Some of you may already have heard this, especially if you are a Terry Pratchett fan. But I just need to put it out there again, because it is awesome.

Vampires are well known. We got fairy tales, folklore, books, musicals, TV shows, movies and youth movements… basically anything you can fit vampires into, they’re there.

Still from the really nice musical Tanz der Vampire

As you might have noticed, I like vampires. I find the surrounding mythology fascinating, especially, when we enter the sexual implications of the myth. [I once wrote a paper on the historical facts of vampirism, even. It was pretty crappy, but I did my research.]

Anyway, as that’s completely not the point, let’s get back to the story.

In the Balkan, there’s this myth that any inanimate object that you leave outside during a night of full moon will turn into a vampire. But, apparently, pumpkins and watermelons are a special target group.

According to tradition, watermelons or any kind of pumpkin kept more than ten days or after Christmas will become a vampire, rolling around on the ground and growling to pester the living. People have little fear of the vampire pumpkins and melons because of the creatures’ lack of teeth.

Probably not an actual vampire pumpkin, as it has teeth.

That must really suck (no pun intended)… You become a vampire and instead of superstrength and supersenses and the ability to turn into a bat, you can just roll around and not bite anyone, because you don’t have any teeth…

That might be the most pathetic thing ever… Although, probably it’s this:

By the way, you can read excerpts of the original source material here.