Barabarlakos
(BEAR-bur-lock-kose)
According to GREEK VAMPIRE lore, there are a number of ways that a person can have the misfortune of becoming the vampiric REVENANT known as a barabarlakos (see GREEK Vampires). Like many vampire creation methods, the usual methods of coming into being apply, such as by being someone who was particularly evil in life, by having a cat jump over their corpse, by being a murder victim, or by having committed suicide. Furthermore, there is the additional rare creation method of having had the misfortune of having eaten, knowingly or not, meat from a sheep that had been slain by a wolf.
No matter how the barabarlakos came into being, it will return with its skin drawn tight as a drum over the body but otherwise looking as it did in life with no other signs of decomposition.
Each night the vampire leaves its grave and goes from house to house knocking on doors or ringing the bell and calling the names of the people who live within. If no one quickly answers the door, it will waste no more time there and move on to the next house, never to return to the previous home again. Because this vampire does not have the patience to wait and knock a second time, it is custoMary in Greece not to open the door until there is a second round of knocking. It may be possible that through this custom the idea that a vampire cannot enter into one's home unless invited may have evolved. Nevertheless, if someone should answer the door before the second try, the vampire will immediately attack them, knocking them to the ground as quickly as possible. Then, it will mantle over its prey and pin them to the ground, crushing them to death. Once the person is deceased, the vampire will drain the blood from the corpse.
This vampire is not susceptible to sunlight and blood drinking is not a requirement for it to sustain its unlife. The barabarlakos also has a unique ability in that should a person see one, he may die on the spot, as its very presence can be deadly.
The only way to destroy this vampire is to find its grave, exhume the REVENANT, and burn it to ash.
Source: Borrmann, Vampirismus
Taken from the Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology Written by :Theresa Bane ©2010 Theresa Bane. All rights reserved