For millennia, the dead have lived among us. They are considered a murderous threat, like the Southeast European vampires. However, they are also influential members of oceanic communities. The idea of the deceased as revenants, as corporeal dead who intervene in various ways in the fate of the living, seems to be an integral part of human culture. It is no coincidence that vampires, revenants, and the undead have long since conquered our modern world in a completely new societal role, especially since Bram Stoker's "Dracula." The author embarks on a journey through cultural history to trace the living dead. From the omnipresent ancestors in prehistoric "living rooms" to wild drinking parties of deceased princes in Bronze Age burial mounds, to the vampire hype of our time. In this exploration, the reader encounters...