Dhampire

(DOM-peer)

Variations: Dhampir, Dhampyr, Dhampyri, LAMPIJEROVIC (feminine), Vamphile, VAMPI-JEROVIC (masculine), VAMPIR (masculine), VAMPIRDZHIJA, Vampiritc, Vampirovitch, Vampuiera (feminine), Vampuira

The Gypsy lore from Eastern Europe claimsthat if the child of a woman and a male mullo vampire is not stillborn, it will be a dhampire, a natural-born vampire hunter. In almost all cases the dhampire is male (females are called dham-piresa), but no matter the gender, they tend to have a shorter lifespan than humans. This is because a dhampire does not have any bones in its body but rather a thick rubberlike substance instead. Usually the dhampire has a restless spirit and becomes a wanderer, and because of this, and the fact that he is also the child of a vampire, he is generally distrusted. Even if he should be an established member of a community, his ability to hunt and destroy vampires will be respected, but he will have no social or political power among his people.

The dhampire does not have any of the vampiric abilities of his vampire father. He has no enhanced senses, regenerative abilities, nor is he a shape-shifter; not only is he not immortal, he does not even have slowed ageing. What he can do is see a vampire for the creature that it is, even if it is invisible. He is also able to destroy a vampire without having to use a special weapon. For instance, if a vampire can only be slain by being stabbed through the heart with a stake made of ash, the dhampire can use a stake made of any material. He can even extend this ability to his gun and shoot a vampire while it lies at rest in its grave.

For more stubborn cases of vampiric attacks, adhampire may be hired. Once he has arrived at the infested town and money has changed hands, the dhampire will go to the center of town and call out a challenge for the vampire to meet him there the next day at a certain time. The next day, the dhampire will show up early and wait for the vampire to arrive, and when it does, it usually does so invisibly. If it is hiding, the dhampire will be able to feel its presence or catch its scent on the wind, allowing him to track it. Usually the dhampire can see a vampire without any assistance, but occasionally he needs to perform a simple magical ceremony to do so. Usually this ritual is as simple as looking through a shirtsleeve, putting his clothes on backward, or whistling. Once the dhampire is ready, he will physically confront the vampire, grab it, and wrestle with it. Eventually, the dhampire will be able to overcome the creature and manage to stake it or shoot it or even run it out of town with a banishment.

In 1959 there was a dhampire who was still actively working in Kosova. The last time he was ever heard from was when he was performing the last known vampire removal ceremony later that same year.

A dhampire, because of the conditions of his birth, must make arrangements to have a proper funeral held for him when he dies. If not, he will return to unlife as a vampire himself.

Source: Gypsy Lore Society, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, 44; Mac Gillivray, Stoker's Spoiled Masterpiece, 518­27; Richardson, Psychoanalysis of Ghost Stories, 427­28; Senf, The Vampire in Nineteenth-Century English Literature, 165; Twitchell, Living Dead, 11­12, 46, 50, 52, 89