Mormo

(MORE-moe)

In ancient Greece, there was a monstrous vampiric creature known as a mormo ("terrible one"), or, when gathered in numbers, they were referred to as mormolykeia ("terrible wolves"). In its true form, it was covered in its own blood and blisters, though it was not as ugly as an EMPOUSE. The mormo could shape-shift into a beautiful young lady to lure handsome young men into a fatal indiscretion, draining them of their blood and consuming their flesh. When no suitable men were available, it would settle on consuming the elderly and young children. The mormo could also shape-shift into over 1,000 hideous forms.

Montague Summers, in his book Vampire: His Kith and Kin, mentions only by name some vampires whose names are similar to the mormo: mormolikeion, mormoliki, mormolix, and moromolukiai. Perhaps these were regional variations of the mormo, in either singular or plural form.

Over the years the vampiric mormo became something more akin to a common nursery bogey, as children are now told that if they misbehave during the day, at night the mormo will sneak into their room and bite them.

Source: Buxton, Imaginary Greece, 18; Fontenrose, Python, 116; Summers, Vampire: His Kith and Kin; Suter, Lament, 214 ­15