If you didn’t know, True blood is on Disney Plus. Why? No idea! Not that it’s relevant to the post, but D+ has some great horror movies on there. Also, I kind of hate streaming services now. Like, at what point should we all go back to cable? My favorite streaming service is Discovery Plus. However, they don’t even have the things I would like to see on there. Does anyone remember Discovery Kids? What happened to all that? Travel Channel is missing a lot of “haunted” content from the early 2000s. I’m with the boomers on this one, we need physical media back.

I digress. I apologize.

So anyway, in True Blood they say Lilith was the first vampire. Which does make sense. In Hebrew mythological literature and early Mesopotamian texts Lilith is known as a demon. In the ancient near east, they believed Lilith (Lamshtu) was out here terrorizing pregnant women and breastfeeding babies. I kind of think that’s how Babylonians explained SIDS and Post Partum Depression. But, that’s just my opinion. Childbirth and the Post Partum period is usually the bloodiest time of a woman’s life. Like, it’s been over ten years for me, and I still cannot believe how hard the fourth trimester was for me. Which is bananas because I had a very easy birth with my second born AND I had my grandmother’s help. I could totally imagine an ancestor thinking they were literally being tormented by demons.

So, it’s pretty easy to make the connection of childbirth and blood. I can see how that can easily evolve into a vampire myth. Since converting to Catholicism, I’ve really been digesting the bible in a different way. I grew up a Salvationist, and spent my teen years in a Pentecostal community. Neither of them really had me thinking critically. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t think religion should be particularly complicated. I think it all comes down to loving your neighbor, I think all sin in the world boils down to a lack of love. I’m not gonna elaborate because literally, I don’t think anyone cares what I think about religion lol.

Reading the bible, and treating it like the complex text it is has really expanded my mind and I cannot recommend it enough. In addition to reading the canonical bible, I’ve read bible adjacent books like The Book of Adam and Eve and The Book of Enoch . Another cool thing about being Catholic, is that we have other books inside our Bible. My favorite being The Book of Tobit, which is literally has a B plot about Asmodeus (a demon married to Lilith) bothering this lady named Sarah. He was killing her husbands before they could consummate their marriages. I know she was heated lol. Anyway, Tobit and Raphael (the angel, not the turtle) defeat Asmodeus in a ritual. After that, Tobit and Sarah get married. They live happily in Nineveh until God tells them to leave. I’m sure you know why.

Lilith and Lilith adjacent people appear in what my religion believes is the “complete” bible frequently like other civilizations at the time. And, I think this is because vampirism was a thing that people were very concerned about. Drinking blood is even specifically prohibited in Leviticus, which is in the “standard” bible. Girl, they be referring to people as leeches in there!!! There’s also a reference to “Desert Creatures” that hang out with “Night Spirits”. Literally the alliance of vampires and werewolves should be explored more because it’s obviously a thing.

Some people even think that The Mark of Cain is vampirism. Others are racist so idk I prefer the vampire thing. In The Book of Adam and Eve, Eve has a nightmare that Cain drank Abel’s blood. I’m not exactly sure which was written first, but Genesis says something like: The Earth drank Abel’s blood. We know that Cain was originally a farmer, and because of the whole murder thing, the earth refused to cooperate with him.

One of my favorite movies “He Never Died” establishes Cain as a vampire as well. There’s a cute little spin-off called “She Never Died” that has Lilith as the vampire.

Now that we have established that there is biblical basis for Vampires, I’ll tell you why I think Judas is not only a vampire, but the prototype of the modern vampire.

Ok, so besties, when we think of a modern vampire what things come to mind?

• Aversion to the sun
• Killed by a stake to the heart
• Aversion to crosses
• Aversion to silver
• Aversion to garlic
• sharp teeth/deformed
• undead

All of these things can be attributed to Judas. Let’s start with the sun. Did you know that December 25 is also the Feast of the Unconquered Sun? Outside if the matching dates, Sol Invictus and Jesus have a lot in common! Some religions assume them to be the same. Not me tho, y’all be easy. I consider Jesus Christ to be the Unconquered Son that triumphed over death.

Solar Deities are very popular in quite a few religions. Helios, Ra, and Ara come to mind. The Greeks worshiped Helios, and feared the Vrykolakas. The Vrykolas were undead individuals that ate people’s livers. Ra was Egypt’s Sun God. His daughter Sekhmet was revered for her terrifying cycle of destruction and renewal. Her followers would dye beer red to replicate her bloodthirsty nature. Fun fact: Sekhmet was the inspiration for Akasha in Queen of the Damned. Armenians originally referred to themselves as children of the sun, because their Solar Diety is named Ara. While living in fear of the territorial Dakhanavar. Who would suck the blood of travelers while they slept. It seems like for most Solar Deities (and there are A LOT), there’s another side that is always down for a bloody death. Speaking of bloody deaths, it’s assumed Judas died after failing to hang himself from a tree. When he fell, his blood and guts evacuated his body. So, there’s that.

As any Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan will tell you, a wooden stake driven into a vampire’s heart is the main way vampires meet their end. But why a stake? Why wood? What does that have to do with Judas? We know Judas hung himself from a tree, but someone else, someone very important was hung from a tree. I believe the dichotomy of these wood related deaths are what makes wood so fatal to vampires. Christ was pierced through the right side by Saint Longinus. And, some people attribute the legend of the Wandering Jew to Longinus.The Wandering Jew is sometimes thought of as a prototypical Dracula! However, the Pierced Heart of Jesus and Mary is a very real and venerated thing in Catholicism. Christ was pierced as penance for others, Vampires are pierced due to their selfishness towards others. And, when all of Judas’ insides came out, who’s to say that a piece of bark did not pierce his heart? Even then, did you know that a lot of cultures believe that people that die by suicide become vampires?

Aversion to Crosses? Hating Holy Water? I’m not explaining that. BFFR dog. Anyway, there’s an agenda accurate reason why a vampire would not like silver? Judas betrayed Christ for silver, so ofc silver is gonna betray him and his ilk. There is also a scientific reason a vampire would not like silver. Silver is actually not very good for blood! Which confused me at first, because the other skincare girlies told me colloidal silver would be good for would healing, they’re right btw. So basically, too much silver can like, kill you. But the correct amount of silver is antimicrobial. Which, depending on the vampire lore you follow, could be a bad thing. In some cultures, vampires make other vampires by biting them. So OFC if the wound keeps healing, how is a vampire supposed to reproduce? Speaking of, Garlic has been used for centuries as an anticoagulant. I could see why that would repulse a vampire. Garlic is actually mentioned in the bible! Only once, in the Old Testament. But, I think it’s really cool that the “Gospel of Judas” was found by a garlic farmer. The Gospel of Judas kind of flip flops on Jesus’ feelings of Judas. At one point, Christ says: “You shall be cursed for generations”. It’s giving Vampire!!!!

There is also a book of Jewish legends that claims Judas is a vampire. I’m going to keep it real, Sefer Ha-Aggadah is like eighty five dollars. And, I haven’t found any concrete information saying that it DEFINITELY has this vampire story in there. So, I’m not going to spend almost one hundred doll hairs on something I’m not entirely sure of. Overall, I do think the book does sound interesting. Especially because I love adding a little razzle dazzle to the Bible by reading things outside of the official canon.

Did you know that when you die, your body dehydrates? It can make your teeth and nails look longer. That’s where the myth that your nails grow post death comes from. It’s also believed, that people in the middle ages noticed gums receding and assumed it was because corpses were growing fangs. Going back to the Wandering Jew myth. If this man has been around for centuries and is unable to die, what is going on with his physical body? Is it showing signs of decay? Has his soft tissue left the building? Are his canine teeth pronounced? How is he sustaining a body that could likely be falling apart?

Do I personally believe that Judas is a vampire? Sure, why not? Generally, I think vampirism is more spiritual that physical. Like, we all know someone that sucks the life out of everything…And I also know there is only one way, truth, and life. And that is Jesus Christ. Who was instrumental in The Life’s downfall? Judas Iscariot.