WHY DO I BOTHER?

I’ve recently been asked a question about blogging that has allowed me to define why I bother. Let me get it very clear, when I first began Beyond the Blog it was for a simple, and important, reason.
For years I have been trying to make it as a writer. Publisher after publisher told me how good my work was, but I didn’t stand a chance because I was neither an ‘expert’ or ‘celebrity’, and I was so diverse, an audience was impossible to target.

So I decided to find my own audience.

That was, and still is, the primary purpose of Beyond the Blog. Success comes in the number of hits I get – on my paranormal posts, for instance – and whether that number increases month by month, which seems to be exactly what is happening.
However, whilst this will always be my goal, I began to notice something. Occasionally, I would find a blog with links to me, and comments such as: this is from one of my favourite bloggers.

I’d discovered I had an audience of real people.

I don’t know who these people are because I rarely get comments from them, but I realized my appreciation of them was far greater, in personal terms, than my hopes for my blog in professional terms.
Eventually, I decided to begin ‘Diary of a Writer’ so I could begin to meet these, and other people, through comments. And whilst my career aspirations remain exactly the same, I’ve discovered an angle to blogging that is even more satisfying in personal terms.
I suppose an analogy would be to say that we go to work for a career, but we are fulfilled by meeting friends along the way. Which is what writing is all about: a hopeful career, and a fulfilling hobby in which we communicate.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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TONY ON DIANA AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: What Diana means to us … PLUS … Girl violence is on the increase; Is there an election coming? Tories should watch out.
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DIANA

It is ten years since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Britain, and most likely the rest of the world, will reflect upon this. Much is yet made of the conspiracy theories concerning her death, and these will most likely continue for decades.
But of most importance is what Diana stood for. Almost single-handedly, she removed much of the ‘stuffiness’ of the Monarchy, forcing it into the modern world – a legacy that will be followed by her two sons, William and Harry.
Yet it is to be hoped that this modernization is not so fundamental that it removes the Royal Family from its primary task – to provide a link between contemporary Britain and its past. We have perhaps made a mess of things during Blairism because we forgot this.
And also, Diana reflected back to the world a new intimacy, a new caring side to our society. Whether this is really so, or simply media illusion, I’m not so sure. But regardless, history will remember her for the attempt.
But the people will remember her as a typically mixed-up woman, caught in circumstances not of her making, and making the best of it. In this sense, below the icon she became, she was a real person. And perhaps this is what people loved about her the most.

© Anthony North, August 2007

GIRL GANGS

The Metropolitan Police Authority have advised that all-girl gangs have now become a problem in the UK. Further, boy gangs are also now using girls as ‘honeytraps’ to lure victims into secluded places to be beaten and robbed …
… read more …

DON’T BELIEVE THE POLLS

It has been reported that the ‘bounce’ in Labour popularity following the ascendancy of Brownski is faltering. David Cameron is increasingly being seen as the best option for sorting out the economy, health and law and order …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol

THE MOMENT

They say life can change in a moment, and I think I’m lucky to have experienced a truly life changing one. It was the moment when I turned into a writer. Well, actually, it took years of practice to become one, but you know what I mean.
It was about six months after I’d come down with CFS. I was in the RAF at the time, and when the symptoms refused to go away, I was diagnosed with a ‘mild anxiety state’ and shipped off to hospital for ‘relaxation therapy.’

It wasn’t a cure, but it did make me very relaxed.

Many weeks later, I left hospital and caught a train back to base. However, an hour into the journey, the train broke down. An announcement said it would be two hours before we were moving again.
Me, being perfectly relaxed, sat back to enjoy the view, but soon the other occupants of the carriage caught my attention. To a man, and woman, they were becoming increasingly agitated.

It was like Jekyll turning to Hyde.

Believe me, this is no exaggeration. I saw a whole carriage of people go through various emotions and states which could only be described as mildly neurotic. And what had caused this display? These poor people were going to be late.
The implications for my life didn’t dawn on me at that moment, but it crept in slowly. The simple fact was, I could only see this because for a while I’d been taken out of society.

Previously, I would have been one of them.

I had had a unique glimpse of a ‘madness’ lying just below the surface of society. Of course, it wasn’t the only thing on my ‘journey’ to becoming a writer, but I suppose it put experiences past, and yet to come, into perspective.
It had given me a basis for a quest to understand human nature and society. And once realized, it drove me on to understand … and it drives me still.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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CRACKS IN THE SYSTEM

It seemed as if the Medieval world would last forever. But the system contained the seeds of its own destruction. Noble houses saw the power of a king and wanted it for themselves. And the power of the king was only upheld with the help of the nobles. Hence, they began to build their own power bases in the militias.
Politics was on the mind of these aristocrats. And this politics was always self-centred and grounded in manipulation, as made clear at the end of the period in ‘The Prince’, a book on statecraft by Italian philosopher Nicolo Machiavelli in 1513.

TOWARDS THE MODERN STATE

In France the power of the monarchy was curtailed by the Duchy of Burgundy, taking Burgundy and Flanders by 1384. By 1356 imperial hold on many German duchies was so weak that a compromise was produced – the Golden Bull – devolving power from the emperor to local Elector aristocracies.
By 1400 Italy was disunited with 5 states – Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan and the Papal State – becoming virtually independent. Further splits in the Alps led to the Swiss Confederation. In Scandinavia, Margaret of Norway ruled from 1397, but she was a puppet, the real power in the aristocracy.
Spain rose as the most powerful region. The Spanish Reconquest was under way, driving out the Muslims, or Moors. The 11th century mercenary Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar set the scene, a disgraced noble who joined forces with the monarchy at the defence of Valencia. Centuries later he was to emerge as the national hero, El Cid.
By 1248 Spain was back in Christendom, power contested by two noble houses, Aragon and Castile. In 1479 they united, leaving Spain all powerful at the dawn of European expansion overseas.
In 1477 the power of Burgundy was finally smashed, the area partitioned between France and Germany, laying the seeds for centuries of antagonism. Further east, Poland and Hungary transformed into new empires. The Muscovites around Moscow came awake, while the Ottoman Turks swallowed up areas of the Balkans.

SENSE OF THE LOCAL

These new states had a greater sense of themselves, with civic and bureaucratic importance creeping into government. In 1445 France commissioned Europe’s first standing army, quickly adopted by the rest. In England the Star Chamber was set up to oversee judicial and administrative matters for the king.
Such bureaucracy brought a more organised tax system and for the first time monarchies organised embassies, with ambassadors furthering national interests.
This all had a dire effect on the Church, which was becoming increasingly corrupt. In 1294 the last recognisably medieval pope appeared in Boniface VIII. At odds with the monarchy of England and France, in 1300 he appeared in public with two swords carried before him, declaring his right to temporal power.
In 1303 he was seized by Italian nobles in the pay of France. By 1305 French manipulation of the bishops led to a French pope in an attempt to smash papal power. The papacy itself was moved from Rome to Avignon, restored to Rome in 1377.
Even some clerics defied the pope, aiding monarchs with the idea of national Churches. In 1378 there was a Great Schism as Roman bishops elected a pope in Rome, and France placed another at Avignon.
The Schism was ended in the 1417 Council of Constance, but papal authority was severely weakened, the seeds of future Protestantism placed, reformers such as the English John Wyclif arguing against Church influence and the Confessional, investing the authority of God in the Bible rather than the pope.

BLACK DEATH

In 1315 a Great Famine struck much of Europe. It was a shock: how could such a Godly society be struck by such a heinous act of God? In 1346 the Black Death – bubonic plague – arrived, ravaging Europe until 1353, killing 25 million, a third of the population. For 4 centuries it would reappear, such as the Great Plague of London in 1665.
Plague didn’t discriminate between classes. Killing many monks and priests, a now inexperienced clergy couldn’t cope with the political pressure. A shortage of manpower strengthened the peasant, the feudal system crashing down with his withholding of labour as he demanded a wage.
It reshaped the agrarian world, crop rotation being too labour intensive, farmland converting to pasturage for cattle and sheep. The leaseholder and sharecropper began to appear.

A CHANGING SOCIETY

The lot of the peasant had been known throughout the Middle Ages with ballads being popular and folk heroes getting the better of the king. The most famous was Robin Hood, robbing the rich to give to the poor. From the 14th century peasant uprisings came, such as the English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, led by agitator Wat Tyler. It failed, but the message was obvious.
The period also saw the rising power of the mayor, reflecting the growing size and importance of towns, rising from the country fairs but outside the feudal system. Merchants had been degraded as mere pedlars, but a merchant middleclass was on the rise, power centred in the towns, with the cottage wool industry beginning.
As the merchants became wealthy, the monarchs wanted a slice. But how? The merchants purchased from the monarchs privileges for their towns, leading to elected town councils, the burghers beginning to appear. England remembers this period in the tale of Dick Whittington, yet a real Richard Whittington did become thrice mayor of London.

THE NEW TRADE

The rise of the merchant middleclass was uppermost in the cities of northern Italy, rich banking families rising such as the Medicis. Populations exploded above 40,000, Paris, Constantinople, Naples, Venice and Milan reaching 100,000. Venice became famed for adventure and trade, epitomised by Marco Polo’s trading journey to China in the 1270s. The Venetian merchant fleet forged a huge network, trading with the Middle East and north Africa, bringing silk from the Far East, spices from the Arabs, gold and ivory from sub-Saharan Africa. The 14th century saw the invention of the ‘bill of exchange’, a written promise to pay money to another.
This outer trade merged with European trade, centred in London, Augsburg and Cologne. The two regions met at Bruges and Lyons, where merchants met to settle accounts. A hundred north German towns known as the Hanse formed the Hanseatic League in the 13th century, lasting as a trading confederation until 1669.
With the discovery of the New World trading declined in the Mediterranean, now centred on the Atlantic ports. Modern banking was inaugurated with the Amsterdam Exchange Bank in 1609, the Bank of England in 1694. The merchant middleclass became a central factor in breaking the Medieval world.

INTELLIGENTSIA

Another factor grew from the need for an educated elite, creating the ‘studia generalia’, schools opened by monks for those with an inclination towards learning. The ‘seven liberal arts’ were taught – arithmetic, astronomy, music, geometry, grammar, rhetoric and logic.
The first university opened at Salerno, Italy, in the 9th century. Bologna followed in 1088, Paris and Oxford about 1150, Cambridge in 1209. A new idea arose: God had given man a mind to think; so why not use it?
Until the 12th century the Bible reigned supreme. Plato and Aristotle had been partially consolidated with Biblical thought. But the Spanish Reconquest opened up the Arab libraries to Europe, with Classical texts appearing.
This presented a problem. Classical philosophy pre-dated the New Testament. How could this be if God was truth? Medieval philosophy grappled with the question in the form of the Scholastics, or Schoolmen.
In 1274 St Thomas Aquinas died, having devoted his life to the problem. He argued there was ‘natural’ theology and ‘revealed’ theology. The latter came from faith and the Scriptures, the former from our sense experiences of the world. But both were simply different ways to the same truth of God.
Aquinas took away the contradiction, but he had let the intellectual genie out of the bottle. The English monk, Roger Bacon went on to stress the importance of experiment over simple belief.

BIRTH OF SCIENCE

It was the dawn of modern science, furthered by William of Occam, and his ‘Occam’s Razor’. Dying in 1349, his idea was simple: when we provide theories of how the world works, the most likely truth is the simplest. Following the idea through, if a simple explanation could be found with no need of God, then God could be discounted.
But if God could be discounted, what about the Church? Could it have validity without God at the apex? And if the Church could be discounted, what of the entire Medieval system?
In all areas, from peasant discontent to intellectual musing, Medievalism was becoming a thing of the past. Then, in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World of America. The Bible told us nothing of this land. It existed, apparently other than God. Unless, of course, the idea of God was more a matter of essence than existence.
The European was now on the verge of an explosion of reason and expansion. The entire world stood at its heels. But what of that world? In the next post, we will begin a study of the history of the rest of the world.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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CHRISTIAN MYSTICS

Mysticism is usually associated with the occult or eastern religions today, but Christianity had a number of mystics. Indeed, the monastic system was ideally designed to allow such mystics to exist.

SAINT BENEDICT

The father of western monasticism was St Benedict. Born about 480, he was sent to Rome for an education but was horrified by its decadence. At age 14 he fled to a village called Subiaco where he met a monk who took him to a cave.
Over the next three years he lived ass a hermit and developed miraculous powers from deep meditation. Going on to gain many followers, he organised 12 monasteries of 12 monks, each under a prior. In 525 he went to Monte Casino where he destroyed the pagan temple there and began to build the famous monastery.
Going about the country curing the sick, he also wrote ‘The Rule,’ laying down the guidelines for monastic life, including a probationary year, obedience to an abbot, asceticism and a life of work and prayer.
He described his mystical experiences as a taste of heavenly food following a flood of shining light. Seeing the whole world before his eyes, he could look down from above and see how small everything was.

ST HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

Another early mystic was St Hildegard of Bingen, born to a noble German family near Bingen in 1098. Influenced by local Celtic traditions, she had visions from an early age before being educated by Benedictines from age eight.
A prioress by 38, she was often ill and became an early feminist, believing in gender equality and even downplaying Eve’s role in the Fall. From her early 40s she began having illuminations about God, the soul and the interconnectedness of the universe.
Advising, in her ‘Scivias’, that all living things are sparks of radiance from God, she records 26 ‘illuminations’. With an interest in science and love of music, she travelled throughout Europe denouncing corruption and criticising monotheistic faiths as dried up, even celebrating human sexuality. She died in 1179 in her eighties.

JULIAN OF NORWICH

Julian of Norwich was an English mystic born about 1342. In her work, ‘The Revelation of Divine Love’, we read that in her youth she asked God for a severe illness to purge herself of worldly desires, as well as a vision of the Passion of Christ.
When she was 31 she fell gravely ill, prompting a number of visions. She described in one how she saw God in a twinkling of an eye. Propped up so she could gaze on a crucifix, she saw the crucified Christ. Then her chamber filled with blood before being grasped by the throat by the Devil, the damned all about her. Then she saw a cathedral on a mountaintop with Christ on a throne.
For the next 20 years she became a hermit within a convent to contemplate her visions, deciding that faith consisted of God’s love for his elect, and the soul’s need to return that love. Her revelation drew people to her, and she gained a reputation as a healer. When she died is unknown.

ST TERESA OF AVILA

A further Christian mystic worthy of mention is St Teresa of Avila, born in 1515 to a noble family near Avila in Castille. Her mother died when she was 15 and shortly after she became ill, beginning a series of illnesses that would plague her throughout her life.
At 20 she left home against her father’s wishes and became a nun. Due to improper care she experienced a coma for three days and upon recovery began intense daily meditations. In 1555 she began having visions. Many more were to follow.
She called them a ‘delectable death’ and included terrifying visions of hell. St Teresa classed the visions as the soul lifted out of the body and becoming awake to God. Writing a number of books about her visions, she claimed to experience a spiritual marriage with Christ. Going on to found some 17 convents, she died in 1582.

IN CONCLUSION

It was natural that the monastic system would create such mystics, and in their visions we can see many classic elements of the mystical experience, from symbolism of the Divine, to a feeling of Oneness with everything.
The Church itself was often suspicious of such mystics. After all, Christianity was based on the idea that ‘oneness’ with God could not come until death. In this way, Christianity demanded good Christian obedience in life so as to deserve heaven rather than hell.
Of course, it would have been inappropriate to take action against such obviously ‘good’ Christians, so they were given a special category by being blessed. But it is important to note, had such experiences been admitted by ‘normal’ people, the Inquisition and death would be the result, for they would have been possessed by the Devil.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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MOANING MEN

Okay, I’m a man and I’m going to moan. I’m going to moan about a lot of other men. It isn’t that I’ve put a skirt on or anything like that, but some men just …
… well, you know …
I’ve thought about it often, but it came back to mind with a survey from the British Market Research Bureau, who’ve advised that men between the late 30s, right up to 65, are miserable, with life being a bitch and the ‘mid-life crisis’ in full swing.

Did men have them before it was invented?

I don’t think they did – which suggests we tend to be infected by any social or psychological term that comes along. But could it be that the mid-life crisis IS a reality, due to forces within society we have created ourselves?
Perhaps the most important thinker behind the term was Carl Jung. He looked at men closely and realized there was something missing in their lives from about the late 30s. But whereas the term caught on, Jung’s reasoning did not.

To Jung, we had become entrapped in material living.

What did he mean by this suggestion? Basically, to be fulfilled, a man has to be a success in a material way, but this is only half of living. There is also the spiritual side, the bonds, the intuitions – basically, the meanings of life.
To be fully mature, a person has to be aware of both these influences. Indeed, only can we be whole by appreciating both. Hence, in tying ourselves too much to a material world, life becomes unfulfilling once success has been achieved.
He was a clever fellow was Jung. Unfortunately, though, it was only the ‘sound bite’ that took off, the ‘reason’ being forgotten in an angst-ridden material half-world.

© Anthony North, August 2007

Is Noise killing us?

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TONY ON NOISE AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Will noise be the death of us? … PLUS … To what extent should parents be responsible for their kids? Women shop – now we know why …
POSTED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY … from a real voice of Britain and the world.

NOISE DEATH

Noise from modern urban living is killing us. From noisy neighbours, to traffic, it gets to us in a big way. Indeed, according to a WHO report, it contributes as much as 3% of deaths from heart attacks and strokes.
In the UK, this means some 6,500 deaths a year are solely due to the stress of noise. And this is only part of the problem. We can add rising deafness (from clubs, MP3s, etc) and sleep problems, leaving many people with acute psychological problems.
A further problem is that noise is beginning to have a distinct effect upon learning. It distracts kids, leaving them unable to concentrate. But more than this, I’m sure noise also stops us from being fully human.
Nothing brings out the true expression of humanity more than peace and quiet. This is the time when we reflect upon who we are and what we want out of life. This is the time we understand the wider elements of our planet, such as nature.
Maybe if we could turn off a bit more often and listen to the silence, it could become a habit. And we’d realize we don’t really need this noise in our life at all.

© Anthony North, August 2007

PARENTS PAY FOR CRIME

Judge Richard Bray has ordered the parents of two British girls who took part in a violent street robbery to pay compensation to the victim. I can hear howls of delight throughout the land at this decision …
… read more …

WOMEN AND THEIR SHOPS

Women, it seems, are born to shop. Researchers at the University of California have tested the theory by sending a number of men and women around a market. The women scored higher at finding, and remembering, the stalls …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol

TOWN AND COUNTRY

Okay, folks, today’s post features my wife, Yvonne. Please don’t take the image the wrong way – all will be explained shortly . Yvonne comes from Birmingham, the UK’s second city, whereas I hail from a small country town in rural Yorkshire.
Obviously, our mind-sets were therefore slightly different – she, a modern city girl and me – well, I did escape a lot. And it is a constant joy to recall the time Yvonne first visited my home town.

The market rules

Looking resplendent with her perfect blonde hair, modern but elegant clothes, and more than the odd plunging neckline, the first meeting with my father – already retired and a countryman through and through – came to a delightful phase when he asked if she’d like to see the market.
In city-speak ‘the market’ means lots of clothes stalls where bargains are to be had, so you can imagine her puzzlement upon turning the corner to see dozens of enclosures containing mooing and bleating cows and sheep.

Walk with the animals

To a stunned Yvonne, the sight of a bull trying to jump an enclosure to become friends with a number of cows was then crowned by my father waving his walking stick in the air and declaring: ‘come on, get up there.’
A further highlight was obviously when my father suggested she went to see the pigs. Politely, she said yes – although it took rather a long time to clean her high heels after walking through a level carpeting of …
… well, I’ll let you picture it yourself.
Over the following decades we have been together, our various upbringings have led to a virtual see-saw of living first in the country and then in the city, but in maturity I’m pleased to inform you that we both decided the countryside would win.
Yet it is an important fact that our present location is in easy commuting distance of two cities – and a large number of markets to which she can identify.

© Anthony North, August 2007

The Point Of It All - A slightly dark tale of modern life.

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THE HARD UNIVERSE

Physics is the study of the properties and interrelationships of matter and energy, except those involving biological or chemical reaction. Divided into sub-specialisations such as mechanics, optics, electromagnetism, the study of heat and understanding the structure of the universe, it is one of the most popular areas of science.
Previously known as natural philosophy, physics can be said to have really started with Archimedes, who in 250BC, was said to have run naked from his bath screaming ‘eureka.’

THE FIRST PHYSICS

This fabled outburst was due to his understanding of buoyancy and water displacement – i.e. when a physical body enters a body of water, the water rises. This and other ideas led Archimedes to manipulate physical forces to device all manner of machines.
No further major advances were made in physics until 1600, when William Gilbert understood the properties of magnetism. He even argued that Earth itself was a magnet. However, within a few years physics was to rise with Galileo – funnily enough by realising that things fall, and why they do so.
In effect, about 1608 he experimented with falling bodies, realising that they fell at the same speed, regardless of weight. Going on to realise the forces involved with a pendulum, he had provided evidence of a mystery that had to be resolved.

GRAVITY AND THINGS

Galileo died in 1642, and in that year Isaac Newton was born. Working on optics and devising the calculus, Newton went on to validate science by devising provable laws of motion and bodies that led to a mechanistic view of the world and the universe. Becoming known as the first great scientist, he gave us the theory of universal gravitation, where all bodies exert a force on all other bodies proportional to their size. In such a way, bodies are held in place, or are influenced by the gravitational pull of other bodies.
Extending his work into motion, Newton further placed laws upon action, arguing that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Following Newton, the world could never be the same again.

ELECTROMAGNETISM

So wide was his work that when, in 1690, Christians Huygens devised his wave theory of light, Newton was hot on his tail with his corpuscular theory, where a luminous g body emits particles of light.
The truth of this argument was not, yet, to be settled, but there was to be a progression of ideas in physics that were to lead to a bringing together of magnetism, light, and the growing understanding of electricity.
This began with the identification of electromagnetism in 1819 by Hans Oersted. This was soon to be further understood by Michael Faraday. The relationship between electricity and magnetism was explained by an electric current being surrounded by a magnetic field.
However, it took until 1873, and James Maxwell, to bring light into the same system. Light, argued Maxwell, was an electromagnetic radiation.

CONSERVING THINGS

Such ideas were soon to lead to the ultimate success in physics, whereby universal forces became interrelated and led to the universe itself. In 1847 a further element was put in place by James Joule who understood heat as kinetic energy.
But a strange phenomenon seemed to be occurring. Physical forces seemed to be trapped in a closed system, where energies may change, but always remain constant. Noted by Julius von Mayer, it was to lead to the law of conservation of energy.
Physics was proving a mechanistic world in which motion and bodies acted in predictable ways, and energies such as light, electricity and magnetism were interrelated in an exact closed system where balance seemed to reign.
Physics seemed to be on the verge of finally explaining the world. But it was not to be. Physics was about to get a severe shock that would seriously blunt their understanding of a mechanistic universe. But that is another story for another time.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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SOUL SUCKERS

Highgate Cemetery in north London is a spooky place at the best of times, and rumours of ghosts occupying its Victorian crypts and tombs have existed since its consecration in 1839. And the fact that Karl Marx, father of communism, is buried there only adds to its mystique. However, when a phantom figure was seen in the cemetery in 1967, followed by the discovery of animals sucked of blood in nearly Waterloo Park, rumours began of a vampire.
The situation was not helped when a local paper dubbed the phantom the Highgate Vampire in 1970. And on Friday, 13 March of that year, a mass vampire hunt was organised. Hundreds of vampire hunters invaded the cemetery, armed with stakes, garlic and crosses. No vampire was caught, but much vandalism took place and a female corpse was exhumed. In 1974, a further, smaller hunt organised by famed vampire hunter David Farrant, led to claims that a vampire had been caught and destroyed. But rumours of sightings and dead animals continued well into the 1980s.

DOG PRIEST

Many sceptics blame Farrant for the hysteria that led to the mania indulged at Highgate. And a similar character existed in the 12th century in the form of William of Newburgh. Chronicling many cases of ‘vampires’, one story was that of a chaplain of low repute who attended a high-ranking lady.
Earning the nickname, Dog Priest, he ignored his vows and spent his time hunting. When he died, he was buried in Melrose Abbey, but several nights later he rose and stalked the building. When monks repulsed him, he appeared in the bedroom of the woman he had served.
Terrified, she called the monks to save her. After many more appearances, including one in which he was attacked by a battle-axe, monks forced him back to the grave. Digging up the corpse, the monks burned it.

VAMPIRE OF CROGLIN

Such vampire tales are actually quite rare in Britain. But one exception occurred in 1875 when Australian Amelia Cranswell and her two brothers were leasing Croglin Low Hall in Cumbria. One night she looked out the window to see a tall, spindly figure approaching.
Soon it was scratching at the window, and once inside, bit her violently about the neck. Hearing her screams, her brothers chased it off. Leaving the hall for a while, in March the following year, the identical incident occurred, and her brothers followed the man to a churchyard. At dawn they entered and found a ‘vampire’ in a state of suspended animation under a slab. They built a bonfire and burned the creature.

VAMPIRIC HABITS

No monster terrifies more than a monster in human form. And no human monster arouses such passion as the vampire. Traditionally believed to be a disturbed soul unable to rest, it must sustain itself with life-giving blood.
Shunning the day light hours, it rests in its coffin until night, when it rises to seek out its cravings, sucking blood from its victim through a bite on the neck. Associated with the vampire bat, it can take this creature’s form to travel.
Once the lair of the vampire is identified, this other¬worldly creature is usually ruddy of complexion and remarkably fit looking. However, it can be identified by its long finger¬nails and protruding eye teeth, required to accomplish its feeding.
If freshly fed, blood will be smeared about the mouth. To dispose of the creature, a stake must be thrust through its heart, the vampire issuing a terrifying scream as you do so. Following this, it must be burned to a cinder without delay.
If come upon whilst awake, your only protection is garlic or a crucifix. If unprotected, and it feeds on you, then death may be disturbed. For you might become a vampire yourself. At least, that is the mythology. But is there any reality to the vampire?

VAMPIRES IN LITERATURE

The vampire has been kept alive by a healthy tradition in literature and history. Goethe, Tolstoy, Lord Byron and Dumas all wrote about the vampire, and in 1847 an otherwise unremarkable writer, Thomas Prest, wrote the bestselling novel, ‘Varney the Vampire; Or, The Feast Of Blood.’
Even in modern times the genre is kept alive by the likes of Stephen King, with his novel ‘Salem’s Lot,’ and the TV series ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ brought it to a whole new generation.
However, never was the genre so celebrated than the 1897 publication of ‘Dracula’ by Irish writer Bram Stoker. Eventually fuelling a string of vampire movies, the image has become stereotyped as a well dressed supernatural aristocrat immortalised by Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee.

DASKALOS

The Cypriot mystic known as Daskalos was fascinated by vampire cases. He told of a case in southern France. When the parents of a 25 year old girl forbade her marriage to a 50 year old shepherd called Loizo, she was devastated.
Loizo died in a car crash and five years later he visited the girl, coming through the walls and kissing her with a sucking fashion. Doctors discovered that she was no longer a virgin after this, but concluded she had deflowered herself with her fingers. Daskalos, however, found two reddish marks on her. Contacting Loizo through mediumistic means, he told him to leave her alone, and she was not bothered again.
We can, of course, dismiss the ideas of Daskalos, deciding Loizo was some form of discarnate spirit. Sleep paralysis, genetic deformity and illness, combined with good old human depravity or sexuality, can go a long way to banishing the vampire from its supernatural origins.
Rather than being the living dead, vampires can be seen as very real human anomolies. Except that there is a further area of vampire anecdotes that has not yet been taken into account – the fact that a vampire can affect a community as well as an individual.

WILLIAM OF NEWBURGH

The 12th century chronicler William of Newburgh – whom we met earlier – recounted many tales of ‘revenants’, as vampires used to be called. The following was told to him by a priest.
A depraved Yorkshireman who lived a life of sin eventually went to Alnwick Castle, where he married but became convinced his wife was unfaithful. Saying he was going away for a few days, he hid in the roof above his bed.
When his wife took her lover to his bed, he fell from the roof and injured himself. A priest tried to get a confession out of the Yorkshireman but he died. Even though unrepentant, he was given a Christian burial but soon his corpse was seen by many wandering the streets and houses in the town.
People barred their doors at night and an unbearable stench led to a plague, forcing many to leave. Eventually two men dug up his grave and found him gorged and swollen. They struck him with a spade and dragged him off to be burned. The plague then stopped.
William also wrote of an unnamed Buckinghamshire man who died in 1192. The night after burial he appeared in his wife’s room and tried to have sex with her. This happened again the following night, and by the third, family members sat up with her.
When the dead husband appeared, they drove him off, but he later attacked his brothers. Following this, he began to appear in other households, forcing everyone to stay awake at night. Soon, it was even seen by groups of people during the day.
Finally, the Bishop of Lincoln became involved. Digging up the husband, he was found to be undecayed. He placed a written absolution on his chest and reburied him. The troubles ceased.

THE BRESLAU VAMPIRE

Similar cases have existed down the centuries. A vampire terrorised the town of Breslau, Germany, following the suicide of a shoemaker on 20 September 1591. The family hid the cause of death, resulting in the body receiving a Christian burial, but rumours of suicide leaked out.
Soon, the shoemaker’s ghost began to appear in the town. At first, nightmares and noises disturbed the population, then it began sexually assaulting women in their beds. Appearing every night, some people even bore marks on their necks where its fingers had pressed.
After eight months of this the town council exhumed the body of the shoemaker. It was found undecayed. The widow then admitted her husband had committed suicide. Hence, they cut off its head, took out the heart, burned it on a pyre and threw the ashes into the river.
The hauntings ceased, but for a time afterwards, the shoemaker’s maid, who had also died, began appearing in homes and assaulting women. She, too, was exhumed and burned. The troubles ceased.

THE WASHINGTON VAMPIRE

What are we to make of the idea that a wider population can see the vampires involved, even being assaulted by them? Perhaps a hint can be given by the famed Washington DC Vampires.
In 1897 a spate of vampire stories circulated around Washington DC. One concerned a girl from a well-to-do family who had fallen in love with a European prince in the 1850s.Eventually her corpse was found drained of blood with marks on her neck. Buried in a white lace dress, her ghost was often seen.
One woodcutter who saw her was also found dead, drained of blood. This caused a panic with people protecting themselves with garlic, and guards were placed on the family vault.
One night during a thunderstorm, the girl appeared, causing the guards to run off. The next morning, the slab of the vault had been moved. The girl was found in her coffin with blood on her lips. The family became distressed and moved away, the vault falling into ruin.

OLD STORY, DIFFERENT CULTURE

Could we be dealing, here, with simple hysteria causing a form of communal hallucination? If so, how did it first manifest? Perhaps the year – 1897 – holds a clue. It was the year of the publication of Dracula. And the vault, the girl in the white dress, the nocturnal wanderings, the corpse with blood on its lips – they are all classic scenes from the novel.
There are, of course, many possible reasons for the vampire that are not covered by this short essay. But it seems, good reader, that the bulk of the vampire stories may be nothing more than a process of storytelling, superstition, hallucination and hysteria, providing nothing more than a cultural variation of the classic psychodrama involved in the poltergeist.
However, this does not detract from the fascination vampire cases hold for research. Indeed, it enhances it, identifying the power of storytelling to, not only entertain, but have a real effect upon culture and society.

© Anthony North, August 2007

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