Re: Interesting read

From: Rin Watt <katecwatt_at_gmail.com_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:58:58 -0000

I'd rather think it was naturally occurring phenomena, like shroud-goo and postmortem nail growth and gum retraction, that made people fear vampires, than the possibility of being buried alive and dug up too late.

Or perhaps it was guilt, stemming from intermittent cannibalism of the dead, that led them to fear cannibalism by the dead? (In hard times, there have been many recorded cases of grave-robbing. It happened in a "charitable" poor-house in England in the mid 19th century.)

On the other hand, vampirism is an apt metaphor for the worst excesses of capitalism (or feudalism), so in the case of a count or other powerful figure, why not imagine that his exploitation of the poor would continue after death?
Received on 2009-03-11 11:59:04