Vampires were living beings.
The undead are beings in mythology , legend , or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive .. A common example of an undead being is a corpse re-animated by supernatural forces , by the application of the deceased 's own life force , or that of another being -LRB- such as a demon -RRB- .. life force. Energy ( esotericism ). demon. demon. The undead may be incorporeal like ghosts , or corporeal like vampires and zombies .. incorporeal. Incorporeality. corporeal. Human body. vampires. vampires. The undead are featured in the belief systems of most cultures , and appear in many works of fantasy and horror fiction .. fantasy. fantasy fiction. horror fiction. horror fiction. The term is also occasionally used for putative non-supernatural cases of re-animation , from early experiments like Robert E. Cornish 's to future sciences such as cryonics and chemical brain preservation .. Robert E. Cornish. Robert E. Cornish. cryonics. cryonics. chemical brain preservation. chemical brain preservation. Bram Stoker considered using the title The Un-Dead for his novel Dracula -LRB- 1897 -RRB- , and use of the term in the novel is mostly responsible for the modern sense of the word .. Bram Stoker. Bram Stoker. Dracula. Dracula. The word does appear in English before Stoker but with the more literal sense of `` alive '' or `` not dead '' , for which citations can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary .. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary. In one passage , nosferatu is given as an `` Eastern European '' synonym for `` un-dead '' .. nosferatu. nosferatu ( word ). Stoker 's use of the term refers only to vampires , and the extension to other types of supernatural beings arose later .. vampires. vampires. Most commonly , it is now taken to refer to supernatural beings which had at one time been alive and continue to display some aspects of life after death , but the usage is highly variable .