Vampires Part 4
Article by Bindi Lavelle

Native American culture is rich and diverse and as we have seen the vampire too, is a diverse figure; tales if blood drinking creatures appear in many cultures
The Utlaunta, or “Spear-Finger”, from the Cherokee nation, has the appearance of a nice normal little old lady, with the notable exception of a scalpel like finger made of stone. This finger was used for cutting out children's livers, Utlaunta’s favorite snack. All the while singing a lullaby which has an anesthesia like effect.
The Maliseet-Passamaquoddy have the story of Apotamkin, a big hairy boogeyman with fangs used for chomping down on children and drinking their blood.
And what about those sparkly Twilight ones you ask? Well, according to www.native-languages.org: “There are no Quileute legends about "Cold Ones" or other vampires. Stephenie Meyer, the author of the "Twilight" books, has stated that she made this fictional vampire legend up herself and only had her Quileute character tell it for the purposes of her plot. However, she did base other parts of her books on real Quileute mythology. For example, it is true that according to legend the Quileute tribe is descended from wolves that were changed into men. Even the tribal name "Quileute" comes from their word for wolf, Kwoli.”
With the popularity of the Twilight series there has been increased interest in Native American mythology, but it is important to remember that vampire stories extend beyond this teen fad. Next week will be our final in the vampires from the World Series, focusing on Australia.