to draggy, the above post, Vlad Dracul, (literally "Vlad the dragon") was not the inspiration of Dracula. he was the FATHER of the inspiration, who was Vlad Dracula Tepes (literally, "Vlad son of the dragon the impaler") and vampires are older then the 19th century. vampire tales have been around since the Mesopotamians, though the term 'vampire' wasn't used until the Slavic 'old religion'. sorry, i guess i'm just a history nerd, but i like to input to conversations like this.
I think there are some psi vampires who exist but, I also think that there are also some mentally deranged people who think they are vampires. There used to be this video on youtube about four or five years ago. I don't know how credible this video is but, there was this girl who was hitchhiking along a road and a man let her into his car. He choked her unconcious and when she woke up he had her chained to a table and was putting Iv's in her arm. He claimed he was a vampire and had to drink blood. Anyway, he kept her chained up in the bathroom in between feedings. So, she managed to escape through an open window and was found by some people. They took her to the hospital and found out she had lost a lot of blood. This is why I say some of these people are mentally deranged. Although, there are also teenagers who want to be vampires. My friend told me last year as creepy as it is, that there are Twilight Cults where people drink blood as they think it should be done in the movie. What I'm wondering is why would people want to drink blood? If it's tomato juice that's one thing and your just messing around pretending to be vampires but, real blood? Extremely gross.
@thearean very good, I would have taken it that far, and even included dates and complete historical notes as I have already done in the past. But truth be told I am personally tired of seeing the same exact thread being recreated only to be re-argued with the same exact results as the 400 before it.
Seems that its being done either because the last person getting the last word in wasn't happy, or someone else wants credited with starting yet another seemingly useless thread.
But I will give you props on your impeccable research skills, I'm glad to see someone learning. :)
What type of deficiency would require the drinking of blood for survival? There's not much special in blood, especially once digested - surely eating meat would serve just as well. I tried to look it up, but the names you give, searched for with Google, result in only this thread. This idea is extremely similar to the porphyria theory of vampirism; are you sure that's not what you're thinking of?
Keeping in mind the myth of vampires came way before Bram Stoker's Dracula. Myths of the undead relying on blood and flesh appears in cultures from across the world and even in Dracula they were portrayed as grotesque creatures doomed to roam the world with this never ending pain.
And so some how this whole cursed, doomed, dark, gothic image of a vampire appeals to strange wannabe and possibly horny teenagers who want to be or want to get laid by a "sexy" fairy. (yer yer get it XD get it my cheesy twilight allusion, like you know that joke where Edward Cullen isn't a vampire, he lives in the forest, doesn't harm humans and sparkles, he's obviously a forest fairy)
ok kind of exaggerated but story of my school life -_- gosh I have to put up with these twilight fan everyday. Ok now I'm rambling
What I'm really trying to say is that myths about vampires has been around for centuriiiessss and all the story differs a little from every culture but same basis of an undead who feeds of blood and flesh. But this myth about vampires was popularized mainly by Stoker's Dracula and many more books and films to come.
Oh, well I too Googled the term and came up with results only to this site forum. Are you sure that this came from someone who was being honest and not just taking you for a ride? lol Sorry, if I seem so lacking on this theory. I believe I covered everything in mythread here:
No Thunor, the guys at the lab were not messing me about. I dont believe they would do such a thing anyway, and what their theory states is quite logical anyway.
I would point out that Dracula is a mingled influence of Vlad, Elizabeth Bathory, and various other myths of the time that revolved around the common cause death being Consumption or TB, which often left blood on the lips of the deceased if they were exhumed.
Also, porphyria provides many of the symptoms of vampirism but does not actually cause any of the desires to drink blood. As it was suggested above, this is entirely a mental disorder.
