Summary Of Paul Barber's Vampires, Burial, And Death

In Paul Barber’s Vampires, Burial, and Death, he discusses the very early sightings or cases of vampirism, like Andre Paole and Peter Pologojowitz, and, we,as readers get a sense of the core features that make a vampire so interesting. Characteristics such as reanimation, state after death, epidemics and prevention, as described many testimonials, including the two in Barber’s book, are the most fascinating to me.

The idea of death epidemics that surrounds the town in each vampire sighting is really thought-provoking. Although this isn’t a direct feature of a vampire, it is something that often is seen in vampire cases. When the so called vampire would die and began to haunt the town, others always start to follow until almost the whole town is dead. WHile the people from the cases blame …show more content…
As mentioned previously, most cases of vampires eventually result in the exhumation of a vampire 's body from its grave. The people in the stories want to protect themselves from the epidemic and believe that they must prevent the body from being able to reanimate at night and move about. In most of the testimonials, upon exhumation, a vampire is found vulnerable. They lie asleep in their grave and the people form the towns can make their attempt to kill the vampire. This is often done by removal and destruction of the heart, decapitation, and removal of limbs to prevent walking. Why this is so fascinating relates to the notion of immortality. The idea something can be immoratal and dangerous, but at the same time be rendered completely vulnerable is a wonderful contradiction that makes us feel safe. In a way, because we know, from these testimonials, that a vampire can be killed, it makes up for their immortality,the death they cause, their unnatural state of vitality because what cannot be explained is far more terrifying than any vampire to us