Lamia
A kind of legendary female vampire, generally held to stunningly attractive and highly dangerous 
to males and children. A lamia can also be used to refer to any female bloodsucker. According to 
one legend, Lamia was the queen of Libya, whose children were slain by the goddess Hera and who, 
in revenge, thereafter roamed the world sucking the blood of infants. Other traditions state that
in the ancient world she was a species of demon with the power to remove her eyes and a desire to
entice men to their deaths, usually by devouring them in a most grusemon fashion. The lamiae 
(plural) were also called larvae and lemures, sometimes confused with the empusa and used by 
nannies to frigthen unruly children. Horace wrote of a lamia in his Ars Poetica. The lamia has 
been the inspiration for female vampires throuhgout literary history, such as Keats's "Limia," 
Whitley Strieber's Miriam Blaylock in The Hunger, and J. N. Williamson's series of nvels feature 
Lamia Zacharius.

Langsuir
A flying vampire of Malaysia, said always to be a female of stunning beauty. A woman can become 
such a creature if shie dies in childbirth or from the shock of hearing that her child has been 
stillborn (the child is transformed into the vampire known as the pontianak). Her death can come 
before or after childbirth, and she emerges as a langsuir before a period of forty days has 
elapsed. She can be identified by her incredibly long nails, green robes, and long black hair, 
which hands down to her ankles. The hair is supposedly that long to conceal a hole in the back of
her neck, through which she drinks the blood of children. She also craves fish, and she and her 
vampiric companions can be seen at the mouths of rivers, waiting to steal fish there. It is 
possible to prevent transformation into a langsuir by placing a number of glass beads into the 
mouth of the corpse or by putting hen's egg under each armpit and needles in the palms of its 
hands. The needles do not allow the woman to wave her arms or close her hands to fly, nor can 
she open her mouth to let out her terrible wail, called the ngilai. Once a woman has become a 
vampire, the best way to be rid of her is to capture her, cut her nails, and stuff her stresses 
into the hole in her neck. Once this is accomplished, she will become tame, ceasing her devilish 
activities. She can even marry and have children, living for many years as a normal person. 
Merrymaking and dancing are out of the question, however, as these cause her to rever to her 
fiendish state, flying off into the night with a devlish glee.

Leanhaum-she
The Irish name for the fairy mistress, a deadly seductress, described in folklore not as a 
vampire but enganging in vampiric activities. She used her incredible beauty to lure men to her 
side, where her irresistible charms placed them under her spell. From then on the victim was 
drained slowly of life, wasting away as his essence was consumed by his demonic lover. The only 
means of breaking her powerful grip was to find a substitue, someone who could unwittingly become
her next prey. The original victim could then escape. (See also Dearg-due.)

Lilith
The Queen of the Night, portrayed in Hebrew legend as the first woman, created to be the wife of 
Adam, but with such an evil spirit that she departed Adam's side to dwell with the forces of 
darkness. ALso known as Lili, she probably originated as Lilitu, one of the seven Babylonian evil
spirits incorporated into Hebrew lore. Variations on her story relate that she was Eve, having 
sinned and been ejected from Eden and fleeing into the air to prey on children. Another version 
portrays her as the queen of succubi, leader of the night demons who prey on men, drawing out 
their seed and often their blood in the hope of causing misery and death. Lilith has a special 
hatred for children, as her own were twisted, misshapen, and wicked. In corporeal form, she 
appears as a beautiful woman with an abundance of sharp black hair on her legs. Characters 
similar to Lilith are found in tales all over the world. (See also Succubus).

Lobishomen
A somewhat obscure vampire species found in Brazil, similar to the other main Brazlian vampire 
type, the jaracaca, in that it preys mainly on women. The lobishomen does not kill, however, 
preferring to draw out blood from its victims. Those women who sruvive its attack soon after 
exhibit definite nymphomaniacal tendencies. The lobishomen probably originated in Portugal, 
where there was a belief in lobishomen, a kind of werewolf or lycanthrope.

Loogaroo
A type of witch-vampire found in the West Indies, also known as ligaroo and closely associated 
with the sucoyan. In some areas it is said that the loogaroo is male while the sucoyan is female,
although the terms have been used for both, most requently the loogaroo refers to an old hag. The
name is an apparent derivation of the French loup garou (shape-changer), the tradition supposedly
entering the Caribbean from Guinea and the Congo in Africa. The loogaroo is said to be a human, 
usually an old woman who has made a pact with the devil, receiving magical powers as long as she 
offers up blood from victims. Each night the loogaroo goes to the so-called Devil Tree or Jumbie 
Tree (the silk-cotton tree) and removes its skin, which is folded up neatly and hidden. The 
vampire then soars off into the night in the form of a sulfurous ball. It cannot be stopped by 
doors or windows, entering houses to drink the blood of inhabitants. One method of resistance, 
however, is to scatter rice and sand in front of the abode, forcing the loogaroo to stop and pick
up each grain before proceeding. As this usually takes many hours, the dawn comes upon the 
vampires before its task can be completed, an idea echoed in many parts of the world. The 
loogaroo is subject to injury and is actually quite vulnerable while away from its skin. Should a
person dicover the skin during the night, it is recommended that he or she sprinkle salt on it.
In that fashion the vampire will be unable to return to it and will wry out, "Kin, kin, you no 
know me!" With the dawn, the loogaroo will be visible to one and all, its disguise abandoned.

Lugat
A type of Albanian vampire, as known as the kukuthi. According to some folk accounts, it was 
similar in appearance to other undead types found in the Balkans and could be rendered harmless 
by hamstringing or by burning. Other sources, however, present the lugat as a much more 
formidable monster, virtually indestructible by the living, with one exception: the wolf, its 
great nemesis, was capable of attacking and biting off its leg. Humiliated, the lugat would 
retreat its grave, never again to torment the district.