Said to be a protector of the Valleys in Armenia, the Dakhanavar vampire hides in the caves in the mountains, waiting for intruders to quench his thirst.
In the landlocked mountains and valleys of Armenia, where silence stretches across cracked earth and night falls with a cold, empty wind, a bloodthirsty creature is said to live the mountain range around Yerevan. Known as the Dakhanavar, this entity occupies a unique place in Armenian myth.
The Dakhanavar, or դախանավար, is less a revenant of human death and more a vampiric guardian of the wild, protecting the valley from intruders. It is said that he never killed the locals living there, and only those trespassing were at risk.
The Armenian Vampire Dakhanavar of the Mountain Valleys
Unlike many spectral legends that haunt graveyards or ruins, the Dakhanavar stalks the empty spaces between settlements in the south Caucasus region, particularly where water is distant and the stars are bright. It is a creature of the open night, roaming the lonely roads that connect villages across the Armenian highlands.
From the Library of Apollodorus, an Armenian superstition tells about the fear of wakening the undead: In Armenia, when a person falls sick soon after the death of a member of the family, it is supposed that the sickness is caused by the dead man, who cannot rest in his grave until he has drawn away one of his kinsfolk to the spirit land. To prevent this catastrophe, the body of the deceased is disinterred and decapitated, and to make assurance doubly sure the head is smashed or a needle is stuck into it and into the heart.
Bloodthirsty Monsters from Armenian Mythology: The Nhang was a river-dwelling serpent-monster with shape shifting powers, often connected to the more conventional Armenian dragons. The creature could change into a seal or lure a man by transforming into a woman, then drag in and drown the victim to drink its blood. The word “Nhang” is sometimes used as a generic term for a sea-monster in ancient Armenian literature.
Some of the first and only writing we have of the entity was reported by Baron August von Haxthausen in his mid-19th century account of Armenia and Russian Transcaucasia, the book Transcaucasia: Sketches of the Nations and Races Between the Black Sea and the Caspian. The tale was told to him by his travel guide, Peter Neu when they were travelling by the glaciers of Allagas and at two miles from Erivan (Yerevan) by the mountains of Ultmish Altotem as he calls them in his writings. It is not really known what specific mountains he is referring to. There were said to be 366 Valleys there, and the domain of the Dakhanavar.
The Legend of the Vampire and the Travelling Brothers
There once dwelt in a cavern in this country a vampire, called Dakhanavar, who could not endure anyone to penetrate into these mountains or count their valleys. Everyone who attempted this had in the night his blood sucked by the monster, from the soles of his feet, until he died.
The vampire was however at last outwitted by two cunning fellows: they began to count the valleys and when night came on they lay down to sleep, taking care to place themselves with the feet of the one under the head of the other. In the night the monster came, felt as usual and found a head: then he felt at the other end, and found a head there also.
‘Well,’ he cried. ‘I have gone through the whole 366 Valleys of these mountains, and have sucked the blood of people without end, but never yet did I find any one with two heads and no feet!’ So saying he ran away and was never more seen in that country; but ever after the people have known that the mountain has 366 Valleys.”
The Ale and Tpgha Spirits: According to folk superstitions, pregnant women and newborns were most vulnerable to evil spirits and demons. the ale (Alk) could enter the womb of a pregnant woman and drink the blood of the child or blind it. The alers, who took the form of young or old women (often with snake hair and fiery eyes), mainly stole the lungs, liver, or heart of newborns, or abducted a healthy newborn, leaving her fragile demonic offspring in its place.
Even today some travelers in Armenia, particularly those going into the region of Mount Ararat, generally take precautions against evil beings such as Dakhanvar. Often, they put small cloves of raw garlic in various pockets or mash it up and rub the paste on their shoes. At night, if camping out of doors, these travelers build a large fire and toss garlic bulbs into the flames. The combination of garlic aroma and a blazing fire will drive almost all of the world’s many species of vampires away.”
Survival and Legacy
The Dakhanavar represents a fear older than towns and roads. It is the fear of being alone in the dark. A reminder that in the vast spaces of earth, where water is scarce and night arrives fast, the unseen may still watch. Its name could come from the Armenian word dajan, meaning cruel.
But where did the story really come from? As mentioned, the travel stories from Haksthausen are basically the only written source,and there is absolutely no data on this in Armenian sources, as well as in modern research. The part about people protecting themselves with garlic when going through the Mount Ararat era comes from American writer Jonathan Mayberry.
No one knows where the story really comes from, and no one really knows where it’s going. Perhaps it is as the legend said, the vampire was vanquished and never returned to the valleys. Or perhaps it’s still there, in the isolated highlands of Armenia.
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References:
Strange Armenian Superstition – PeopleOfAr
Armenian mythology – Wikipedia
https://panarmenian.net/m/arm/details/232437
August von Haxthausen – Wikipedia