What to do to a Vampire with silver...

I have a vampire character I need to interrogate and I want it to be creative. It's set in the early 1900's and I am trying to figure out how to get him to talk. I thought about stabbing him with a silver knife, but that seems dull and boring. I thought about using liquid silver in an IV or something, but this is kinda a sudden capture and questioning. So, people don't really have supplies on hand. Any ideas of how to torment this vampire with silver? I considered holy water, but I feel that a silver weapon is more likely to be something a Vampire Hunter would have. Hand over your best and most painful ideas, please.

 

It might be fun to write a water torture scene, in which holy water is used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_water_torture

 

That is true. But we only have a chair. From what research I know about waterboarding, there must be a slight tilt and the person should be lying down. So, I am not sure if that's completely possible with a chair. But yes, I will keep that in mind. Maybe later. Would totally shred their insides. Love it.

 

Silver earrings? Easy to find, and ongoing torture until the vampire speaks.

 

There are interesting things you could do with a chair leg and a bit of silver attached to the end of it.

 

That could work. But now I am thinking about some kinda Sunlight Laser torture device. Fun.

 

Oh, this is creative. I like it, too.

 

Goblet of blood in front of the starving vampire.

Mixed into the blood are silver filings, and the vampire knows it.

 

Pardon me ... but (in traditional folklore, at least), silver does not harm vampires. This link seems very tenuous, and only came about because either people confuse vampires and werewolves, or because of the Judas Iscariot / 30 pieces of silver story. Neither of those seem persuasive or even likely.

Speaking of which, werewolves are rumoured to be vulnerable to silver, but even that's a modern myth (from a 1941 Hollywood film, no less). See here. In the original myths, werewolves are not vulnerable to silver.

As for vampires ... they have quite a range of weaknesses, but silver isn't one of them.

I'm quoting this website only because I know the creator quite well; he seems knowledgeable and obviously did his research on vampire and werewolf folklore, comparing it to how they are portrayed in popular fiction. (Think of it as something like Snopes, or at least a Snopes, for authors who want to use vampires or werewolves).

Of course, your story is yours. If you want to ignore all this, go ahead. But it never hurts to see what other people have written, that's all.

 

Why's that? Holy water is a lot cheaper. Anyone can duck into a church and take some from the font.

Force them to watch and rewatch various vampire torture scenes play out from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Oh, early 1900's. Well around that time American soldiers were busy terrorizing Filipino civilians with "the water cure".

Now to throw in my opinion that no one asked for- I think torture is abhorrent and the legitimation of torture by heroes in contemporary supernatural fantasies, because the victim is a "demon", doesn't have a "soul", etc. is an unfortunate and very lazy development.

 

If your vampire are traditional, try oak slivers shoved underneath their fingernails. Or is that ash?

 

Just make them watch Twilight over and over again.

Better yet, introduce them to the Count from Sesame Street.

 

As far as folklore is concerned, I can't think of one that says vampires are immune to pain, just that they are immortal and have fast regeneration. So I suppose any torture method that would work on humans would also work on a vampire, with the added bonus that you probably can take it further with an immortal vampire than what a human could tolerate. Heck you can invent your own for what it is worth...if I remember right, in the movie based on Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, the vampires could eat garlic and were not bothered by crucifixes. It's your story, so write your vampires however you wish; maybe their kryptonite is an eggplant.

 

So long as they don't sparkle.

 

Maybe they have a silver coin, and whenever they get an answer they don't like they press it against his flesh. Or a silver-plated nail driven through his hand, down into the table. Almost a partial Crucifixion. Maybe they do his other hand after getting enough bad answers. And maybe they hold one against his forehead and threaten to drive it in. Every vampire movie or story invents its own mythology of course, this is how it's always been. You put forth the rules of their weaknesses and then remain true to them. Just about every vamp movie has a scene where they try something and the vamp arrogantly says "Hah! That only works in the movies!"* It's usually right before they do something that has him hissing in agony.

* Stories, if it's the 1890s.

 

If it's a traditional vampire, you could really annoy it by continually spilling bags of seeds or beans on the floor. The vampire would be compelled to pick them up and put them back.

Then you spill them again.

Or even better, drop big piles of socks. The vampire then has to pick them up and pair them together, and you can drive it mad by having one odd sock in the pile.

 

I just thought of one, if you are going to use silver: An Iron Maiden full of silver spikes. They can't die and that would be some serious pain.

 

I fail to see why regular torture methods wouldn’t work.

Out of curiosity, how does silver work in your lore? Like is it poisonous or have some magical properties? Like, what would happen if you stabbed your vampire with a steel knife? Would they not even feel it? Why is silver special? Arsenic is very poisonous to humans, but I don’t need a blade made from it to hurt you. In fact, even if I stabbed you with one, you’d die of blood loss long before you succumb to Arsenic poisoning.

if the silver is magic and is the only thing the vampire can feel, just do what you would do to a person with a steel blade, but with your silver one.

 

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

 

I think they would enjoy The Count, actually. Traditional vampires supposedly enjoy mathematics; they are very good at it. (Perhaps that's why Sir Terry Pratchett

Spoiler

made one of them an accountant

in Making Money).

Better than dropping socks would be undoing the stitching in the socks. Vampires are sticklers for neatness. The vampire would then be compelled to put the stitches back together again.

Sorry, Xoic, I don't understand you. What word is that? *curious*

 

Either Traditional or Vampire. We're talking about bloodsuckers here, not people with OCD.

 

Nah the counting seeds thing is legit and widespread. Also a reputed weakness of certain other bogeys like Baba Yaga or jiangshi.