The Pale Horseman

     

The belief that death can transform a cherished loved one into a malicious spirit can be traced to primitive societies.  The beloved dead become spiteful and jealous of the living.  Many of the traditions found in funeral rites were not only intended to help speed the deceased on to the next life, but also to prevent the dead from returning to the living.  There has been some debate among scholars regarding the human psychology that would lead humans to fear the dead.  Some studies focus on the fact that, for most people, death is the most significant "unknown," and, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, "the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."  Others have speculated that we might fear the dead for the apparent reason that a dead body is not having much fun, may even be in pain, or is resentful of being forgotten.

     Traditional tombstones may have been intended to hold the dead down.  Potential vampires might be staked through the chest (not necessarily the heart), exiting out the back into the soil to pin them to the earth.  In the older stories, the stake doesn't actually kill the undead; it just holds them down.  Executions were often carried out at crossroads, distant from town, in hopes that should the risen return, they would only have a 25% chance of returning to their hometown.  This also indicates that the returned dead cannot be all that intelligent.  They are driven not by intellect, but instead, by a hunger or a rage.  My novel Carpathian Nights begins at such a crossroad. The chapter entitled "Dark Horse Rider" explores the traditions of the Roma (Gypsy) people and their methods of keeping the dead dead.