Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Are Vampires "Real?"
Vampire myths date back thousands of years and originate from many different regions, from Asia to Eastern Europe, and reach as far back as ancient Babylonia and Greece (1). They are demons, the undead, living off of the blood and flesh of other beings (most prominently humans). They can take the form of many beasts, most memorably the bat. Vampires are characteristically pale, burned by sunlight and deterred with holy water, with prominent teeth and a penchant for seducing their victims. The only way to become a vampire is to be bitten by one. They sleep in coffins and only come out during the night. But what is the origin of this myth, of vampires? Is their origin rooted in biology? Are vampires “real?”
The rare and unusual disease, porphyria, may have been the beginning of vampires (1). Porphyria is a metabolic disorder that causes a malfunction in the production of heme, an iron-rich pigment essential in transporting oxygen in the blood. Symptoms from this disease include hypersensitivity to light, resulting in burning or blistering, psychiatric symptoms (like hallucinations), and seizures (3). People with more severe forms of porphyria suffer from extreme abdominal pain and acute delirium, and, due to irregularities in heme pigment, can have reddish mouths and teeth (1). Porphyria can also cause tissue damage and could make people’s teeth appear larger and more prominent due to gum tissue recession (5).
Traditional treatments for anemias like porphyria involved the consumption of animal blood. As a hereditary disease, porphyria would appear in families, small Transylvanian villages (where inbreeding probably occurred), and groups including the eastern European aristocracy (where more inbreeding definitely occurred; you’ve got to keep the blood line pure, after all) (4).
It is not difficult to draw connections between sufferers of porphyria and the vampire myth, ranging from hypersensitivity to sunlight, to pointy-looking teeth, to acute delirium and other hallucinations. It probably didn’t help that they were told to drink animal blood, either.
Another disease often attributed to inspiring vampire legends is rabies. Rabies is caused by a virus transmitted through wildlife, through an infected animal’s saliva, most commonly bats, skunks, raccoons, and other medium-sized mammals (2).
Since bats are commonly associated with vampires, (a second form), it could be inferred that people who contracted rabies from bats were thought to have been bitten by a vampire.
Rabies causes excessive saliva and foaming of the mouth and uncontrollable, painful throat spasms. The sufferer suffers from overwhelming thirst but cannot drink; they experience restlessness, agitation, paranoia, insomnia, hallucinations, and seizures. Eventually, if untreated, a person with rabies will enter a coma and die (2). It is also common for a sufferer of rabies to experience a hypersensitivity to, well, almost anything: light, strong smells (like garlic), and noise.
So, after a person was bitten by a bat or another animal behaving unusually, (with no fear of humans), they would present with symptoms not unlike the vampire of legend— unable to quench their thirst, hypersensitive to light and strong smells, and unable to sleep (causing them to roam around at night). Now, throw in the fact that the rabies sufferer would probably be agitated and might act violently toward other people, maybe even trying to bite them. As a Transylvanian villager, what would you believe?
Catalepsy, a physical condition that often presented with epilepsy, schizophrenia, and other disorders that affect the central nervous system, could also be attributed to inspiring vampire legend. During a cataleptic episode, a person “freezes up;” their muscles become rigid, heart rate and respiration slow down… they could very easily be mistaken for a corpse (1).
So imagine yourself a mourning relative, thinking your family member dead… when you find them clawing their way out of their casket, seemingly one of the “living dead.” What would you do?
Break out the garlic and holy water, that’s what.
Unexplained behaviors caused by unexplained diseases and disorders could have easily been the origin of vampire legend. It was their biology, not their damned soul or “uncontrollable thirst for blood” that made them vampires. Porphyria, rabies, and catalepsy, among other neurological and physical disorders, could have led people to believe that they were dealing with something, or someone, unnatural. It’s not that the cases weren’t real –according to this evidence, to these different diseases, they were—it’s that the so-called “vampires” were little more than people with unfortunate metabolic disorders, those who encountered a rabid skunk, or cataleptic schizophrenics.
“There are mysteries which men can only guess at,” wrote Bram Stoker, “which age by age they may solve only in part” (6). We cannot say for certain if these diseases were the cause, but through a summary of observations we can at least hope to decipher some of the mystery the creator of Count Dracula alludes to.
References:
1. http://science.howstuffworks.com/vampire5.htm
2. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Rabies-Topic-Overview
3. http://www.mayoclinic.org/porphyria/index.html
4. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/dracula7.html
5. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Porphyria-10646
6. http://www.litquotes.com/quote_author_resp.php?AName=Bram%20Stoker
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
About Student Papers
| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio
A Random Walk
New Topics
-
3 weeks 6 days ago
-
4 weeks 2 days ago
-
4 weeks 2 days ago
-
4 weeks 2 days ago
-
4 weeks 2 days ago
Comments
heus Quid walison trying scio
heus Quid walison trying scio dicere pauca latin dont sed intelligere xx
Vampires
I am one of the many vampires that still exists. im 5'6 and i know im not full vampire, but i am a mori. Half vampire and half human. My stength is very strong and i love blood. So far, ive been drinking blood for almost two years now and it feels great. many other vampires have drinked from me as well, but it dont bother me. as of now, i am the only vampire in my whole school, which is hard to make a living on. Im looking for a vampire to date and if you would like t0o date me, just contact me at 15732182120.
i want to change
hi ur a real vampire then if you are turn me into one and i will date u that only if u r though
Vampires
Hey please tell me!
Many people told me Vampires are fake!
Who can prove me that you are real?
I want to become a Vampire?
How do i do that??
aww....idon't believe it i'm
aww....idon't believe it i'm a single vampire too in my school..i'm suffering of being lonly...i want to have a vampire man...pls send me a message to:
Vampires
Hey whts up? My name is Chris McDonald and im taken rite now, but if i am ever single, im yours. By the way i didnt get ur name, how old u are, or anything about u at all. Send me a message back plz.
vampires
Emm we aint that bad i mean ima blue blood and im dating a silver blood and ive never ever had a human ever i live with my sister my mom my nana my papal and there human i go to school with humans and i with stand myself
hey im not saying there bad i
hey im not saying there bad i want to be a vampire not for the fact of strength and the new reasons i want to be because im afraid, afraid of what is after death if when you die its just one black hole and your forever falling or if you are just asleep and death is just one long dream that you never wake up from who knows that is why i want to be a vampire so if there are real help me xxx
there is no such things as
there is no such things as vampires. If you are a vampire how old are you and,and i guess you are saying that your whole entire family are vampires. Please tell ppl something else.
I don't belive as well!
I totally agree with you! Vampires,god,Jesus... and all others things don't exits. If you think about it it's strenge that all this things are just as we humans would want it to be! We humans always had big dreams and we made this things up because we wanted something more out of our short and boring lives! We wanted to be someting more than just an developed animal!
We humans just want to hope in something so i'm not saying it's bad or wrong to belive in all this but we just can't take it as far as to hurt someone or to make even more stuff up!It's not going to help you guys, it's only going to make you feel more lonely!
P.S: sorry for my english, i'm from Slovenia, so it's not really good:)
vampires
I think that vampires are not immortal, but i do think they are amazing. especially vampires that are women are amazing to me and they are fascinating.
vampires
hey you know what ?
vampires are really happen, they are realy in our life anywhere , anytime
I shaw them but I haven't proof
Vampires Myth and Facts
There's a huge interest about vampires recently since Twilight came out...although the myth comes from somewhere else and is not exactly from these books. If you want to know about vampires google this name "Vlad Tepes The Impaler" or his father "Vlad Dracul" (which means son of the devil or dragon) also google about "The Bran Castle" in Transylvania Romania That's where this vampire myth started and it's also actually "Bram Stoker" got his inspiration from to write his book "Drácula"
I have no idea if vampires are real or there just a lot of people with a huge imagination or probably pshycological issues and that's why they call themselves "vampires" and they say things like " I HAVE SHARP FANGS", " I HAVE A STRANGE URGE OF DRINKING BLOOD" OR "I'M A DARK PERSON WHO LOVES NIGHT AND CAN'T COME OUT IN DAYLIGHT CAUSE IT MAKES ME FEEL ILL"
I believe if vampires are actually real they wouldn't say it on websites or forums they would keep it secretly they won't say out loud "I'm a Vampire" they won't give a hint about how they reallly look or how their life style is a real vampire wouldn't do that at all. That's my opinion.
Also there is people who claims themselves to be "Psychic Vampires" i honestly believe there is not such a thing. But they certainly are really negative people that makes u feel weird around them cause their negativity energy is so high that u end up feeling tired and even u dont want to be around that person anymore. Well like it or not that's what i think sorry i'm not trying to offend anybody if there is someone out there who is A REAL VAMPIRE.
reading all these comments
reading all these comments really opened my eyes.i used to be OBSESSED with vampires.i fell into a minor depression just because i wasnt one.but now i see that i only wanted to be like the vampire illusions on tv.i still want the powers like running really fast and being unusually strong but im just goin to deal with it because i dont want to be responsible for getting one of you vampires killed or in trouble.
i dont expect any replies i just felt like i needed to get this off of my chest.
thank u for your time :)
wow its like yuu know part of
wow its like yuu know part of me.
thee same exact thing happen to me.
rite now im still in thee same stage
but i just wanna know.
oh.
oh my god. you are totally right. i was into vampires for some reason when i entered the age of eleven. i was so into them i started wearing my sweater all day to not get any tanner, and it is kinda true that when i go in the sun, my skins gets a burining feeling to it, not like regular, like it is on fire and i have a sunburn, only i dont have a sunburn. if you have no idea what i am talikin about, go to where the reply came from. lol when i entered tha age of 12, i got even more obsessed. i even wanted to be one so fucking bad that i would want to go camping with my dad in the forest, sleep without the light on and sleep with my neck stuck out.(i got my own tent). now, i am soo freaking obsessed with them, especially since i watched an anime, a japanese animation, no it isnt actually how you think it looks like. well anyways, it got me so much more obsessed that i thought i was having lusts for blood, (but i actually wanted water.) and i really did think that i was a vampire because i was at a farm where they let you take care of the animals and they had a place with baby bats.( what a strange farm right, they had owls too, i guess it was more like a preserve) and i was trying to force feed it a bottle( this was when i was like eight or nine years old) and it bit me, and i never forgot that. well any ways, my k-9 teeth are longer than most peoples and one day i thought i wanted blood(i actually wanted water) and i bit my wrist by pressing down hard with my top k-9 teeth and i actually swallowed a lot of my own blood, and at my "fase" i thought it tasted good ( when i was about five or six i used to suck on pennys because i thought they tasted yummy, before my vampire craze) and well i then got really depressed because no matter what i did i wasnt a vampire, i dont want to be a vampire for powers or special abilities, i have always liked the taste of iron, copper and blood for some strange reason and i thought that you are a vampire if you do and i wanted to be one really badly because i would get to practically suck peoples life right out of them, if i drank too much of their blood( i am onot a phyco murderer), for the extra strenth, and i just plain out love vampires because it is forbidden to love a vampire, and i wanted someday to love one(now i know that there is only a 35% chance they exsist), but now, i am about to turn 13 and my craze is slowly fading, but i will always, save a special place in my mind that the exsitance of vampires is true. oh, and one time my bestfriend when we were like eleven, i was at her house for a sleep over, right before we watched a vampire movie or something(not twilight i think true blood on HBO or something) she said" i am a vampire"(her k-9'2 are very long and large, but i didnt believe they were real unitl i tried to pull one out and it didnt) and i said" really?" (i did actually fall for it i am gullable sometimes) and she said yeah and i just had to say "prove it" and she said no and gave me a hug, next thing i know she is puncturing my skin where my shoulder and neck meet. i was like so freaked out by it, and then i had to hide it when i go home the next week. she did suck on it and i thought it was kinda lesbian but still that was what really made me believe. my friend is a freak but she is my freak. if you never want to meet her or run into her, if youlive in california i suggest you move away.
I do believe that some people
I do believe that some people can withstand higher amounts of irons than others, i do believe that drinking blood is something some people can do easily, but i do not believe that these people are non-human. It is like saying people with glasses aren't human because they are slightly different. I think that the people on this forum who keep on referring to "the humans" need to stop grabbing for attention. I think vampires are a race, just like the europeans or the africans, both built differently. It is like me (african-american) walking around saying to all the white people that i am a different species because i am built differently. So i would like the people who refur to themselves as non-human to really think about what i am saying.
Reply...
Hello riley, what you say is very much true, vampires are just another race, either more or less evolved than normal people, and the differences are negligible, for example, humans gain energy through food, and vampires, yes needs food but gain their nutrition through other sources like blood. Some people are more evolved than others, a so called vampire may have the ability to repair wounds quicker and more efficiently, may have stronger muscle tissue, need less sleep etc. etc. But what you say is basically true, i have never refered to myself as a vampire, nor am i super strong or go crazy at the sight of blood, i just heal faster and am slightly more efficient than others...
I killed a vampire today. It
I killed a vampire today. It was quite fun actually, and he even looked liked edward cullen too. At least it's not murder since they are not actually human.
Come on,,,,,,,,,,,!
who is this stupid guy who's pretending his a vampire?!!?"i can't sleep at night...no matter how tired i am..."give me a brake...you re a fuckin loser..who watched too many vampire movies and thinks he is one:))and you re fooling 13 year old little girls to make yourself feel good?!!?go fuck yourself...!!even if vampires in the real world existed!they wouldn't be as stupid as you are........!telling scenes from a crapy movies like it vould bw you re life?!?!?:))you re the biggest loser i ever met..!go fuck yourself and stop mollestin little girls....!!!!!
Vampires
I have a thing for blood and i am considered a vampire at my own school. It doesnt really bother me at all. For me, its totally normal if im a vampire or not or if ur a vampire or not. I think that vampires are cool and amazing.
hi!i dont hav much to ask but
hi!i dont hav much to ask but i was reading about vampires and so thought of texting you...im bit confused that how to beliv dat u r vampire????its not easy to accept..i jat wanna knw more abt u...so is it possible 4 u 2 chat wid me.
Immortallity
The only reason i want immortality is because(and this is probably because I've been mislead by the fiction teen stories) I heard that if you feel pain you can just turn it off and not feel it anymore. I am very emotional,depressed, and anxious for a girl of my age and I don't like it. Sometimes i wish i could just wake up & not feel anything of the stupid stuff that happened in the past days. I'm not saying I want this because honestly? I'm very young for this and I need time to figure this out. Anyway, if I end up DO wanting this, I might need some help. Then again, I doubt any of you vampires would want to help me.
I will bite ya. I am
I will bite ya. I am starved!!! I bit my best friend!!
if u wanna bite me.. text me
if u wanna bite me.. text me -
vampires
Ill help u all u want.
to bad they are not reaL :(
:(
look. stop disturbing my
look. stop disturbing my race. whatever the internet says are fake. it annoys me just how much you people disturb my race. creating fake stories. i am a vampire and i love the fact that i am a vampire. and for your information , you all cannot be trusted.
I must agree with you there.
I must agree with you there. and I am human go figure.
i agree with your comment.
i agree with your comment. humans have made so much up about vampires over time. i don't believe most of it, but i do think vampires are real. you say you are one? have you always been one? or were you turned? i would love to know, i want immortality. but i don't want if for stupid reasons for instance incase ''edward cullen" is real. but for, i don't really know why, i don't think there is a valid reason for wanting immortality. i just personally really want it. thanks.
i'm a vampire, too but that doesn't mean i hate humans also
just because you got a bad way of meeting some humans doesn't mean everyone is like that. honestly, you should be happy most people love us because they could actually hunt us down. Humans are great people.
are you vampire?
Oh my god are you a vampire?
I can't bilieve that, because of no one can expose him/her self...
so are you realy a vampire so please replay me
hello, my name is emily
hello,
my name is emily and i do believe my mother tells me i am crazy. All me and my, well me and my best friend believe that you are real. and i would love to talk to you and know how you became one and did it hurt?, how old are you, and if i wanted to be one of you will it really give my soul to the devil like they say? i have so many questions i keep reaserching but most are fake and i know it plez if you can let me know
doesnt matter how much yuu
doesnt matter how much yuu ask.
humans will still ask.
we're just curious is all.
hey he said to stop
hey he said to stop
Hello
hello
hello my name is ashley and all i want is to be like you and run fast and all that. That is the only thing that i would ask to be like you that has been my bream sinse i saw that my 1st vampire p.s i loved it becuse it had vampires in it an was if i ever meet you the 1st thing that i would do is ask you if they can trun me like you plezzzz plezzzzzzz and finely plezzzzzzzzzzz
how long have you been what
how long have you been what you are??..i do believe they exist significantly because i am one of u....dont know how or why just am i have questions
if u r then just ask
If u r a vampire then ur either one we havent counted or u just think that u r cause u have high reflexes and u can hear smell and see things far away but if u r one then u just have to ask in ur head and say can u hear me and one of us is bound to answer u and btw we're not death walkers like everyone of these idiots say :p
I'm looking at these comments
I'm looking at these comments and thinking "Okay... So people are seriously stupid..." Stephenie Meyer's ideal of a vampire is false, she says so herself. They don't sparkle or anything. I've had people tell me they are vampires, but not Twilight vampires, or blood sucking vampires.
Some people believe vampires feed not on blood, but the simple life energy of other people. They aren't gonna live forever or anything, they just simply don't have as much energy as others.
I'm a skeptic, but whatever. They use the aura and just sort of "feed" off them.
They're called psychic vampires.
Tl;dr: Vampires may exist, just not what you think they are.
It is true.
It is true. Vampires do exists, but the rubbish that the interent tells about them is completely wrong!! we don't burn in sunlight?! We aren't vicious...only one can be born one and either go through an excruciating proccedure to be one. Trust, it is very difficult to find as vampires should not trust humans, humans are not capable to keep hands off... its human nature, which is why vampires cannot really have deep connections and detailed explanations to what vampires are... most people have different but only when you are a vampire do you know what 'it' is.Interent is misleading therefor HUMANS are misleading, creating their own vision of vampires. Leave the work for us and get on with your own buisness.
the truth
i need to know there is a void it will not be filled till the truth is shown to me
HI ! I do believe in
HI !
I do believe in vampires...but i don t know how someone knows that he is a vampire....are there any special sings....i m curious about all that ... i like myths...
you are right that people think wrong...
thank you for the respons !
Thank you for voicing the
Thank you for voicing the truth. Humans may be hard set in their beliefs, but I'm set in different beliefs, of the fantastic and amazing. Humans are blind to everything around them.
help me
I am trying to write a school paper to prove this.
Vampires Are Real
so am i. i hate it how people reackon they don't exist and they spread all the lies on the interenet about our kind it's just crap and yes the only way to become one of us is to be bitton and go through excrutiating pain our be born as one
From Zoe
really,people,how far are you
really,people,how far are you guys willing to go with this none sense. If the internet has it all wrong why dont you explain and describe your self then. Stephanie meyers really did a number on you guys. Soon you guys will be saying that the Cullens were or real
Prove it
I want to believe that vampires are real but I can not find very much information to fulfill my curiosity. Could you prove to me that they are real?
They ARE real!
Vampires ARE real, I am living proof. Human's fantasies of us sicken me, HUMANS sicken me. But on a different note, it's not just my hatred for humans and their misled beliefs, it's how I PERSONALLY feel. I have many reasons to believe I am a vampire. My skin doesnt melt away in the sun, but after a few minutes in the sun even on a cold day I begin to feel ABSOLUTELY exhausted. I don't run after and bite people, but I have strange cravings for blood. I have sharp canines and I have found that they seem to be sharper at night, I am a total night owl, and no matter how tired I am during the day or how early I collapsed the night before, if I manage to make it to the night, I CAN'T sleep until at least midnight, then I finally find the willpower to get to sleep because I need to get up early the next morning. I've heard stories of them being able to control elements, and if you want to count it as any more proof...sometimes I feel as though I can control the wind. Though my control is currently weak.
......you are
......you are really......*sigh* look. I know humans stink[[yes i am talking about myself]] but seriously not all humans are bad. of course I'm not trying to make u believe they are good but you were one too right? of course i ask this because i am lacking knowledge on your kind. if i knew maybe i wouldn't offend u. I'm sorry if I'm making u angry please remeber this though. I am 13 years old.
help us
well maybe if you "vampires" would just find one trustin human maybe we all[[u vamps and us vamp-lovers]] wouldn't be in this mess. not that i am blaming anyone but c'mon now!!
if u would like to talk to me about this, my contact is