Ancient Greeks believed that redheads turned into vampires after they died.
Ancient Greeks Feared Redheads Would Become Vampires
Imagine living in Ancient Greece and spotting someone with fiery red hair. Beautiful, right? Not if you believed what most Greeks did: that when this person died, they'd claw their way back from the grave as a flesh-eating vampire called a vrykolakas.
This wasn't just idle gossip. Ancient Greeks were genuinely terrified when a redhead died. The fear was so intense that bodies were sometimes burned to prevent their vampiric resurrection. The irony? Some of their most revered mythological figures—Achilles, Helen of Troy, Aphrodite—were said to have red hair.
What Made Greek Vampires Different
The vrykolakas wasn't your typical Dracula-style vampire. These creatures were closer to what we'd call zombies or ghouls today. Instead of sipping blood from elegant necks, they devoured human flesh, particularly livers. They were bloated, ruddy-faced corpses that roamed at night, spreading disease and death.
Greek vampire folklore merged with Slavic traditions over centuries, creating the bloodsucking vampire we know today. But the original Greek version was uniquely horrifying in its own right.
Why Redheads Got Singled Out
Red hair has always been rare—only about 1-2% of the global population has it. In ancient times, anything rare was often seen as supernatural or cursed. The Greeks weren't alone in their red-haired superstitions either.
- Medieval Europeans believed redheads were witches or had stolen the fires of hell
- Some cultures thought red hair indicated a fiery, dangerous temperament
- Others associated it with Judas Iscariot, who was often depicted as a redhead in art
But the Greeks took it to another level by connecting red hair directly to the undead.
The Belief That Wouldn't Die
This superstition had remarkable staying power. Belief in the vrykolakas persisted in rural Greece well into the 20th century—even during World War II, some Greek villagers still feared these creatures.
The redhead-vampire connection spread beyond Greece too. In regions near modern Serbia, people with red hair and gray eyes were considered especially likely to become vampires. Bodies matching this description received special burial rites to keep them from rising.
Today, we know red hair is simply caused by a mutation in the MC1R gene. No cursed blood, no vampiric destiny—just genetics. But for thousands of years, having red hair in Greece meant living under the shadow of a truly bizarre superstition: that death wouldn't be your end, but your transformation into a monster.