots and rats. A vampire slayer will have to kill all these animals too to prevent them returning to exact revenge!
14) Vampire bats have small and extremely sharp teeth which are capable of piercing an animal’s skin without them even noticing.
15) Vampires can be out and active during the day. Count Dracula did as much. However there are certain vampires who have a strong reaction to sunlight. Count Orlock was vapourized just walking across in front of a window at dawn.
Will you be going to see Part 2 of Breaking Dawn this weekend? If so, let us know whether it is worth watching or not…