The main explanation that Blavatsky gave
on this subject, she put it in her work Isis
Unveiled, and below I transcribe
what she wrote about it:
The Hindus believe, as firmly as the
Servians or Hungarians, in vampires. Furthermore, their doctrine is that of
Pierart, the famous French spiritist and mesmerizer, whose school flourished
some dozen years ago.
"The fact of a spectre
returning to suck human blood," says this Doctor, "is not so
inexplicable as it seems, and here we appeal to the spiritualists who admit the
phenomenon of bicorporeity or soul-duplication. The hands which
we have pressed . . . these 'materialized' limbs, so palpable . . . prove
clearly how much is possible for astral spectres under favorable conditions." (1)
The honorable physician expresses
the theory of the kabalists. The Shadim are the lowest of the spiritual
orders.
Maimonides, who tells us that his
countrymen were obliged to maintain an intimate intercourse with their
departed ones, describes the feast of blood they held on such occasions. They
dug a hole, and fresh blood was poured in, over which was placed a
table; after which the "spirits" came and answered all their questions." (2)
Pierart, whose doctrine was founded
on that of the theurgists, exhibits a warm indignation against the superstition
of the clergy which requires, whenever a corpse is suspected of vampirism, that
a stake should be driven through the heart. So long as the astral form is not
entirely liberated from the body there is a liability that it may be forced by
magnetic attraction to reenter it.
Sometimes it will be only half-way
out, when the corpse, which presents the appearance of death, is buried. In
such cases the terrified astral soul violently reenters its casket; and then,
one of two things happens:
- either the unhappy victim will
writhe in the agonizing torture of suffocation,
- or if he had been grossly material,
he becomes a vampire.
The bicorporeal life begins; and
these unfortunate buried cataleptics sustain their miserable lives by having
their astral bodies rob the life-blood from living persons. The ethereal form
can go wherever it pleases; and so long as it does not break the link which attaches
it to the body, it is at liberty to wander about, either visible or invisible,
and feed on human victims.
"According to all appearance,
this 'spirit' then transmits through a mysterious and invisible cord of
connection, which perhaps, some day may be explained, the results of the
suction to the material body which lies inert at the bottom of the tomb, aiding
it, in a manner, to perpetuate the state of catalepsy." (3)
Brierre de Boismont gives a number
of such cases, fully authenticated, which he is pleased to term
"hallucinations." A recent inquest, says a French paper, "has
established that in 1871 two corpses were submitted to the infamous treatment
of popular superstition, at the instigation of the clergy . . . O blind
prejudice!"
But Dr. Pierart, quoted by des
Mousseaux, who stoutly adheres to vampirism, exclaims:
"Blind, you say? Yes, blind, as
much as you like. But whence sprang these prejudices? Why are they perpetuated
in all ages, and in so many countries? After a crowd of facts of vampirism so
often proved, should we say that there are no more and that they never had a
foundation?
Nothing comes of nothing. Every
belief, every custom springs from facts and causes which gave it birth. If one
had never seen appear, in the bosom of families of certain countries, beings
clothing themselves in the shape of the familiar dead, coming thus to suck the
blood of one or of several persons, and if the death of the victims by
emaciation had not followed, they would never have gone to disinter the corpses
in cemeteries; we would never have had attested the incredible fact of persons
buried for several years being found with the corpse soft, flexible, the eyes
open, with rosy complexions, the mouth and nose full of blood, and of the blood
running in torrents under blows, from wounds, and when decapitated." (4)
One of the most important examples
of vampirism figures in the private letters of the philosopher, the Marquis
d'Argens; and, in the Revue Britannique, for March, 1837, the English
traveller Pashley describes some that came under his notice in the island of
Candia. Dr. Jobard, the anti-Catholic and anti-spiritual Belgian savant,
testifies to similar experiences. (5)
"I will not examine,"
wrote the Bishop d'Avranches Huet, "whether the facts of vampirism, which
are constantly being reported, are true, or the fruit of a popular error; but
it is certain that they are testified to by so many authors, able and
trustworthy, and by so many eye-witnesses, that no one ought to decide
upon the question without a good deal of caution." (6)
The chevalier, who went to great
pains to collect materials for his demonological theory, brings the most
thrilling instances to prove that all such cases are produced by the Devil, who
uses graveyard corpses with which to clothe himself, and roams at night sucking
people's blood.
Methinks we could do very well
without bringing this dusky personage upon the scene. If we are to believe at
all in the return of spirits, there are plenty of wicked sensualists, misers,
and sinners of other descriptions — especially suicides, who could have rivaled
the Devil himself in malice in his best days. It is quite enough to be actually
forced to believe in what we do see, and know to be a fact, namely
spirits, without adding to our Pantheon of ghosts the Devil — whom nobody ever
saw.
Still, there are interesting
particulars to be gathered in relation to vampirism, since belief in this
phenomenon has existed in all countries, from the remotest ages. The Slavonian
nations, the Greeks, the Wallachians, and the Servians would rather doubt the
existence of their enemies, the Turks, than the fact that there are vampires. The
broucolak, or vourdalak, as the latter are called, are but too
familiar guests at the Slavonian fireside. Writers of the greatest ability, men
as full of sagacity as of high integrity, have treated of the subject and
believed in it.
Whence, then, such a superstition?
Whence that unanimous credence
throughout the ages, and whence that identity in details and similarity of
description as to that one particular phenomenon which we find in the testimony
— generally sworn evidence — of peoples foreign to each other and differing
widely in matters concerning other superstitions.
"There are," says Dom Calmet,
a skeptical Benedictine monk of the last century, "two different ways to
destroy the belief in these pretended ghosts. . . . The first would be to
explain the prodigies of vampirism by physical causes. The second way is to
deny totally the truth of all such stories; and the latter plan would be
undoubtedly the most certain, as the most wise." (7)
The first way — that of explaining
it by physical, though occult causes, is the one adopted by the Pierart school
of mesmerism. It is certainly not the spiritualists who have a right to doubt
the plausibility of this explanation. The second plan is that adopted by
scientists and skeptics. They deny point-blank. As des Mousseaux remarks, there
is no better or surer way, and none exacts less of either philosophy or
science.
The spectre of a village herdsman,
near Kodom, in Bavaria, began appearing to several inhabitants of the place,
and either in consequence of their fright or some other cause, every one of
them died during the following week. Driven to despair, the peasants
disinterred the corpse, and pinned it to the ground with a long stake. The same
night he appeared again, plunging people into convulsions of fright, and
suffocating several of them.
Then the village authorities
delivered the body into the hands of the executioner, who carried it to a
neighboring field and burned it. "The corpse," says des Mousseaux,
quoting Dom Calmet, "howled like a madman, kicking and tearing as if he
had been alive. When he was run through again with sharp-pointed stakes, he
uttered piercing cries, and vomited masses of crimson blood. The apparitions of
this spectre ceased only after the corpse had been reduced to ashes." (8)
Officers of justice visited the
places said to be so haunted; the bodies were exhumed, and in nearly every case
it was observed that the corpse suspected of vampirism looked healthy and rosy,
and the flesh was in no way decaying. The objects which had belonged to these
ghosts were observed moving about the house without any one touching them.
But the legal authorities generally
refused to resort to cremation and beheading before they had observed the
strictest rules of legal procedure. Witnesses were summoned to appear, and
evidence was heard and carefully weighed. After that the exhumed corpses were
examined; and if they exhibited the unequivocal and characteristic signs of
vampirism, they were handed over to the executioner.
"But," argues Dom Calmet (9), "the principal difficulty consists in learning how
these vampires can quit their tombs, and how they reenter them, without
appearing to have disturbed the earth in the least; how is it that they
are seen with their usual clothing; how can they go about, and walk, and eat?
. . .
If this is all imagination on the
part of those who believe themselves molested by such vampires, how happens it
that the accused ghosts are subsequently found in their graves . . . exhibiting
no signs of decay, full of blood, supple and fresh? How explain the cause of
their feet found muddy and covered with dirt on the day following the night
they had appeared and frightened their neighbors, while nothing of the sort was
ever found on other corpses buried in the same cemetery? (10)
How is it again that once burned
they never reappear? and that these cases should happen so often in this
country that it is found impossible to cure people from this prejudice; for,
instead of being destroyed, daily experience only fortifies the superstition in
the people, and increases belief in it." (11)
Explanations
There is a phenomenon in nature
unknown, and therefore rejected by physiology and psychology in our age of
unbelief. This phenomenon is a state of half-death. Virtually, the body
is dead; and, in cases of persons in whom matter does not predominate over spirit
and wickedness not so great as to destroy spirituality, if left alone, their
astral soul will disengage itself by gradual efforts, and, when the last link
is broken, it finds itself separated forever from its earthly body. Equal
magnetic polarity will violently repulse the ethereal man from the decaying
organic mass.
The whole difficulty lies in that 1,
the ultimate moment of separation between the two is believed to be that when
the body is declared dead by science; and 2, a prevailing unbelief in the
existence of either soul or spirit in man, by the same science.
Pierart tries to demonstrate that in
every case it is dangerous to bury people too soon, even though the body may
show undoubted signs of putrefaction.
"Poor dead cataleptics,"
says the doctor, "buried as if quite dead, in cold and dry spots
where morbid causes are incapable to effect the destruction of their bodies,
their (astral) spirit enveloping itself with a fluidic body (ethereal)
is prompted to quit the precincts of its tomb, and to exercise on living beings
acts peculiar to physical life, especially that of nutrition, the result
of which, by a mysterious link between soul and body, which spiritualistic
science will explain some day, is forwarded to the material body lying still in
its tomb, and the latter thus helped to perpetuate its vital existence." (12)
These spirits, in their ephemeral
bodies, have been often seen coming out from the graveyard; they are
known to have clung to their living neighbors, and have sucked their blood.
Judicial inquiry has established that from this resulted an emaciation of the
victimized persons, which often terminated in death.
Thus, following the pious advice of
Dom Calmet, we must either go on denying, or, if human and legal testimonies
are worth anything, accept the only explanation possible. "That souls
departed are embodied in aerial or aetherial vehicles is most fully and plainly
proved by those excellent men, Dr. C. and Dr. More," says Glanvil,
"and they have largely shown that this was the doctrine of the greatest
philosophers and most ancient and aged fathers." (13)
Gorres, the German philosopher, says
to the same effect, that "God never created man as a dead corpse, but as
an animal full of life. Once He had thus produced him, finding him ready
to receive the immortal breath, He breathed him in the face, and thus man
became a double masterpiece in His hands. It is in the centre of life itself
that this mysterious insufflation took place in the first man (race?); and
thence were united the animal soul issued from earth, and the spirit
emanating from heaven." (14)
Des Mousseaux, in company with other
Roman Catholic writers, exclaims: "This proposition is utterly
anti-Catholic!
"Well, and suppose it is? It
may be archi-anti-Catholic, and still be logic, and offer a solution for many a
psychological puzzle. The sun of science and philosophy shines for every one;
and if Catholics, who hardly number one-seventh part of the population of the
globe, do not feel satisfied, perhaps the many millions of people of other religions
who outnumber them, will.
Anecdote
And now, before parting with this
repulsive subject of vampirism, we will give one more illustration, without
other voucher than the statement that it was given to us by apparently
trustworthy witnesses.
About the beginning of the present
century, there occurred in Russia, one of the most frightful cases of vampirism
on record. The governor of the Province of Tchernigov was a man of about sixty
years, of a malicious, tyrannical, cruel, and jealous disposition. Clothed with
despotic authority, he exercised it without stint, as his brutal instincts
prompted. He fell in love with the pretty daughter of a subordinate official.
Although the girl was betrothed to a young man whom she loved, the tyrant
forced her father to consent to his having her marry him; and the poor victim,
despite her despair, became his wife.
His jealous disposition exhibited
itself. He beat her, confined her to her room for weeks together, and prevented
her seeing any one except in his presence. He finally fell sick and died.
Finding his end approaching, he made her swear never to marry again; and with
fearful oaths, threatened that, in case she did, he would return from his grave
and kill her. He was buried in the cemetery across the river; and the young
widow experienced no further annoyance, until, nature getting the better of her
fears, she listened to the importunities of her former lover, and they were
again betrothed.
On the night of the customary
betrothal-feast, when all had retired, the old mansion was aroused by shrieks
proceeding from her room. The doors were burst open, and the unhappy woman was
found lying on her bed, in a swoon. At the same time a carriage was heard
rumbling out of the courtyard. Her body was found to be black and blue in
places, as from the effect of pinches, and from a slight puncture on her neck
drops of blood were oozing.
Upon recovering, she stated that her
deceased husband had suddenly entered her room, appearing exactly as in life,
with the exception of a dreadful pallor; that he had upbraided her for her
inconstancy, and then beaten and pinched her most cruelly. Her story was
disbelieved; but the next morning, the guard stationed at the other end of the
bridge which spans the river, reported that, just before midnight, a black
coach and six had driven furiously past them, toward the town, without
answering their challenge.
The new governor, who disbelieved
the story of the apparition, took nevertheless the precaution of doubling the
guards across the bridge.
The same thing happened, however,
night after night; the soldiers declaring that the toll-bar at their station
near the bridge would rise of itself, and the spectral equipage sweep by them
despite their efforts to stop it. At the same time every night, the coach would
rumble into the courtyard of the house; the watchers, including the widow's
family, and the servants, would be thrown into a heavy sleep; and every morning
the young victim would be found bruised, bleeding, and swooning as before.
The town was thrown into
consternation. The physicians had no explanations to offer; priests came to
pass the night in prayer, but as midnight approached, all would be seized with
the terrible lethargy. Finally, the archbishop of the province came, and
performed the ceremony of exorcism in person, but the following morning the
governor's widow was found worse than ever. She was now brought to death's
door.
The governor was finally driven to
take the severest measures to stop the ever-increasing panic in the town. He
stationed fifty Cossacks along the bridge, with orders to stop the
spectre-carriage at all hazards. Promptly at the usual hour, it was heard and
seen approaching from the direction of the cemetery. The officer of the guard,
and a priest bearing a crucifix, planted themselves in front of the toll-bar,
and together shouted:
- "In the name of God, and the
Czar, who goes there?"
Out of the coach-window was thrust a
well-remembered head, and a familiar voice responded:
- "The Privy Councillor of State
and Governor, C----!"
At the same moment, the officer, the
priest, and the soldiers were flung aside as by an electric shock, and the
ghostly equipage passed by them, before they could recover breath.
The archbishop then resolved, as a
last expedient, to resort to the time-honored plan of exhuming the body, and
pinning it to the earth with an oaken stake driven through its heart. This was
done with great religious ceremony in the presence of the whole populace.
The story is that the body was found
gorged with blood, and with red cheeks and lips. At the instant that the first
blow was struck upon the stake, a groan issued from the corpse, and a jet of
blood spurted high into the air. The archbishop pronounced the usual exorcism,
the body was reinterred, and from that time no more was heard of the vampire.
How far the facts of this case may
have been exaggerated by tradition, we cannot say. But we had it years ago from
an eye-witness; and at the present day there are families in Russia whose elder
members will recall the dreadful tale.
As to the statement found in medical
books that there are frequent cases of inhumation while the subjects are but in
a cataleptic state, and the persistent denials of specialists that such things
happen, except very rarely, we have but to turn to the daily press of every
country to find the horrid fact substantiated.
(Isis Unveiled
I, p.449-455)
Notes
- Pierart: "Revue Spiritualiste," chapter on Vampirism
- Maimonides: "Abodah Sarah," 12 Absh, 11 Abth.
- Pierart: "Revue Spiritualiste"
- Dr. Pierart: "Revue Spiritualiste," vol. iv, p.104
- "Hauts Phen.," p.199
- "Huetiana," p.81
- Dom Calmet: "Apparitions", Paris, 1751, vol. ii., p.47; "Hauts Phen. de la Magie," p.195
- "Hauts Phen.," p.196
- Ibid.
- See the same sworn testimony in official documents: "De l'Inspir. des Camis," H. Blanc, 1859. Plon, Paris.
- Dom Calmet: "Apparitions," vol. ii., chap. xliv., p.212
- Pierart: "Revue Spiritualiste," vol. iv., p.104
- "Sadducismus Triumphatus," vol. ii., p.70
- Gorres: "Complete Works," vol. iii., ch. vii., p.132
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