The hit American television show, Supernatural, is a cult collection of stories featuring the ghoulish and the unbelievable. Stories cover a vast range of material; from ghosts, witches, shape-shifters and wendigos; to psychics, magic coins, angels and demons. Even the odd human being makes an appearance as a less-than-human monster of sorts. Millions of people lap up these tales, and become immensely engrossed in the plot-lines of our favourite pseudo-superheros. Hundreds of fan clubs the world over are dedicated to Supernatural and to proving that we really do have a reason to be afraid of the dark.
Supernatural is, of course, not the first television show to devote their narratives to all things paranormal. The X-Files was a hit television series in the 1990s, and continues to have a cult-like following the world over. With a catchy punch-line of; ‘The Truth is out There...’ - it’s a hard show to ignore. Countless movies, books, magazines, websites and documentaries have also been dedicated to the exploration of the supernatural and paranormal: but why? Do these numerous print and viewing mediums hold truth in the accounts they publish?
Every year thousands upon thousands of ghost, werewolf, poltergeist, alien and UFO experiences are reported across the globe. Even if we take into account that the entire population has an overactive imagination, where did these first stories derive from? There is some historical evidence to support the stories of several fictional tales circulating of Vampires and Werewolves; but even these details remain a little sketchy, and numerous other theories have been whittled from the wood work, which contradict the historical evidence. For example; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is said to be based on the 15th Century Romanian tyrant ‘Vlad Dracula’, or ‘Vlad the Impaler’ as he came to be known. Dracula is a Romanian word which, when translated, literally means ‘Son of the Devil’. Vlad ruled during the mid 1400s and earned his nickname ‘The Impaler’, by his preferred method of executing people; which was to impale his victims on wooden stakes and leave them on display outside his castle. It is told, that at one stage during Dracula’s reign, the Turks decided to invade Romania and capture Vlad Dracula’s flailing country. Rather than send out soldiers to meet the Turks in battle, Dracula had his men impale an entire village – of his own people – on the outskirts of the country. This served as an effective psychological weapon against the Turks, and when they saw what he had done to his own people, they turned on their heels and retreated home. It was Dracula’s love of blood, and his obsession with impaling that is said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s classic novel. But is this the only story that came to influence Mr. Stoker and his take on the vampire?
Stories of Vampires date back as far as time itself. It is said that the first Vampire was the eldest son of Adam and Eve, Cain, who killed his own brother in a fit of jealous rage, and was thenceforth ‘marked’ by God. He wandered the land until he came to the Red Sea, where Lilith – claimed to be the first female made for Adam – was residing. She was banished there after her and Adam had a disagreement and she uttered the Lord’s name in vain. When Cain stumbled upon her, they...er...fornicated. The consummation resulted in several illegitimate offspring said to be ‘a race of fiends, accursed like their father’.*
It has also been speculated that the betrayer, Judas, became the first vampire after hanging himself. This is where the notion of vampires being weakened by silver originates from. Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and when he was not able to give them away, he threw them away in disgust. Whatever the origins of vampire tales, it is obvious that vampire stories have been around long before the 15th Century.
Vampires are not the only supernatural creatures to have historical roots. Werewolves date back to the times of Ancient Greeks and Romans, but the first documented story comes in the form of a pamphlet from 16th Century Germany. It details the story of a villager, Peter Stubbe, who is said to have taken on the form of a wolf, and ravage his victims before brutally dismembering them. After Peter had murdered his own son, the villagers discovered the ‘beast’ was, in fact, him and put him to death. The saddest part of this story; is that his young adolescent daughter – whom all the villagers loved – was burned at the stake for her father’s crimes. Medieval Germans were a vastly superstitious group of people, who believed, that if they allowed Peter’s daughter to live, she too would turn into a wolf, or eventually rear a child who would. Her blood was considered tainted and she became a condemned woman.
These historical accounts demonstrate how these particular creatures came to be feared en masse by the European public during their respective eras, but there is no real explanation as to how the stories came to be. There is much speculation, but no evidence. Evidence is possibly the hardest thing to gather when discussing all things supernatural – especially on the topic of ghosts, poltergeists and ghouls.
Ghosts and spirits seem to be the most difficult apparition to gain evidence on. Television shows such as Most Haunted – a program devoted entirely to the filming of ghosts, orbs, manifestation of voices and other paranormal activity – have attempted to catch a ghost or apparition on film for several seasons, without much success. Generally there are a lot of scared night vision shots of the hosts and other members of the crew, with maybe a few recorded footsteps and a voice or two. Although it is enough to certainly scare the viewer, even the most avid believer can have a hard time trying to accept that much of what you see is factual. Ghosts are possibly the most documented and reported supernatural occurrence on the planet. Non believers have quickly turned into believers when they spotted a ghost.
Although I have never come into ‘personal’ contact with a ghost, I know of several people who have. A girl I know is a scientist. Smart, logical – ‘there are no such things as ghosts’. She took a job over the summer a few years back, doing ghost tours at the Port Arthur settlement on the very southern tip of Tasmania. One day, she was opening up the old prison cells getting ready for a tour. It was broad daylight, so she ventured down there by herself. Half-way along the passage, she heard a set of footsteps following her. She turned, but there was no one there. Several moments later as she approached a cell to open it, two large male hands planted themselves firmly on her shoulders. So firmly, in fact, that she buckled over on the spot. There was still no one there. She has since refused to go into that corridor alone and will no longer unlock the cell doors.
Another story presents itself in the form of a very sceptical friend. She went to stay at another friend’s place for the night. The young couple put her in one of their spare bedrooms, but warned her that some people did not like to sleep in there, as it spooked them out. She brushed it off, and went to bed thinking nothing more of it. She slept soundly for several hours until she awoke suddenly. She was slightly disoriented, being in a strange house, and it took her a while to get her bearings. She felt a weight on the end of her bed, and looked down only to discover a man was sitting there. Still slightly groggy, she assumed it was her fiancé, before remembering where she was, and that he was not there with her. The figure turned around, and she woke up rather quickly. Described at ‘the scariest moment of my life’, she stared at the entity for what, she describes, felt like an eternity. She claims she could not move, yell, speak or think. The man disappeared, and somehow, she fell back asleep. When she awoke the next morning, she assumed it had all been a bad dream until she discovered the dent in the covers at the end of the bed where the man had been sitting, and a pair of muddy boot-prints where his feet had been on the floor. Needless to say, she is no longer a sceptic.
Ghosts come in different forms and represent different periods in time. Sometimes the spirit or ghost is attempting to make contact with the human; oftentimes they are unaware there is a human present. Sightings have been reported as watching a scene from history being played out over and over; others have said that the spirit they encountered was violent and evil. One of the most interesting spirit phenomena is the poltergeist. There have been hundreds of cases around the world; several of which have even made headlines. The most bizarre of these cases perhaps, is the Enfield Poltergeist case from London in the 1970s. The reason this case is strange, is because there are so many reliable eye witnesses who are able to explain in detail what they saw. The fact that so many witnesses saw, and accurately reported back the same thing, makes the story more credible. The children in the house, their mother, policemen and policewomen, journalists, photographers, radio announcers, a lawyer, a shop assistant, a postman, paranormal investigators and para-psychic investigators all saw events that could not possibly be explained by science or natural occurrences. Even the most die-hard of sceptics were turned into believers when this story came to press in the late 1970s. The case was investigated, but nothing has ever been proven as what was going on in the house during this time. It remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of our time.
Supernatural narratives can be used as a tool to scare ourselves, but I always think: where did they come from? Even if creatures such as vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, witches, ghosts and hell hounds are fictional, they have to have existed at some point in time. Yes, there is the old ‘Chinese Whispers’ effect – stories being passed on down the generations – is certainly applicable here. However, that people, to this day, continue to report sightings of unusual phenomena, convinces me that we are not alone, and that the truth, in fact, really is out there.
Beowulf poem taken from:
http://hellhorror.com/vampires/vampire_origin/
Television shows watched in research for this blog. All these are available for viewing on YouTube.
· True Horror
· Interview with a Poltergeist
· Arthur C Clark’s world of Strange Powers
· Extraordinary People: The Boy Who Lived Before
· The Real Amityville Horror
· The Real Exorcist
· Strange but True?
· Most Haunted
If you have a ghost story, or any sort of supernatural experience, I would love to hear from you. Pop a comment in the box. If you are really keen, leave me your email. Cheers, E.
* Taken from the poem Beowulf; written by an anonymous author sometime between the 8th and 11th Centuries.
