The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I can only speak for myself - I cannot tolerate the sun... Not in all reality. I’ve considered that maybe one day I will be able to... I don’t completely understand how it works: the science behind my inability to coexist with the sun and light, it remains a mystery to me, and in vampire culture, both are a powerful influence in a vampire’s life. Myth, Culture, Nature, and the common characteristics that vampires harbor provide insight to this.

I don’t know anything about “Hollywood” vampires. Is there a link or any information which you have on-hand that would enlighten a visitor to this forum?

Yes, although the data is stretched over a very long period of time and subject to constant change; the information here is at least a good starting point to those that are not familiar with "Hollywood" vampires. It is a table that compares and contrasts lore from various sources.

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

Some highlights from the chart include:
European Folklore: Skin:Ruddy or dark Fangs:Yes Reflection: Varies Shadow:Varies Appearance: Varies; historically, bloated corpses were mistaken for vampires

Twilight (2005): Skin:Pale, harder than diamonds, sparkles in sunlight Fangs:No, their teeth are sharp and serrated and coated in venom, but not pointed Reflection:Yes Film:Yes shadow:Yes Appearance: Usually alluring, inhumanly beautiful Dead?: Corpses can attempt to reconstruct themselves, unless burnt to ash.

Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and Twilight is a fictional story about vampires. As far as your beliefs, those are yours, and not anyone else’s - people are free to hold beliefs about any number of things and given the imaginings of the mind, those beliefs may be numerous and highly “fantastical”. Scholarly evidence of vampires, however, within the establishment, and according to reliable sources (.edu, .gov, Universities, Historians, Scientists, Psychologists, Doctors, and other information from within that same scholarly establishment; encylopedias, historical accounts which are accurate, authentic documents and archaeological findings from sites) are all logical references to whatever “real” vampires may exist. In the past 30 years there has been much research into vampirism, a subject which has received attention from the multitudes. Vampire subculture has been explored by those in the field of social science. If you were to rely on folklore as evidence for vampires, factually, you would be incorrect. Folklore, in and of itself, is not fact. The fact that there’s been superstition, epidemics, stories and people who claim to either be vampires or in contact/involved with vampires is something of a re-occurance in history.

In academics there are two definitions of the vampire which could possibly be connected to Hollywood.

a
: one who lives by preying on others
b
: a woman who exploits and ruins her lover
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vampire)

I would imagine one would have to know every detail of the persons life, though, and a psychologist or psychiatrist would have to 1. Address their problem and upon payment, attempt to help them, first. 2. Diagnose them or document these qualities of the said “vampire”. Finally, for it to be a historical fact, there would have to be 3. Some establishing of the fact that they were a vampire, which holds up in the system.

I’m not sure that psychologists or psychiatrists do this. Outside of this possibility, there is Clinical Vampirism - described as a rare clinical entity (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/6823646/), and one more that surfaces in my mind is a Psychological Vampire, which I was once informed about by a doctor. I don’t have a link for that one though, I’m sorry. One last reference to real vampires is the vast majority of people who claim to be, and live as vampires; sanguine, psi, etc.

I would refer to https://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk if you want to know more about the sun as a power figure in the origins of vampire culture. From my understanding these god’s which were revered by ancient Egyptian culture were more like demons unearthed, and only a very shallow example of the expansive vampiric existence. Beyond this, I read about many power figures who were also connected to the light and/or the sun, throughout my research of 12 years. I would also recommend not getting too involved with any vampire which you learn about from these sources as they are rarely “human” and do not interact well with people or even their own kind, there is some historical information about that within their timeline.

My thoughts on the idea of “sparkly vampires” is that Nordic Whites, Pleiades and Grey Aliens have more of a place in any rumored events than a fictional teen romance. Even the websites full of conspiracy theories have more structure in their descriptions of advancement and understanding of space-time. If there was any basis for the Twilight series as a factual reality it would be only the fact that Stephanie Meyer had a vivid dream about a vampire which she thought was very beautiful, fell in love with, and could not stop writing about, the story became very popular and beyond 100 million copies were sold throughout the world. In the 2000’s there is this interesting documented account of a married stay-at-home mother of three children who had dreams about a vampire she could not forget. I suppose it would be the most modern evidence for vampire folklore but it is the singular fact, not the novels, which could be used in research papers - citing vampires and psychology in the same context. I’m not a psychologist, folklorist, or historian, I simply would assume that is how it would be used.

I don’t think I would have moral rights in judging anyone for believing that Twilight vampires exist. For as long as there has been evidence of a bipedal species, there has been evidence of culture or belief. Witches, Vampires, Familiar Spirits, Ghosts and the Dead who return in some seemingly physical form are all documented in history. In this modern day many live with certain beliefs. Some may think they are crazy while another knows nothing else. I personally cannot identify with Twilight as being one of them in my life, but I would imagine each unique thought people have is as foreign to one as it is normalcy for another.

The ability to “dreamwalk” is actually a very common vampiric ability, possibly even a foundational one on the list of every vampire’s skill. Among us, there are thousands of people with abilities and secrets, I don’t think it’s so far-fetched that a vampire could place a dream for the Twilight Series easily. The Twilight series itself, though is a saga, and the genre is young adult fiction, it simply is in no way source material.

I agree almost completely with your post thecrucible.

Wikipedia is not a reliable source, agreed, however not all the information found there is false. The information listed on that page once verified could be used for the purpose to demonstrate how vampire folk lore has evolved from the word of mouth to motion pictures.

The term "Hollywood vampire" is intended to be used to describe all vampires of fiction. Twilight vampires are just one example of many fictional vampires, agreed.

"In academics there are two definitions of the vampire which could possibly be connected to Hollywood.

a
: one who lives by preying on others
b
: a woman who exploits and ruins her lover
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vampire)"

I believe this actually describes "mundane vampires" rather than a "Hollywood vampire", although there are many examples of fictional characters that could be described as "mundane vampires". Psychologist or psychiatrist could absolutely diagnose a person as a vampire in this way, agreed.

"Clinical Vampirism", "Psychological Vampire", and live as vampires; sanguine, psi, etc." I am aware of all of these vampires but would like to hear about how these vampires react to sunlight. First hand would be best of course.

I will definitely check out your source of "https://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk" the god Set comes to mind.

I like your thoughts on the source for sparkly vampires being that they may have come from either a different type of creature or a vampire in a dream. This is the first logical explanation I have heard and would love to look into it further.

Thank you for your informative response. I will definitely do further research and post my findings here.

Ra is a powerful pagan aspect god, and a vampire himself. Everyone is affected differently by him. I’ll state this once more, as I feel it is a serious matter: I would avoid summoning the aspects or communicating with them... Generally, a simple glance into an author’s work is safe - if you’re already stuck in this field of research - beyond that, though, they’re known to be violent and incomprehensible to the human mind. Not all vampires are like this, in my experience. The majority of vampires do not have a violent bone in their body, originally. There is a lot of mystery which surrounds these otherworldly beings which I mentioned at the start of this post.

It’s possible some elemental vampires thrive in the sun. I’m aware that Sun vampires exist, although I don’t have advanced knowledge of them, nor do I have reliable sources or evidence, I simply see what I note as obvious in the community.

Of all of the types, psi is the one I know the least about -

> psi vampires seem to be sensitive to the sun, more or less, and it seems this tolerance and sensitivity changes and moves through the population of psi/energy vampires daily - while one vampire who is a psi is in the center of the city where I live, and is beginning to experience sensitivity to the daylight, the other who is a few blocks down the street has suddenly lost their sensitivity and feels fine being submerged in sunlight.

A lot of sanguinarians mention “flinching” under the light, it shocks or stuns them. “... as I am writing this, at 12:52 am, my hands and the side of my face are catching the beginning flames, even though it is dark out”, that is a reasonable example of a collision with the sun. In contrast to this, I’ve spent 10-20 hours straight in the sunlight and only felt more alive by absorbing it. I’ve encountered a few Sanguinarians who have reiterated some intense reactions to light also. In short, I’m a transformative vampire and it varies.

I’ve accepted that anything could happen to me.

I’ll add, finally, that everything in the above post is from my personal observation.


I hope this information has been valuable to you in some way, and feel free to ask me anything else you want to know. I don’t know everything, and I still have a million unanswered questions myself. I will attempt to inform the public with accurate information while I am still here. Good luck with the rest! I myself am looking forward to seeing some other responses.

It’s just a medical condition for me. because I didn’t have any sunlight whatsoever for years.

Not sure about the theory about the subject but this is just me

Simply put, and let's face it... Vampires have never been portrayed as a being of "God". If you call yourself a Vampire, it undeniably means that you are an abomination. Something, a creature, of the dark.

Ra is the epitome of goodness, wholeness and purity.

The dark, bereft of the light, is the exact anti-thesis of everything good, whole, and pure. Simple as that.

the crucible has made some really awesome explanation. :)

Vampires can’t stand sunlight is a metaphor. Just as Christ was the "LIGHT OF LIFE AND SALVATION", Dracula and his vampire are the "Purveyors of Darkness and Death and Damnation". In Bram Stocker's Dracula sunlight limits the Count's powers, but it doesn't kill the creature. In Polidori's The Vampyre, Ruthven is walking in Rome. In LeFanu's Carmilla, Carmilla is happily jogging in plain day. And Dracula is seen in plain day in London. But Dracula's version of Murnau Nosferatu clearly depicts the death of Orlok by sun. This is the sing of the cock which is implied killing him.

Vampires are hardly the only creatures that cannot stand sunlight; it is a common attribute among mystical creatures that they only appear at night, and that some of them die in sunlight (we can take as examples Grendel of Beowulf, and the Chinese jiangshi, a creature that originally was a reanimated corpse that died when exposed to sunlight, but has acquired more attributes of Western vampires in modern lore).

Folklore tells of the vampire is a dirty, wild, bloated thing, governed by primal urges; they seem more akin to zombies than Count Dracula. The association about sunlight was born with the night seems to have been a feature of the early folklore vampires. In the 19th century there was the boom in which the titular creature is doomed to walk the earth at night and drain the blood of everyone in his family. In stories where vampires were antagonists (more or less monstrous), having them be killed off by something as ordinary as sunlight would easily be seen as anti-climactic; far better to have a showdown with fire or wooden poles.

Vampirism is linked to the actual disease porphyria. Someone with chronic porphyria develops blisters after being out in the sun for a short amount of time. A number of the symptoms of chronic porphyria can be linked to the classic appearance of vampires.

Tristesse, vampires are not an abomination, they are just people which have yet to find a place in a correct science - possibly, correct science does not yet exist. That is what I make of it. It’s more likely that there is confusion about what we really are.

I wouldn’t personally say that Ra is the epitome of good, as he too is a vampire and no different than the rest of a very dark world. I would say that Ra is the most likely to burn someone alive, rape someone, control a person, or assault someone with a knife, out of nowhere, in broad daylight, with seemingly no reason, and is completely inhuman at such times... there is no trace of humanity left in the person when they behave this way. The aspect is generally out of control and manifests in many demonic ways... as far as why I bring it up and list Ra as a powerful aspect god, it has a lot to do with the very same misunderstandings as being out of control... who knows why the individual would behave as such, I think it’s possible that the aspect lacks the ability to control one’s own existence, and that what causes the behavior might not be something others would understand... it simply is not true that he’s any different than any other aspect god, and every single one of them manifests as a demonic form in some way or another, despite what they stand for... as it turns out, the reasons why remain a mystery - if an aspect such as Ka is one symbolic of all that is female, then why does the aspect cause certain things which do not represent “female” or “woman” happen in an environment? I personally think it’s because they aren’t who they are... in a sense they get out of control, somehow, and that is caused by something which no one understands, and ultimately they end up saying or doing what they do not really mean to say or do.

I was trying to portray in my post that those who are in the depths of these cultures, simply live beside one another and learn to deal with that regardless... and that is how I understand the Sun’s affect on vampires... basically, that it is so complex I could not even reiterate to you in human terms how it works.

Dakotah do you have a source about vampirism being linked to porphyria? From my understanding it could be considered to be similar to a lot of things, not just porphyria.

This thread is becoming a battle of the egos, tbh. Each claiming to validate their authority.

What Dakotah mentioned were entirely sweeping statements, not backed up by history, literature or science.

The essence of the educated mind is to be able to entertain that idea without actually believing in it. Gone are the days of good sportsmanship from different intellects (or pseudo intellects), but hey, those were the days.

Boston's Children Hospital: “Vampires” may have been real people with this blood disorder

https://vector.childrenshospital.org/2017/09/gene-protoporphyria-blood-disorder/

Tristesse do not give up on proper intellectual discussions. The point of this thread is to bring that breath of life back to these forums. Albeit some perspectives seem to supersede others the public can pick and choose which perspectives are actually valid and worth reading.

I would like to thank all the respondents here. I know it may seem to the untrained eye that these ideas overlap and counter each other. I see this as a compilation of all sorts. I am reviewing all the information here and plan to make a more informed reply to all I can.

@EstrangedOne lol I really enjoyed your response. Thank you for your personal input and finding the sense of humor that this thread was intending to have. It is so funny how Reality influences culture then culture influences reality... If that makes any sense to anyone but me.

If you believe in vampires, because Hollywood's movies, or any books, then, you will be lost. Vampirism is a way of living. A way to encounter the inside with the outside. Complex topic, for those that believe, but, at the same time, have doubts about their existence.

@vXVampire
My friend, I'm a sick-minded, twisted whatever-the-Hell-you-wanna-call-me. Lol I'm bound to have one Hell of a Heckling sense of humor about things.

Realistically speaking, I've never been able to do well with the sun. Apart from (obviously) turning more red than a lobster, my eyes can't tolerate it, either. Migraines from Hell. But again, the way I see it, anyone who thinks that a real vampire is going to either **sparkle** like they're wearing glitter, or turn into ash like they're in a crematorium... yeah, I think someone really needs their head checked, there (and yes, that includes Stephanie Meyer, for introducing the idea, as absurd as it is).
"Sorry" to any fans of Twilight, but... Lol Not Sorry In The Least.

Now, of course, there are things such as Porphyria, or the Brazilian flesh-eating bacteria, which both do a Hellish number on the body. But unless I'm asked to, I'm not going to get into that one, because despite the similarity in the science, they're still two different beasts, and I'm not quite sure they're applicable in the discussion. Lol

Allow me to bring up a thing or two; Firstly, if one knows anything about Appalachian folk witchcraft -- or conjure-- is the concept of a 'haint'; Namely an evil, angry spirit. The practice of trapping them in blue bottles --painted in a specific blue called "haint blue"-- and tying them to trees so once the sun comes up they'll be destroyed is widespread throughout the Southern U.S.
A similar belief was that of the Sidhe or fairies no longer being allowed to traverse the human realm after sunrise in Irish folklore.

One would like to conclude that as vampires are deemed to be angry, evil, and night dwelling they would succumb to the effects of sunlight and perish. However, that's not correct. Several instances in literature show that the undead can walk about in broad daylight, such as Count Dracula himself.
The invention of death by sunlight was brought about by the 1922 film Nosferatu.

As to the effects it may have on real, living vampires I cannot accurately attest, as I do not fully identify as such--though I prefer to not be in it for personal reasons.

I think that the Sun has a force greater than most to kill a Vampire. I liked the portrayal Count Dracula by Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula- where he can walk in daylight and it does not kill him, only weakens his powers and abilities.

I do not believe that vampires sparkle, nor should they.

Bottom line significance of the sunlight concerning vampires? Beyond psychosomatic responses to belief and obscure conditions related to light sensitivity the vampire being destroyed or weakened by sunlight springs from a dualistic mindset of the cosmos. Putting everything into a polarity between two opposing dynamics alone gives rise to all the superstitions our ancestors thought that explained things to them before the age of science. Because most attribute the day to the time of warmth and light as the time of good and life relatively the opposite would be night the time of coolness of suns absence and no light to see with and death as evil.

Do these antiquated superstitions define the vampire is up to an individual to me and their beliefs. I think being nocturnal is a strong part of being a vampire. Strictly meaning they prefer to hunt at night and are generally suited more for it. Much like the Jasmine is a night blooming flower opposing the norm of most plants in nature so it is the vampire flourishes at night. The majority of nature that reproduces sexually being referred to as an anabolic dynamic to reproduce then there is consequently a catabolic way too with mystery of blood covenants through the fang to sire children. Many aspects of the vampire hunting for blood makes use of sexual fetishes for success which tend to happen at night when people get off work and tend to play. Though the superstitions involving vampires and sunlight are foolish to me the nocturnal ones actually define the meaning to me.

I agree to Dakotah. Sunlight should be considered in symbolic key (respecting that there are vampires who really have tanophia).

In Dracula roman, the vampire cannot bear the Sun so he lives and hunts during the Night. Even he lives in an old castle at Transilvany, where the sun doesn't light not ever during the day. Later he moved into Whitby, UK, a foggy town with no much sun... (let's remember that one of the vampiric powers is that of changing the weather into rain, fog, etc.)

Well, the roman explain it quite good. Sunday (day of the sun) is named in latin origin languages as "Lord day", from latin "Dominus dies": domingo (in Spanish), dimanch (in frenc), domenica (in italian), etc. etc. The sound dm comes from latin Dominus or God.

So, Dracula roman tells us that a vampire is a being condemned to be neither alive nor dead, but in an intermediate state. Therefore, since he is not dead, he cannot benefit from the purification of Purgatory nor, much less, go to Heaven. Maybe that's why Van Hellsing knows that the only way to free the vampire from this intermediate state is to drive a stake through his heart and, pay attention, put a consecrated host in his mouth.

That's what the literature says. Now, most of us real vampires are of the energetic type (vampyres). So the sun does not actually harm us (beyond the discomfort of burns if we do not put on sunscreen).

Personally, and symbolically speaking, however, I like to use vampire motology on an aesthetic level, and avoid the sun, do nightlife, to prefer the winter better than summer, and keep my skin as pale as possible.

Vampires in lore or fables fear light for that is when all is seen. We as people do not know if vampires can walk in the day like blade or fade to ashes. We speculate that good is light so monsters in realms of myth or lore cannot stay or go in the light. Hollywood portrayal of vampires vary from director to to director. So speculation right now is darkness fears the light.

Well, reading this post I immediately think about the tools old vampire hunters used, one being a crucifix, another being Holy water, pretty much anything blessed. The hunters of old fully believed that vampires were damned souls that even Hell didn't want. And the things of and/or representing God were weapons used against them. The Bible says that God is the light, and that darkness is the realm of the devil, because to be in darkness is to be without the Lord. So therefore the glory of God's light could destroy the damned souls of the vampires, as they are not able to handle God's glory. I know this isn't true for every vampire legend, but it definately shows up alot. And as the legends got passed around through the years, they eventually found their way into popular novels, like Dracula, and then into Hollywood.

Apart from Hollywood who redeems to keep changing the sunlight effect of vampires. Myth sways the vampire burns or explodes from sunlight. For only goodness comes with the light and evil fills the darkness. Religious aspects to say. Forget twilight or blade when only Dracula and him could do sunlight. Myths are stories handed down and the truth is embedded in it somehow.