Believe it or not animals and vampires play a large part in vampire folklore.
Sometimes it is simply the evil vampire controlling the animal, making it perform its evil deeds, or it is the animal itself that is the bloodsucker.
According to the vampire-crazed gypsies in Yugoslavia damn life anyone or anything can become a creature of the night aka vampire.
On their list of possible vampires they have dogs, cats, horses, sheep and even … chickens.
But of all the vampire animals the one that they are the most terrible of are vampire snakes due to Satan’s ties to snakes.
Then you have the tradition that says if a certain animal, like a cat or dog, jumps over a corpse, the body will become a vampire.
Or some other stories say that if the dog or cat jumps over the corpse, the soul of the person will then enter the animal.
You also have the belief that some vampires can control an assortment of animals such as wolves, flies, cats, dogs, butterflies and the famous vampire bat.
But it is not always that they can control animals, some stories say that they can also transform into the animal, especially bats, but also rats and even frogs.
Animals can also be used against vampires.
Horses were once used to find a vampire’s grave, while black dogs and black crows were said to make excellent vampire hunters.
And the Romanian gypsies believed that some cemeteries are haunted by vampires who kill white wolves.
So animals can be pretty useful for vampire hunters.
Now when you meet a growling dog or a snake in the grass you will probably wonder if it is a vampire or if it is an evil creature that is controlled by a vampire.