Vampires

What are the vampires of folklore?  How are they presented in popular culture?  Are there people who think they are real?

In folklore, vampires are mythological beings who exist by feeding on the blood of living creatures.  They can be either “undead” or living people.  Undead vampires usually visit people they loved and cause chaos in the communities where they lived when they were alive.  The word “vampire” did not become popular until the early 1700s.  This is in spite of the fact that most cultures have tales about vampire type entities.  But  in the early 18th century there was an influx of people into western Europe from places where the vampire legend ran rampant.

Back then, vampires were usually depicted as monstrous creatures, purple-faced and bloated.  Although his novel “Dracula” still thrills us today, Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire story.  That honor goes to John Polidori, who wrote “The Vampyre:  A Tale”,  the first modern vampire story.

There are people now who believe that vampires are real.  One of these is writer  Inanna Arthen.  Arthenwrites that most modern people do not believe in vampires because they “are never forced to think otherwise.”  However, the truth about vampires lies beyond all the psychological theories and folklore.  Arthen further tells us that most vampires do not drink blood.  However, she points out that fresh blood is the highest known source of “life energy”. On a biochemical level, vampires are usually “night people”. 

To summarize, most people regard vampires as mythological creatures, although some people really believe in them.  The first modern vampire story was “The Vampyre: A Tale” by John Polidari.

Interest in vampires continues unabated, as witnessed by the huge popularity of the “Twilight” books and movies.