Vampires in Santorini

We had heard that Santorini was full of vampires, that there were so many vampires in Santorini that adding vampires to the place would be like bringing a six pack of Corona to Hef’s grotto.  In fact, we’d heard there were so many vampires that there was a phrase “bringing vampires to Santorini”, which one could use on such occasions: “Dude, a six pack? That’s like bringing vampires to Santorini!”

In reality the place is just way too bright for any thoughts of vampires.  So I decided to do a little research. It turns out that the Greek vampire (or vrykolakas) has no fear of sunlight.  Neither has he need of your blood.  He simply wants to kill you.  Often times by suffocation,  sometimes by sitting on your chest. He’ll come to your door and give it a knock.  If you let him in he’ll kill you.  There is good news though, these pre-lived Greeks have very little patience, if you don’t come to the door right away they’ll just wander on over to your neighbor’s and try to kill them instead.  That’s why it’s so important to never, ever answer the door right away in Greece.  Unfortunately this practice can lead to some awkward moments with housekeeping, but hey, better safe than sorry.

But, why Santorini, you ask.  As it turns out, the vrykolakas cannot cross water.  Which makes Santorini’s nearly uninhabited islands of Kamini, Nea Kamini, and Therasia the perfect dumping grounds for those suspected of an advanced form of non life.  Here is where the Greeks would take the suspicious dead and bury them, where they could do the least harm.

I wound up feeling sorry for these, the luckless unliving.  Here they are, hordes of vrykolaki (vrykolas’s?) wandering around, looking for friends, family, or even a decent stranger to murder. Finding only  the perpetual disappointment of one another, just another reanimated corpse searching for a chest to sit on.

Categories: Santorini

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