A Field Guide to Killing Monsters

Monsters have plagued our imaginations since the dawn of humanity, and over time we’ve developed some fairly specific ideas about how to deal with them. A wooden stake for a vampire, a silver bullet for a werewolf, a well-aimed blow to a zombie’s head. But where did these rules come from? Some have roots in centuries-old folklore, while others have been popularized by the decisions of authors and depictions in pop culture. 

You never know when the dead might rise, the full moon might bring trouble, or something lurks above in an empty attic. Consider this your field guide to dispatching the supernatural.

Werewolf. The idea of humans transforming into wolves goes back to ancient mythology, but the silver bullet is a more recent convention. European werewolf lore offered various ways to identify or defeat a wolf-man; for example, according to retellings of the story of the Beast of Gévaudan — a wolf-like creature that killed dozens of people in 18th-century France — it was brought down by a hunter using silver bullets. The idea of silver being a werewolf slayer was incorporated into 1941’s The Wolf Man, whose screenwriter, Curt Siodmak, made up much of the werewolf lore we take for granted today.

Vampire. Centuries ago in parts of Eastern Europe, people feared that the dead would return to feed on the blood of the living. Driving wooden stakes into their corpses would prevent them from rising again as vampires. It has become the go-to method for killing Drac in popular vampire stories, with sunlight later added as a method (that rule started with Nosferatu in 1922) and garlic and crosses becoming part of the toolkit for keeping them at bay. The exact rules vary, so it pays to come prepared.

Mummy. Sadly, ancient Egyptians didn’t leave any instructions in their Books of the Dead on how to battle a mummy that has reanimated. But most modern depictions of monster mummies agree that burning them with fire probably works. Those suckers should burn pretty easy since the wrap is dry and resin-covered. Bonus points for using an Indiana Jones torch.

Zombie. While zombies have existed in Haitian mythology for centuries, the zombie as we know it in popular culture originated with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). From that classic horror flick, we learned that destroying the zombie’s brain is the clutch method of dispatching the undead.

Ghost. Ghosts are trickier to deal with because they’re not made from physical matter. An ethereal spirit is a slippery thing; you can’t drive a stake through it or light it on fire or shoot it with a silver bullet. So whaddaya do? In most traditions, the solution to dispatching a ghost is to discover why the dead spirit remains among the living and help it resolve that issue. That might mean addressing an injustice that occurred when the spirit was living or reconciling with a mortal loved one. If you can help the shade find peace, it may finally move on. If that doesn’t work, I think you know who ya gonna call.

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak