Minor Vampires

 

These are actual stories of people who had died and were believed to have risen from their graves as Vampires. Keep in mind that while they are simpley the myths of various cultures, there may be some truth behind them yet.

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Aswid and Asmund:

Aswid and Asmund were great Icelandic warriors, both being great generals and blood brothers. As they inevitably grew older, one of them decided that they should make a pact stating that when one of them died, the other would go to the grave with his friend. They both agreed to this, swearing it on their blood.

As time passed, Asiwd eventually grew ill and died, as humanity will tend to do. All of the people mourned, and there were many days of funeral rites and feasting to commemerate the fallen hero. Despite all the protests of hsi close friends and advisors, Asmund was true to their blood oath, and followed Aswid to the grave. Asmund was sealed alive in the tomb with the body of his friend and many other tributes to entertain the dead in the afterlife, such as food, horses, Aswid's favorite dog and weapons.

As Asmund sat in the tomb trying to decide how best to kill himself, Aswid rose from the as a vampire. He first consumed the body of his dog, then of the horses. He then turned his attention on his friend, and attacked him with a demonic fury. Taking up a sword, Aswid fought off his former friend.

About three hundred years later, several daring young men set off to the tomb of the famous warriors. Despite warnings of the tomb being haunted and of the religious implications of disturbing the dead, the young men found the grave and opened it.  Hearing sounds of struggle from within, one man volunteered to go down into the tomb to see what was happening. Lowering him down on a rope, he began to investigate the tomb. The friends called to him after several minutes, then were met by a great tug on the rope. They pulled the rope up, only to find an old-fashioned armored warrior at the end of it. Trying to catch his breath, Asmund told them of the story of Aswid rising as a vampire and trying to kill him. He had been fighting for his life for three hundred years, and had succeded only when the young man had appeared, offering a distraction. With that, he fell over dead. The young men, realizing the bravery of the warrior Asmund, buried him in the tomb with full honor, their companion beside him. They took the decapitated body of Aswid out and burned it, scattering his ashes to the wind.

Arnod Paole:

In 1727, a young soldier by the name of Arnod Paole returned to his home village near Belgrade after completing his service. He had just enough money to buy some land and a house, and though he was an excellent neighbor, his social skills were less than desireable, as he always had an air of sorrow about him. He finally fell in love with a neighbor girl and they married, though his melencholia still persisted. His wife finally managed to get the reason for his saddness out of him. Arnod admitted to her that while on duty one night, in a far town, he was attacked by a creature who bit him and tried to drain his blood. He managed to fight the thing off until dawn, when the body finally fell lifeless to the ground, and then staked and burned the body to ashes. However, before doing so, he drank a small amount of the Vampire's blood, and being unfamiliar with the local territory, he was unable to find the Vampire's grave to extract and consume the dirt from it. Arnod told his wife that he was fearful, since he had not competed the ritual, that he may become a vampire upon his death.

One day, not long after his confession, a wagon filled with hay fell on Arnod in the field, crushing and killing him. About a month after his burial, some of the townspeople reported seeing Arnod wandering around the village, and those whom he came in direct contact with died a few days afterwards. After ceaseless nightly attacks, the villagers decided to raise Arnod's body. His case was made unique in that government officials, with two military surgenons looking on, were called to inspect the body for an official report. When the sexton finally raised the coffin and pried open the lid, they found Arnod's body, some 40 days old, fresh as the day they buried it, and in a Vampiric state. The sexton exclaimed over the fresh blood at his mouth, "Ah, you didn't wipe your mouth after last night's work." A young attendant of the surgeons fainted at the sight. Arnod's body, however, was staked and burned to ash, the ashes being replaced in the grave. Several others who were have believed to have died from Arnod's attack were also exhumed and similarly reduced to ash.

Time passed normally until some five years later, when the nightly attacks resumed. Another official investigation was conducted, and many more graves were opened. There were some bodies in a Vampiric state, which were immediatly staked and burned to ashes, and others being in a normal state of decomposition. With the burning the suspected Vampires, the Vamprie plague finally came to a hult. The report given by witnesses, such as military surgeons and various officals, was sent to the highest authorities and still remains intact to this day.