The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Well, I don't know if this should go here, but this is my first thread I've started so I hope it's okay! So, I was watching this show tonight on The National Geographic Channel called "Is It Real?" And the topic was our favorite, vampires! This guy appeared on there called Don Henrie. He also appeared on Mad Mad House. Anyways, he claims to be a vampire along with some other people who appeared on the show. Basically, he wasn't born with natural fangs, I don't believe anyone really is. But, he had custom fangs done for him, and he lives the "vampire lifestyle" Basically, my opinions on this, is there isn't any "real" vampires, but people who live the lifestyle. One thing I strongly believe in is psychic vamps, as anyone could literally suck the energy/life outta someone. yeah well..hah, I would just like to hear opinions on this, and if ya'll haven't watched it yet, you should! There should be re runs. Here is the website with some more information.

http://www.vampiredon.net/

Saw the show last night, was good. Vampirism is a state of mind that creates physical symptoms, and manifests in may ways. It is different from person to person....vampirism is in the eye of the beholder I guess you could say. Don does not represent every one's thoughts on a vampire, but I have no problem with him.

I didn't see it but I always find it funny when people claim to be real vampyres just because they live like one. Just because they got fangs, live at night, drink blood etc doesn't make them real vampyres. They just don't exist as such. They only live the life style of a Hollywoodized vampyre.
Psi-Vamps exist though and can be considered real vampyres in my opinion but not the bloodsucking kind.

I don't quite know what to believe. Perhaps I should check it out.

I somewhat do agree with lordvampirio. Most sanguines will admit that bloodletting/drinking is mostly symbolic and exciting. Gives one the feeling of being predatory I suppose. And sometimes, the lifestyle that people lead, often times a darker lifestyle, leads to interest in vampirism, so perhaps a lot of people have dark personalities before they even get into/discover vampirism. There are also housewives and business men who get subtle fangs and party on weekends, does that necessarily make them frauds? not always.

I agree also. For the most part, vampires are seen as immortal, and I haven't seen an immortal yet, if you have, please point him/her out so I can have a chat with them or something! :P
Also...I seen this one movie once called 'Vampire Clan' and it's based on a true story. The dude claims to be immortal, and I found that kinda funny, cause I knew it was all bullshit!

EVERYTHING fades. Immortality does not exist physically. People who believe that vampires or anyone else can live physically forever are delusional. Death can claim any one of us any time, no one is immune.

And like I said XxTragicBeautyxX, that may be how people see vampires, but we have adapted it to suit us, it has been watered down, it has to be or it would never survive in reality. One may ask who do people think they are changing things around to suit them, but I don't know what to think. Vampires are supposed to be inhuman but no one here can claim to be inhuman and prove that. Nor can anyone here turn into a bat. Is it ok to twist meanings of things around to suit your beliefs and what you want? I am not sure.

Well, I believe we're all immortal to existence. We're all here for some reason, and have lived and made our marks. I don't believe anything ever really "dies" in a sense of just existence is over.

well some believe things are random and peoples attempted explanations are just ways to make them feel more secure about death, and there is no divine meaning in this petry dish that we call home. But that is a different subject entirely, from what I understand this isn't a discussion of personal beliefs. Though I see what you mean....BUT I was talking about "physical" immortality I wanted to stay away from the spiritual kind so as not to spark a huge argument with anyone, I was simply stating that living forever is non existent. Some people believe it or not are under the impression that physical immortality is a reality. They are in for a surprise.

Yeah, sorry, that was a little off topic there! But I totally understand, as I don't want to get into that spiritual arguement either. But, yeah, PHYSICAL immortality is non sense. Some people are just a bit tooo outta touch with reality. It's good to keep an open mind and hear other peoples views though.

well i feel that all u need to be deamed a vamp is to feed off others in some way

Ok, I'm going to try to put into this all that comes to mind on this topic...and I hope I remember to say all I was thinking....

First off, I should think, there is a GREAT deal of difference between people who live delusionally, off the fictional Hollywood type of vamp, including the nutcase serial killers or murderers (like that guy from the Vampire Clan movie), and those who live not the 'lifestyle' but the life. To say 'lifestyle' is to IMHO, say you dress up the part only on occasion, and feel the need to have all the accessories that go with it , ie fangs, the seriously overdone goth look, etc. Those who live the life as vamp, will be often the first to want to clearly define that they are NOT lifestylers.....as in the Community, Lifestylers are those who RPG and get the fact vs. the fiction twisted.

I myself am goth, but not insanely so...If I want to dress up in hair falls, big boots, and corsets, I do, to look stunning, but more often you would find me in basic black, or jeans, with no makeup...however, that is another topic, one where you would debate how goth is goth, or what is goth. I don't wear fangs, I don't run around acting like some overly dramatic nitwit who tries to get attention, as I would rather not be noticed, since most times that means I am talked shit about, feared, or misunderstood, without anyone trying remotely to get to know ME.

There are a great many vampires/vampyres, since that word is just semantics, who live like normal people- lawyers, nurses, soccer moms, professionals, and then the alternative sides....you cannot pin down a general descriptive. Those who live in reality are not Hollwood types, they are not immortal, tho one could then debate that immortality is in fact of the soul and not the physical body. Death comes to everyone, sooner or later....any sane vampire would never claim the opposite. Real vampires will be the first to try to educate you that the Hollywood ideal of a vampire is complete bullshite.

The types of vampire differ, and who is anyone to claim that how others feed is wrong or not, unless you walk in their shoes, I should think it hearsay to judge. If you were to deeply look at the energy of psi-feeding and the energy of sang feeding, you would see the one fundamental similarity - prana, energy, period......both methods have dangers, both have benefits, but yes, feeding via blood is moreso dangerous, that is why any responsible vamp or donor would be tested, regularly, perform their method as safe and clean as possible, and build trust..an idea which is not so far fetched as some might argue. The reasons vamps need to feed vary- from weakening immune systems, to bitchyness, sleepiness, and more...they do exist. Garlic's myth is also bs, as in fact garlic helps clean the blood and promote it to run healthily thru the body. Sunlight can drain but that is not the case for all. Many real vamps have been as they are their entire lives, or had the symptoms their whole life but 'awakened' to it at a later age.

One could argue that all people are psi-vamps, since as a species, we leech off the planet...we take, and give less freely on the whole...but some of us are just aware, accepting and seek to remedy our ills....

The one thing that majorly pisses me off when I get compared to a Hollywood vamp, is that so many people are just plain ignorant and stupid...and could care less to stop dreaming and fantasizing about the dramatic bs....and learn about the real facts.

Yes, all people need the energy of others, well almost all, some are very solitary/reclusive but for the most part people need that. And The fact that lifestyle/rpg people are not usually vamps has been established. They play a game. "goth" type people are naturally drawn to the macabre...in this case vampirism. And like I already said, yea, lots of "professional" or business people with careers and families do this, sometimes just as a fun thing, sometimes serious. "Vampires" are as diverse as any other group. Should they get tax exempt status for that?...no. Ack, I hate the word lifestyle. Id like to think that people have lives not a lifestyle but some people wear the lifestyle patch on their sleeve.

Like the rest of you, I have come to the conclusion that Sanguine vampires do not exist. There are simply those who take on the role out of their own decision to act like one. Psychic vampires are a different story.

Of course, to finally conclude that Sanguine vampires don't exist, that would also change our perception on the idea of vampire houses, clans, and the such (if they would remain to exist at all)

I certainly did not say they didn't exist OF COURSE they do, it simply means to drink blood. That can be done, it isn't impossible. But like i said it is more symbolic. And there are fewer genuine sanguines than psys.

to me vampires are the immortal undead ones that i think hollywood has misenterpreted, but i think there actual undead ones that may have existed, and im sure if they did exist then we would never know till the second we were killed by one, there are many secrets from ancient times that were covered up by fear

i have saw this guy don henrie, but never found the television show interesting enough to leave on

well I am a psy and do believe we can be called vampires as we can drain people til they do become tired weak or whatnot........

I'm a little confused about the whole thing really...If you drink blood and thats what you do...Then are you not real?

you know what i'm only going to say this once THEY EXIST and if you don't beleive it then think about this 1 they haven'tfound any proof saying that they don't exist and they HAVE found some things that suggest they do exist or have existed

I can't imagine that anyone is truly immortal but I would believe that there are those out there (vampire or not) who have longer lifespans than usual.

hey Athos, they haven't ever found PROOF that unicorns don't exist either, and yet since historical tapestries have often been used as a historical record then perhaps they are around too...this is the poorest concept of scientific investigation i have ever heard of....

as to immortality:I honestly don't think most have really thought this one through, to the medieval mindset, and also to many eastern cultures, immortality was most certainly NOT listed as a gift, most cultures consider the idea a curse, watching everything you knew in life die and fade away, watching all the great works of your race fouled and eaten by time...really think on it

wow, yea " 1 they haven'tfound any proof saying that they don't exist"....that is about the worst reason ive heard so far. Most of us are aware that they exist, so chill out. That is not the way the proof system works.

There are several members here that also are members of Don's website, myself included. The guy's OK and there are some great articles that you can read to further your interests. Don't let the TV and Hollywood mislead you.

for the most part i say it is just a lifestlye however, there are those who take it to far.

Being a Vampire, Witch, Lycan, exc... is a way of life for some its by choice for others its instinct. such as myself my parents kept me away from the knoledge of vampires, lycans, witches, exc.. because i was born wit fangs and a tail which were saddly removed. however around the age of five i found that my sences were not like all the kids around me. My eyes were too keen my sence of smell enhanced somehow my hearing was to say the least becomming a major headache and when i was almost 6 i started to smell the bllod of those around be and for some odd reason i would always want to taste it. i started to hear the heart beats of those close to me and could tell when they were getting scared. I was susspended many time for biting kids till they bled and then drinking the blood one time ended me up in a phychiatrists office and after explaining to me what vampires, lycans (werewolves they called it), and witches exc.. were i realized that even though my parents kept me from the truth i relized then that i was not only no where near what they would call a normal child but i was a true vampire in the making some might say im weird some might say im lieing however i beleave it to be true. I have been hit by a car a truck a bus and a jeep ive been shot 3 times and stabbed 7 time and however i have never broken a bone and i have never died (obviously).so if you with to beleave that vampires witches and lycans exc are not real then it is up to you however as for me i have always and will always beleave. If you wish to ask any question message me and i will be more then happy to explain in fuller detail.

Shadow

Desist from cutting and pasting the SAME post in multiple threads, or you will be reported to Admin for abuse of the forum.

~sahahria

being a witch is way differnet. That my just be the fact that im a wiccan but i beleive that my majick works and so does the rest of my coven so...

I think if that guy was a real vampire he wouldn't be exposing his identity so easily.

if that dude was a vampire he wouldn't be on tv telling everyone i would i have friends that are vampires but im no vampire

Don was and is a very controversial person.....it was his choice to be on tv...and as much as ppl wanted to discount his actions, he did in fact do quite a bit that was real, usual things real vamps would do...altho, IMHO, I think he beefed up the drama for tv.
Alot of ppl who didn't like him talked to him, and learned he wasn't as bad. Me, I'm not sure how I feel about him, not how he was portrayed.

BTW, just cause someone speaks up or out about being themselves doesn't make them fake or bad.....most vamps don't believe in all the 'rules' other lay down for us, and since we aren't hollywood myths....the only danger in speaking out is some crazy nutcase trying to act like a VanHelsing 'slayer' showing up...quickly remedied by a straitjacket and the cops.

has anyone actually ever seen a vampire?

Who are any of us to really judge whether someone is a vampire or not? It means different things to different people. The important thing is to feel comfortable in yourself, be you vamp, witch, lycan or whatever.

No, I dont think Don's all fake. He's just a really interesting person or vampire to me! However you wanna think of it. How many people who claim to be vampires would actually appear on television? That shows right there that he's not ashamed to admit what he believes in and presents himself as. Obviously he's not as fake as you pertray him to be. The one's who are possibly the most fake are some of the people on this website..not to critize anyone by the way, just stating my opinion.

However, I believe the show appears on Halloween night if anyone has tivo and wants to record it or something..then you can start saying whether or not Don is fake, but just don't judge till you see.

hehe i'd be far likelier to believe Don is real than that konstantinos has a clue about ANYTHING
lol
I am still a skeptic however on the guy claiming to have been shot /stabbed/run over multiply...
seems to me it just makes him unlucky in the extreme

My opinion is it all started back in midevel times. Real vampirism is ones own opinion of it.. Psy vampires are ones believed to tap into the mind like it has already been said. They do exist on there own level of belief...Immortalism....I'm still waiting to see.

I say i'm immortal....til something proves otherwise...hehe

RavenEyes


what ever happened to pride. It was his choice who is to say he is a fake for being out of the coffin.

ya i have seen a vampire and fought one to its not pretty im half vampyre and half lycan

Was there not also coverage of the Highgate Vampire case on the programme with photographic evidence from a research society's archive?

That was a real vampire.

Don Henrie is a poser. He lives in Vegas, my wife knows who he is and has met him and hung out with him on many occassions. He is more into it as a life style, not as the real condition.

He is a good guy though, probably fun to hang out with, yet, when it comes down to the real condition, he is fake.

- Sin

Oh forgot to add

The condition is real, yet its not as common as many believe it is. Most of the time its just people who are trying to find a place in society while others just want to be something different then 'normal.'

There is nothing glorious about the condition, nothing majorly special about it.

- Sin

sorry to burst every1's bubbles vampires derive from Romanias Vlad Tepes (AKA Vlad the Impaler). Who used to impale his defeated foes onto pikes, creating a forest of impaled men. To which he followed by sitting at a table dipping his bread in bowls of the victims blood. This is where the name Dracula also comes from as this was his actual name. Named after his father who was murdered along with his brother.

Vampires also have roots to Elizabeth Bathori who bathed in the blood of virgins as she believed it would keep her youth. But when bathing in the blood of somebody of status she was found out and "dealt" with.

If you 'google' vlad tepes/vlad the impaler/Ellizabeth Bathori or the order of the dragon you will find the truth about where vampires come from!

Well, in my opition no one is born as a vampire, but as time goes by the person as he/she is fascinated to vampires, try to pretend that he or she is a vampire. That is my opition, about this subject.

Wait Elizibeth Bathory......... She was an insane aristocrate who liked torturing young woman for fun.

As for Darka' I believe thats how its spelt, if not, sorry, interesting idea.

- Sin

I'm sorry, but eightball, you say you're half vampyre and half lycan? Have you been watching too much Underworld or are you really that delusional?

And lloyd69, that was pretty interesting, I'll have to check that out.

oh, and scionofrequiem, had to point out that you also made a good point, as I'm sure people do the actual 'look' of the vampire for extra attention... and also of course, your truthful responses so to say heh

Most welcome, I try to give what information I have out for others to have fun with.

What I'm here for.

- Sin

as long as wer all ok with each others way of life and are happy as us who is it to put a label on ppl

O.o I didn't realize that Don Henrie was the Don from mad mad house! *drools* he's up there on my list with Criss Angel for yumminess...but anyways....

It is interesting that they did a show trying to discover if we're real. All they'd have to do is come on here and talk to us...lol. I don't know that vampires as we know them in literature (undead, bloodsucking killers) are real...but I am a vampire, and I am real...so...I don't know. lol

LOL, actually I was on tv once, National Geographic, about real vampires...

and I don't dress for attention, and I've been me, vamp, for longer than most of the people on here have even been alive, or at least, before interent sites like this existed...not a judgement or a put down or anything, simply stating it. Simple thing is this site exists for many types of people- those who love and believe int he myth, those who believe in the truth, those who come here just to be an ass, those who live a lifestyle, those who are real vamps or other Kin, those who RPG and can't get out of fantasy, and those who are just not sure, or are angry, or are confrontational.....I think it's best to get to know a person one on one rather than bs and belittle on forums..but that's just me.

First of all it is not the body of a vampire I believe to be immortal but the essence or soul if you will. Anyone can claim to be a vampire and have fangs made ,drink blood, and only run arround at night . That does noet make them one . A vampire can draw emotion and life from someone without even so much as a touch. And that is just one of the gifts they posess.

I've never been on tv, the closest you'll ever see me giving information out upon the condition is through the internet.

I have a couple of reasons for this, one, I like my life how it is, TV only makes things harder, not to mention, my career frowns on it.

Yet, if any of you were to see me in real, you will notice something, I don't dress in the lifestyle decore of what all the other "Trendy" vampyres/vampires, wear.

Blue jeans and a t shirt works for me. something simple, something that gives me the ability to blend in and not really be noticed.

The condition is not something very... romantic or a turn on. Its just like having a type of rare desies or something. yeah, it might have its benifits, yet it has its weaknesses too and those are more turn offs then turn ons.

- Sin

The Hollywood interpretation of vampires is patently false, in this modern day we would have heard of anything remotely like that had it happened in real life, perhaps the whole idea of vampires was made up to explain some inexplicable event hundreds of years ago.

For one thing the original idea of a vampire was of a rotting zombie like creature that rose of a night to attack the living, it was only after Hollywood got hold of the idea that it became as romantisised and attractive a prospect as it does today.

Immortal life, beautiful, free from disease, and perhaps that is what has given rise to the culture it has today, perhaps there were actually creatures of that nature, perhaps there still are, the only problem is, we will probably never know for sure.

scionofrequiem

He lives in san diego, so i dont know where you got that from.

And I might add, I am no advocate for him, I do not know him. But there were plenty of people that channel talked to objectively who said that after talking to him, they felt that he was the real deal. I really don't think anyone has the right to jump on someones back because they got the amazing opportunity to go on tv and make a name for themselves. It comes down to personal choice, he did the right thing for him. What is good for one bird isn't always good for the flock. And if he did capitalize off of it...more power to him.

In actuality, there are such things as real vampires. They’re just not what we think. Real vampires are simply people who have slightly different perspectives to the day to day activities of everyone else. A real vampire is a person borne with an extraordinary capacity to absorb, channel, transform and manipulate “ prunic energy” or life force. Real vampires do not necessary drink blood- in fact, most of them do not. There are a number of symptoms of vampirism, but it is important to realize that some of them are found in ordinary human behavior. Real vampires are identifiable partly because they have a majority of the symptoms instead of one or two. Physically, vampire are normally “night people” on a biochemical level. They have inverted circadian rythms, with body cycles such as temperature peaks, menstrul onset, and the production of sleep hormones in the brain occuring at the opposit time of day from most people. They havr trouble adjusting to daytime schedules and frequently work nights. They tend to be photosensitive, avoidign sunlight, sunburning easily and having excellent night vision. Contrary to the image of the vampire as thin, many real vampires are troubled with obesity because of a hunger that makes them food addicts. Vampires are usually loners, partly because they feel so different from those around them. True vampires are borne the way the are-- no one can be “turned” into a vampire. It has been scientificly proven that the people known as real vampires suffer from a hereditary blood disease known as porphyria that has the symptoms remarkably similar to the classic vampiric traits. Some people (like me)who suffer from this disease are anemic.(I am slightly anemic) They also are either moderatly of severly sensitive to sunlight.(I am a little more than moderatly sensitive.)

Do you know how I know this? I suffer from porphyria.... so... I like to know about it.....

By: gothofashes

"Real vampires do not necessary drink blood- in fact, most of them do not."

I can tell you right now that most everyone here knows that fully, but interesting none the less.

And gothofashes, here is something for you on porphyria.

"Vampires and werewolves
Porphyria has been suggested as an explanation for the origin of vampire and werewolf legends, based upon a number of similarities between the condition and the folklore that was first speculated upon by biochemist David Dolphin in 1985. His ruminations gave rise to a popular urban legend which accepts this association as factual, though it is historically and factually baseless. Porphyria cutanea tarda presents clinically as a pathological sensitivity of skin exposed to light causing scarring, hair growth and disfiguration. Additionally, it was believed that the patients' missing heme could be absorbed through the stomach, correlating with the legends' hematophagy.[8]

Porphyrias have been detected in all races, multiple ethnic groups on every continent including Caucasians, Asians, Blacks, Peruvian/Mexican Hispanics, Native Americans, Laplanders and Australian aborigines. There are high incidence reports of AIP in areas of India and Scandinavia and over 200 genetic variants of AIP, some of which are specific to families, although some strains have proven to be repeated mutations.

The Scandinavian source of porphyria has been traced to the Sámi ethnic group. Their language, as well as the languages of Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Transylvania, and Romania have ties to languages in small groups of Russians on both sides of the Urals and are branches of Uralic languages and Altaic languages (the Finno-Ugric Languages).

The links between porphyrias and mental illness have been noted for decades. In the early 1950's patients with porphyrias (at that time cometimes called "Porphyric Hemophilia"[9]) and severe symptoms of depression or catatonia were treated with electroshock."

There is no factual bases for anything supernatural about your condition.

LLoyd69....
we all know of Vlad Tsepes, prince of Wallachia also known as Dracula(translation "son of the dragon) vlad the first his father being vlad Dracul or (the dragon)
but nowhere in the histories associated with him does it claim he was the first vampire, that is entirely pulled from bram stokers fictional writings as many vampire legends predate these particular players by many centuries

I did an in depth report on his life/death/and doings in high school
so I spent quite a while in research, actually he is a distant relative of Lady Bathory, Vlad I mean...

Now that's an odd eerie coincidence isn't it.

AntiEveryone

My wife has pictures with him at at the local goth club out there. Unless he comes out to Vegas to visit, which could be the case, yet I know my wife met him personally.

- Sin

mmkay well he lives in san diego.

i think the only thing that matters is if You believe iwe "Vampires" are real..and if so.. then why question Your own belife

I di not get to see it and it sounds very interesting. I'm not to sure what to believe on this one. I think that people could live the lifestyle without really being a vampire if they are really into them. I dont think people are born with fangs and what not, but anything is possible now.

I guess you can be a vampire if you truly believeyou are.

i belive in them

i belive thier is real vampires just like thier is real people

its all up to personal beleif, i drink blood but i dont nessicarilly consider myself a "real vampire".

i believe in them. and also that people choose to live that life style.

This discussion needs to get back to what the original poster asked. Please articulate why you think what you do, form a discussion.

.....You drink blood? Sure that wasn't tomato juice your friend put in front of you the night you got wasted?

LOL oooh man, that was funny! I don't really see this thread going anywhere anymore, most of these people are just pissin me off.

i am a real vampire, i am lestat , not the fictional character that you have come to love, but i am the one tha huants your dreams the one tha hides in shadows waiting for you to walk by so i may feast

Exactly my point...*sigh* I don't know if there's any hope.

I find it curious that the focus by those posting has only been on the counterfeit "vampyres" (aka vampiroids) in the programme and not cases of suspected real vampires and actual real vampires also included, eg the recent Transylvanian "exorcism" and the Highgate exorcism in England last century.

Of course I'm a real vampire, babe ;)

And lloyd69 is correct. Vlad The Impaler. Great man, depending on how you look at it.

It is also my belief that the more sophisticated 'vampires' of old were simply 18th century eccentrics with (then) obscure sexual fetishes.

Anyone who actually, ACTUALLY believes vampires are real are just delusional.

My vote sits with Tragic on this one....this thread reached critical saturation....and is now filled with drips......

Real vampires will be the first to try to tell you that the Hollywood ideal of a vampire is rubbish don't believe it image does not = vampire

^ Well then, what is a 'real' vampire?

I also believe there was most possibly ONCE an existence of vampires. The way society is now days, I think the vampires would be damn glad they're not around us! Or they just do a damn good job at hiding. Other than that, everyone who truely believes they are vampires should get their mental health checked!

You think there were once vampires? How so? Do you believe they were a species which were wiped out? Do you believe they were as we think of them today, as close to humanity in bipedal mechanism?

Do you think vampire bats have something to do with it?

Also, your theory on psychic vampirism, which isn't really vampirism I think because it doesn't involve blood, is this born out of personal experience?

lol, well I'll try to answer your questions accordingly officer..that is if I even remember half of them! I guess I believe there was some sort of existence to them, as for all the stories (not the crap that goes around now days) I've never really read too much on them cause it gets boring to me after a while, as I like to have my own opinions on them. Bats...Im not so sure if that coulda formed vampires, I think thats all in the fiction section. oh, and you do have a point with psychic vampires, but just because you dont "drink blood" doesnt necesarily mean you're not a psy vamp. I guess you could say I'm good at manipulating peoples moods to help shift mine, thats all I can say about that without seeming like Im bragging or offending anyone elses views on it!

Oh that's not psychic! That's just good communication. However, I'm sure you have niches to it which I don't understand... yet.

I've had a quick search for the definition of 'vampirism' to see if it clearly involves blood... but it generally just means exploitation. Which isn't very nice, but true I suppose.

What do you think psychic vampire means? It's taking energy from others for your own good, or vice versa. At least, from what I heard. Maybe you should look that one up!

Ahh screw it, what does it matter to me? You're a thousand miles away!

*dons tinfoil hat*

Tales of the dead craving blood are ancient in nearly every culture around the world. Vampire-like spirits called the Lilu are mentioned in early Babylonian demonology, and the bloodsucking Akhkharu even earlier in the Sumerian mythology. These female demons were said to roam during the hours of darkness, hunting and killing newborn babies and pregnant women. One of these demons, named Lilitu, was later adapted into Jewish demonology as Lilith. Lilitu/Lilith is sometimes called the mother of all vampires.

The Ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in one myth became full of blood lust after slaughtering humans and was only sated after drinking alcohol colored as blood.

In early Slavic folklore, a vampire drank blood, was afraid of (but could not be killed by) silver and could be destroyed by cutting off its head or by driving a wooden stake into its heart.

Medieval historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded the earliest English stories of vampires in the 12th century.

During the 18th century there was a major vampire scare in Eastern Europe. Even government officials frequently got dragged into the hunting and staking of vampires.

The word vampire only came into the English language in 1732 via an English translation of a German report of the much-publicized Arnold Paole vampire staking in Serbia.

It all started with an outbreak of alleged vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1725 to 1734. Two famous cases involved Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole. As the story goes, Plogojowitz died at the age of 62, but came back a couple of times after his death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the next day. Soon Plogojowitz returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood.

In the other famous case, Arnold Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who had allegedly been attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying. After his death, people began to die, and it was believed by everyone that Paole had returned to prey on the neighbours.

These two incidents were extremely well documented. Government officials examined the cases and the bodies, wrote them up in reports, and books were published afterwards of the Paole case and distributed around Europe. The controversy raged for a generation. The problem was exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-claimed vampire attacks, with locals digging up bodies. Many scholars said vampires did not exist, and attributed reports to premature burial, or rabies. Nonetheless, Dom Augustine Calmet, a well-respected French theologian and scholar, put together a carefully thought out treatise in 1746 in which he claimed vampires did exist. This had considerable influence on other scholars at the time.

Eventually, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician to investigate. He concluded that vampires do not exist, and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies. This was the end of the vampire epidemics. By then, though, many knew about vampires, and soon authors would adopt and adapt the concept of vampire, making it known to the general public.

The vampire was usually first noticed when it attacked family and livestock, or threw things around in the house. Vampires, along with witches, were believed to be most active on the Eve of St George's Day (April 22 Julian, May 4 Gregorian calendar), the night when all forms of evil were supposed to be abroad. St George's Day is still celebrated in England and Europe.

A vampire in the grave could be discovered by holes in the earth. Active vampires were found by distributing garlic and seeing who did not eat it.

Graves were often opened three years after death of a child, five years after the death of a young person, or seven years after the death of an adult to check for vampirism.

The only thing we seem to be victim of is misrepresentation; something almost to be expected when dealing with the metaphysical - an arcane area which is impossible to prove or disprove, proclaim or disclaim about as though one's word is absolute.

Only a fool investigates the supernatural with it already fixed in his mind that such things as vampires do not exist.

Those who investigate with an open mind and discover unearthly things will obviously thereafter hold a belief, but not one they could hope to convince others about. So why try?

We should, at least, try and be tolerant of what we do not comprehend others have experienced and what they have come to know through their experience.

Trilogy

people have contorted what a vampire is, the meaning. So in that case they DO exist. It all depends. I myself believe vampirism can exist in mental disorders/conditions. But the traditional Hollywood bullshit is non existent. NO one is physically immortal, no one can turn into a bat and no one will DIE without ingesting energy/blood. Some just grow very...uncomfortable. And if it is all in the mind?? ....what more powerful thing is there than the human mind and what exists within it. Certainly not physical manifestations and fangs.

Yes I saw that episode. It was quite interesting. I also agree with you tragic beauty.

i grew up with sharp canines but nothing grew down, curling sharp enough to slice through skin...if added pressure they can penetrate skin...but fangs alone are not what makes a vampire...it's the mind

Firstly ALL humans have canines, some of us just grind them down through eating, sleeping or reading the forums here.

As for the show, sadly I do not have TV... but did go to the web sites. I will say that I think the man in question does follow a rather glamorous Vampire lifestyle, hot goth girlfriend, cool myspace and personal web sites... tv show... Do I think that it is real?

To the people that he uses, I think it is very real. As for the ethereal version of vampirism that some practice, I do not think he is one of those. Much more of a what you see is what you get kind of vampire. Unlike AntiEveryone I do not think it is only a mental condition, but something that people can train themselves to do, both in the manner of craving blood and taking energy.

So they are very real, for some it depends on you-if they are effectual or not... others are true predators.

AntiEveryone

I suppose, after all that I've seen here, you are correct. A simple (although distasteful) real-life version of a vampire would be a con-man, I suppose.

A dole-bludger (welfare-abuser), a bum, a leech on society.

Once again, that doesn't bode well, does it?

Argh... the morning, where my head doesn't work and I smell like bed.

There is no doubt what a real vampire is. There is only doubt in most people's mind as to the existence of such phenomena.

Webster's International Dictionary, for example, defines a vampire as "a blood-sucking ghost or re-animated body of a dead person believed to come back from the grave and wander about the night sucking the blood of living persons asleep causing their death."

Any other claim to the noun "vampire" is a sham. People tend to employ the term as an adjective, eg vampire bat, but such use is a million light years from the real thing - just as human beings who have a blood fetish and try to emulate cinematic depictions are nothing like a real vampire.

The driving force of a real vampire is demonic, not human. It masquerades as a living person. The corporeal shell it occupies and transmutes is merely the host for something from a nether region.

Real vampires do exist, but they owe no connection to people who call themselves "sanguinarians", "psi-vampyres", listen to depressing music and subscribe to vampiroid subculture.

I speak as someone who was on the team that first made discovery of a real vampire at Highgate Cemetery, England.

http://www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Highgate%20Vampire%20Society.htm

^ Can you give me a quick summary of this 'discovery' of yours, and why you believe it to be a vampire?

Vampirologist, just because websters dictionary gives a meaning for a term doesn't mean that it cannot have other meanings, websters after all changes it's terminologies all the time, which is why mcjob and bling are actualy english language words now.
"If" in fact you were on the highgate research team then you probably know much about the subject, but knowing about one facet doesn't make one the only authority, many here feel the common definition of vampire is sorely outdated, The most commonly understood terming IS a possessed body, this is not in question, but why can that be the only possible definition?

You will find all English dictionaries will confirm the definition I have offered to be an accurate one. The Oxford Dictionary, for example, describes the vampire as "a ghost that leaves his grave at night and sucks the blood of sleeping persons." Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary defines a vampire as "an accursed body which cannot rest in the kindly earth, but nightly leaves its grave to suck the blood of sleeping men." Witney's Century Dictionary informs us that a vampire is "a kind of spectral body which, according to a superstition existing among the Slavic and other races on the lower Danube, leaves the grave during the night and maintains a semblance of life by sucking the warm blood of living men and women while they sleep." Need I go on?

The word "vampire" is not slang and has not altered in meaning since its introduction into the English language from Eastern Europe centuries ago.

The best chronicled case in which I played some part as a team investigator where a real vampire was witnesed and eventually successfully exorcised is recounted in a book and also on a double CD which includes archive witness interviews. Both book and CD may be obtained direct from the publisher at:

www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Highgate%20Vampire%20Book.htm

www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/CD.htm

There is also a DVD which includes some coverage of the case with archive footage. The DVD is titled True Horror: Vampires. Information can be found at:

http://mymovies.imdb.com/title/tt0435997/

HMMM so some of you have concluded that your real vampires because ..... what ? Hands up everyone thats undead...your not so put those hands down and off to the doctors with you ! You can be or call yourself anything you want and thats fine but your not imortal, you cant change into anything and 90% of you dont kill people (to that 10% I always thought of you as a warm kind hearted groupe of individuals who should be cherished and welcomed into our lives)
I guess Vampires feed off others in any way they can which makes the IRS the daddy of em all

"You can be or call yourself anything you want and that's fine but your not imortal, you cant"

Read everything before posting. I don't know ANYONE here who believes in physical immortality. Vampires has been contorted, it is not the same as it once was.


Vampirologist

"You will find all English dictionaries will confirm the definition I have offered to be an accurate one. The Oxford Dictionary, for example, describes the vampire as "a ghost that leaves his grave at night and sucks the blood of sleeping persons."

Do you or don't you understand what was said. Meanings in the dictionary are CONSTANTLY changed, words that are in my opinion butchery of the English language are added. People need to drop all preconceived notions and drop what they find in ANY dictionary in terms of relying on all that they say. What is found in a dictionary does not accurately portray/explain life, and many things in it. Just because it has a certain ideology does not mean everyone does. People have different more MODERN interpretations. The dictionary is not going to bother to change something that isnt important to most people. But if there are enought people (and there are) a definition can be changed.

This thread has been automatically closed for length.