Superstitions aren’t such a common thing today because we have science to explain things that seem supernatural and out of this world. But it’s still interesting to read up on what people long ago used to think was happening. But the origins of these beliefs have been clouded over the hundreds of years since they were created. Vampires Werewolves and Black cats are arguably the most famous. But have you wondered what their origins were?

So vampires, even though the name has been saturated by certain works, they’re still undeniably cool. The origin can be traced back to the 17^th and 18^th century in Eastern Europe. One of the first recorded accounts of vampires was a farmer who was said to be walking around in the woods when he had died a few nights before. And when people went to investigate by digging his grave, what they found was a bloated corpse that had blood dripping out of his mouth. But what they didn’t know was that this was completely normal in the decomposition process. Shortly after death the gases inside the body begin to expand and make them bloated, and the blood in the body begins to trickle out of their mouth. But the people thought that they were creatures that would go out and feed on blood at night, so the myth was born.

Werewolves, though easily killed they are powerful creatures. The origins of them can be traced back to the first century! The word werewolf comes from werwulf or man-wolf but they are also called Lycanthrope or λυκάνθρωπος lukánthrōpos in Greek. They were originally believed to be men who contracted Lycanthropy by either being cursed or being bitten or scratched by another werewolf. Many men were hung during the Witch Hunt in the 1500’s were they were believed to be a werewolf or a wolf-charmer. Werewolves were a common folklore in France and Germany. No one knows why or how the concept came to mind though, unfortunately.

Black cats, most commonly associated with witches this superstition is the only one we’ve discussed that people still actually believe today. The myth states that if a black cat crosses your path and then you cross it you’ll have bad luck forever. But this is only true for America: in Britain, Scotland, Ireland, China and Japan black cats are actually good luck, so were did this idea of black cats come from? Well the origins are from the pilgrims from Plymouth Rock that believed that the black cat that they brought with them had brought on the winter, and when they killed the cat the winter ended. So the superstition was born.

Vampires, Werewolves and black cats all have fascinating origins but you probably want to know the origins of more, well I got all my information from https://www.wikipedia.org/ so now you can research the origins of your favorite myths and legends.