Do Real Vampires Exist?

If you want the skinny on "real vampirism" & the "real vampire community"...

Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism
Joseph Laycock

The long-term academic and sociological significance of this work can't be underscored enough. Joseph Laycock offers a sweeping scholarly examination of the vampire community and the process of self-identification as a vampire. He counters many of the negative stereotypes of the vampire community and posits thought-provoking arguments regarding ontological diversity. Some of the repudiated claims include those made by Keyworth (vampirism is best described as a new religious movement), Perlmutter (vampires represent a dangerous cult), and popular culture (vampires are all disillusioned youth living a fantasy).

Amazon: www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1

Barnes & Noble: search.barnesandnoble.com...

Praeger Publishers: www.abc-clio.com... *or* ABC-CLIO @ Telephone 800.368.6868, 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM (PST)

* This book is primarily aimed towards academicians, scholars, and professionals who are referencing information on the vampire subculture. Distribution will be primarily to universities and libraries; not the general public unless individuals assist with such.

Religion Dispatches Article: www.religiondispatches.org...

Chapter 1: What Is a Vampire? or, The Varieties of Vampiric Experience
Chapter 2: Why Vampires?
Chapter 3: The Vampire Milieu
Chapter 4: Initiatory Vampire Groups: Vampirism as Apotheosis
Chapter 5: The Vampire Community
Chapter 6: Vampirism and Religion, a Dialogue
Chapter 7: Out of the Shadows
Chapter 8: Vampires and the Modern
Bibliography & Index

Sample Of Material From The Index:

Atlanta Vampire Alliance, Black Veil, Catherine Ramsland, Christopher Partridge, Clan Hidden Shadows, Corvis Nocturnum, Daemonox, Damien Deville, Dawn Perlmutter, D'Drennan, Don Henrie, Eclecta, Elizabeth Miller, Emile Durkheim, Father Sebastiaan, Father Vincent, Goddess Rosemary, House Dark Haven, House Eclipse, House Kheperu, House of the Dreaming, House Pantheon, House Quinotaur, House Sahjaza, Ian Hacking, J. Gordon Melton, Jeff Guinn, Kiera, Konstantinos, Lady CG, Lady Dark Rose, Lord Alistair, Lupa, Madame X, Maloryn, Martin Riccardo, Merticus, Michael Foucault, Michelle Belanger, Ordo Sekhemu, Ordo Strigoi Vii, Order of the Vampyre, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Sanguinarius, Sarah Dorrance, Shadowlore, Sky, SoulSplat, SphynxCatVP, Stephen O'Mallie, Stephen Held, Suscitatio Enterprises, Temple of the Vampire, Twilight, Vampire Church, Vampirism & Energy Work Research Study, Vicutus, Vlad, Voices of the Vampire Community, Vyrdolak, Zilchy

reply to post by Pisky


wow !!! I'm in the page and people say they have seen the angel of death and they tell their stories..

Check it out...spooky!

reply to post by Cassie Clay


there is a chance that they could exist,u always see that they're not believed in at the start but then they're exposed,i honestly hope they do exist

I do believe vampires exist. I've done a lot of research on that and it's impossible that someone can deny this fact.

I'd like to join them since I'm interested in them since I can remember, and I don't know the reason why, so that has to mean something. If you share the same interest don't hesitate to e-mail me.

I just had a quick scan of this thread so i'm not sure if this story has been posted but a few miles from where i live in the uk there is a famous story of the Croglin vampire:

www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk...

Originally posted by amantine
Well, for vampires to live forever they need to make telomerase in every cell of their body. This is to repair the ends of the chromosomes, called telomeres. Something like that has not been observed in mammals.

If they need to drink blood they must have a need for a certain substance in the blood. It can't be any protein, because those are destroyed by enzymes. Maybe certain vitamines or minerals? There is a lot of iron in blood. Maybe they need iron? But any sort of blood is a good source of iron, not just human blood.

My opinion is that vampires are just a myth, considering the things I wrote above.

This is a horrible analysis. The jury is still out on whether telomerase will stop the aging process. It is a key player in aging but this by itself, namely the lack of production or distribution of telomerase to every cell, does not prove/disprove vampirism. It is trueno mammals have ever been observed to do this naturally. However, lab mice with artificial telomerase introduced to them system wide, developed cancer. It is much more likely telomerase will be part of a cancer cure.

Yes, the obvious fact is they would need a substance from blood. In the quote above the implication is there is nothing in blood that they could need and/or live on to survive. Two things pop in my analysis. The first is any mammal could live comfortably on blood where at the most they might need an additional enzyme. It is not the blood platelets themselves but the serum plasma that allows this satisfaction. Vampire bat anyone? They are as mammal as it comes. Secondly, if vampires do exist, analysing what they need from blood is pointless because we do not know their complete digestive system which may be different than normal humans. They might have enzymes, proteins, physical changes etc. that allow them to use or manipulate human/mammal blood. Again, the vampire bat is a good example of this in action. Therefore the comparison to normal digestion of blood is moot.

The two points brought up in the quote therefore do not prove/disprove vampirism.

Peace. Rick.

Edit: Typo.

[edit on 25-9-2009 by GTORick]

Originally posted by amantine

Originally posted by Pisky
I heard that there is a medical afflcition that causes people to need blood (Porphyria ?). Maybe they could get the same from vitamin pills ?

Porphyria is a disorder where the body can't make any or enough porphyrins, which are needed for the haem groups in your blood's hemoglobine. The problems lies with a deficiency of certain enzymes. I'm not sure if prophyrins would survive your stomach and intestins. I'm also not sure if they would be able to enter your bloodstroom either through passive transport (highly unlikely) or active transport (I don't think your body has the enzymes required for getting a substance that a normal person never needs through the cell membrane). Injection of the enzymes required is the usual treatement, if I'm correct.

If it is still bound to the Fe ion my best guess is that it would actively absorb through the stomach lining. If it is an analogue or ionic it would be acidic so reuptake probably would not occur. Although complex and binding with other ions, the porphyrin molecules are essentially inert although slightly acidic. Porphyria is a horrible disease.

Look, I'm big fan of vampires and any other races but there's no actual evidence, no photos or documentaries. Further more I live in transylvania and guess what I never ever saw a vampire, though my thirst for power is so great that I would even give away my soul, not to mention that I would be very loyal to my "creator" if a vampire would turn me as well... but sadly there's no such things... maybe just hybrids that run out from some labs.

Cheers,
Chris

blogs.myspace.com...

Rhode Island's Vampires

"I am waiting and watching for you" - Nelly Vaughn, Vampire

Originally posted by scatter
I really really don't think so.

The only "vampire" that could possibly exist would be a normal human being who watched too much fiction as an impressionable child and has and acute case of wanting attention off other people. Those sorts of mentally Ill people will go that far with their fantasy that they will file their front teeth just the have the visual effect and will sometimes even drink blood if they're that far gone.

i know what you mean. i di a project in psychology on Rod ferrel and the kentucky vampire clan, some people are just plain crazy

If vampires exist in my humble opinion they would keep a very low profile. Maybe use the wannabees as cover. Legend comes from
somewhere. It may get exagerated thru the years but i comes from
somewhere

Originally posted by hesphastus
It may get exagerated thru the years but i comes from
somewhere

It comes from people having to open mass graves during the plague (to bury more people) and seeing that through normal decomposition, blood coming out of their orifices and their stomachs being bloated from gas, and coming to the conclusion that they must have rose from the dead and drank peoples blood to the point where they were so full that their stomachs popped out and blood came oozing out of them.

Here is the mathematical PROOF that vampires cannot exist as described:

www.scientificblogging.com...

"Efthimiou supposed that the first vampire arrived Jan. 1, 1600, when the human population was 536,870,911. Assuming that the vampire fed once a month and the victim turned into a vampire, there would be two vampires and 536,870,910 humans on Feb. 1. There would be four vampires on March 1 and eight on April 1. If this trend continued, all of the original humans would become vampires within two and a half years and the vampires' food source would disappear."

Originally posted by Zul007

Originally posted by hesphastus
It may get exagerated thru the years but i comes from
somewhere

"Efthimiou supposed that the first vampire arrived Jan. 1, 1600, when the human population was 536,870,911. Assuming that the vampire fed once a month and the victim turned into a vampire, there would be two vampires and 536,870,910 humans on Feb. 1. There would be four vampires on March 1 and eight on April 1. If this trend continued, all of the original humans would become vampires within two and a half years and the vampires' food source would disappear."

heres a thought according to legends you don't become a vampire just because one bit you you become a vampire if they choose to 'sire' you
which consists of draining you of most of your blood then feeding you some of their's

reply to post by Zul007


They may not be able to exsist as you've described, but thats not where the story of the vampire comes from, not the origin anyway, vampires and vampire like creatures are in many culture throughout the world dating back far before the times the plague.

-pr0digy

reply to post by Cassie Clay


ok. ive done something quite simular to what you have. i have been researching this for a long time now. And i once decided that they did not existand werent real. but now that i have studied it alot longer i have come to the conclsion that they do exist and they are real. My theroy is that they are all amongst us but they fit in with us better than we expectthem to. i think that f we knew excactly what to look for we would see and reconize them. I think that when we think of "vampire" we think the stero type. like what they make them look like in movies and books. but i do blieve that they do excist and they are real.

I've posted this in numerous other threads. If vampires(the traditional mythological vampire) exist, it is not medically possible for a human being to be transformed into one. The modifications to the stomach, liver and kidneys would be impossible to obtain. And to achieve enough nutritional sustinance a human vamp would have to drain 18 humans per day. They'd also have to urinate while they fed.

All these vampire groups are people who are roleplaying or have a legitimate mental illness.

If real vampires exist they are an undiscovered species(nonhuman). Most blood feeders are tiny. So it would be rather remarkable.

Originally posted by DeusEx

Originally posted by cheshire cat
Sure, in a way I believe that they exist. There have been reports of them in New Orleans.
Just to beat A LOT of people to the punch, I doubt they flocked there after Anne Rice's novels.
If you have ever been to New Orleans, you can back me up on the fact that weird stuff goes on there. I remember being only 8 years old and going through the VOODOO museum.

Anne Rice? What a HACK! Want great reading, and all of rice's explicit sexuality? pick up some Poppy z. Bryte.

And Yes, N'Orleans is a big ol' center of craziness. Little chalk X's on graves, hougans and mambos advertising- It's wierd and creepy and where it's at if you're into the supernatural.

DE

Anne Rice is *not* a hack!

I don't think there is such things as real vampires, but hey, weirder things have happened right? What I'd like to ask is just lately I keep hearing the phrase 'psychic vampires' could someone please explain to me what is meant by this. Thanks

Originally posted by DeusEx
Yeah, there's plenty of people who qualified as sick enough to call themselves vampires. Ol' Vlad, Elizabeth Bathory...

I believe, Elizabeth Bathory is the closest historical figure you will find to the Vampire Image...

Its interesting how far back the vampire legend goes. The first vampire story starts in Sumer and its still around. Something happened in the past that made people believe it was possible. If they are still around, its probably a very underground thing. I don't imagine there would be many of them left.