A Serious Question

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Comment and tell me everything you "know" about vampires.

Comments

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OMG, VAMPIRES!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

European peasant vampires can include ANY SPECIES including PUMPKINS (vampire pumpkins: LOL)! Most often, they are the corpse of a loved one who died without rites/from the attack of something evil/was buried improperly/was just evil, who comes back to life because he/she was possessed by an evil spirit or demon. The possessing entity forces the corpse to drink the blood of the living to maintain lifeforce in the dead body (the life is in the blood: OLD SCHOOL BIBLE, YEAH, BB!!).

A vampire will continue to age, but is able to hide this process if they drink enough blood (BLOOD IS ALSO THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, YAY!!!), keeping them to the age they died, preferably something young so they can be hot and get invited into strangers homes as travelers to DRINK THE BLOOD OF ALL THE THINGS and maybe steal a virgin daughter or two (but this is more Hollywood versions of these vampires, or Stoker with his brides of Dracula). Also, the vampire's hair and nails will continue to grow, but they generally do not gain weight, and the "aging' is less their years and more decomposition and THE SINS ON THEIR SOUL.

Later polished literary vamps and some folk tale vamps are excellent at casting glamours, either making themselves younger, more attractive, INVISIBLE! Not truly invisible, mind you, but they can "will" others not to notice them. Yes, they are associated with bats. Post Stoker, they are associated with wolves as well, BUT, in a few stories, long ago and originally, wolves were quasi enemies of theirs because they were all "You're disturbing the balance of nature, yo" and vampires were all, "Eff you, hairy beast." HOWEVER, other traditions have vampires who turn into wolves, and foxes, and trees, and MOTHER FUCKING MIST, MOTHERFUCKER!!! (Castlevania, you is a thief, ya)

BTW, only vampires who were Christian in life are affected by crosses, holy water, and all that shiz. (Well, from the Christian era). IT IS THE GUILT OF THEIR REBELLION WEIGHING ON THEM that causes the effect. All the others are like, "Crosses? LOL! NAO I EET U!!! *chomp*"

The Metis have stories of vampires imported from Europe, but there are Native American legends about blood sucking. More commonly, people, either post death, or by "wasting" from a spiritual wound in life, will become cannibalistic. This includes the consumption of both blood and vital organs (blood is more practical if you still look semi-human and live in a village: you can keep your livestock alive, also, sorry, wendigos are more common, because it's more fun to scare kids with the corpse like version of the abominable snowman). Witches can turn you into a vampire, but unless you have suffered a complete death (this is a friggin' essay to explain), a medicine worker can turn you back!

Later, connected vampirism (anything with the idea of a queen/king vampire) is a spiritual virus kind of like Jenova. It cannot be passed on simply with a bite, but from drinking the vampire blood. The viral entity keeps a watch over the world population of its kind, and when a vampire is "endangered" in the area they live, they may possibly be overtaken by a strong desire to make more of their kind, to ensure the entity pulling the strings doesn't die. Killing the leader works to cure/destroy the others because supposedly, the leader is the "source" or home of the entity. (Offhandedly, this is why we should just burn Jenova's head. For serious.)

This is relatively modern, though, and earlier accounts denote thousands of DIFFERENT AND INDEPENDENT nasties that can turn you vamp.

There are accounts of medical vampirism, and there are a collection of symptoms and conditions that end up commonly known as "vampirism." Pica AND severe iron deficiency may give a strong craving for blood. A few retrograde genetic mutations may cause the eye teeth of an individual to grow abnormally long like fangs. Some forms of anemia, besides causing pale complexion and sunken, dark eyes, will give the patient digestive trouble, leading to an aversion to solid food. Porphyria, however, is true "clinical vampirism." It is a family of severe blood disorders that cause a host of symptoms similar to signs of vampires from folklore, from photosensitivity to changes in appearance to you name it. (I could seriously write novels over hematology, so if this is anywhere near the direction you want to go, LET ME KNOW.)

Another culprit for stirring vampire lore in the past are nervous disorders like catalepsy that induce complete loss of voluntary movement and render the patient in a state of suspended animation. Modern medicine can still detect faint vital signs, but in the past, people assumed sufferers had died and buried them--SUPRISE! They "rose" from the grave and some managed to dig out, scaring the crap out of their villages, wth.