Bloodsucking Witchcraft

by Hugo G. Nutini and John M. Roberts

Fascinating monograph about rural folk beliefs in south-central Mexico in the tlahuelpuchis -- living people believed to be born as "witches" that have the capability to transform themselves into animals at night and suck blood from the necks of sleeping infants. Although not called "vampires", the tlahuelpuchis share much in common with both real vampires and with Romanian "living vampire" folk beliefs a continent away. This study incorporates information collected over a 25-year period, and focuses particularly on one "flap" or epidemic.

Hardcover Univ of Arizona Press (1993)