Legends say that a vampire is a man whose body is still living without its soul.

The
first record of a vampire under the name of upir was found in a document dated
from 1047 with reference to a !ussian prince. "n other parts of #ast #urope
creatures resembling genii were $nown as vampires or vampyrs. %robably these
were variations of the !ussian upir. The vampire legend is present in most parts of
the world under many variations.
"n &oldavia and 'alachia (actual !omania) vampires were called genii or *ombies.
These are human spirits of the deceased who returned to the world in their dead
bodies. +enii undergo several steps before coming out of the grave. "nitially
invisible they tease their family by visiting them. The legend says that after
becoming visible they come bac$ to their $ind to eat them. "n some te,ts they appear
to suc$ blood from their victims- heart. Li$ewise the upir the genii have to go bac$
to the grave regularly during daytime. .fter seven years they can live anywhere. "t is
said they could travel long distances to meet their fellow creatures.
/obody $nows in life if a dead person is going to become a genius or *ombie. "n old
times it was a !omanian tradition to e,hume corpses at three up to seven years after
burial to see if they decomposed completely. "f not a wooden spear was introduced
into the heart to get rid of them or even the heart was ta$en out to be burned. This
way people were sure the genii are dead.
.braham 0ram 1to$er wrote in 1237 the novel 4racula that contributed a great deal
to the spread of the vampire legend in the whole world. 5e gave his negative
character the name of 4racula the nic$name of an old prince that lived once in a
medieval country that is now a region of !omania. 6lad 4racul (the real name of the
prince) was born in a city in Transylvania !omania and the region is also the place
where the action of the novel ta$es place. These and other coincidences lead to the
idea that the vampire 4racula really lived in !omania.
&ost scientists searched to find in fol$lore and myths the origins of the belief in
vampires. 0ut others tried to e,plain it by the physical symptoms of certain diseases
such as porphyria catalepsy or anemia. %orphyria is considered a strange disease
because it ma$es the man loo$ li$e a vampire7 the nails and the teeth become longer
sun e,posure can cause s$in irritation and they strangely cannot stand garlic smell.
This describes e,actly the most important traits of a vampire. 8atalepsy is a disease
that causes a death li$e sleep for hours or even days. There were cases when due to
cataleptic sleep people were buried before they wa$e up and their corpse was found
upside down at a later e,humation.
.lthough these might have fed the fears of people confronted with understanding
vampire conduct the origin of the belief had probably psychological roots. %eople
tried to e,plain death one of the most mysterious aspects of life by creating tangible
persons symboli*ing it such as the blood suc$ing vampire.