I was cleaning out my bookmarks when I came across one for Michael Briggs' excellent blog on making real silver bullets. Catching up with the site has gotten me thinking about the traditional methods for dispatching creatures of the night. In particular, I was considering how popular media increasingly portrays monster banes as having their basis in science rather than mysticism. This difference has implications beyond making a horror scenario more believable to a modern audience. If you're working on a story, about to run a new horror campaign, or actually battle the undead for really reals, it could be worthwhile to figure out why monster-stomping methods work in your world.
If a method works due to magic, then it fulfills some sort of ritual purpose. It acts like an ingredient needed to cast a spell, or as a condition required to remove an enchantment. If this were true of wooden stakes and vampires, for example, it is not the stake itself that kills a vampire but rather what it represents. This could be why some sources are very specific as to the type of wood needed for the stake; it must come from a species of tree that is itself sacred or magical (such as hawthorn) or is significant symbolically (such as elder, which is said to be the tree that Judas Iscariot hung himself from). If we know that a method works due to mysticism, we can more easily find replacements when a particular substance is in short supply. Real-life magicians do this all the time, swapping out rare or expensive components with items of similar symbolic properties or iconic function.
If the method works due to science, then the substance has some property that disables or destroys the creature. In the case of stakes and vampires, the wood would have some inherent physical attribute that is toxic to vampires, something that stakes made of stone or metal lack. If we know that a given method is practical, we can analyze it to find out how it works. This may allow us to replace primitive, unwieldy banes with hi-tech equipment that does the job better and faster. A great example are the carbon bullets and other tools used against vampires in the excellent UK television series, Ultraviolet.
Figuring out why a given method works can be essential to implementing it successfully. Such is the case with the recent and popular trope that it is not the cross but the wielder's faith that repels vampires. The undead are not turned away by a higher power (magic) but by mental or spiritual energy created by the user (science...ish). The crucifix is simply a weapons delivery system, one that can be replaced with a Star of David or ankh or other object depending on one's beliefs. The old Doctor Who series had an excellent take on this in a storyline featuring a Soviet soldier who drove away bloodsuckers through his faith in the Revolution.
Determining whether a given method is scientific or mystical can be tricky in a field awash with superstition and misinformation. A vital aid in discovering why a method works might be to ascertain how it works. For example, we accept that weapons made of silver kill werewolves. But is it exposure to silver that is lethal to lycanthropes? Or does the silver exploit a limitation in whatever magics bestow invulnerability to them? If silver is toxic to werewolves, then it is more likely due to practical reasons. If silver allows us to bypass the creature's supernatural defenses, then it probably works because of magic.
Of course, working all this out is a lot more difficult than it sounds. It would almost assuredly require specimens to experiment on, and capturing a live (or undead) monster is infinitely more dangerous than "simply" hunting one down. It would also require considerable amounts of time and money, resources already in short supply for most teratonomists, whose odd hours, paranoia, and propensity to rant make it difficult to hold down a normal job. But understanding why these anti-monster methods work would allow us to build better, more efficient weapons against the forces of darkness.
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That's enough theory wank for now. Next time, some practical info for neophyte night stalkers.
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