A vrykolakas attacking a hunter
Vrykolakas, also called vorvolakas or vourdoulakas, is a harmful, undead creature in Greek folklore and in Salento culture. It shares similarities with numerous other legendary creatures, but is generally equated with the vampire of the folklore of the neighbouring Slavic countries.
While the two are very similar, vrykolakas eat flesh, particularly livers, rather than drink blood, which combined with other factors such as its appearance bring it more in line with the modern concept of a zombie.
Overview[]
The Greeks traditionally believed that a person could become a vrykolakas after death due to a sacrilegious way of life, an excommunication, a burial in unconsecrated ground, or eating the meat of a sheep which had been wounded by a wolf or a werewolf. Some believed that a werewolf itself could become a powerful vampire after being killed, and would retain the wolflike fangs, hairy palms, and glowing eyes it formerly possessed.
Belief in the vrykolakas was still common in Greece in World War II, especially in rural areas. During the Great Famine in 1941-42 where about 300,000 Greeks starved to death, the graveyards were so overfilled that many families were forced to bury their loved ones outside of the cemeteries.
So many people starved to death during the Great Famine that officials of the collaborationist Hellenic State took to gathering up the corpses and dumping them in mass graves. Since those buried in unconsecrated ground were believed to come back to haunt the living as vrykolakas, this possibility caused much distress for those families who were unable to bury their dead in the church cemeteries, and some families took preemptive steps to prevent their loved ones from becoming vrykolakas such as beheading their corpses.
Appearance[]
The bodies of vrykolakas have the same distinctive characteristics as the bodies of vampires in Balkan folklore. They do not decay; instead, they swell and may even attain a "drumlike" form, being very large, have a ruddy complexion, and are, according to one account, "fresh and gorged with new blood". People with red hair and gray eyes at this time in history were thought to be vampires according to accounts near the region of modern Serbia.
Description[]
The activities of the vrykolakas are nearly always harmful, ranging from merely leaving their grave and "roaming about", through engaging in poltergeist-styled activity, and up to causing epidemics in the community. Among other things, the creature is believed to knock on the doors of houses and call out the name of the residents. If it gets no reply the first time, it will pass without causing any harm. If someone does answer the door, he or she will die a few days later and become another vrykolakas.
For this reason, there is a superstition present in certain Greek villages that one should not answer a door until the second knock. Legends also say that the vrykolakas crushes or suffocates the sleeping by sitting on them, much like a mare or incubus. Unlike vampires, in Greek folklore, the vrykolakas are described more as cannibals than bloodsuckers with a taste in particular for human livers.
Since the vrykolakas becomes more and more powerful if left alone, legends state that one should destroy its body. According to some accounts, this can only be done on Saturday, which is the only day when the vrykolakas rests in its grave (the same as with Bulgarian vampire legend). This may be done in various ways, the most common being exorcising, impaling, beheading, cutting into pieces, and especially cremating the suspected corpse, so that it may be freed from living death and its victims may be safe.