Vampiric characters are among the mythological beings to whom unknown diseases are attributed and are often used to frighten children into doing or avoiding something. Sometimes the role of the blood-sucking was given to the tubercular children of the king or the lung-sick members of wealthy families.

In northern Spain we have the Guajona (Guaxa), a very thin old woman, with a yellowish, rough face, full of warts and hair. Her hands are black and knobbly and her feet are like a bird’s. She wears a black cloak from head to toe. By day she hides under the ground, only to emerge at night slipping silently into the shadows of houses, where she lurks through windows and enters the houses of healthy children or young people. She bites them with her one tooth, sucking their blood and leaving them discolored and weakened.

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