This Is My Study Guide

Vampire 101 (Lore from across history):

How to Kill a Vampire:

Unearth and burn the supposedly dead body of the accused assailant (12th-century English historian, William of Newburgh)

Staking the body

Burning the vampire themselves

Decapitation

Stuffing the decapitated head with garlic via the mouth

Blessed bullets in a gun (not silver bullets, that’s werewolves)

Long term or direct exposure to sunlight

Causes of Vampirism:

Dying after a particularly evil life (Slavic regions and neighboring countries) 

Being bitten by an existing vampire

Drinking the blood of an existing vampire

Disembodied demonic spirit 

Disembodied spirit of a dead person that retains a substantial existence, similar to a ghost, and can be mistaken for a fully embodied living corpse

Emergence of a different species of intelligent life

Outer space

Genetic mutation

Normal human with an odd power or habit

Detection:

Unearthing a corpse that was not properly decomposing (e.g. flowing blood, unnaturally fresh, etc.)

Unexplained illnesses or deaths in the community

Requires an invitation to enter a building (Bram Stoker)

Sleeps in a coffin (Bram Stoker)

Posses the ability to transform into a bat (Bram Stoker)

No reflection in mirrors (Bram Stoker)

Presence of fangs or elongated eye teeth (Christopher Lee)

Survives by drinking the blood of living humans or animals

The act produces a certain level of intimacy (Anne Rice)

Psychological benefits

Sexual high

Empathic abilities during drinking process (can feel what their victim is feeling while drinking their blood)

Does not seal blood but rather the life force of their victims

Stolen

Not stolen but obtained through legal means (e.g. willing donner or blood bank)

The blood is merely a food that is consumed

Protection:

Garlic, holly, juniper, seeds, or oats around the house, in the windows, or on your person

Mirrors

Sunlight

Incense

An abundant amount of candles, especially when candles are blessed

Crucifixes 

Prayer

Bells, constantly rung

Holy Water

Due to it’s relative rarity, red hair has always held a certain amount of mysticism and intrigue. In fact, redheads were rather outcast until the 20th century. 

The correlation of red hair and witchcraft began early, and a lot of it stemmed from the Church. It’s often said that the first woman, Eve, had red hair. In paintings of the last supper, Judas is often portrayed as a redhead. St. Jerome write that dying your hair red was preparing yourself for hellfire. The mark of Cane is sometimes thought to be red hair. 

Greeks believed that redheads possessed the power to become vampires after their death, and could live eternally. It’s thought that this correlation stems from blood sharing the color red. 

Even their bodies were considered to have an inherent magic. Flesh of a redheaded man was believed to be a powerful ingredient of poison. Their blood was also believed to have the power to turn copper into gold. 

During the Spanish inquisition, it was thought that having red hair meant you had taken the color from the flames of hell, and therefor were a witch. These women were commonly burned. Some even thought ginger hair was a sign you were possessed by Satan himself. During the witch trials, red hair was often all the proof needed to be branded a witch. 

The stake to the heart trope of vampire lore has its origins in the real world. It was a reasonably common solution in the days of yore to cure a possible vampiric problem by doing the following:

Dig up the corpse of the accused...dead person and give them the 'ol stake double tap. Perhaps sprinkle water around the grave, or handfuls of salt. Nail the coffin closed and poof! Vampire-begone.