A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods which they inhabited while they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Southeastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania, cognate to Italian 'Strega', meaning Witch.

पिशाच काल्पनिक प्राणी है जो जीवित प्राणियों के जीवन-सार खाकर जीवित रहते हैं आमतौर पर उनका खून पीकर. हालांकि विशिष्ट रूप से इनका वर्णन मरे हुए किन्तु अलौकिक रूप से अनुप्राणित जीवों के रूप में किया गया, कुछ अप्रचलित परम्पराएं विश्वास करती थीं कि पिशाच जीवित लोग थे।