Vampyres Making History

Many people search online for the origins of the vampire, and in particular for histories about Vampyrekind – that is, the origins of the real Vampyre. While the answers to these and other questions remain elusive, there is at least one place where you may find a history of the Vampyre sub-culture, as well as a record of the mundane obsession with vampires since time immemorial. There is a history provided online for the benefit of interested parties seeking to immerse themselves in Vampyres and Vampyre history, wanting to know more about the culture, where it came from, how it came about, and how we as Vampyres have the culture we do today. It’s a chronology called “The Vampyre History Project“, and it is quite honestly, the most expansive, detailed and complete resource to be found anywhere on any public site.

This is an ongoing project of House Valur which is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and has been active since early 2010. The aim of this project is to compile as complete an historical overview in the form of a Chronology or Timeline of Vampy(i)res in history, myth, folklore and also in terms of the development of real Vampy(i)re culture and Community in the context of both ancient and modern history. Special focus is given to South African VC history in terms of involvement of South African Vampyres in the international VC, as well as international influence in the local scene.

The bulk of the information presented in the Project has been sourced online via net trawls, gathered from an eclectic collection of news sites – Vampyre and mundane alike, and from references to earlier, less complete attempts to present a comprehensive Vampyre History. There are other comprehensive histories focusing on the real Vampyre community, such as the Vampire Community History Project of the AVA, which is far more of an archive of internal events, group formations and histories, compared to the Vampyre History Project – which is far more of a chronological and news-based aggregation. Yes, there are quite a few earlier attempts to record vampire history in the same manner on the web, but none so expansive or detailed, spanning all recorded information from 6000BCE to last week – least of all one which is continually updated – and which is also being translated into Spanish to make it more accessible – and also completely free and gratis.

If one were to read the whole thing, starting from the pre-history section, right through, you would see it is filled with references to cultural practices of the classical Mesopotamian cultures, and Egyptian, Roman and Greek beliefs, the witch hunts of the Middle Ages, the New-England vampire scares and any number of modern events including the release of movies, TV series, books, newspaper articles, murders and other crimes, one gradually begins to notice and appreciate the rise of the more public sub-culture we know today as the Vampire Community, coming from the darkness into the light.

You will trace the origins of VC organizations, dead and gone – or current and thriving. you will watch the rise and sometimes the fall of prominent figures in the VC, and the interactions within a tumultuous and growing thriving community, Yes, this could take a few hours. Or maybe more. You will enjoy it, you will devour it, you will never see Vampyre history or the VC in the same light again. The world you knew before will be gone, and like you, it will be forever changed.