I am wondering if anybody here believes that it is possible for a vampire to exist. I mean: a real bloodsucker immortal. I was on a big research jag a few years ago and read a lot of books on the subject and came to the conclusion: no, they don't really exist. But there are websites in which people and groups say that yes, they do exist--that they're immortal or very long lived, and need blood to survive.

So I'm asking--in this age of UFOs, alternate universe theories, and general weirdness, is there one thin shred of possibility that a real vampire could exist?
(warning: this may set me off on another research jag)

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.

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

Originally posted by DeusEx
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

Thanks for proving my point. You can't beat going to Marie LaVoe's (sp) grave. Legend has it, mark 3 X's on her headstone, make your request (usually doing with love or fertility) and if your request is granted, go back and leave an offering.
This is just one of the stories. They've said that she haunts the graveyard, and SUPPOSEDLY, vamps hang out around the French Quarter. It's a messed up town. No place to raise a family, but certainly a place to party.

hrm. if I could find a person/group who claims to be/know a vampire that didn't come off as completely and utterly insane, then I'd consider the idea. unfortunately, most of the proponents of the vampire theory come off as less than credible. (of course, the same can be said for most 'alternative' subjects. I guess vampirism has never interested me enough to look past the field's resident wackjobs )

Originally posted by cheshire cat

Thanks for proving my point. You can't beat going to Marie LaVoe's (sp) grave. Legend has it, mark 3 X's on her headstone, make your request (usually doing with love or fertility) and if your request is granted, go back and leave an offering.
This is just one of the stories. They've said that she haunts the graveyard, and SUPPOSEDLY, vamps hang out around the French Quarter. It's a messed up town. No place to raise a family, but certainly a place to party.

Definitely. And it's any grave, not just Mary Leveau's. Mark three X's, curse someone if you leave an offering.

There's definitely paranormal in that town, MC. Go visit the French Quarter any given night. Just don't go near any graveyards... if there aren't vampires there, there might be some petro practicioners. And they're not nice people.

DE

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 remember going to the pub one lunchtime and bumping into a group of LARPers all dressed as Vampires. One girl grinned at me and flashed her fangs. I looked shook my head, smiled and said "Any more of that and I'll report you to the Justicar for breach of the Masquerade" - She was amazed that I knew of the World of Darkness - for some reason they thought the only people who played V:TM were students. Shows what kind of vampires we had in the Midlands.

To me and my associates, a vampire may be classically known to draw blood or soul energy from their 'victims' but they are merely a representation of a spiritual parasite. ANYTHING that takes from another in bioformation is a vampire as far as many of us are concerned. Humana in its consumption and consumer lifestyle then would be vampires of a sort would they not? Peace, Amber M.

[Edited on 3/15/04 by Lucifer]

Originally posted by Lucifer
To me and my associates, a vampire may be classically known to draw blood or soul energy from their 'victims' but they are merely a representation of a spiritual parasite. ANYTHING that takes from another in bioformation is a vampire as far as many of us are concerned. Humana in its consumption and consumer lifestyle then would be vampires of a sort would they not? Peace, Amber M.

[Edited on 3/15/04 by Lucifer]

The Corporations could also be considered Vampires, since they drain the life of others, although not in such an obvious way.

i used to have terrible night mares about vampires

i beleive they exist....may be not in the classic sense but i can tell you psychic vampires who drain energy exist for sure

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.

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

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.

After reading all the posts and thinking about it, I think there is probably a sliver of a chance that a real vampire could exist--the possibility lies in that same twilight zone place a lot of weird things occur in...

...also, maybe the vampire legend does have some basis in reality if we go far enough back in time?

Yeah, there's plenty of people who qualified as sick enough to call themselves vampires. Ol' Vlad, Elizabeth Bathory... not to mention that jsut about every culture has its own legend corresponding to a being that drains blood/lifeforce from a person...

DE