Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Quotes On The Vampire Lore

"Vampirism was one of the most demonic outbreaks of mass hysteria ever to sweep the world. Its origins are rooted at the beginning of time and almost all of them are founded on superstition."

- Anthony Masters, author of The Natural History of The Vampire


"The origins of the vampire myth lie in the mystery cults of oriental civilizations...the Nepalese Lord of Death, the Tibetan Devil, and the Mongolian God of Time."

- Devendra P. Varma, author of The Vampire in Legend, Lore, and Literature


"The concept of the vampire is not only firmly rooted in legends and folk-myths of antiquity, but also established by facts of history and eye-witness accounts."

- Devendra P. Varma, author of The Vampire in Legend, Lore, and Literature


"[T]he vampire (or its structural equivalent) was a universal figure in human culture, which emerged in the natural course of life. That is to say, the vampire probably emerged independently at many points in human culture. There is little evidence to suggest that the vampire emerged at one time and place, and then diffused around the world from that primal source."

- J. Gordon Melton, author of The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead


"The vampire is the night-prowling symbol of man's hunger for - and fear of - everlasting life...The mixture of attraction and repulsion...is the essence of the vampire concept."

- Margaret Carter, author of the preface to Varney the Vampire


"There are reasons for talking mummies and roaming vampires - psychological ones. Psychologists tell us that nearly every one of us has a hidden fear of being buried alive."

-Thomas Aylesworth, author of Vampires and Other Ghosts


"Whether we read books and watch films about vampires for psychological reasons or simply for entertainment, each of us keeps the vampire myth alive. While we may be able to understand rationally that vampires do not exist, who among us does not start at the shadow at the window, the squeak in the dark?"

- Daniel C. Scavone, author of Vampires


© Angie McKaig

No comments: