Legends of
vampires have existed for millennia; cultures such as the
Mesopotamians,
Hebrews,
Ancient Greeks, and
Romans had tales of
demonic entities and blood-drinking spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the
folklore for the entity we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Southeastern Europe, particularly
Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are
revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire itself. Belief in such legends became so rife that in some areas it caused
mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires.