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Feeding Habits of Vampires
== DISCLAIMER: the Varied Nature of the Vampire ==
There are many interpretations of the vampire myth both in folklore
and legend. The nature of the vampire varies greatly from culture to
culture and often from region to region with a general cultural area.
There are documents available in our nonfiction archives that will
demonstrate some of the diversity of the legend just within the narrow
geographic region of southern and central Europe. In the pages of
fiction, each author has his or her own unique interpretation of the
vampire. The same can be said about films concerning the vampire.
The precise answer to many of the questions discussed below and on the
list in general will depend on your definition of the vampire. What
is written here is an attempt to distill a consensus of opinion from
discussions that have taken place on the list.
"The blood is the life"
== FEEDING: Frequency, amount and animal vs. human ==
Most sources agree that the vampire need not feed nightly, nor need
the vampire kill his victim. Probably the two authors cited most
often on VAMPYRES are Anne Rice (_The Vampire Chronicles_) and Bram
Stoker (_Dracula_). Both of these authors often show their vampires
taking a relatively small amount of blood from their victims. Victims
sometimes linger for days before succumbing to death. Some victims
are never killed. While it is not necessary to kill the victim it
always remains an option. Rice describes her vampires as experiencing
great pleasure in the kill. Dracula's victims usually die eventually.
The Count appears to haunt one victim continuously until that victim
finally is exhausted by the constant drain of blood.
Rice occasionally has her vampires go without feeding for long periods
of time, entering a state of suspended animation, sometimes for years.
Her older vampires do not really need to feed at all. Dracula feeds
more regularly but he also appears to be able to go without feeding
for days at a time.
The folklore of Europe also makes it clear that the vampire may not
necessarily kill his victim during the first attack. Victims are
often described as gradually wasting away over a period of days or
weeks. Other victims are reported to have been slain in a single
attack.
Whether the vampire can subsist off animal blood or must feast on the
blood of living humans is regularly a topic of debate on the list. As
much as any other topic, the answer to this question depends on the
precise interpretation of the vampire you are using. Rice
occasionally has her vampire subsist off animal blood, though she
makes it clear that human blood is much more desirable. Dracula is
never shown subsisting on anything other than the blood of human
victims.
European folklore would seem to allow the vampire to feed from
animals. In many parts of Europe vampires were reported to have
assaulted cattle and other domestic animals. In some regions the
vampires appear to have fed mainly off the cattle and sheep herds of
the peasants. In other areas, vampires are almost never reported
attacking animals but seem to restrict themselves exclusively to human
victims.
Dragon
"The blood is the life"
UNCLRP@UNC.BITNET
July, 1991