Long dismissed as myth and legend, the vampire is associated with spooky stories or - for many teenagers - a Twilight heartthrob.
But for those who lived in the Middle Ages, it was a deadly serious business - and they took extreme measures against anyone suspected of being able to haunt them in the afterlife.
Now, details of one of the few 'vampire' burials in Britain have emerged.
A new archaeology report tells of the discovery of a skeleton, dating from 550-700AD, buried in the ancient minster town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, with metal spikes through its shoulders, heart and ankles.
It is believed to be a 'deviant burial', where people considered the 'dangerous dead', such as vampires, were interred to prevent them rising from their graves to plague the living.
Only a handful of such burials have been unearthed in the UK.
The discovery is detailed in a new report by Matthew Beresford, of Southwell Archaeology.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227701/Rare-skeleton-vampire-discovered-Britain-spikes-shoulders-heart-ankles.html#ixzz2BdaIDwve
Showing posts with label vampire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampire. Show all posts
Friday, 9 November 2012
Saturday, 29 October 2011
The Halifax X-Files: We reveal secret police dossier of hauntings, UFOs and vampire sheep
CALDERDALE is revealed today as a hot-spot for supernatural activity.
Official figures released to the Courier show that in the last five years 142 calls were made to police detailing paranormal events.
Today, as Calderdale celebrates Hallowe’en, we reveal the amazing stories told by terrified residents.
They have been released to the Courier after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
Among the 142 calls received by police, were reports of ghosts, werewolves, UFOs and witches.
Others claimed ghouls were stealing their possessions, that a Russian witch had taken over the soul of a Halifax woman and that sheep had turned into vampires.
In Halifax calls included:
August 2006: Halifax: Reference made to witchcraft
September 2006: Halifax: Caller believes ghost responsible for theft of handbag
November 2006: Todmorden: Caller claims to be a witch
December 2006: Halifax: Caller reported hearing footseps in house and seeing ghosts which enter the house through reflections in the bedroom cabinet
December 2008: Sowerby Bridge: Caller believes there are ghosts of little boys playing cricket at the end of the garden
January 2009: Halifax: UFO sighting
July 2009: Halifax: Caller claims to be involved in witchcraft
August 2009: Brighouse: “Caller reported her friend suddenly and unexpectedly leaving her house after a visit and was concerned for her safety. On attendance it transpired the friend had been dead for some time so the caller believed she had seen the ghost of her friend.”
May 2010: Halifax: Caller seen bright light moving through sky
March 2010: Halifax: Caller believes to have a Russian witch inside her
February 2011: Caller reporting things being moved around the house and believes a ghost is to blame
Feb 2009: Bradford: Caller seen lights
Calderdale has long been seen as a centre for the supernatural.
In 1980, policeman Alan Godfrey, from Todmorden, says he saw a diamond-shaped UFO.
Later, under hypnosis, he told of being taken aboard it.
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/local/the_halifax_x_files_we_reveal_secret_police_dossier_of_hauntings_ufos_and_vampire_sheep_1_3919515
Official figures released to the Courier show that in the last five years 142 calls were made to police detailing paranormal events.
Today, as Calderdale celebrates Hallowe’en, we reveal the amazing stories told by terrified residents.
They have been released to the Courier after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
Among the 142 calls received by police, were reports of ghosts, werewolves, UFOs and witches.
Others claimed ghouls were stealing their possessions, that a Russian witch had taken over the soul of a Halifax woman and that sheep had turned into vampires.
In Halifax calls included:
August 2006: Halifax: Reference made to witchcraft
September 2006: Halifax: Caller believes ghost responsible for theft of handbag
November 2006: Todmorden: Caller claims to be a witch
December 2006: Halifax: Caller reported hearing footseps in house and seeing ghosts which enter the house through reflections in the bedroom cabinet
December 2008: Sowerby Bridge: Caller believes there are ghosts of little boys playing cricket at the end of the garden
January 2009: Halifax: UFO sighting
July 2009: Halifax: Caller claims to be involved in witchcraft
August 2009: Brighouse: “Caller reported her friend suddenly and unexpectedly leaving her house after a visit and was concerned for her safety. On attendance it transpired the friend had been dead for some time so the caller believed she had seen the ghost of her friend.”
May 2010: Halifax: Caller seen bright light moving through sky
March 2010: Halifax: Caller believes to have a Russian witch inside her
February 2011: Caller reporting things being moved around the house and believes a ghost is to blame
Feb 2009: Bradford: Caller seen lights
Calderdale has long been seen as a centre for the supernatural.
In 1980, policeman Alan Godfrey, from Todmorden, says he saw a diamond-shaped UFO.
Later, under hypnosis, he told of being taken aboard it.
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/local/the_halifax_x_files_we_reveal_secret_police_dossier_of_hauntings_ufos_and_vampire_sheep_1_3919515
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Rabid Vampire Bats Bite 500 People In Jungle
1:19pm UK, Friday August 13, 2010
Huw Borland, Sky News Online
Vampire bats infected with rabies have attacked more than 500 people in Peru - sparking an outbreak of the disease that has apparently killed four children.
The flying mammals, which bite then lick the blood of their victims, swooped on villagers in the northeastern Urakusa region, where the Aguajun tribe lives.
Peruvian health ministry official Jose Bustamente said four children are thought to have died from rabies as a result.
He said medical supplies and vaccines to treat those infected have been sent to the tribe.
Rabies, a virus that causes acute inflammation of the brain, is usually spread to humans by dog bites.
It has an incubation period that can last several months.
Health teams are looking for people in communities within six miles of the jungle outbreak who have been attacked by bats in the past six months.
Mr Bustamente said 97% of the 508 people who were bitten have begun receiving an anti-rabies vaccination.
It is expected that the rest - some of whom have rejected treatment - will be vaccinated in the next few days.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Vampire-Bats-Peru-Rabies-Kills-Four-Children-In-Peruvian-Amazon-Jungle-After-Bat-Attacks/Article/201008215682867?f=rss
Huw Borland, Sky News Online
Vampire bats infected with rabies have attacked more than 500 people in Peru - sparking an outbreak of the disease that has apparently killed four children.
The flying mammals, which bite then lick the blood of their victims, swooped on villagers in the northeastern Urakusa region, where the Aguajun tribe lives.
Peruvian health ministry official Jose Bustamente said four children are thought to have died from rabies as a result.
He said medical supplies and vaccines to treat those infected have been sent to the tribe.
Rabies, a virus that causes acute inflammation of the brain, is usually spread to humans by dog bites.
It has an incubation period that can last several months.
Health teams are looking for people in communities within six miles of the jungle outbreak who have been attacked by bats in the past six months.
Mr Bustamente said 97% of the 508 people who were bitten have begun receiving an anti-rabies vaccination.
It is expected that the rest - some of whom have rejected treatment - will be vaccinated in the next few days.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Vampire-Bats-Peru-Rabies-Kills-Four-Children-In-Peruvian-Amazon-Jungle-After-Bat-Attacks/Article/201008215682867?f=rss
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Woman blames vampire for car crash
Tom Phillips - 30th June, 2010
A woman who drove her car into a canal told police that she had been startled by a vampire standing in the middle of the road.
The woman said that she was driving her SUV along a dirt road in Colorado's Grand Valley region on Sunday night when she saw a vampire standing in the middle of the track.
Startled by the appearance of the undead fiend, the immediately put the SUV into reverse, with the result that she drove straight into the canal.
The woman was not injured in the accident, or subsequently ravaged by the vampire, and her husband arrived to take her home.
There were no other witnesses who reported seeing the alleged bloodsucker. Troopers who arrived at the scene found the woman's vehicle in the canal, but were unable to track down the vampire.
Police say they do not believe drugs or alcohol played any part in the vampire incident.
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/833555-woman-blames-vampire-for-car-crash
A woman who drove her car into a canal told police that she had been startled by a vampire standing in the middle of the road.
The woman said that she was driving her SUV along a dirt road in Colorado's Grand Valley region on Sunday night when she saw a vampire standing in the middle of the track.
Startled by the appearance of the undead fiend, the immediately put the SUV into reverse, with the result that she drove straight into the canal.
The woman was not injured in the accident, or subsequently ravaged by the vampire, and her husband arrived to take her home.
There were no other witnesses who reported seeing the alleged bloodsucker. Troopers who arrived at the scene found the woman's vehicle in the canal, but were unable to track down the vampire.
Police say they do not believe drugs or alcohol played any part in the vampire incident.
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/833555-woman-blames-vampire-for-car-crash
Sunday, 31 January 2010
My encounter with a tokoloshe
Posted By Mduduzi Mathuthu on 15 Apr, 2009 at 12:25 am
EVER come face to face with a tokoloshe? Well, I have. If it was that anyway!
I was young, but I remember enough. It was following my grandfather’s death, sometime in 1991.
Some members of the family who thought my grandfather’s 80 years or so were not a good length for life on earth suggested that a “prophet” should be called in to solve the “mystery” of his death.
All members of our extended family gathered at our home deep in rural Filabusi. It was night and we had gathered the cattle early that day and secured them in their kraal and waited for the special visitor who duly arrived.
Our holy man wore a white garment, with a blue cross on the front and back. He carried a walking stick - perhaps the equivalent of the flying broomsticks in Harry Potter movies.
He began by saying “kulento” (”there is a thing”) that claimed my grandfather’s life, and it would strike again unless it was stopped.
Those were chilling words, carefully armed with enough urgency and threat to even make those who were not taken in by this inquisition stand up and listen.
After some brief rituals — he said it was a prayer — and with a start, he was out of the hut where everyone had gathered. He ran to the middle point of our home as we followed in frightened anticipation.
Then as sudden as he left the hut, he shouted “nankuya!” (”there it is”) and he was away, running straight for a three-roomed house, and into the bedroom of one of our domestic workers. You should have seen the blank stares on the faces of those gathered!
Here he was, our prophet, telling us all about a creature that none apart from him could see. And worse, this mysterious “thing” seemed to be running pretty fast and flying through closed doors and into people’s bedrooms!
Never have I put my faith in one man as I did that day. He had to chase it down, find it and kill it or I would not be sleeping at home that day - or any other day for that matter.
As we followed into the room, he headed straight for the wardrobe where his magic stick was brought into play, prodding and beating around the poor wardrobe. More “nanku’s” (”here it is”) and “nankuyana’s” (”there it is”) followed as our hero, throwing caution to the wind, used his bare hands to catch the “killer” creature.
Finally, he shouted: “I got it.”
We all gathered, scared and weak. Then we all saw “it”.
I swear, he could have demanded 10 cows at that point and he would sure have got them.
In front of us was this “thing”, perhaps the size of a TV remote control. I think I saw it breathing, before the “prophet” told us he was ending its life by pouring “holy water” over it.
The overall demand was that the “thing” must be dismembered so we all see what it really was. From the outside, it was a body of colourful rags, all tied around a firmer inside.
Slowly, the “prophet” stripped the layers off, explaining as he did that the “thing” lived on sucking blood.
Finally, he came to the heart of the object and I saw a lot of fat around it, and some fresh blood coming out of what perhaps was a wound inflicted by our holy man.
The thing took some two hours to fully burn, the fat almost putting out the fire which had been especially lit some 100m from the home.
The prophet would put up at our home that day, perhaps to ensure he deals with any reinforcements that might be deployed by the “thing’s” owner.
A cleansing ritual followed in which we were made to bath in “umswane wembuzi” (”waste from the stomach of a slaughtered goat”). The ritual was conducted behind some rocks and we were instructed not to look back, or the “thing” would return. I later heard the “prophet” had got all the goat meat as none of us could eat it, or… yes, you guessed it, that little blood-sucking monster would return!
This little story was inspired by the curious case of the Hwange women who say they were victims of a sex-crazed tokoloshe which left them exhausted after nocturnal sex romps with them.
I don’t know what to make of their story, just as I don’t know what to make of my story.
A bit of me thinks it was all a fraud because I am convinced my grandfather died because his time had come, and not because he had been sucked dry by some fat creature.
And yet another part of me believes there is an undiscovered science in Africa which, if used positively, could really help us all.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/blog/?p=516
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
EVER come face to face with a tokoloshe? Well, I have. If it was that anyway!
I was young, but I remember enough. It was following my grandfather’s death, sometime in 1991.
Some members of the family who thought my grandfather’s 80 years or so were not a good length for life on earth suggested that a “prophet” should be called in to solve the “mystery” of his death.
All members of our extended family gathered at our home deep in rural Filabusi. It was night and we had gathered the cattle early that day and secured them in their kraal and waited for the special visitor who duly arrived.
Our holy man wore a white garment, with a blue cross on the front and back. He carried a walking stick - perhaps the equivalent of the flying broomsticks in Harry Potter movies.
He began by saying “kulento” (”there is a thing”) that claimed my grandfather’s life, and it would strike again unless it was stopped.
Those were chilling words, carefully armed with enough urgency and threat to even make those who were not taken in by this inquisition stand up and listen.
After some brief rituals — he said it was a prayer — and with a start, he was out of the hut where everyone had gathered. He ran to the middle point of our home as we followed in frightened anticipation.
Then as sudden as he left the hut, he shouted “nankuya!” (”there it is”) and he was away, running straight for a three-roomed house, and into the bedroom of one of our domestic workers. You should have seen the blank stares on the faces of those gathered!
Here he was, our prophet, telling us all about a creature that none apart from him could see. And worse, this mysterious “thing” seemed to be running pretty fast and flying through closed doors and into people’s bedrooms!
Never have I put my faith in one man as I did that day. He had to chase it down, find it and kill it or I would not be sleeping at home that day - or any other day for that matter.
As we followed into the room, he headed straight for the wardrobe where his magic stick was brought into play, prodding and beating around the poor wardrobe. More “nanku’s” (”here it is”) and “nankuyana’s” (”there it is”) followed as our hero, throwing caution to the wind, used his bare hands to catch the “killer” creature.
Finally, he shouted: “I got it.”
We all gathered, scared and weak. Then we all saw “it”.
I swear, he could have demanded 10 cows at that point and he would sure have got them.
In front of us was this “thing”, perhaps the size of a TV remote control. I think I saw it breathing, before the “prophet” told us he was ending its life by pouring “holy water” over it.
The overall demand was that the “thing” must be dismembered so we all see what it really was. From the outside, it was a body of colourful rags, all tied around a firmer inside.
Slowly, the “prophet” stripped the layers off, explaining as he did that the “thing” lived on sucking blood.
Finally, he came to the heart of the object and I saw a lot of fat around it, and some fresh blood coming out of what perhaps was a wound inflicted by our holy man.
The thing took some two hours to fully burn, the fat almost putting out the fire which had been especially lit some 100m from the home.
The prophet would put up at our home that day, perhaps to ensure he deals with any reinforcements that might be deployed by the “thing’s” owner.
A cleansing ritual followed in which we were made to bath in “umswane wembuzi” (”waste from the stomach of a slaughtered goat”). The ritual was conducted behind some rocks and we were instructed not to look back, or the “thing” would return. I later heard the “prophet” had got all the goat meat as none of us could eat it, or… yes, you guessed it, that little blood-sucking monster would return!
This little story was inspired by the curious case of the Hwange women who say they were victims of a sex-crazed tokoloshe which left them exhausted after nocturnal sex romps with them.
I don’t know what to make of their story, just as I don’t know what to make of my story.
A bit of me thinks it was all a fraud because I am convinced my grandfather died because his time had come, and not because he had been sucked dry by some fat creature.
And yet another part of me believes there is an undiscovered science in Africa which, if used positively, could really help us all.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/blog/?p=516
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
Friday, 20 November 2009
Vampires not good role models for Catholics, declares Vatican
Deplores use of 'extremes' to make a point
By Joe Fay
20th November 2009
The Vatican has come out against vampirical toothy teen book'n'movie series Twilight, dismissing the epic girl loves vampire, girl loses vampire, girl becomes vampire cycle as a "deviant moral vacuum".
The Holy See's attempt to drive a stake through the heart of the burgeoning film franchise came as it took £1.8m on its opening day in Italy.
It was down to Vatican in-house mag Osservatore Romano to deliver the verdict on the movie.
According to the Daily Mail Monsignor Franco Perazzolo, of the Pontifical Council of Culture, said: "Men and women are transformed with horrible masks and it is once again that age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes to make an impact at the box office.
"This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern."
The Mail added that a spokespriest said the film gives a "mixture of excesses aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element."
The attack on the series - incidentally the creation of a Mormon - demonstrates the Vatican's eclectic approach to film reviewing.
The Vatican had long condemned the Harry Potter series, claiming it would corrupt impressionable young children and turn them onto the occult, or at least onto the English boarding school system. Then, it turned around and praised the film version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for its sharp delineation of good and evil.
Likewise, the Vatican had a long-running downer on Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code - understandable perhaps given its rather anti-Vatican stance. Then, earlier this year, it faint-praisedly damned Angels and Demons as "quite harmless".
So, standby for the current condemnation of Twilight to subtly transubstanitate into polite praise for its portrayal of a young girl's spiritual journey from vampire lover to loving vampire wife and back into the arms of the one true faith. Or something. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/20/vatican_twilight/
(Submitted by Timothy Hodkinson)
By Joe Fay
20th November 2009
The Vatican has come out against vampirical toothy teen book'n'movie series Twilight, dismissing the epic girl loves vampire, girl loses vampire, girl becomes vampire cycle as a "deviant moral vacuum".
The Holy See's attempt to drive a stake through the heart of the burgeoning film franchise came as it took £1.8m on its opening day in Italy.
It was down to Vatican in-house mag Osservatore Romano to deliver the verdict on the movie.
According to the Daily Mail Monsignor Franco Perazzolo, of the Pontifical Council of Culture, said: "Men and women are transformed with horrible masks and it is once again that age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes to make an impact at the box office.
"This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern."
The Mail added that a spokespriest said the film gives a "mixture of excesses aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element."
The attack on the series - incidentally the creation of a Mormon - demonstrates the Vatican's eclectic approach to film reviewing.
The Vatican had long condemned the Harry Potter series, claiming it would corrupt impressionable young children and turn them onto the occult, or at least onto the English boarding school system. Then, it turned around and praised the film version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for its sharp delineation of good and evil.
Likewise, the Vatican had a long-running downer on Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code - understandable perhaps given its rather anti-Vatican stance. Then, earlier this year, it faint-praisedly damned Angels and Demons as "quite harmless".
So, standby for the current condemnation of Twilight to subtly transubstanitate into polite praise for its portrayal of a young girl's spiritual journey from vampire lover to loving vampire wife and back into the arms of the one true faith. Or something. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/20/vatican_twilight/
(Submitted by Timothy Hodkinson)
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Are Vampires Real?
By Stephen Wagner, About.com Guide
The enormous interest in these creatures prompts the question: Are vampires real?
INTEREST IN THE vampire mythos is at an all-time high. The recent enthusiasm for this blood-sucking immortal began perhaps with the highly popular Anne Rice novel, Interview with the Vampire published in 1976, and which she followed up with several more books about the vampire world she created. Movies and television capitalized on this popularity with such offerings as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, Francis Ford Coppola's film version of Dracula, Underworld, and the Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire.
The genre is more popular than ever thanks to TV's True Blood and Vampire Diaries, and especially the enormous success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series of novels, which also are getting the Hollywood treatment.
When a phenomenon like this creeps into our mass consciousness - you can barely turn around without bumping into vampire-related media - some people begin to think it's real. Or they want it to be real because they so enjoy the fantasy. So what about it? Are there real vampires?
THE SUPERNATURAL VAMPIRE
The question of whether vampires are real or not depends on the definition. If by vampire we mean the supernatural creature who is practically immortal, has fangs through which he or she can suck blood, has an aversion to sunlight, can shapeshift into other creatures, fears garlic and crosses, and can even fly... then we have to say no, such a creature does not exist. At least there's no good evidence that it exists. Such a creature is a fabrication of novels, TV shows and movies.
If we dispense with the supernatural attributes, however, there are people who call themselves vampires of one kind or another.
LIFESTYLE VAMPIRES
Largely due to the influence of vampires in the media, there is now a subculture of vampirism, the members of which seek to mimic the lifestyle of their fictional heroes (or antiheroes). There is some overlap with the Goth community, both of which seem to seek empowerment in the dark, mysterious side of things. The lifestyle vampires typically dress in black and other accouterments of the "vampire aesthetic" and favor a goth music genre. According to one website, these lifestylers take this on "not just as something to do at clubs, but as part of their total lifestyle, and who form alternative extended families modeled on the covens, clans, etc. found in some vampire fiction and role-playing games."
Lifestyle vampires make no claims of supernatural powers. And it would be unfair to dismiss them as people who just like to play at Halloween year-round. They take their lifestyle quite seriously as it fulfills for them some inner, even spiritual need.
SANGUINE VAMPIRES
The sanguine (meaning bloody or blood-red) vampires may belong to the lifestyle groups mentioned above, but take the fantasy one step further by actually drinking human blood. They typically will not drink a glass of the stuff as one would a glass of wine, for example, but usually will add a few drops to some other liquid for drinking. On occasion, a sanguine vampire will feed directly from a volunteer or "donor" by making a small cut and sucking up a small trickle of blood.
Some of these sanguine vampires claim an actual need to ingest human blood. The human body does not digest blood very well, and there seems to be no physiological condition that would account for such a need. If the craving is present, then, it is almost certainly psychological in nature or simply a choice.
PSYCHIC VAMPIRES
Psychic vampires, some of whom might also adopt the vampire lifestyle described above, claim that they have a need to feed off the energy of other people. According to The Psychic Vampire Resource and Support Pages, pranic vampires, as they are sometimes called, are people "who by reason of a condition of their spirit, need to obtain vital energy from outside sources. They are unable to generate their own energy, and often times don't have the best capacity to store the energy they do have." The website even has a section of psychic "feeding techniques."
Again, in the spirit of "keeping it real," we have to question whether this is a genuine phenomenon. By the same token, we've all been around people who seem to drain the energy from a room when they enter, and they get off on it. It could be argued that the effect is strictly psychological... but then that's why they call it psychic vampirism.
THE PSYCHOPATHIC VAMPIRE
If drinking human blood qualifies one as being a vampire, then several serial killers deserve the label. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Peter Kürten, known as "The Vampire of Düsseldorf," committed as many as nine murders and seven attempted murders. He achieved sexual arousal with the sight of his victims' blood and was said to have even ingested it. Richard Trenton Chase was dubbed "The Vampire of Sacramento" after he murdered six people and drank their blood.
Obviously, these "vampires" are criminally insane. Ironically, however, their murderous compulsions and ghoulish practices make them more like the demonic vampires of literary tradition than the other "vampires" described here.
CALLING ALL VAMPIRES
So, are vampires real? For supernatural beings like Nosferau, Dracula, Lestat and Twilight's Edward Cullen, we'd have to say no. But the lifestyle, sanguine, psychic and psychopathic vampires certainly are out there.
What about you? Have you had an experience with any kind of vampire? Are you a vampire yourself? If so, send me an e-mail about your experiences to share with other readers.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/vampires/a/real-vampires.htm?nl=1
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
The enormous interest in these creatures prompts the question: Are vampires real?
INTEREST IN THE vampire mythos is at an all-time high. The recent enthusiasm for this blood-sucking immortal began perhaps with the highly popular Anne Rice novel, Interview with the Vampire published in 1976, and which she followed up with several more books about the vampire world she created. Movies and television capitalized on this popularity with such offerings as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, Francis Ford Coppola's film version of Dracula, Underworld, and the Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire.
The genre is more popular than ever thanks to TV's True Blood and Vampire Diaries, and especially the enormous success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series of novels, which also are getting the Hollywood treatment.
When a phenomenon like this creeps into our mass consciousness - you can barely turn around without bumping into vampire-related media - some people begin to think it's real. Or they want it to be real because they so enjoy the fantasy. So what about it? Are there real vampires?
THE SUPERNATURAL VAMPIRE
The question of whether vampires are real or not depends on the definition. If by vampire we mean the supernatural creature who is practically immortal, has fangs through which he or she can suck blood, has an aversion to sunlight, can shapeshift into other creatures, fears garlic and crosses, and can even fly... then we have to say no, such a creature does not exist. At least there's no good evidence that it exists. Such a creature is a fabrication of novels, TV shows and movies.
If we dispense with the supernatural attributes, however, there are people who call themselves vampires of one kind or another.
LIFESTYLE VAMPIRES
Largely due to the influence of vampires in the media, there is now a subculture of vampirism, the members of which seek to mimic the lifestyle of their fictional heroes (or antiheroes). There is some overlap with the Goth community, both of which seem to seek empowerment in the dark, mysterious side of things. The lifestyle vampires typically dress in black and other accouterments of the "vampire aesthetic" and favor a goth music genre. According to one website, these lifestylers take this on "not just as something to do at clubs, but as part of their total lifestyle, and who form alternative extended families modeled on the covens, clans, etc. found in some vampire fiction and role-playing games."
Lifestyle vampires make no claims of supernatural powers. And it would be unfair to dismiss them as people who just like to play at Halloween year-round. They take their lifestyle quite seriously as it fulfills for them some inner, even spiritual need.
SANGUINE VAMPIRES
The sanguine (meaning bloody or blood-red) vampires may belong to the lifestyle groups mentioned above, but take the fantasy one step further by actually drinking human blood. They typically will not drink a glass of the stuff as one would a glass of wine, for example, but usually will add a few drops to some other liquid for drinking. On occasion, a sanguine vampire will feed directly from a volunteer or "donor" by making a small cut and sucking up a small trickle of blood.
Some of these sanguine vampires claim an actual need to ingest human blood. The human body does not digest blood very well, and there seems to be no physiological condition that would account for such a need. If the craving is present, then, it is almost certainly psychological in nature or simply a choice.
PSYCHIC VAMPIRES
Psychic vampires, some of whom might also adopt the vampire lifestyle described above, claim that they have a need to feed off the energy of other people. According to The Psychic Vampire Resource and Support Pages, pranic vampires, as they are sometimes called, are people "who by reason of a condition of their spirit, need to obtain vital energy from outside sources. They are unable to generate their own energy, and often times don't have the best capacity to store the energy they do have." The website even has a section of psychic "feeding techniques."
Again, in the spirit of "keeping it real," we have to question whether this is a genuine phenomenon. By the same token, we've all been around people who seem to drain the energy from a room when they enter, and they get off on it. It could be argued that the effect is strictly psychological... but then that's why they call it psychic vampirism.
THE PSYCHOPATHIC VAMPIRE
If drinking human blood qualifies one as being a vampire, then several serial killers deserve the label. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Peter Kürten, known as "The Vampire of Düsseldorf," committed as many as nine murders and seven attempted murders. He achieved sexual arousal with the sight of his victims' blood and was said to have even ingested it. Richard Trenton Chase was dubbed "The Vampire of Sacramento" after he murdered six people and drank their blood.
Obviously, these "vampires" are criminally insane. Ironically, however, their murderous compulsions and ghoulish practices make them more like the demonic vampires of literary tradition than the other "vampires" described here.
CALLING ALL VAMPIRES
So, are vampires real? For supernatural beings like Nosferau, Dracula, Lestat and Twilight's Edward Cullen, we'd have to say no. But the lifestyle, sanguine, psychic and psychopathic vampires certainly are out there.
What about you? Have you had an experience with any kind of vampire? Are you a vampire yourself? If so, send me an e-mail about your experiences to share with other readers.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/vampires/a/real-vampires.htm?nl=1
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
Monday, 26 October 2009
Understanding Porphyria: No Vampires Here
Written by NAPSI
Sunday, 25 November 2007
(NAPSI) - Many of the world's myths and legends have some basis in fact, which is why they are perpetuated through the centuries. In one case, the idea of a race of nefarious monsters-specifically, vampires-may actually have sprung from a very real and potentially deadly disease that affects thousands of people worldwide.
Porphyria is not a single disease but a group of at least eight disorders. Symptoms vary, but among them are some that have, in ancient times, given credence to the legend of the vampire. These include excruciating stomach pain, severe headaches, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), muscle weakness that can take on a state of paralysis from sensitivity to sunlight, and comas that last for days, giving one the appearance of having awakened from the dead.
Genetic Disorder
In reality, porphyria can only be passed genetically through families. It is extremely hard to diagnose and can be painful or even deadly. The root of the disease is in defective enzymes that are involved in the body's manufacturing of heme-a vital substance for all body organs. Heme consists of an iron atom surrounded by a porphyrin molecule and is a part of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to all parts of the body.
Unfortunately, the legend is bigger than the disease that spawned it; even today, people with porphyria are accused of being vampires. But vampires are only a myth created many centuries ago when medicine couldn't explain the problem.
"It's just absurd to think that drinking blood is a way to revitalize anyone!" says Desiree Lyon Howe, director of the American Porphyria Foundation (APF). "Drinking blood means it goes into the digestive system and merely passes through; it doesn't replace the blood in your body."
Charlotte de ne Guerre, a sufferer of porphyria, recently wrote a novel-inspired by her life story-that will shed light on the subject and dismiss the vampire stigma. In the book, "Grave Disorder," de ne Guerre lays out two tales that are separated by centuries but joined by the one truth.
Spanning The Centuries
The Baroness Elysia von Eschenbach is a young 17th-century noblewoman who doesn't understand the bizarre physical breakdowns that have plagued her. She is betrothed to the arrogant son of a wealthy Frenchwoman who is more interested in Elysia's title and land, but the consequences of having the disease are even more dire. When she absorbs too much sun, drinks wine and eats the wrong foods, she lapses into a near-death coma at her wedding...only to wake up after her abrupt funeral.
The other tale concerns a contemporary American woman, Claire Foster. She knows she's not crazy and that her symptoms are not all in her head, and yet, like many people today, she struggles to understand why she's suffering and is unable to find a doctor who will take her condition seriously, much less accurately diagnose her illness. Both tales are engaging from the onset of the story and build to a climax that will enable the reader to understand the plight of those who suffer with porphyria.
Ms. de ne Guerre spent her professional career as a Certified Quality Engineer for Abbott Laboratories. Even though the orphan drug Panhematin was manufactured by Abbott and coincidentally passed right across her desk, it was several years later that a diagnostician in an emergency room finally gave a name to her condition. She wrote this novel of intrigue not only to delight readers, but to bring understanding of the disease porphyria and help break the stigma that it is thought to be the disease of the vampires.
Understanding The Disease
APF is eager for the understanding as well. There are many people who are afraid to seek treatment because of the stigma, and then, of course, there are many more who are needlessly suffering because the majority of today's doctors are simply unaware of the disease.
Yet people with porphyria can lead very productive lives, such as Lauren Warren, who finished fourth in the Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid Triathlon, thus qualifying her to join athletes around the world in the famous Ironman World Championships. Could a vampire do that? To learn more about the disease and treatments, visit www.porphyriafoundation.com.
http://imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?id=373&option=com_content&task=view
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
Sunday, 25 November 2007
(NAPSI) - Many of the world's myths and legends have some basis in fact, which is why they are perpetuated through the centuries. In one case, the idea of a race of nefarious monsters-specifically, vampires-may actually have sprung from a very real and potentially deadly disease that affects thousands of people worldwide.
Porphyria is not a single disease but a group of at least eight disorders. Symptoms vary, but among them are some that have, in ancient times, given credence to the legend of the vampire. These include excruciating stomach pain, severe headaches, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), muscle weakness that can take on a state of paralysis from sensitivity to sunlight, and comas that last for days, giving one the appearance of having awakened from the dead.
Genetic Disorder
In reality, porphyria can only be passed genetically through families. It is extremely hard to diagnose and can be painful or even deadly. The root of the disease is in defective enzymes that are involved in the body's manufacturing of heme-a vital substance for all body organs. Heme consists of an iron atom surrounded by a porphyrin molecule and is a part of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to all parts of the body.
Unfortunately, the legend is bigger than the disease that spawned it; even today, people with porphyria are accused of being vampires. But vampires are only a myth created many centuries ago when medicine couldn't explain the problem.
"It's just absurd to think that drinking blood is a way to revitalize anyone!" says Desiree Lyon Howe, director of the American Porphyria Foundation (APF). "Drinking blood means it goes into the digestive system and merely passes through; it doesn't replace the blood in your body."
Charlotte de ne Guerre, a sufferer of porphyria, recently wrote a novel-inspired by her life story-that will shed light on the subject and dismiss the vampire stigma. In the book, "Grave Disorder," de ne Guerre lays out two tales that are separated by centuries but joined by the one truth.
Spanning The Centuries
The Baroness Elysia von Eschenbach is a young 17th-century noblewoman who doesn't understand the bizarre physical breakdowns that have plagued her. She is betrothed to the arrogant son of a wealthy Frenchwoman who is more interested in Elysia's title and land, but the consequences of having the disease are even more dire. When she absorbs too much sun, drinks wine and eats the wrong foods, she lapses into a near-death coma at her wedding...only to wake up after her abrupt funeral.
The other tale concerns a contemporary American woman, Claire Foster. She knows she's not crazy and that her symptoms are not all in her head, and yet, like many people today, she struggles to understand why she's suffering and is unable to find a doctor who will take her condition seriously, much less accurately diagnose her illness. Both tales are engaging from the onset of the story and build to a climax that will enable the reader to understand the plight of those who suffer with porphyria.
Ms. de ne Guerre spent her professional career as a Certified Quality Engineer for Abbott Laboratories. Even though the orphan drug Panhematin was manufactured by Abbott and coincidentally passed right across her desk, it was several years later that a diagnostician in an emergency room finally gave a name to her condition. She wrote this novel of intrigue not only to delight readers, but to bring understanding of the disease porphyria and help break the stigma that it is thought to be the disease of the vampires.
Understanding The Disease
APF is eager for the understanding as well. There are many people who are afraid to seek treatment because of the stigma, and then, of course, there are many more who are needlessly suffering because the majority of today's doctors are simply unaware of the disease.
Yet people with porphyria can lead very productive lives, such as Lauren Warren, who finished fourth in the Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid Triathlon, thus qualifying her to join athletes around the world in the famous Ironman World Championships. Could a vampire do that? To learn more about the disease and treatments, visit www.porphyriafoundation.com.
http://imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?id=373&option=com_content&task=view
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Zombies and sea monsters added to classic literature
Zombies, vampires and sea monsters have been added to classic works of literature in a new wave of horror "mash-up" literature.
By Ben Leach
Published: 7:20AM BST 13 Aug 2009
Mr Darcy, Vampyre, by Cheshire-based writer Amanda Grange, which imagines a bloodsucking private world of the celebrated romantic hero, will be released next month.
The idea for the book came while the author was watching the cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Its release follows a wave of successful books about Vampires, including the Twilight and The Southern Vampire Mysteries series.
The publication of the book follows the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which has sold more than 700,000 copies and is to be made into a film.
The reinterpretation of Jane Austen's novel will be followed with the release of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and later in the autumn a third book, Jane Bites Back, which imagines the author fighting off the zombies.
The books were created by US-based publishing house, Quirk Books. Jason Rekulak, the editorial director, said he pioneered the format after meeting dozens of Austen fans at a Californian sci-fi convention.
He told the Independent that he was a "lifelong fan" of the works of Jules Verne, and thought it would be fun to enliven the follow-up with some rampaging giant squid and man-eating octopuses.
"I just thought it was a funny idea. There were concerns from our sales department who thought Jane Austen fans wouldn't like the mayhem while zombie fans wouldn't get on with the original, but so far we have managed to get both audiences," he said.
Despite some objections from Austen fans the books have been a huge success – aided by the fact that her books are no longer under copyright and so are open to wholesale reinterpretation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6019956/Zombies-and-sea-monsters-added-to-classic-literature.html
Monday, 9 March 2009
Vampire discovered in Mass Grave
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126985.200-vampire-discovered-
in-mass-grave.html
'Vampire' discovered in mass grave
* Updated 16:07 06 March 2009
* Magazine issue 2698. S
A SKELETON exhumed from a grav
e in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents.
Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see left) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice (see second image below).
At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying.
in-mass-grave.html
'Vampire' discovered in mass grave
* Updated 16:07 06 March 2009
* Magazine issue 2698. S
A SKELETON exhumed from a grav
e in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents.Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see left) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice (see second image below).
At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying.
Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says.
The belief in vampires probably arose because blood is sometimes expelled from the mouths of the dead, causing the shroud to sink inwards and tear. Borrini, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Denver, Colorado, last week, claims this might be the first such vampire to have been forensically examined. The skeleton was removed from a mass grave ofvictims of the Venetian plague of 1576.
However, Peer Moore-Jansen of Wichita State University in Kansas says he has found similar skeletons in Poland and that while Borrini's finding is exciting, "claiming it as the first vampire is a little ridiculous". Borrini says his study details the earliest grave to show archaeological "exorcism evidence against vampires".
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Tales of found bones — and, oh yes, la chupacabra
Ray Crippen Worthington Daily Globe
Published Saturday, February 28, 2009
WORTHINGTON — What is this thing with bones?
Every time I pick up a newspaper lately, I find something about bones.
The Daily Globe was telling about the mystery skull at the Nobles County Historical Society. I figure this is another peanut butter victim. The U.S. never has enforced peanut product investigations.
The way I analyze it, some kid over-dipped on peanut butter in the old Central Elementary cafeteria. The youngster then lifted up and began stumbling ahead, blindly, staggering across the street and into the Historical Society storage area before he collapsed. Nothing remains but a skull. We have to watch it with peanut butter.
Next newspaper I pick up is telling about the skull of the great Apache chief Geronimo. (You’re going to think I am making up these things. I am not.)
The claim is in 1918 members of Yale’s elite Skull & Bones society were at Fort Sill, Okla., where they secretly lifted Geronimo’s skull from his grave and carried their trophy back to their Yalie club rooms. Geronimo’s family is now filing suit demanding the return of Grandpa’s head.
Then there is the report from Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Researchers are digging under a parking lot — you can do things in California you can’t do other places. The diggers came upon the fossil of a mammoth that is so huge they are calling it mammoth. (I’m sorry. They say this, not me.) The diggers named their mammoth mammoth Zed and the reporter says, “The paleontologists are downright giddy.” This may be another reaction to peanut butter. Or something.
On to another newspaper.
John Ackerman owns a furniture restoration business and 32 underground caves south of Rochester. (This is according to Dick Merryhew, who used to report for the Daily Globe. He’s good.)
Ackerman was poking around in one of his caves when he came upon the skull of a saber-tooth tiger with canine teeth seven inches long. It is thought the creature weighed 650 pounds. Even Jesse Ventura would not be able to deal with it.
The importance of this discovery — to someone — is that it proves saber-tooth creatures prowled within Minnesota’s boundaries.
I have been holding off telling the most gross of all these curious accounts.
In July 2007, Phylis Canion of Cuero, Texas — yes, Cuero, the Texas turkey town — Mrs. Canion found the body of a creature along Highway 183, near the turn-off to her ranch. This creature is tentatively labeled La Chupacabra, the legendary Goat Sucker. The story has been ballyhooed on television, of course, but it even is being printed in newspapers.
La Chupacabra (if so it be) is a hairless, dog-like creature about 40 inches long estimated to weigh about 30 pounds. This is another one of those things with long fangs. Big ears. The hind legs are slightly longer than the front legs. Color of the elephant-like skin is labeled “grayish-blue.”
Reports now are that in those mid-July days Mrs. Canion and her country neighbors found bodies of three such animals. The plucky Texas rancher cut the head off the body she found along the highway and put it in a freezer. With the head, she says, she hopes “to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing.” She plans to have the head mounted for display in her home.
The Texans speculate heavy rains in 2007 drove the animals out of dens to high ground. Following the rains, Mrs. Canion says she lost eight kittens and 26 chickens, all with their blood drained from them. Chupacabra is a kind of vampire.
Texas State University and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Service are on the case.
The thing that bothers me is that T-shirts have been put on sale: “2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas.” Cuero is getting recognition as the Chupacabra Capital of America.
This is where I draw a line.
I never was wholly accepting of the Worthington/Cuero turkey link. I liked my Turkey Days without the Texas sauce.
But — if anyone thinks Worthington must now respond to the Cuero challenge by rearing a local pack of Chupacabras for a race along 10th Street on Chupacabra Day, I am saying, “Forget it!”
Don’t even think about it.
Ray Crippen is a former editor of the Daily Globe. His column appears on Saturdays.
http://www.dglobe.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19587§ion=Lifestyle
Published Saturday, February 28, 2009
WORTHINGTON — What is this thing with bones?
Every time I pick up a newspaper lately, I find something about bones.
The Daily Globe was telling about the mystery skull at the Nobles County Historical Society. I figure this is another peanut butter victim. The U.S. never has enforced peanut product investigations.
The way I analyze it, some kid over-dipped on peanut butter in the old Central Elementary cafeteria. The youngster then lifted up and began stumbling ahead, blindly, staggering across the street and into the Historical Society storage area before he collapsed. Nothing remains but a skull. We have to watch it with peanut butter.
Next newspaper I pick up is telling about the skull of the great Apache chief Geronimo. (You’re going to think I am making up these things. I am not.)
The claim is in 1918 members of Yale’s elite Skull & Bones society were at Fort Sill, Okla., where they secretly lifted Geronimo’s skull from his grave and carried their trophy back to their Yalie club rooms. Geronimo’s family is now filing suit demanding the return of Grandpa’s head.
Then there is the report from Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Researchers are digging under a parking lot — you can do things in California you can’t do other places. The diggers came upon the fossil of a mammoth that is so huge they are calling it mammoth. (I’m sorry. They say this, not me.) The diggers named their mammoth mammoth Zed and the reporter says, “The paleontologists are downright giddy.” This may be another reaction to peanut butter. Or something.
On to another newspaper.
John Ackerman owns a furniture restoration business and 32 underground caves south of Rochester. (This is according to Dick Merryhew, who used to report for the Daily Globe. He’s good.)
Ackerman was poking around in one of his caves when he came upon the skull of a saber-tooth tiger with canine teeth seven inches long. It is thought the creature weighed 650 pounds. Even Jesse Ventura would not be able to deal with it.
The importance of this discovery — to someone — is that it proves saber-tooth creatures prowled within Minnesota’s boundaries.
I have been holding off telling the most gross of all these curious accounts.
In July 2007, Phylis Canion of Cuero, Texas — yes, Cuero, the Texas turkey town — Mrs. Canion found the body of a creature along Highway 183, near the turn-off to her ranch. This creature is tentatively labeled La Chupacabra, the legendary Goat Sucker. The story has been ballyhooed on television, of course, but it even is being printed in newspapers.
La Chupacabra (if so it be) is a hairless, dog-like creature about 40 inches long estimated to weigh about 30 pounds. This is another one of those things with long fangs. Big ears. The hind legs are slightly longer than the front legs. Color of the elephant-like skin is labeled “grayish-blue.”
Reports now are that in those mid-July days Mrs. Canion and her country neighbors found bodies of three such animals. The plucky Texas rancher cut the head off the body she found along the highway and put it in a freezer. With the head, she says, she hopes “to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing.” She plans to have the head mounted for display in her home.
The Texans speculate heavy rains in 2007 drove the animals out of dens to high ground. Following the rains, Mrs. Canion says she lost eight kittens and 26 chickens, all with their blood drained from them. Chupacabra is a kind of vampire.
Texas State University and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Service are on the case.
The thing that bothers me is that T-shirts have been put on sale: “2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas.” Cuero is getting recognition as the Chupacabra Capital of America.
This is where I draw a line.
I never was wholly accepting of the Worthington/Cuero turkey link. I liked my Turkey Days without the Texas sauce.
But — if anyone thinks Worthington must now respond to the Cuero challenge by rearing a local pack of Chupacabras for a race along 10th Street on Chupacabra Day, I am saying, “Forget it!”
Don’t even think about it.
Ray Crippen is a former editor of the Daily Globe. His column appears on Saturdays.
http://www.dglobe.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19587§ion=Lifestyle
Could There be Real Monster Bats?
Villages infested with vampire bats are one thing. But Nicaragua has its own folklore of blood-sucking monsters. From tales of the infamous chupacabras — the mythical alien, kangaroo, batdog that feeds on the blood of goats and chickens — to the lesser-known comelenguas, an unseen beast that feeds on the tongues of sleeping cattle, most Nicaraguan farmers can hold their own when it comes to telling vampire stories around a campfire. But, perhaps just like The X-Files, there could be an element of truth to some of the legends.
In 2002, when the chupacabras was supposedly terrorizing a rural farming community outside the colonial city of Leon, a former government vampire hunter told the local press that the real blood-sucking culprit was a giant vampire bat with a 5-ft wingspan, which he claims to have once caught in the northern mountains of Nicaragua. Bat experts and other vampire hunters insist there's no way a vampire could grow that big, but zoologist Bill Schutt says the hunter could have caught the Vampyrum spectrum, a monstrous carnivorous bat found in Nicaragua. The Vampyrum spectrum is an extremely rare predator with fierce teeth and a three-foot wing span. But, Schutt notes, it's not a real blood feeder, despite its name.
Still, there was once a true giant vampire bat and some experts think that creature of the late Pleistocene, the Desmodus draculae, may still be alive today in some remote corner of the world. Nicaragua perhaps? Unlikely, Schutt says, but not impossible. "I'd jump up and down if one were discovered today," Schutt said. The farmers of Nicaragua, however, may not be as happy.
Read about Nicaragua's vampire problem.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1882097,00.html
In 2002, when the chupacabras was supposedly terrorizing a rural farming community outside the colonial city of Leon, a former government vampire hunter told the local press that the real blood-sucking culprit was a giant vampire bat with a 5-ft wingspan, which he claims to have once caught in the northern mountains of Nicaragua. Bat experts and other vampire hunters insist there's no way a vampire could grow that big, but zoologist Bill Schutt says the hunter could have caught the Vampyrum spectrum, a monstrous carnivorous bat found in Nicaragua. The Vampyrum spectrum is an extremely rare predator with fierce teeth and a three-foot wing span. But, Schutt notes, it's not a real blood feeder, despite its name.
Still, there was once a true giant vampire bat and some experts think that creature of the late Pleistocene, the Desmodus draculae, may still be alive today in some remote corner of the world. Nicaragua perhaps? Unlikely, Schutt says, but not impossible. "I'd jump up and down if one were discovered today," Schutt said. The farmers of Nicaragua, however, may not be as happy.
Read about Nicaragua's vampire problem.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1882097,00.html
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