How To Fool A Vampire

Apotropaics or The Ancient Methods of Fooling and Controlling Vampires (and the dead in general)

These are methods of turning away evil:

Take the most tortuous route home from the cemetery in order discourage ghosts from following you

Wear unfamiliar clothing (disguise)

Wear grotesque makeup (disguise)

Impaling the corpse or breaking its legs and severing its head (so it can't see and can't run ... that ought to do it!). A severed head was sometimes placed underneath the buttocks to prevent the corpse from putting its head back on

Pelt the corpse with pebbles as it's being lowered into the grave

Spread Poppy seeds on the path from the graveyard ... vampires MUST stop and pick up everyone and if you spread enough of them, by the time they have picked them up it's dawn and time to go back to bed (the graveyard)

To detect them ... take a young virginal boy or girl and put them on a horse of a SOLID colour all white, all black, all brown) and the horse must also be virgin and never have stumbled. If the horse refuses to pass over a grave then you know a vampire lies there

The wooden stake of impalement HAS TO BE made of rosebush, ash or an asp tree. Sometimes a red hot iron will do. The stake used to "kill" a vampire can also be of hawthorn or dogwood, both trees associated with the holiness of Christ. Cold iron is also useful (a carry-over from pre-Christian times), although one can appreciate the effect of HOT iron on human tissue!

All vampires have to be buried face down after they have been killed

In Romania, young women seeking to avoid giving birth to a vampire should eat salt (for its purifying powers)

Crossing the arms of a corpse

Burying the corpse with a sickle around its neck so if it sat up it would decapitate itself

Putting a thorn under the tongue to prevent it from sucking blood

Inserting a needle into the navel

Placing the heart on the head

Cutting off the feet

Cutting the knee ligaments (very common)

Staking can be accompanied by driving a sacred nail into the head

There are several other methods of arranging the vampirism-prone corpse that weren't mentioned.They involve several nails driven into various parts of the body, filling the mouth with various purifying substances (often accompanied by decapitation), and soaking the corpse in or rubbing it with various purifying substances. Purifying substances could include salt, holy water, garlic, other spices, ashes (especially from holy woods), and lemon juice. Burning and boiling, frequently combined with other techniques, were also prescribed.