Vampires: Folklore, fantasy and fact - Michael Molina

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/vampires-folklore-fantasy-and-fact-michael-molina The myth of the bloodsucking vampire has stalked humans from ancient Mesopotamia to 18th-century...

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Good evening!What's the matter?Are you afraid of vampires?He he, no need to worry,I'm not staying for dinner.(Laughter)I'm here to guide you through a brief history of vampires,illustrating how our image has changedfrom a shambling corpseto the dapper gentleman you see before you.Vampires are nearly as old as you humans.Stories about us, revenants,appear in cultures extending as far back as prehistoric times.But we weren't called vampires back thenand most of us did not look the way we imagine vampires today.Ha, far from it!For example, the Mesopotamian Lamashtuwas a creature with the head of a lion and the body of the donkey,and the ancient Greek strigeswere simply described as bloodthirsty birds.Others were even stranger.The Philippine...