Dragons, vampires, werewolves and more... their origins?

Question

I have to say, humans never cease to amaze me with what they can think up. Sometimes, though, certain things seem to be a bit too well thought up to be fairy tales. And, these things/creatures, tend to be brought up in many different parts of the world at different times in history. Who can explain exactly how this happens, and how it can come to be that two completely different places with no contact between them can have such simular stories, if they are not based, at least partially, on something real?

For example. Dragons. China has had their dragons for thousands of years. Europeans have had dragons for almost as long. These are dating back far before there were open trade routes between china and europe, and I find it hard to believe that single people would be able to bring back such tales as to have the stories spread so far and wide. Is there any possibility that giant lizzards (GIANT!) existed, or were they like monitor lizzards, only exaggerated? What is your opinion?

Sweet,
No need to be rude, and I am not obsessing. I was merely thinking about the subject and my question came up, much like many of the other questions on here.

Wonderland, very impressive. Well thought out answer, and yes, always keep an open mind, no matter how cynical others will be :)

Answer 1

Wow... I've seen some pretty involved questions tonight/this morning... and this is one of them. :-)

Similarities in ancient tales between cultures could be derived, in part, from tales carried with various groups as the species itself spread across the planet.

One reason for tales of creatures such as dragons may have been ancient discoveries of the bones of extinct animals like dinosaurs, and encounters with the larger living reptiles. (To a primitive human a large alligator or crocodile must have been terrifying, and considering how big some types of snakes can get...)

Stepping over to vampires, one influence upon must surely have been a poor understanding of the process of decomposition. (Many of the "signs of a vampire" match those of the various stages of decomposition.) The old concept of a human soul being carried in the blood may have also helped this idea develop—and its easy to see why; if the blood didn't carry the soul (a primitive human might think), why then did a person die when the blood was let out?

Werewolves (and other types of were-creatures) are a bit harder to pin down... many of the tales link it closely with witchcraft, usually depicting the lycanthrope as a witch in animal guise. (There's also a lot written on trance-states, deranged killers, and so on.)

The possibility of survivals into the time of man from previous epochs has not yet been ruled out (just look at all the critters covered by cryptozoology). An example being the tale of a group of Frenchmen digging a tunnel between the St.-Dizier and Nancy railway lines who had an encounter with a creature just freed from hunk of Jurassic limestone "whose wingspan was 10 feet 7 inches, had four legs joined by a membrane, like a bat. What should have been feet were long talons, and the mouth was arrayed with sharp teeth. The skin was like black leather, thick and oily."

With tens of thousands of years for such stories to develop, it would be very much worth learning the "first story" behind any of these creatures.

(For any folks who may have seen any of my answers to other questions—my apologies for the scanty research on this one. But since the question looks like rather a broad one...and our opinions were elicited, I decided not to make too long a response by a lot of digging into each type of critter mentioned.) ;-)

Answer 2

If you find a very old encyclopedia "about a 1600's version", and look up the word dragon it will say, A very large reptile still living but very rare. The reason why is because many years ago, the climate was not as harsh as it is now. Therefore, all living things live for longer periods of time. Methuselah as an example live over 900 years. Now, how did reptiles get that big? Because it is a prov-en fact that as long as a reptile is alive, it continues to grow. So, you take a reptile, let him grow for about 700 or 800 years, and you'll have a very big lizard. Also, if you look back in history, you will find that "ALL" large reptiles were refer-ed to as "Dragons". So, you take and translate the word for all the different languages back in that time, and they were referred to as dragons throughout the world. So, yes, they did exist, however, not as magnificent horned back, leavened winged, soaring,.....with their hot breath wind. Just regular ole lizards that just got really big. You will also see where dragons were slew throughout the years. Well, a 30 foot iguana could be a pretty big threat. So yes, they did slay dragons as well back in the days of yore. The problem is most people today are told that they were a myth made up by the Japanese or Europeans, etc.. But they have been recorded throughout history for centuries.

Answer 3

Human Psychology is the Common Factor-All Humans share the Same Wants, Needs and thus, Fears.

Vampires represent Fears of Death, Loss of Loved Ones, Fear of Relatives punished in the Afterlife. Werewolves (and there are Different Animals, based on Area, and what they find Dangerous, ie: in Polynesia, it is a Were-Shark) are found in Wilderness, Bogs, and the Like (Fear of Unknown areas, Safety).

Examine the Differences between the European Ideas of Dragons, and the Oriental.
Oriental: Sleek, Intelligent, Enlightened, Knowledge Bringers
Europe: Strong, Feral, Destructive

Though both Serpentine, the Philosophies of each Society show through. There is Quite a Difference in what each Considers to be Powerful. There are a Wide Range of Animals to Choose from, but there is Something about Snakes that Gets to People (Eden).

Ghosts are Common to almost all Societies, as are Spirits bound to an Item or Location. As all Humans do Die, and use Objects and Locations, Personification of Objects one is Familiar with, and Fear of Loss of a Loved one bring Rise to Common Stories.....

Unless, it's Common because?
Weeelll....we Don't know Everything about the World, and a Good Scientific Mind is Open.

Answer 4

ok so vampires were only recognized at the turn of the centuary and was made up in the famous story called dracula but this is debated The werewolf is an ancient story that has risen through out the world, the most famous of the stories was from greece when the greek gods came to the court of a famous king, King lycaon now this king sensed the gods meddling in his affairs and invited them to a banquet there he tried to serve the gods human flesh ( by consuming human flesh the gods would die) recognizing the threat Zeus was angered by the king and declared that every full moon the king would transform into a wolf and would be compelled to devour human flesh, the act of cannibalism in those time were seen as degrading and the lowering of human dignity to that of scavengers like wolves and foxes and such so the king was banished. A break down of the word were wolf would be were as in old english for change to or change into wolf coincidentally the greek word for werewolf Lycanthrope Lykos being wolf and anthrope meaning man *edit* they caught on cause they are two awesome monsters however thanks to the bull of hollywood they ruined it by bringing a romance between a girl and monsters they should of just eaten her

Answer 5

In my opinion, it is based from the propoganda of ancient prophets and leaders with high authority ingesting Hallucinogenic Plants. Many Hallucinogenic Plants have been enjoyed by many leaders around the world back in ancient and more modern times. Such as Opium, Ergot Seeds, Ayahuasca, Salvia Divinorum, etc. After the ingestion, they saw reality distorted.

Answer 6

I do know that there is a separate race of people known as the Dragon bloodline. In times past they have been and are called dragons of course, vampires, werewolves, fairies witches and so on. They aren't like us. Their blood is high in copper hence the blue-blood, while ours is high in iron. Their consciousness is expanded beyond ours from birth. The right of kingship was handed down to this race as far back as Sumer and ancient Egypt. The last dragon on throne was Constantine . The church, pope, forged a document in Constantine's name and the right of kingship has been in the popes hand ever since. The burning times for the witches, another name for the bloodline, was to wipe out the Dragon bloodline, not to kill non Christians. The church was determined to keep the right of kingship that they stole. The bloodline is in every race on the planet and they are they royalty of each race.

Answer 7

They come from people's imaginations and you already know that. That's why you and no one you know has ever seen such as you describe. Find something better to obsess on.

Answer 8

haha exatly 2 exxagerated almost lik GOD