Vepir

(Vee-PEER)

Variations: VAPIR, Vipir

In Bulgaria there is a type of vampiric faycalled a vepir. It is created in the same fashion as a VAPIR—by its body not receiving proper funerary rites, such as not being given a final bath or if a cat, dog, or shadow crosses over the corpse before it can be buried. Events such as these usually happen to those people in society who do not have anyone to look after their funerary needs, such as those who were drunkards, murderers, thieves, witches, and those who had been excommunicated from the church.

The only way to destroy a vepir is to exhume the body and rebury it facedown. This is done so that it will not be able to dig its way to the surface.

Source: Bryant, Handbook of Death, 99; Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 265; Perkowski, The Darkling, 38; Ronay, Truth about Dracula, 22; Summers, Vampire: His Kith and Kin, 22