Vampire Physiology

Fingernails

In European and Slavic history, fingernails were thought to be one of the tell-tale signs that a corpse was a vampire. Vampires were thought to lose their old nails and grow new ones upon their entry to the vampiric world. An exhumed body that lacked nails or had grown new ones was summarily staked, and very often burned or reburied with garlic to seal the corpse within the ground.

In modern literature, many vampire novels have mentioned fingernails specifically. Two of the most common of these are Dracula and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. In Dracula, Jonathan Harker notices that Dracula's "nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point." When Dracula later opened a wound on his chest for Mina Murray to drink his blood, he did so with these sharp, pointed nails. In Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Louis and Lestat both mention the glassy appearance of their fingernails, so different from that of humans. Many times it was something that they took care to hide.

Vampire, Gothic and related literature

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