““In an article published in 1998 in the normally staid pages of Neurology, the Spanish physician Juan Gómez-Alonso pointed out other, less obvious parallels between vampires and rabid animals. According to folklore, the lifespan of a vampire was forty days, which coincides with the average time a victim lives after being bitten by a rabid animal. And just like rabid people, vampires were repelled by light (hence their nocturnal habits), strong smells (the odor of garlic, according to folktales, could ward them off), and water (pouring it around graves was recommended to keep them in their underground vaults).””
