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WEREWOLVES
1) Legends Regarding Becoming a Werewolf
- Removing clothes and wearing a belt of wolf skin
- Drinking a potion/applying a magic salve
- Making a pact with the Devil/eating human flesh
- Russia: being born on December 24
- France & Germany: sleeping outside in summer with full moon shining on face
- Brazil & Portugal: being born the seventh son
- Native American Lore: being called by wolf spirit/cursed by shaman
*Note: The full moon is only associated with werewolves due to the thought that it induces madness in humans.
2) Weaknesses
- The plant wolfsbane
- Silver
*So you could hold a werewolf off with wolfsbane, but in order to kill it you would need to stab it with silver or shoot it in the heart with a silver bullet.
3) Cures
- Converting the werewolf to Christianity
- Calling the werewolf by its Christian name three times
- Piercing their hands with nails
- Constant activity until the beast within the man is too weak
*Note: Cures are to save the human that became the beast, not kill them.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf )
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VAMPIRES
1) Legends Regarding Becoming a Vampire-Slavic & Chinese: a corpse that an animal jumped over became "undead"
-Slavic & Chinese: corpses with wounds not treated by boiling water also at risk
-Russia: people who were witches or rebelled against church while alive
2) Legends on Identifying Vampires
-Holes in the earth over a grave was a supposed sign of vampirism
-Corpse would look healthy, bloated, and not be decomposing
-Death of cattle, sheep, relative, and/or neighbors might indicate vampiric activity
-In some cultures, vampires had some qualities in common with a poltergeist
3) Protection from Vampires
-Holding sacred items: garlic, holy water, crucifix, rosary
-Sprinkling mustard seed on the roof of a house
-Vampires supposedly can't walk on consecrated (holy) ground, or across water
-Holding a branch of wild rose or hawthorn plant
-Mirrors outside doors hold off vamps*
-Some cultures say that vampires can't enter a house unless invited, so don't invite them in!
*Note: a vampires lack of reflection and shadow may be linked to their lack of soul.
*Although they are more active at night, it is not believed that vampires are vulnerable to sunlight.
4) Killing Vampires
-Staking them through the heart with piece of Ash Wood (Russia and Baltic states), Oak (Silesia), or Hawthorn (Serbia)
-Germany: beheading them and burying the head between the feet or behind the butt
-Shooting/Driving steel or iron through one's heary
-Pouring boiling water over the corpse, or burning it
-Also could be killed by repeating funeral service, sprinkling holy water on the corpse, shooting or drowning it, or exorcism
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire ) ____________________________________________________________________________
1) The Origins of Demons: Christianity
-Lucifer, an angel of the Lord, fell out from grace by challenging Him
-His army fought God's army, and was defeated by Michael
-He and his followers were then cast into the abyss (Hell)
-There, they were tortured by being deprived of God's voice
2) The Origins of Demons: Hinduism
-Asuras: demigods (good or evil)
-Pishachas: cannibalistic demons
-Rakshasas: shapechanging terrestrial demons
-Vetalas: batlike spirits
-Evil Spirits: if a person did many horrible and sinful karmas while alive, after death their souls were believed tobecome evil, ghostly spirits/demons
*Note: to learn the specifics on these demons, see my source.
3) The Origins of Demons: Judaism
-Se'irim: "hairy beings" often seen by the Israelis in the wilderness
-Azazel: goat-like demons, chief of the Se'irim
-Shedim: used in kabbalistic rituals and often responisble in demonic possession
4) The Origins of Demons: Islam
-Jinns: good and evil, and made of the light of fire
-Evil Jinns: known as shayatin (devils) with Iblis (Satan) as their chief
-Iblis was the first jinn to disobey God by refusing to acknowledge the creation of man
-He was then punished in eternal hellfire (Hell)
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon )
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