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Vampires

Subversive?

Subversive is a subjective term defined very loosely and without context by the USA's KGB. As an example of books they've been known to track, the Harry Potter books made their lists, as does science fiction and fantasy, ghost stories, horror novels, and many literary anthologies and novels; untold numbers of nonfiction works -- literally anything other than a specific edition of the xtian Bible, etc.
 
They would be looking for books like "the anarchists cookbook" and I always thought they had red flags? Librarian's Rock!
 
Fraterlibre, that list must cover all of the library using public then. Not very discriminatory...or of real use to an investigator.

But of course anyone who `read` counts as dangerous.
 
Any Who Read

Yes, you've pegged it. Libraries will soon be burning or outlawed, certainly restricted to those few able to get through the bureaucratic maze of permissions and back-ground searches.

The Anarchist's Cookbook does nothing but collect in one place information any high school chemistry student knows. No big deal. It's been demonized worse than vampires, and for similar political reasons.

It's available free at many websites, too.

As for vampires per se, these days this topic is linked, often unfairly, with the Goth subcultures, and others, all of which the KGB tends to lump into Untrustworthy and Potentially Subversive Groups.

Librarians do rock, though. They have stood up to the bullying and we can only hope they continue to prevail in this New Dark Ages. Otherwise we're all going to be living the lives of vampires, hunted ones.
 
On a side note, I once read an article (it may have been a plug for a book series or a genuine study) that stated that Longinus (centurian of the spear of destiny) was the first vampire. Cursed to wander the earth eternally and turned to drinking blood because of the mis-interpretaion of 'he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have eternal life' and he apparently licked the spear with Jesus' bood on it.

I hope I didn't make it up in my mind, i'm pretty sure I read it somewhere.
 
Wasn't That...

Wasn't Spear a book by James Herbert or Graham Masterton or one of those horror folks? Perhaps the plot came from that?
 
Prosecutions being brought in the Petre Toma's "slaying":

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 482#343482

Mon 31 Jan 2005

Six men jailed for exhuming a 'vampire' to eat his heart

ALLAN HALL

SIX Romanians have been jailed for digging up the corpse of a cancer victim, ripping his heart out and eating it because they thought he was a vampire.

The men, who have each been sentenced to six months in jail, waited for seven weeks after the 76-year-old former schoolteacher died before exhuming the corpse and mutilating it.

After cutting the deceased’s heart out they burned it, mixed it with ash and water to make a "meaty drink". They told the court in the southern Romanian town of Craiova they all felt "much better" afterwards.

The six men all came from the remote village of Marotinul de Sus and told the court it was "well known" that such a remedy was the only protection against the undead.

All were sentenced for violating a grave. All claimed that they acted in self-defence from "a well-known vampire".

Romania, which encompasses Transylvania, was the setting for Bram Stoker’s Dracula novels.

Source
 
I'll have to remember that when the mother in law comes over ;)

*painy writes mental note, meaty heart drink protects against the undead*
 
post traumatic vampires?

Interesting web link here
Porphyria—How Modern Chemicals Trigger the Vampire Disease

© copyright Hart Brent

The mystery illnesses of the 20th century, such as Gulf War Syndrome and MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity), have their basis in a biochemical glitch—lost ability to construct a porphyrin ring, an 8-enzyme process. Porphyrins are a group of nitrogen-containing organic compounds forming the foundation structure for respiratory pigments in animals (hemoglobin) and plants (chlorophyll) and enzymes. The symptoms exhibited by vampires—sun sensitivity, severe anemia abated only by consuming whole porphyrin rings (i.e. blood)—can be triggered today by 3,750 commercially available medications, pesticides, or household chemicals. Brain scans show similarities between ADHD, depression, MCS, and Gulf War Syndrome.

Luckily, a modern source of porphyrin rings is chlorophyll, an improvement over the vampire’s option of fresh red blood.

The Madness of King George III, of recent movie fame, was porphyria in action (acute intermittent prophyria), probably triggered by lead poisoning. Europe experienced a porphyria epidemic 1888-90 with introduction of the drug sulphonal. Subsequent epidemics of porphyria followed the marketing of barbiturates and sulfa drugs. Infections like mycobacteria or hepatitis C, or malnutrition/fasting can also trigger porphyria. Other common triggers are exposure to paints, formaldehyde, glycol ethers, dioxins or metal dusts and fumes.


Porphyrin rings are made in every cell in the body. Major sites of heme synthesis are red blood cells, liver, and blood forming cells in the marrow. Forty percent of total body heme is used for building P450 enzymes found in the liver, gut, kidneys, adrenal glands, ovaries, testes, placenta.

(strangely, i stumbled across this while searching for cartoons of herons)
 
The long shadow of Dracula

Monica Petrescu in Bucharest
(Filed: 06/02/2005)

Last week, six men were jailed for ripping out the heart of a corpse they believed was 'undead'. As Monica Petrescu in Bucharest writes, to many Romanians, vampires are not legend but terrifying reality

It was just before midnight as Gheorghe Marinescu and five of his relatives crept into the graveyard in the small Romanian village of Marotinul de Sus. They knew which plot they were looking for – a simple earth grave with a wooden cross bearing the name Petre Toma – and quickly, but quietly, set about digging.

When they had dragged the body out, they waited. Then, at the stroke of 12, Marinescu began the ritual that they had been planning for weeks, one that had passed from generation to generation in their family. They drove a pitchfork through Petre Toma's chest, opened it, drew out his heart and then put stakes through the rest of his body. They sprinkled garlic over the mutilated corpse and then, carefully, laid it back in its grave.

They left the cemetery with the heart impaled on the end of the pitchfork and went to a crossroads where Marinescu's wife, son and daughter-in-law were waiting. There the group burnt it, dissolved the ashes and then drank the solution.

The scene last July would fit readily into any number of films about vampires and the Dracula legend but Gheorghe Marinescu is real. Last week he and his five relatives – Mitrica Mircea, Popa Stelica, Constantin Florea, Ionescu Ion and Pascu Oprea – were sentenced to six months in jail for the unlawful exhumation of the body of Toma, 76, a former teacher and a man they believed had risen from the dead to drink their blood while they slept.

News of what the Marinescu family did made headlines in Romania, but in a country where a large minority of the population admit to openly believing in the "undead", football bosses employ witches to cast spells on foreign teams and a couple recently named their newborn son Dracula after premonitions of impending danger to him, many were unsurprised by what they read.

Mihai Fifor, an ethnologist at the Centre for Studies in Traditional Cultures and Societies in Craiova, said, "This particular ritual is quite unique but there have been many cases of people claiming that they are being hunted by the dead and vampires. There are a number of other rituals that exist for this type of situation where people believe they need to kill vampires."

Romania has been associated with vampires in the minds of many Westerners ever since Bram Stoker wrote his classic horror story, Dracula, in 1897. But in Romania the belief in vampires and the threat of the undead stretches as far back as the 15th century leader of Wallachia – modern-day Transylvania and other parts of Romania – Count Vlad Tepes Dracula, who was the inspiration for Stoker's novel. Stoker merged the Middle Ages belief in vampires, which had become entrenched in Romania and many other parts of central and eastern Europe at the time, with the historically documented bloodthirstiness of Tepes's rule. In doing so, he created the story of Count Dracula who rose from the dead to haunt the deep, dark forests and castles of Transylvania, preying on young victims and drinking their blood.

Today, the country's tourist industry still makes millions from his legend. His castle in Bran in Transylvania – Dracula Castle – draws tens of thousands of enthralled holidaymakers every year. There is even a Dracula theme park under construction.

But while Dracula and vampires are just a fascinating legend to most people outside the country, to many Romanians, mostly in rural areas, they are a terrifying reality. After his arrest, Marinescu said: "If we hadn't done anything, my wife, my son and my daughter-in-law would have died. That is when I decided to `unbury' him. I've seen these kinds of things before.

"When we took him out of the grave, he had blood around his mouth. We took his heart and he sighed when we stabbed him. We burned it, dissolved the ash into water and the people who had fallen sick drank it. They got better immediately. It was like someone took away all their pain and sickness.

"We performed a ritual that is hundreds of years old. We had no idea we were committing a crime. On the contrary, we believed that we were doing a good thing because the spirit of Petre was haunting us all and was very close to killing some of us. He came back from the dead and was after us."

Marinescu explained to police when he was arrested that Toma, who he said had been a respected and well-liked teacher in the village for years, had been buried on Christmas Day in 2003. But soon afterwards he had begun to appear to members of Marinescu's family in dreams as a vampire. Although he did not see the man himself, he saw his family become sick and they told him that Toma was not just a dream but a vampire whose spirit had come back from the dead.

He, like the rest of his family, had been told how to recognise vampires and how to deal with them by his parents who had been taught that knowledge from their own parents and they from theirs. He said he had had to act quickly to save his family.

Paula Diaconu, who has lived in Marotinul de Sus for decades, praised the ritual carried out by Marinescu and his relatives. "It was all a good thing to take his heart out because people were in danger. Villagers in Romania know about rituals for driving away the evil spirits of the dead," he said.

Another man from the village, Dumitru Moineasa, once drank a solution containing the ashes of his uncle's heart. "An uncle of mine died in 1992 and a few days after we buried him I started to feel very sick," he said. "The doctor had no idea what was wrong with me. One day, an aunt brought me a glass of water. I drank it all. I got well almost immediately. I only found out later that it was my dead uncle's ashes."

His friend, Domnica Brancusi, said that hearts had been taken out of dead men's chests many times before. "There have been dozens of dead men who turned into vampires and were haunting us," he said. "But usually the family of the dead man who was haunting people made a pact with those people and agreed not to say anything about the rituals. Until this case, no fuss was ever made about it."

Local police laid charges against the six men after Toma's daughter, Floarea Cotoran, who has since left Marotinul de Sus, complained about what happened to her father's body. They admitted that they were aware of similar rituals having been performed in the region. A policeman in nearby Celaru, which has jurisdiction over Marotinul de Sus, and who asked not to be named, said: "We've known about it for years. There's never been anything we could do about it as no one ever complained."

Marotinul de Sus, in the south-west, is far from the only village in Romania to take the threat of vampires seriously. In many rural communities like it across the country, belief in vampires is pervasive and superstition often governs people's lives. "Fear and great challenges in life are sometimes met by people with rituals and superstitions, a set of rules built over generations which has been verified over time," said Sabina Ispas, an ethnologist at the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore in Bucharest. "Rural Romania has conserved excellently this system of rituals and beliefs."

Deep superstition and belief in the paranormal and pagan permeates all levels of society in urban Romania as well. Maria Tedescu, a 21-year-old law student in Bucharest, said: "We all have our little superstitions, like taking three steps back if a black cat crosses your path to stop something bad happening. But vampires are different. It's not something to be taken lightly. I know it may sound silly and I can't totally explain it, but I think they exist. I always wear a crucifix… just in case."

Source
 
RE-Porphyria-
Wheatgrass juice contains 70% "crude" chlorophyll. Chlorophyll by definition being the green pigment in plants. It is considered the "blood" of plants, due to the similarity to our blood in molecular structure.
That is one reason why I have never been interested in trying wheatgrass juice and I doubt that vampirism is likely to be cured by a visit to a fresh juice emporium.
 
‘I’ll find the truth behind stories of Highgate horror’
[email protected]
11 March 2005


Ghost hunter Andrew Wright.
Andrew Brightwell

AN AMATEUR ghost hunter will be tracking down the haunts of ghouls in a Highgate street.

Paranormal investigator Andrew Wright aims to test the truth of several spooky sightings in Swain's Lane.

In May, the 49-year-old security guard from Leicester will be accompanied by ghost experts from Greece and the USA to finally lay to rest claims of a "disturbance" at Highgate Cemetery in the 1970s.

He said: "There are three ghosts that seem to have been sighted on the road: a man on a bicycle riding up the road and another who is supposed to walk through walls.

"But the most terrifying of all is one that is supposed to reach out and try to grab people."

Mr Wright, who became fascinated by ghosts after reading the novel Amityville Horror, said he wanted to hear from anyone who had experienced any strange sightings in Swain's Lane.

He believes that many of the urban myths date back more than 30 years ago.

He said: "About three decades ago, a dog walker returning, presumably from the Heath, had parked in the road.

"When he got back to his car there was a freshly dug up corpse in his car. Bizarrely, the doors were still locked.

"At the time there were all sorts of strange rituals going on around there and rumours of corpses being dug up from Highgate Cemetery.

"Ever since then there seem to have been a number of sightings of ghosts and they seem worth checking up on."

David Farrant, who lives in Muswell Hill Road, said that the reports of grave robbery sprang from his own investigations into a ghostly apparition seen in Highgate Cemetery.

He said: "I went into the cemetery at night to investigate them, thinking they were nothing more than tree branches casting shadows in the moonlight, but I myself saw a tall figure that convinced me.

"We went down there a few nights later to hold a seance, but were arrested by the police who were keeping watch."

Mr Farrant said the case made the newspapers and the TV across the globe, drawing fans of the occult to the Highgate burial ground.

He said: "It led to a lot of interest in the cemetery, and I'm afraid that people did dig up bodies and terrible damage was done to it."

Residents in Swain's Lane were taken aback by the idea their quiet road was a haunt for the undead.

Janice Lavery said: "Are you serious? I can honestly say I have never seen a ghost and I know that none of my neighbours have seen a ghost."

>Source<
 
Swan did contact us about this story and we felt it was OK to post but we do need to be clear (again) so.........

There is technically nothing wrong with mentioning Highgate Cemetry but there are connected topics that are (rightly or wrongly) verbotten and this stricture stands:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 353#393353

The magazine's lawyers take this issue seriously and we will enforce those guidelines.
 
I've done the tour a few times and it's great! The Lebanon Ring and Egyptian walk bit are so lovely.

Always funny to see the kind of people the tour attracts - there's always a goth pair! I got into trouble though with the guide for requesting to see a certain tomb that wasn't considered quite on a par with Faraday, the last bare-fisted boxer et al.
 
Am J Psychiatry 162:813-814, April 2005

© 2005 American Psychiatric Association
Letter to the Editor

Mania in a Boy Treated With Modafinil for Narcolepsy

FLORENCE VORSPAN, M.D., DOMINIQUE WAROT, M.D., PH.D., ANGÈLE CONSOLI, M.D., DAVID COHEN, M.D., PH.D., and PHILIPPE MAZET, M.D.
Paris, France

To the Editor: Modafinil is the first-line treatment for narcolepsy. It may also improve mood in narcoleptic patients (1). However, psychostimulants may exacerbate psychotic symptoms in psychotic patients (2). Cases of psychosis have also been reported during psychostimulant abuse (3) and during abuse of prescribed drug in narcoleptic patients (4) but not following medical use. Here we report the case of a boy with narcolepsy.

Albert was a 17-year-old boy who was diagnosed with narcolepsy at age 14. He was first prescribed modafinil, 400 mg/day for 1 year, switched to methylphenidate, 40 mg/day for 2 years, then returned to modafinil, 400 mg/day. The switching was because of complaints of irritability and of a lack of efficacy for sleep attacks. Albert then experienced flight of ideas, sexual excitation, and increased irritability. These manic symptoms resulted in friction with family members and a fight for which he could have been put on trial. Then, free of psychostimulant treatment, Albert was described as sad, anhedonic, and withdrawn. Following reintroduction of modafinil, the same manic symptoms reoccurred. After a meeting with a judge, Albert experienced self-referential thinking and suspiciousness. Later, a full manic episode developed within 3 days, including insomnia, tachypsychia, logorrhea, psychomotor agitation, and mood-incongruent psychosis. There was no grandiosity but delusion of persecution, based on auditory hallucinations (his uncle reproaching him for his past sexual behavior), complex visual hallucinations (a vampire hiding in his bedroom and trying to bite him), and a feeling of being talked to through the television. Albert was hospitalized, and the modafinil was stopped. The mania required pharmacological treatment that started after written consent was obtained from both Albert and his parents.

These mood symptoms seem time-related to psychostimulant administration and interruption. Exposure lasted for only 3 years, but discontinuation and reintroduction might have lowered the manic threshold. Contrary to previous reports of psychosis induced by psychostimulant abuse (3), the patient showed no trend toward dose escalation. This could be the first report of mania under a therapeutic dose of modafinil. The symptoms were compatible with psychostimulant-induced psychosis. Although an independent psychiatric disorder cannot be ruled out, we suggest a careful psychiatric monitoring of patients receiving modafinil and other psychostimulants for the treatment of narcolepsy.

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/con ... 62/4/813-a
 
A Cretan Tale of Vampires
From deTraci Regula,

A Tough Shepherd Thwarts a Vrykolakes
Anyone who has traveled in Crete, especially in the Sfakia region, will understand how the Cretan shepherd in this story can stay so calm even when confronted with a vampire. When it comes to ferocity, the vampire has no chance against the average Sfakiot shepherd.

from All The Year Round - Vampires and Ghouls May 20, 1871 "Mr. Pashley, in his Travels in Crete, states that when he was at the town of Askylo, he asked about the vampires or katakhanadhes, as the Cretans called them of whose existence and doings he had heard many recitals, stoutly corroborated by the peasantry. Many of the stories converged towards one central fact, which Mr. Pashley believed had given origin to them all.

On one occasion a man of some note was buried at St. George's Church at Kalikrati, in the island of Crete. An arch or canopy was built over his grave. But he soon afterwards made his appearance as a vampire, haunting the village, and destroying men and children. A shepherd was one day tending his sheep and goats near the church, and on being caught in a shower, went under the arch to seek shelter from the rain. He determined to pass the night there, laid aside his arms, and stretched himself on a stone to sleep. In placing his fire-arms down (gentle shepherds of pastoral poems do not want fire-arms; but the Cretans are not gentle shepherds), he happened to cross them.

Now this crossing was always believed to have the effect of preventing a vampire from emerging from the spot where the emblem was found. Thereupon occurred a singular debate. The vampire rose in the night, and requested the shepherd to remove the fire-arms in order that he might pass, as he had some important business to transact.

The shepherd, inferring from this request that the corpse was the identical vampire which had been doing so much mischief, at first refused his assent; but on obtaining from the vampire a promise on oath that he would not hurt him, the shepherd moved the crossed arms. The vampire, thus enabled to rise, went to a distance of about two miles, and killed two persons, a man and a woman. On his return, the shepherd saw some indication of what had occurred, which caused the vampire to threaten him with a similar fate if he divulged what he had seen. He courageously told all, however.

The priests and other persons came to the spot next morning, took up the corpse (which in daytime was as lifeless as any other) and burnt it. While burning, a little spot of blood spurted on the shepherd's foot, which instantly withered away; but otherwise no evil resulted, and the vampire was effectually destroyed. This was certainly a very peculiar vampire story; for the coolness with which the corpse and the shepherd carried on their conversation under the arch was unique enough. Nevertheless, the persons who narrated the affair to Mr. Pashley firmly believed in its truth, although slightly differing in their versions of it.

http://gogreece.about.com/od/weirdgreece/a/weirdcrete.htm
 
June 03, 2005

Undead and unseen

Will those elusive vampires show up at a symposium dedicated to them?

SUE FERGUSON

Vampires, it seems, like to keep a low profile. So much so that I couldn't persuade anyone claiming to be an actual representative of the bloodsucking undead to agree to an interview for this article -- despite numerous invitations posted on websites, requests to a handful of experts in the field, and visits to the Goth stores and clubs you'd expect vampires to patronize. The best I can offer is a few quotes lifted from the Scottish Goth magazine Bite Me, and letters and emails written to a Dracula expert by self-proclaimed vampires. The media, I guess, have given these creatures of the night a bad rap. We trot them out as fodder for Halloween stories or, more hurtfully, implicate all the Count's followers when a few psychopathic types carry out gruesome crimes. In fact, I'm told the vast majority are harmless.

This week, a Toronto conference will shed light on the true nature of the so-called kindred. North American vampirologists, academics, fans and, who knows, maybe a vampire or two, will attend the first ever Weekend with Dracula organized by the Canadian chapter of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula. The Saturday afternoon panel, Vampires Among Us?, will explore what attracts people to the vampire lifestyle, the degree to which their unusual passion constitutes a public hazard, and other such conundrums. "Why not assess the vampire scene from within?" asks conference organizer and internationally renowned Dracula expert Elizabeth Miller. "It's been assessed from without often enough."

From within? Must have been a slip of the tongue. It's true that, over the years, the professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland has encountered more than her fair share of vampires and, because she maintains a Dracula website, is regularly mistaken for one (though in threadbare slippers, chinos and blouse, there's little gothic allure about her). And in 1995, she was made Baroness of the House of Dracula. But that just means someone else picks up the tab when she visits Romania, not that she has a taste for blood. Nor does she believe self-described vampires are anything other than people sucked into a fantasy. "If somebody really believes they're a vampire, the sure test is, shape-shift into a bat, fly across there," she says, pointing to the far wall of her compact living room in the Toronto condominium where she moved after retiring from the university.

Such vampire fantasists are, in fact, relatively rare. There's a spectrum, says Miller, that starts with fans of vampire films and books. Next are those who emulate Dracula in mild ways. "They're just wannabes," she says. "They don't actually practise bloodletting, but they'll dress up, buy a cape, maybe get plastic fangs or even go to the dentist for permies" -- harmless role-playing. Then there are those who take the scene more seriously, and sleep in a coffin or drink blood. "It's just a . . ." she purses her lips to mimic a little nibble and suck, then laughs. "I can't think of it with a straight face." Of course, this sort of thing raises the spectre of sexually transmitted diseases, but if it's consensual, she adds, at least there are no innocent victims. "These people are still on this side of the line between reality and fiction. They're close, but they know ultimately they're not vampires."

Others don't. A census of the undead carried out in 2000 by the Vampire Empire, a New York-based organization for lovers of the genre, netted 272 people who said they were, or had previously been, vampires. Of these, 71 per cent admitted to drinking blood (from friends or themselves) or at least red drinks, 48 per cent wore fangs and 84 per cent avoided sunlight, but just 11 per cent believed they'd live longer than the rest of us. Club founder and president Jeanne Keyes Youngson, who is speaking at the Toronto forum, ran into an underground vampire clan on the Upper West Side while researching her 1997 book, Private Files of a Vampirologist. "They found a scabby, big dog," she says, "which they cut the neck of and drank its blood."

New York vampire Vlad told Bite Me in an online interview that as a kid he hung around playgrounds until little girls fell and scraped their knees. Then he would "go over and kiss their wound . . . taking a little of their blood." However, Vlad cautions, "Blood drinking is very special and should not be done because you think it is trendy or cool."

Youngson has little patience for such types. "The majority are nuts. I try to keep my group on a cinematic and literary level, rather than get involved with these crazy people." In fact, there is a psychiatric condition called Renfield's Syndrome, named for the mentally deranged character in Bram Stoker's Dracula who craves spiders and bugs, believing them to be a life force. Those suffering from the syndrome have an erotic attraction to ingesting blood, which they see as a means of gaining immortality and other powers.

Miller has also brushed up against supposed vampires -- once at a club in lower Manhattan, but mostly through letters and emails. Thumbing through a stack four inches high, she pulls out one of the more disturbing samples. "There is no life in this body . . . let me come out of my shadow, let me enter the darkness of your world," writes a Montrealer, quoting the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. Small dark splotches frame the words. "They're blood, dried blood," notes Miller. "I had them checked." She moves on, reading a few missives from people nurturing related fantasies. One is from a mother asking Miller, on her son's behalf, for Dracula's phone number. "So I emailed her back and said he's got an unlisted number," recalls a laughing Miller, who normally doesn't bother to respond. The woman wrote back asking for Dracula's email address instead. "Tell him to knock on the door," she added. "Tell him I'll be looking out for him." Miller takes it all in stride. "You never know, it could be a couple of teenaged kids having a big laugh. Or it could be a desperate housewife."

Wannabes or not, no one wants to be the vampire drawn from folklore that inspired Stoker. He was "a bloated corpse that had just crawled out of the grave and still had the funeral shroud around him," says Miller. "He's repulsive!" Today's sexy, misunderstood opera-caped count emerged out of the permissiveness and sexual liberation of the 1960s, she observes. By the 1970s, two widely read books further rehabilitated the hideous vampire of legend: an academic work suggesting Stoker's leading man was based on a real life Prince Vlad Dracula from Transylvania -- a theory Miller has discounted with the help of Stoker's papers -- and the first of Anne Rice's vampire trilogy.

Vampires have existed "in mythologies around the world since ancient times," notes Rosemary Ellen Guiley, an expert on the paranormal and spirituality who will attend the Toronto symposium. Though she thinks vampires do exist -- "If you believe in angels, you have to allow for the existence of the demonic side" -- the Maryland author of 30 scholarly and self-help books says most modern ones are just people wrapped up in a fantasy cult. The genuine article is much rarer and possesses more occult powers. Some, she notes, have been documented in Ontario. In the late 1960s, Ottawa's National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) commissioned Jan Perkowski, a professor of Slavic languages and literature from Texas, to study Kashubian folklore among the residents of Wilno, Ont. (Christian Polish Kashubs founded Canada's oldest continuous Polish parish there in 1875.) Perkowski's report, which included a story by an unnamed informant about a vampire drawing blood and marrow from a girl's arm, upset the locals, and was subsequently denounced in the House of Commons. Today, even the web-based network Para-Researchers of Ontario suggests Perkowski's findings are "highly unlikely."

As for the agnostics, the only real vampires are, as Youngson puts it, "big business and individuals who want to suck your brains and leave you exhausted." Miller has a similar take. While living in St. John's, she was approached by the Wall Street Journal for an interview about the Dracula theme park being debated in Romania. "I said, 'You've got enough vampires on Wall Street,' " she recounts. "What are you doing coming to Newfoundland looking for them?" Wall Street! Now there's a place I didn't try.

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/life/article.jsp?content=20050606_106949_106949
 
Cambodian Couple Suck Daughter's Blood

Cambodian Couple Suck Daughter's Blood
Sun Oct 9,11:15 AM ET



Black magic may have driven a Cambodian couple to bite off their daughter's thumb nails and suck her blood, officials said Sunday.

Chheng Chhorn, 46, and Srun Yoeung, 37, attacked their 12-year-old child before dawn on Thursday while she was still asleep, biting off her thumb nails and a small part of her nose to drink her blood, said Keo Norea Phy, a police official in Kampong Cham province where the incident occurred.

Neighbors rushed to the couple's house and rescued the girl after hearing her screams, he said.

After treatment at a hospital in Kampong Cham, about 50 miles east of Phom Penh, the girl was placed in the custody of other villagers. Relatives had taken her parents to a black magic healer to chase away the evil spirit that was believed to have possessed them, the police official said.

"We, the police, just have no idea what offense to charge them with," Keo Norea Phy said.

Preap Nhim, a local official, said the couple sold noodles in their village and had never before acted in a strange manner. He said they may have been driven by the spirit guarding the altar they kept inside their house.

Cambodia is a Buddhist country, but many people in the countryside are deeply superstitious. Some claim the ability to communicate with the dead and cure the sick by exorcising evil spirits from their bodies.

Cambodia
 
Human Living Vampires

What Investigators Need to Know
By Bobbi Jo O'Neal, RN, BSN, F-ABMDI

FORENSIC NURSES, regardless of their practice area, will at times come in contact with the same types of deviant behavior. Some of these behaviors may be considered rare or even non-existent. It is to our benefit that we share our investigative experiences with these cases. Vampirism is one such behavior.

In the modern age, vampires have become media stars. The word "vampire" became a household name in 1897 after the publication of "Dracula."1 More recently, the vampire novels by Anne Rice have become best sellers.2 Television shows such as "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and movies with vampire themes are increasingly popular. However the popularity of these characters can lead some people, teenagers in particular, down a dangerous road.

Case Study

A 17-year-old white male was found unresponsive in his bedroom by his parents. He was on his knees, on the floor, with his head resting on the bed. A call was placed to 9-1-1 and emergency medical services (EMS) transported him to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room (ER). The deceased was noted to have a history of ADD and had been prescribed Prozac and Adderral. He was a very popular teenager who was active in many high school activities. He had recently lost Internet privileges and the Internet name he used was "Vampireboy."

During the scene investigation a black and white composition book was found next to his bed. In this 40-page journal, which was written in long hand, the deceased described himself as a "Vampiresis." In great detail, he described how he became a Vampiresis and instructs others to do the same. A sample bottle of Zoloft was found in his bathroom. At autopsy it was noted that the canine teeth appeared to have been filed. Sixteen ounces of blood was found in the stomach and 4 ounces of mucoid bloody fluid was found in the duodenum. There were no signs of ulceration or other cause for bleeding.

Mythical Vampires vs. Clinical Vampirism

There are beliefs and superstitions regarding vampires that date back to medieval Europe. The vampire is thought to be of Slavic origin. They are fictional characters that are believed to be evil spirits that have been refused entry into another world after death because of some unsuitable behavior. They must drink the blood of the living in order to sustain themselves. These mythical characters live in cemeteries and only leave their gravesite at night. They do not have a real identity and therefore do not cast a shadow or a reflection in a mirror. If bitten by a vampire, you could become one. Vampires are immortal beings that can only be killed with a wooden stake that must be stabbed through their heart.3

Reported in the medical literature for more than a century and named after the mythical vampire, clinical vampirism is a recognizable, although rare, clinical entity characterized by periodic compulsive blood drinking and an affinity with death.3 The cases documented in the medical literature only refer to those cases in which there is obvious psychosis. Very little has been written about vampire subcultures in which individuals pretend to be and act out vampire-like characteristics. In those cases in which there is psychosis, the patients have an irresistible urge for blood ingestion, which is a ritual that brings them relief. They are attracted to death, not because they want to bring release to any suffering, but because they wish to experience it as a "living dead" being.3

Clinical vampirism groups some of the most shocking pathological behaviors observed. It is one of the few pathological manifestations that blends myth and reality in dramatic fashion and contains many possible elements including schizophrenia, psychopathic and perverse features.4 Vampirism and sexual behavior are clearly linked. The "love bite," which is considered normal and a fairly common sign of affection, should be an interesting topic of discussion among sexual assault nurses examiners (SANEs) and other investigators who examine bite marks.4

Medical Cases

The documented cases in the medical literature reveal similar findings. It has been noted that these individuals get sexual satisfaction from drinking blood. They believe that by drinking blood they will have an increase in strength and immunity prolonging their life. In many cases the individual enjoyed drinking their own blood, known as "auto vampirism."4 Vampirism is not thought to be the primary symptom of a psychiatric or psychopathic disorder.3 The condition is not likely to be discovered except in criminal cases where evidence is restricted by judicial ruling or by chance via psychiatric examination or surgical treatment of self-inflicted injuries. This may be the reason why so few cases are reported in the medical literature. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. R.S. McCully, at the Medical University of South Carolina, treated a 28-year-old male. It was reported that since the age of puberty he began masturbating and took erotic satisfaction in seeing his own blood. With practice he was able to direct blood spurts into his mouth.5

A case involving a woman who was four months pregnant also was reported. This patient was repeatedly hospitalized for vomiting large amounts of blood and enjoyed the sight of this blood. Blood transfusions were ordered and the patient would unhook them, stating she would rather drink the blood. Initially the cause for the bleeding was unknown. Later, a mouth exam revealed several bleeding wounds at the base of her tongue. The patient would suck at these wounds and swallow the blood. After her death, an autopsy revealed a stomach bloated with blood.2

In other documented cases, inmates in correctional institutions were caught trying to steal iron tablets. The inmates feared developing anemia, as another inmate had been trading sexual favors with the inmates for the opportunity to suck their blood.

Criminal Cases

Many criminal cases have been reported involving cases of vampirism. A few well-documented cases include the following. In 1996, a group of five teenagers from Kentucky were charged with first-degree murder in Florida, for killing the parents of one of the members. The five belonged to a cult thought to have 35 members in Kentucky. One year prior to the murder this group began playing a popular game called "Vampire, the Masquerade." This clan called themselves the "Victorian Age Masquerade Performance Society" or VAMPS. The leader engaged the group and others, in drugs, group sex and violence, which was masked by what was thought to be a theater group.6

In San Francisco in 1987 a student was jogging when he was forced into a van. The assailant slashed his cheek, drank his blood and then released him without further harm.7 In 2002, a 19-year-old in Virginia, was charged with murder after stabbing another person 30 times. In his police confession he mentioned vampirism and stated that the taste of the deceased's blood drove him into a frenzy.8

Vampire Subculture

When vampirism is embedded in a psychopathic personality disorder the potential for extremely dangerous behavior is compounded as seen in the above criminal cases. Many of theses cases involve obvious psychosis, however there is a subculture of individuals who practice vampirism out of choice and preference.

Contemporary interest in vampire-like cults began out of several role-playing games such as "Masquerade" and "Dungeons & Dragons." During many of these role-playing games, the participants want to be among the chosen beings. This can lead to a far-fetched psychological dependence. These participants are often individuals who are outcasts and are looking for an opportunity to belong to a group. These "wanna-bes" believe that by sharing their blood with other participants they will become one with that person. By sharing their life source, their blood, they in essence are bound for life and become one soul. Many of these individuals have no psychiatric history, however they are seeking close relationships with other people and want to belong to a group. This behavior for many is an attention seeking behavior.

Those persons looking for others to connect with have easy access to many others via the Internet. There are hundreds of Web sites where those who are curious about vampirism can go to gain information and network with others. Many of these Web sites offer live chat rooms and bulletin boards where messages are posted by those wanting to be blood donors or those wanting to be a receiver of others blood. Many magazines focus on the paranormal and include articles on vampirism. Individuals and groups who try to educate and promote vampirism publish newsletters on the subject. Teens today are modeling themselves after media stars who engage in vampiristic practices. According to the Associated Press, actors Angelina Jolie and Bill Bob Thornton, used to wear around their necks glass vials containing each other's blood.9 Teenagers model the behavior of these personalities in the hopes of acquiring the traits of the stars and vampires in general. Vampires fascinate many adolescents.

Investigative Suggestions

When investigating cases with vampiristic overtones, there are a few things to look for.

"Book of Shadows." These books are blank journals in which the individual writes his or her thoughts similar to a diary. Often, black and white composition books are used; however, in some paranormal specialty stores journal books can be purchased that are titled "Book of Shadows" on the cover. The writing in the books often has to do to with paranormal activity, which may include vampirism. The owner of the book will often quote song lyrics, draw pictures and provide instruction to potential readers as to how to follow in their footsteps. The drawings may be symbols that represent vampirism.

Dental Records. Dental records can be obtained to determine whether the individual has filed his or her teeth. By obtaining dental records from the earliest known dental visit, it can be determined if the teeth have been sharpened. Unfortunately, since many of these participants are teenagers, the dental records available may be minimal.

Non-human blood tests. Blood tests can be used to determine if a blood sample is that of human blood or animal blood. Investigators need to speak directly with the laboratory technician to determine the capability of the lab in testing for the animal about which you may be concerned. During the investigation for the case study presented, a blood sample was sent to a forensic science lab with a request to determine if the blood may be pig's blood. This lab did not have the capabilities to complete that request and the sample had to be sent to another lab.

Conclusion

The practice of vampirism can be dangerous for those who choose to act out characteristics of these mythical characters. Vampirism can also be dangerous to others if this practice is mixed with psychosis. For many teenagers who become involved in these activities, there can be confusion when myth and reality are blended. In the aforementioned case study, it was determined that this teenager died as the result of a Prozac and Zoloft overdose. The tests to determine the source of the blood in the stomach were inconclusive. Friends of the deceased stated that this teen and others dabbled in vampirism. They said this teenager took it too far and began to believe that he was immortal.

Forensic nurse investigators may come in contact with these deviant behaviors whether the individual is seeking medical attention, enters the criminal justice system or if a victim enters one of these systems. Montaque Summers once stated, "Cases of vampirism may be said to be in our time a rare occult phenomenon. Yet whether we are justified in supposing that they are less frequent today than in past centuries I am far from certain. One thing is plain: not that they do not occur but that they are carefully hushed up and stifled."10 To investigate these cases thoroughly, we must first realize that the practice exists and where to turn for assistance.

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Bobbi Jo O'Neal, RN, BSN, F-ABMDI is a deputy coroner for the Charleston County Coroner's Office in Charleston, S.C.

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References:

1. Stoker B. Dracula. New York: Modern Library, 1987.

2. Jaffe PD and DiCataldo F. (1994) Clinical vampirism: blending myth and reality. Bull Am Acad Psych Law. 22(4), 533-544.

3. Hemphill RE and Zabow T. (1983) Clinical vampirism: a presentation of 3 cases and a re-evaluation of Haigh, the "acid-bath murder." South African Med. J. 63, 278-281.

4. Prins H. (1984) Vampirism: legendary or clinical phenomenon. Med Sci Law. 24(4), 283-293.

5. McCully RS. (1964) Vampirism: historical perspective and underlying process in relation to a case or auto-vampirism. J Nerv and Ment Disease. 139, 440-452.

6. Miller T, Veltkamp L, Kraus R, Lane T and Heister T. (1999) An adolescent vampire cult in rural America: clinical issues and case study. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. 29(3), 209-219.

7. The Independent. (1987) Vampire strikes. 19 August.

8. The Post & Courier (2002) Trial looms for woman charged in father's death. 7 October.

9. The Post & Courier (2001) Actress Jolie thirsts for husband's blood. 16 June.

10. Summers M. (1928) The vampire: his kith and kin. London Routledge and Kegan Paul: Trench and Trubner.

www.forensicnursemag.com/articles/351lifedeath.html
 
Sigh. I wish people would stop maligning my hobby. Roleplaying is a harmless hobby, and has even been demonstrably beneficial to those of my friends with diagnosed mental disorders who have played it. You don't learn to drink blood at Vampire: The Masquerade games. It's called "tabletop standing up" by my LARP-snob friend - they don't even have boffer weapons, and combat is by rock-paper-scissors. The connection to Vampire in the Kentucky case was made in the newspapers, not in the evidence. On closer scrutiny, the connection withers up and dies, just like every other link ever made between crime or pathology and gaming. You can find stronger ties between football and crime, meateating and mental illness, marriage and murder. This is the more remarkable, since the gamer geek stereotype is true in that a high percentage of social outcasts play RPGs - the smart, the physically disabled, the ADHD, the depressive. Yet the incidence of criminal activity among gamers is lower than in the population at large, until you get into the sizable percentage of gamers who learn in prison - where they ingeniously make their own dice out of paper and roll dice instead of rioting.

If you've got a gaming group, you don't need to suck blood to belong - you've got a gaming group! Depressed, hate your life? Take an afternoon off to be someone else and return refreshed and with improved social skills! Unlike team sports, no injury will occur. Unlike computer games, you'll interact with other human beings. Unlike board games, you set your own victory conditions and when the game goes well, everyone wins.
 
PeniG said:
Sigh. I wish people would stop maligning my hobby. Roleplaying is a harmless hobby, and has even been demonstrably beneficial to those of my friends with diagnosed mental disorders who have played it. You don't learn to drink blood at Vampire: The Masquerade games. It's called "tabletop standing up" by my LARP-snob friend - they don't even have boffer weapons, and combat is by rock-paper-scissors. The connection to Vampire in the Kentucky case was made in the newspapers, not in the evidence. On closer scrutiny, the connection withers up and dies, just like every other link ever made between crime or pathology and gaming. You can find stronger ties between football and crime, meateating and mental illness, marriage and murder. This is the more remarkable, since the gamer geek stereotype is true in that a high percentage of social outcasts play RPGs - the smart, the physically disabled, the ADHD, the depressive. Yet the incidence of criminal activity among gamers is lower than in the population at large, until you get into the sizable percentage of gamers who learn in prison - where they ingeniously make their own dice out of paper and roll dice instead of rioting.

If you've got a gaming group, you don't need to suck blood to belong - you've got a gaming group! Depressed, hate your life? Take an afternoon off to be someone else and return refreshed and with improved social skills! Unlike team sports, no injury will occur. Unlike computer games, you'll interact with other human beings. Unlike board games, you set your own victory conditions and when the game goes well, everyone wins.

Ahem... nerd alert anybody?

Just kidding. I remember my LARP days (alright... nights) as the primogène Ventru, and I would never pretend I wasn't part of that kind of community. The people from my LARP group were among the most brilliant, honest and tolerant people I ever knew, which made up for the fact that, and this is a gross generalization, they could sometime lack social skills.

Unless of course they happened to play a member of the Tremere clan, which is something that is pretty hard to overlook in a person. T_T
 
i dont know if this has been mentioned, but the book "I am Legend" by Richard Matherson was a great read about vampires. it tries to put forward a semi scientific reason for vampirism which is a little contrived but a good idea nonetheless. in the book he debunks the religious icons idea saying it is a revolt against the god/deity that allowed them to become a monster, (im paraphrasing here) he captures a male vampire and gets a strong reaction to a torah not a cross. also he states that hemmorage kills the bacteria which causes vampirism, stakes not being necessary. i suppose the point im making is that the whole thing is open to interpretation and is warped very far from its original roots.
 
Morbid_Mist said:
i dont know if this has been mentioned, but the book "I am Legend" by Richard Matherson was a great read about vampires. it tries to put forward a semi scientific reason for vampirism which is a little contrived but a good idea nonetheless. in the book he debunks the religious icons idea saying it is a revolt against the god/deity that allowed them to become a monster, (im paraphrasing here) he captures a male vampire and gets a strong reaction to a torah not a cross. also he states that hemmorage kills the bacteria which causes vampirism, stakes not being necessary. i suppose the point im making is that the whole thing is open to interpretation and is warped very far from its original roots.
Care to elaborate on the prosperterous notions Mr. Matherson has come up with? Bacteria (that apparently die from trauma) that cause vampirism sounds as far fetched as flat earth "theory". The only thing worse than taking a myth at face value and relaying it as fact is pseudoscientific handwaving in foolish attempts to try and make an age old story sound modern and credible. It is completely contrived and entirely bogus. I hope this book is being passed off as merely a fictional story rather than something factual.
 
Fenris~ said:
RE-Porphyria-
Wheatgrass juice contains 70% "crude" chlorophyll. Chlorophyll by definition being the green pigment in plants. It is considered the "blood" of plants, due to the similarity to our blood in molecular structure.
That is one reason why I have never been interested in trying wheatgrass juice and I doubt that vampirism is likely to be cured by a visit to a fresh juice emporium.
You talk as if blood is a single molecule that runs through our bodies and you couldn't be more wrong or more off base. First of all, chlorophyll has absolutely nothing to do with nutrient transfer within a plant (which is the primary function of blood, transport of nutrients, oxygen to tissues and CO2 away from tissues). Chlorophyll is simply a chemical utilized by plants to fix CO2 and anabolize sugars for storage and growth during the Calvin cycle. A plants sap is the "blood" of plants, it's what is flowing through the xylem and phloem and all other vascularizations within the plant. It's what oozes out when you damage it, and what helps repair the plant upon injury. Chlorophyll shares absolutely nothing in common with any components of blood including plasma, RBCs, WBCs, platelets, etc. It shares nothing in common with Hemoglobin or even Heme (iron bound protoporphoryin IX). Chlorophyll is absolutely useless in mammalian systems.
 
I believe 'I am Legend' is a novel - according to amazon.com :lol:
 
GadaffiDuck said:
I believe 'I am Legend' is a novel - according to amazon.com :lol:
well thats damned skippy. Let's not use novels and the brain-dead writers of them as any credible source for a scientific discussion
 
I concur - or if one hypotheses from such sources, then reference it as non-scientific. I would also ask people not to try the false logic that engenders the usual 'why don't you prove they don't...' type of whines when their pet (and usually ill-researched) beliefs take the trouncings they rightfully deserve.
 
ArmyDoc said:
GadaffiDuck said:
I believe 'I am Legend' is a novel - according to amazon.com :lol:
well thats damned skippy. Let's not use novels and the brain-dead writers of them as any credible source for a scientific discussion

I'd hardly dismiss Richard Matheson as a brain-dead writer. Equally I am Legend is, as numerous books (see e.g. Ramsland's "The Science of Vampires") acknowledge it is the first book to properly show a scientific attempt to understand vampirism.

Granted it is possibly better off being discussed in the IAL thread:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19786

and its actual influence on later vampire fiction was limited (it was far more infleuntial on zombie movies via The Last Man on Earth). However,we are talking about a mythological entity that has been heavily made over in its move to books and the silver screen so it is a little tricky saying what is or isn't a credible source for "scientific discussion."
 
I would just like to say that my post was not meant as a statement of fact, not by a long shot :shock: i agree the whole thing is spurious, it was written as fiction. was just putting in my two cents on the book as an interesting take on the whole vampire mythos. apologies for any waves made, i have not got a large knowlegde of forteana by a long shot and it seems i have stepped on some toes. i havent posted on the board much and it seems i didnt explain myself properly.
 
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