350 A TEIAD OF MEDIAEVAL MYTHS. 



nans' of Hungary, of Moravia, and Poland, of the Brouco- 

 lakas or Vroucolakas, so called by the Greeks ; all excom- 

 municated bodies which, ft is said, are unable to decay. 



The remark has been made by the Eev. H. Christmas, 

 translator of Calmet's book Sur les Apparitions, that Calmet 

 seems less disposed to believe in vampiredom than in any 

 other manifestation of the so-called supernatural ; that receiv- 

 ing the attestations of almost every sort of apparition without 

 cavil, yet the French divine, rather indirectly than directly, 

 seems to throw some sort of doubt on the history of vampires. 



The reverend translator starts an hypothesis to account 

 for this, which probably may be in some measure correct. 

 He says that the records of vampiredom have especially be- 

 longed to people holding to the Greek or Eastern faith ; for 

 which reason a French divine would not be unlikely to cavil 

 at the testimony handed down in relation to these beings. 



Perhaps it may be here just as well, before proceeding 

 farther, to explain, for the benefit of all who may require 

 the information, what manner of being exactly a vroucolaka 

 or vampire is. Truly, the name is common enough; but 

 the meaning of many names one could mention is partly 

 or even wholly unknown, though they are in the mouths 

 of most of us, and come trippingly enough on the tongue. 

 Awhile ago, a very popular author, yielding to impulsive- 

 ness, wrote that he would wake the welkin; then presently, 

 laughing at himself, he confessed total ignorance as to what 

 the welkin exactly might be. A vampire, then, is well, 

 what shall we say ? Not a ghost, certainly ; except we alter 

 most of our existing notions of a ghost. The best definition 

 I can give of a vampire is a living, mischievous, and mur- 

 derous dead body. A living dead body ! The words are 

 wild, contradictory, incomprehensible ; but so are vampires. 



Assuming as true the records about dead people moving 

 in their tombs, eating therein, coming therefrom, with or 

 without murderous intent, the learned Calmet devotes entire 



