The Myth of the Vampire

The vampire's belief is as old as history. Shaggy and mummified, cadaverous and emaciated, swollen and viscous, the image of the bloodthirsty vampire coming out of the tomb at night to lure its victims, who in turn turn into vampires, emanated from man's deepest and darkest fears, at the same time he pursued it obsessively
The myth of vampirism took hold of the imagination of people in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the remote region of Transylvania in the centuries following the death of Prince Vlad Dracula in the late 15th century.
The horrifying stories of his blood-thirst were reinforced by frequent outbreaks of plague, with all the fears inherent in him, including being considered dead and buried alive. The superstitious ones easily believed in the "true" stories about the "nosferatu," the undead, who stood up in the night of the campas to feast on the blood of the living.
There are many recorded cases of corpses exhumed for suspicion of vampirisms in order to prick them in the heart or be decapitated and burned.
There is still a belief in the efficacy of the holy water of the crucifix or of garlic and herbs as protection against the curse of the vampire