There are many beliefs that the Sun is a mortal enemy of vampires. When they fall into the sun light, they seem to fall into a burning furnace.
To avoid the sun the vampires leave their hiding places only after sunset and before sunrise are forced to return to their graves.
Vampires can not tolerate the smell of garlic or crucifixes and bear holy relics. According to some beliefs, vampires are not reflected in a mirror and can not pass through running water.
In some nations the belief is that the white horse can know whether there are vampires in the graveyard. The grave the horse will pass, suggests then it is dead.
There are several ways to kill vampires - being shot by a silver bullet orto be struck right in the heart with a wooden stake. Then his head should be cut with a sword from the church and, the body to be burned and the ashes scattered to the wind.
But contrary to expectations, vampires sometimes stay alive. In the early eighteenth century Hungarian Liebava city was attacked by a vampire. Bishop Olmutts begun an investigation and ordered his men to watch the cemetery from the bell tower. One night a guard listens to a vampire from one of the graves. The vampire left his cloak on the guard and left. The man ran to the bishop and took him to the grave, where after some time the vampire returned. The guard from the bell tower said: "It is with me. If you want to take it, come with me".
The enraged vampire turned to the top of the bell and when he stood face to face with the man, the guard managed to hit him over the head with a hammer. The vampire fell to the floor unconscious with a cut to his head.
