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Estries Estries are female Jewish vampires first attested to in Hasidic texts from the middle ages. Estries have also been classified as a pure demon or possibly a witch. They are described as a noncorporeal mass that often assumes the female form, and sustains themselves on human blood. Estries most commonly hunt in the night and most of their victims were typically little children, but they also drink the blood of adults.

Origin

One of the first mentions of Estries came from Hasidei Ashkenaz, a pious Jewsish twelfth century movement in Germany. After the movement was pushed out of Germany it became the source for Kabbalists in Spain in the 14th and 15th century and ultimately became the Hasidic movement of 18th century eastern Europe. Judah the Pious, a member of this movement who authored the Sefer Hasidim, makes the first recorded note of an Estrie. Etymology

Estrie is a French word that derives from the Latin strix, (pl. striges, strixes) who are birds of prey, a result of metamorphoses, that fed on human flesh. Another derivation of strix is Strigoi which refers to ill-omen creatures and are often identified as ‘screech owls’. Striges were owl-like female demons that were able to consume human blood and they were female demons who could turn themselves into birds of prey. Stories

The stories about encounters with Estries stem from the Sefer Hasidim, a book on Jewish piety. The first story recounts a time where an Estrie was very sick and was with two women during the night;

There are women that are called estrie... They were created at sunset [before the first Sabbath before creation]. As a result of this, they are able to change form. There was one woman who was a estrie and she was very sick and there were two women with her at night; one was sleeping and one was awake. And the sick woman stood up and loosened her hair and she was about to fly and suck the blood of the sleeping woman. And the woman who was awake screamed and woke her friend and they grabbed the sick estrie, and after this she slept. And moreover, if she had been able to grab the other woman, then she, the estrie, would have lived. Since she was not able to hurt the other woman, the estrie died, because she needs to drink the blood of living flesh.

Another source comes from MS Oxford 1567, where a man had apprehended an Estrie;

Know too that there was a witch, an estrie, who once was caught by a man. He said to her, Do not [try to] escape from my grasp… What can I do to you so that after your death you will not consume [people’s flesh]? She said to him, If you find [an estrie] in the grave with her mouth open, there is no remedy, for her spirit will attack the living…

Abilities

Since Estries had been created on the eve of the First sabbath their bodies were unfinished; hence they were able to harness the power of changing shapes as mentioned in the Sefer Hasidim, most commonly, the cat. She also had the faculty to be able to fly in the night. The loosening of hair has also been linked to the source of their power, if the hair is kempt, then the Estries power is restrained. Neutralizing an Estrie

In the 1465 Sefer Hasidim story it shows that to kill an Estrie, prevent it from drinking human blood. Another way to kill them is to not give them bread or salt, because that will heal an Estrie, noted in the Sefer Hasidim’s 1466 story. A way to fully stop any Estrie attack from happening is stuff their mouth with dirt when they die, and they will cease their vampirish activities, as mentioned in the Toldot Adam v’Havah, 28. Another way to fully get rid of vampirish activities in an Estrie after they have died is, according to the MS Oxford 1572, 41b account, is to hammer a spike into her mouth and into the earth, and “…fill her mouth with stones.”