 Although vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures , the term vampire was not popularized in the west until the early 18th century , after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent , such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe , although local variants were also known by different names , such as shtriga in Albania , vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania . This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism . 
