Wurdulac
Wurdulac, also spelled wurdalak, verdilak or vurdulak, is a kind of vampire in the Slavic folklore mythology. Some Western sources define it as a type of "Russian vampire" that must consume the blood of its loved ones and convert its whole family.[1] This notion is based apparently on Alexey K. Tolstoy's novella The Family of the Vourdalak, telling the story of one such Slavic family.
In Russia, the common name for vampire (or wurdulac) is Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Langx). Nowadays, the three terms are regarded as synonymous, but in the 19th century, they were seen as separate but similar entities. The Russian Script error: No such module "Lang". was said to be a former witch, werewolf or a particularly nasty sinner who had been excommunicated from the church. In Ukraine, the Script error: No such module "Lang". were also feared as the vampires who could bring about droughts and epidemics.[2]
In the Russian language, the word Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Langx) first appeared in the early 19th century, and became common due to Alexander Pushkin's 1836 poem of the same name, part of the Songs of the Western Slavs cycle. It is the corrupt form of the West Slavic word Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Langx), meaning literally 'wolf-fur' or 'wolf-hide', denoting someone "wearing" a wolf's skin, a werewolf.[3] Other sources suggest that Pushkin borrowed and adapted the word from Lord Byron's "The Giaour", which contains a footnote claiming that the Greek word for a vampire is "Vardoulacha". This in itself is a corruption of vrykolakas, which does come from the Slavic vukodlak.[4]
In popular culture
Wurdalaks are mentioned and appear in Werewolf: The Beast Among Us.
In 2023, Sam J. Miller's short story "If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak", published in The Dark,[5] was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction.[6] The 2023 French horror-drama film The Vourdalak also centres on them.
The wurdulac also appears in the horror film Black Sabbath: "The Wurdulak", which is an adaptation of Tolstoy's The Family of the Vourdalak.
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".