The Slavs, in addition to their belief in spirits, sorcerers, witches, and beings summoned by people from the underworld or other worlds, also believed in a human magical being called NIGHTMARE. Mare was essentially the soul of a living person that attacked people during their sleep, draining their life energy. The victim would feel suffocated or experience a heavy pressure on their chest during sleep, unable to move or wake up. The sleep of the attacked person did not bring rest but instead caused them to waste away, which could eventually lead to death. Such attacks by the soul of a person in the form of a mare could sometimes happen unconsciously but were often caused by envy or curses.
Ancient legends and the belief in the existence of beings that come to life after death stem from shamanistic - animistic beliefs but especially from the fear of the return of the dead, who could harm the living.
Today, mainly thanks to pop culture, the most well-known term for a reanimated or undead being is ZOMBIE. This term comes from the Haitian voodoo cult, but the idea of reanimated beings or those whose consciousness or soul was controlled by others was not unknown to our Slavic ancestors.
Such a being was called UNLIVING - UNDEAD, and according to ancient beliefs, these beings, after being brought back to life, harmed the living or drained them of their life force. They survived by killing their victims and absorbing their lives.
The most common reason for their creation was enchantment or a curse cast by another person, sorcerer, or magical being, or perhaps by a deity. Control over them was often achieved by creating a straw, clay, or rag doll.
It could be that the curse was transferred from an already undead being by bite or touch. The enchantment could be a punishment for wrongdoings committed during life, but the curse could also be cast with the intent to gain control over the reanimated being. Once revived, these beings had to obey the will of the one who brought them back to life.
In addition to revivied beings without a will, the Slavs also knew another kind of beings that retained their own will and consciousness. These magical beings survived by draining the life energy of other beings, animals, and people, mostly through drinking the blood of their victims.
The Slavs knew such a magical being as a VAMPIRE. Today, the belief in their existence is now widespread across the world, but it is of Slavic origin, although similar beings were known in many other ancient cultures.
Vampires were attributed with various magical abilities. The most important of these was that they kept their original body and gained significantly enhanced senses, physical strength, and speed. They even had the ability to fly, enter dreams and control the minds of living beings or move objects. It was believed that they could transform into animals, control the elements, and possessed many other abilities. On the other hand, the vampire’s body did not cast a reflection or a shadow and could not enter someone else's home without an invitation. Vampires were generally considered nocturnal creatures, harmed by daylight. Direct sunlight could burn or even kill them. However, some vampires, thanks to their magical powers, were able to overcome this weakness and moved among the living even during the day, but with weakened abilities.
The Slavs believed that vampires gained all these abilities thanks to the goddess Chors, the goddess of the moon. She was this Slavic goddess, in her dark form, who was considered the originator or first vampire.
It was widely believed that vampirism spread among humans through proto-vampires, who bite their victims but not kill them. Instead, they would give them their blood to drink, thus transforming the victim into a vampire.
