The Answer to the mystery of Vampires - Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia (HED)

MODS: sorry if this is in the wrong section, it was tough to decide which forum to put it in.

I think I may have solved the mystery of Vampires.
Read through the description quoted from Wikipedia below to familiarize yourself with the condition first and then i will put a scenario to you.

Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia (HED) - "Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (also known as "Anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia," and "Christ-Siemens-Touraine syndrome" is one of about 150 types of ectodermal dysplasia in humans. Before birth, these disorders result in the abnormal development of structures including the skin, hair, nails, teeth, and sweat glands.

Presentation: Most people with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia have a reduced ability to sweat (hypohidrosis) because they have fewer sweat glands than normal or their sweat glands do not function properly. Sweating is a major way that the body controls its temperature; as sweat evaporates from the skin, it cools the body. An inability to sweat can lead to a dangerously high body temperature hyperthermia, particularly in hot weather. In some cases, hyperthermia can cause life-threatening medical problems.

Affected individuals tend to have sparse scalp and body hair (hypotrichosis). The hair is often light-coloured, brittle, and slow-growing. This condition is also characterized by absent teeth (hypodontia) or teeth that are malformed. The teeth that are present are frequently small and pointed.

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is associated with distinctive facial features including a prominent forehead, thick lips, and a flattened bridge of the nose. Additional features of this condition include thin, wrinkled, and dark-colored skin around the eyes; chronic skin problems such as eczema; and a bad-smelling discharge from the nose (ozena).

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is the most common form of ectodermal dysplasia in humans. It is estimated to affect at least 1 in 17,000 people worldwide."

-Quoted in full from Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org...

Ok, so. we have this disease that can put a person into an awkward position in life. They cannot go out in the sun, they often cannot eat solid food, they have fangs and very little hair on their heads among other things.

Imagine a person suffering from this condition living in the middle ages.
They cannot go out during the day because the sun would blister their skin. As a result they would have great trouble being a part of society and earning a living. finding food is doubly difficult as they can both not buy food because of a lack of employment and cannot eat solid foods as a result of having only k9 teeth and no molars e.t.c.

They would be shunned from society, living on the fringes, in the wilderness. Maybe in a cave or an abandoned building. they would likely have become quite anti-social and may very well have developed all kinds of mental problems as well.
Society is very superstitious and would fear what they could not understand and as a result would never have the chance to understand something like this.

Forced to eat only soft foods like heavily boiled vegetables and drink liquids. To get all of the protein needed from vegetables would be very difficult so there is a good possibility that they may have turned to drinking blood to make up for that. Add to this the possible mental problems and non association with society and it is not inconcievable that they may have taken human victims to get the blood and possibly soft organs that they would, as a result of starvation, crave.

So this hypothetical person is insane, suffers from the aforementioned condition and has little to no concept of right and wrong or any love for the rest of humanity. They cower from the sun in dark places and only come out at night to find food.

I personally think that this is a very plausable candidate for Vampirisim.

Here is a link to a youtube video about two young Brittish boys who sadly suffer from the condition. Watch them and tell me that you would not be inclined to think they are a vampire if you were a dark ages peasant walking into a cave and seeing them drinking the blood from a corpse.

(no offence intended to the boys in this vid, my heart goes out to them (no pun intended) and i hope them the best for the future.)

www.youtube.com...

Please, all thoughts are welcome.

Yes, a group of frightened peasants may do the stake through the heart. It was the teaching of the RC church to despise all things different.

P

It's amazing that this thread got lost... wtf ATS this is some good #
I think you may have put the stake through the heart of the vampire myth... add to your theory the legend of Vlad Dracul Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) and I'm sure, other freaky-deaky shtuff and your posit seems legit.

I think your theory is possible. I have HED. And I also have Solar Urticaria. Two rare diseases that keep me from the sun. I heard that these conditions are hereditary. And only wonder if my ancestors had a form of this condition. I am the only one with it in my family so far.
But I also wondered how people from back then could live with this disease. I just figured, once they drew the attention of villagers they would be tried for crimes whether they did it or not and then killed.
I had also heard that the disease XP could be where the origin of the vampire began.
I want to look more into this.

Also people at school always asked me if I was a vampire.
I said no most the time, but with the vampire craze going on, sometimes I just messed with them and gave them a mysterious look and left it at that. Hey, you try and have fun with what you got, you know?

a reply to: Raivan31

Fascinating stuff Raivan and really do feel very sorry for anyone suffering from this terrible disease - a lot of the points you raise seem very plausible to me.


Just google image searched 'hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia teeth' and really wish I hadn't.