 The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia . Cultures such as the Mesopotamians , Hebrews , Ancient Greeks , and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires . However , despite the occurrence of vampire @-@ like creatures in these ancient civilizations , the folklore for the entity we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early @-@ 18th @-@ century southeastern Europe , when verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published . In most cases , vampires are revenants of evil beings , suicide victims , or witches , but they can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire . Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires . 
