| (2/2/1960). Reproduced below is
Herbert's English translation: The Obur
"According to the
beliefs of the Karachay people, Oburs occur among very old people. The
people who become Oburs recognize each other. According to the Oburs
themselves, there are Oburism skills and salves. The ones who become
Oburs know how to enter into various forms. For example, cats, dogs,
and wolves. Oburs, at the time when they become Oburs, strip mother
naked in a large house. They smear salve, which they make themselves,
on their bodies and wallow in the ashes on the edge of the fire.
Afterwards they mount brooms with whips in their hands, and after running
around the bottom of the room in circles, they issue from the chimney in the
forms of cats. After men's footsteps have ceased, and everyone has
gone to bed, they enter by the chimney, drink the children's blood, and
leave a black bruise at the place where they have drunk, and then go.
If it becomes necessary to go to a place from from the village, they are
gathered in twos and threes somewhere, and they enter into the form of
wolves. No matter what there is at the summer pastures - cows, oxen,
calves, horses, or sheep - they make them lie down, drink their blood, and
sate themselves on blood. The Oburs who will do this do their work at
night. With the break of dawn, they leave immediately, enter the house
by the place whence they had issued, and enter into their original shapes.
In the Karachay, many kinds of stories concerning the Obur are current.
If these stories be true, many other stories will become useful."
Resource List - entry taken verbatim from
the original source:
"The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism."
Jan L. Perkowski. Slavica Publishers. Columbus, Ohio. ©1989
|
