What is a Native American word for vampire?
Most people asking this question nowadays post-Twilight fame are most curious about the shape shifter Jacob Black’s Quileute tribe. In the novels, the Quileute tribe talk about the legends of the "cold ones" aka. the vampires. There are no such real Native American tribal legends about vampires, so there is no real name for them. The Twilight author Stephanie Meyer has confirmed she made up this fictional vampire legend in order to develop her story.
However, some of Meyer’s references to tribal culture in her books are based on real Quileute mythology. For example, there is truth in the story that the Quileute tribe believe they are descended from wolves who were changed into men. The tribe name Quileute actually comes from the word Kwoli, which means wolf.
Source: http://www.native-languages.org/quileute-legends.htm
Cool question. I did a Google search on “native American vampire” and came up with these names and links. U`TLÛÑ’TÄ (Cherokee), tlahuelpuchi (Tlaxcala, Mexico). I think the poster above in correct in a way, though. Native American myth may not always call creatures that drink blood or take life energy something akin to “vampire”. Any mythic monster that eats people and drinks their blood, is just a monster. I’ve read there are also tales of evil shamans/medicine men who would take the life-energy of people they were supposed to be helping. (I can’t recall the links now.) As an aside, the Vampirism & Energy Work Survey sponsered by the Atlanta Vampire Alliance found a fair number of people who identify as real vampires also list themselves as being of Native American ancestry.
