Vampires were originally considered creatures of shadow, which is why they had no bones. They could slip under a doorframe or a window (if of course it wasn’t owned by anyone or was owned by them, as vampires need invitation to enter an abode from someone who is allowed to give such an invitation) and dhampirs we’re amorphous blobs because they had no bones but were born of flesh. That’s why vampires could keep a consistent shape and dhampirs couldn’t.
Yeah!!
Though of course like a lot of folklore this had so many mutations and variations that there was also just an idea of full-blooded vampires being floppy and gelatinous, or just starting out that way and forming a more solid body as they feed on blood.
Russia in particular thought of vampires as having human bodies, but both boneless and completely shaggy with hair. I can’t find much literature on whether they held a perfectly human shape and the bonelessness was just a secret quirk, or if they were, in fact, floppy like a big throw rug.
There was also a celtic myth (I think) about vampires simply called “No-bones” that just look like “wineskins” made of human flesh and could contract into a ball or stretch out long and thin; a pretty spot-on description of just a giant leech.
I learned about old-school boneless vampires so early in my life that I take for granted how forgotten and ignored they are.
