ftp.pasteur.org/FAQ//ftp-pasteur-org-FAQ.zip/FAQ/paranormal/vampyres/vampire-faq

Internet Message Format | 2003-11-03 | 60.5 KB

Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!hermes.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!petbe.visi.com!newsfeeds.sol.net!uwm.edu!alpha1.csd.uwm.edu!bj
From: [e-mail] (B J Kuehl)
Newsgroups: alt.vampyres,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: [FAQ] The alt.vampyres VAMPIRE faq
Followup-To: alt.vampyres
Date: 3 Nov 2003 04:32:25 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Lines: 1135
Approved: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <bo4lop$va5$[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.169.1
Summary: A collection of Frequently Asked Questions about vampires
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.vampyres:129397 alt.answers:70022 news.answers:260647

Archive-name: paranormal/vampyres/vampire-faq
Posting-Frequency: semimonthly
Copyright: (c) 1996,2001-2003 BJ Kuehl
Last altered: 11 May 2003

[NOTE:The alt.vampyres VAMPIRE faq may be downloaded for personal use.
However, any publication, webhousing, or reposting of this faq must be
done with the writer's permission, and the copyright must remain
intact. Citations may be attributed to: Kuehl, B.J. (2000). The alt.
vampyres Vampire Faq. Retrieved (date) from Usenet newsgroup: alt.
vampyres.]

   The FAQ that must be read before posting is not the true FAQ.
         -- klaatu (with respects to the Tao te Ching)

         FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on alt.vampyres
                        about Vampires

  This is the alt.vampyres VAMPIRE FAQ. Comments, corrections, additions
  to this FAQ should be directed to [e-mail]. For other versions
  of alt.vampyres faqs, consult the faq archives on the HoMePaGe of the
  newsgroup at http://altvampyres.com/

  Last altered:
   17 April 2003: Eliminated old 1.03 re: versions of the faq. Updated
  websites and newsgroups [4.01-4.06].
   1 July 2003: General editing. No major changes.


  CONTENTS -

   PART 1: QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS NEWSGROUP AND FAQ
   [1.01] What is this newsgroup about?
   [1.02] Is there some form of netiquette I should follow if I post?
   [1.03] Why does the newsgroup spell "vampyre" with a "y"?
   [1.04] Is there a homepage for the alt.vampyres newsgroup?
   [1.05] This group is full of posers. Stop pretending!
   [1.06] Interactive writing looks like fun. Can anyone join in?

   PART 2: QUESTIONS ABOUT VAMPIRES
   [2.01] How do you define "vampire"?
   [2.02] Where did the word "vampire" come from?
   [2.03] What is the translation of "nosferatu" into English?
   [2.04] What types of vampires are in existence?
   [2.05] What powers are most commonly ascribed to vampires?
   [2.06] What are the vulnerabilities of vampires?
   [2.07] How can one kill a vampire?
   [2.08] What is a dhampir?
   [2.09] What is a "psychic vampire"?
   [2.10] How does one become a vampire?
   [2.11] What is porphyria? Why is it called "The Vampire Disease"?
   [2.12] I've heard that vampirism is really due to a vampire
         retrovirus. Is this true?
   [2.13] I have a theory about how vampires originated. Care to hear?

   PART 3: QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIFIC VAMPIRES IN HISTORICAL FACT/FICTION
   [3.01] Who was the first vampire? Caine? Lilith? Lord Ruthven?
   [3.02] Is Lilith really mentioned in the Bible?
   [3.03] Who is Lord Ruthven?
   [3.04] Ever heard of "The Ruthvenian"?
   [3.05] What is a chupacabra? Is it really a type of vampire?

   PART 4: MISCELLANEOUS VAMPIRE STUFF
   [4.01] How can I find out more about [name of TV show]?
   [4.02] Where can I get more info about _Interview with a Vampire_
             and the rest of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles?
   [4.03] Where can I get more info on White Wolf's "Vampire: The
             Masquerade"?
   [4.04] Where can I get more info on real vampires?
   [4.05] Do you know of any good websites about vampires?
   [4.06] Where can I get a copy of [this hard-to-find vampire movie]?

   PART 5: WHO HAS HELPED TO MAKE THIS FAQ POSSIBLE?
   [5.01] The creators and maintainers of the alt.vampyres faq
   [5.02] Special thanks to these contributors

 PART 1: QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS NEWSGROUP

 [1.01] What is this newsgroup about?

 Alt.vampyres is for the discussion of vampire lore in any culture,
 ancient or modern. This group is also for the discussion of vampires in
 fiction, such as novels, stories, poetry, comics, movies and television,
 as well as for sharing of original poetry and fiction, whether it be
 narrative or interactive. Finally, alt.vampyres is a place for the
 theoretical discussion about the nature of the legendary vampire in
 biology, psychology, and sociology.

 Some topics which have been the themes of lengthy discourse in the past
 have included: blood drinking, sensitivity to sunlight, definitions of
 "vampire", morality, physiology, love, psychic abilities, intelligence,
 longevity, history, mythology, image reflection, crossing water, the
 hunt for victims, financial security, lifestyles, clothing, dentistry,
 music and food preferences, disease-resistence, religion, sex and
 reproduction--all regarding the vampire of legend.

 [1.02] Is there some form of netiquette I should follow if I post?

 It is not the purpose of the alt.vampyres VAMPIRE faq to be a primer for
 Usenet or newsgroup etiquette. If you are interested in that, search out
 one of the newuser newsgroups, e.g. news.newusers.questions. For a quick
 look at how to post to alt.vampyres, see the Posting Guidelines which
 are posted to alt.vampyres at the beginning of each month.

 [1.03] Why do you spell "vampyre" with a 'y'?

 "Vampyre" is an older spelling of the word "vampire" and was used
 predominantly during the 1700s and 1800s [see 2.02]. Its use in the
 group's title is to provide a more gothic feel. There is no difference
 between a "vampire" and a "vampyre."

 [1.04] Is there a homepage for the alt.vampyres newsgroup?

 There certainly is. The alt.vampyres homepage [http://altvampyres.com]
 was created by DrLucadra when she was the faqkeeper between 1996 and
 1998. After a two-year medical absence during which she literally died
 three times, DrLuc returned to a.v. and redesigned the site, reviving
 the newsgroup's homepage as OUR place, that is, belonging to the people
 who post to a.v.. Here you will find copies of other a.v. faqs, hard-to-
 find pre-20th century vampire stories, vampire puzzles and poetry, a
 Dracula quiz, MSTings of bad vampire movies, and a huge number of links
 to other vampire websites.

 [1.05] This group is full of posers. Stop pretending!

 The people who write as if they were vampyres are not intending to
 mislead anyone. They are doing it for entertainment, creating inter-
 active stories. Rest assured, they have a perfectly good grip on
 reality.

 [1.06] Interactive writing looks like fun. Can anyone join in?

 Sure, but you may wish to contact the storywriters first if you're
 interested in joining a story already underway, just to let them know
 what you have in mind and to see in what direction the story is heading.
 You are also free to start up stories of your own, whether they be
 narratives, interactive narratives, or interactive epistolaries (where
 the story is revealed through a series of letters, newspaper articles,
 and diary entries. For an example of an epistolary, see Bram Stoker's
 _Dracula_.)

 PART 2: QUESTIONS ABOUT VAMPIRES

 [2.01] How do you define "vampire"?

 There is no mutually-agreed upon newsgroup definition for "vampire."
 Ask a dozen readers, and you're likely to get a dozen different answers.
 However, a workable blanket definition for the various types of vampires
 from legend and fiction [q.v. 2.04] might go something like this: A
 vampire is a being who, in order to maintain its existence, must feed
 on the vitality of humans.

 Given that core definition, you're now free to qualify the terms to suit
 the specific type of vampire being described. For example, the vampire
 can be living, dead, undead, or spiritual. "Vitality" can mean blood,
 lifeforce, passion, chi, soul, psychic/sexual energy, etc. Important to
 the definition is the word "must" in that it disqualifies blood fetishers
 who do not NEED blood to survive. "Feed" can be changed to "ingest",
 "suck", "prey" or "drink" but, whatever term is selected, it should
 disqualify flesh-eating beings such as ghouls.

 A few years ago, in an attempt to add more bite to the definition, I
 surveyed readers of a.v. and asked them to rate 16 characteristics as
 to their perceived importance to the definition of "vampire." The most
 important features of a "vampire," according to the 150+ replies I
 received, are that s/he feeds on human lifeforce, does not age, is
 immortal, and drinks human blood. This gives more weight to the suggested
 blanket definition in which the vampire is a being who must feed on the
 vitality of humans in order to survive, with the added qualifiers that,
 if the need is met, the vampire is rendered unaging and long-lived. [NOTE:
 The term "long-lived" is currently preferred over "immortal" because
 immortality implies that one cannot cease to exist, yet there are a number
 of ways that vampires can be destroyed [q.v. 2.07].

 Of medium importance are that the vampire is a living corpse, is
 telepathic, is harmed by the sun, feeds on human passions, and has fangs.
 Of little importance is that s/he casts no reflection, loves darkness,
 has a pale complexion, sleeps in a coffin, is repelled by a cross, is
 prone to obsessive love, and wears a black cape.

 [2.02] Where did the word "vampire" come from?

 Most etymologists (persons who study the origins of words) agree that
 "vampire" is from the Slavic "vampir" or "vampyr" and first appeared in
 the 1600s in the area of what is now Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on the
 Balkan peninsula. However, attempts to trace back the origin of the
 Slavic "vampir" are still under dispute. The theory currently favored is
 that "vampir" came from "upir", which first appeared in print in a 1047
 CE East Slavic (Old Russian) manuscript in which a Novrogordian prince
 is referred to as "Upir Lichy" (Wicked Vampire). Tracing the source of
 "upir" and its Slavic cognates (i.e., upior, obyrbi, upirbi, obiri) is
 even more controversial, fraught with many theories but little documented
 evidence.

 For example, Franz Miklosich, a late 19th century linguist, suggested
 that "upir" is derived from "uber", a Turkish word for "witch". Andre
 Vaillant suggests just the opposite--that the Northern Turkish word
 "uber" is derived from the Slavic "upir". More recently, Jan Perkowski,
 who has done a great deal of research on the vampires of the Slavs,
 also favors a Slavic origin to the word.

 But even amongst those who lean towards a Slavic origin, there is
 considerable disagreement. Kazimierz Moszynski suggests that "u-pir" is
 from a Serbo-Croatian word "pirati" (to blow). Aleksandr Afanas'ev points
 to the Slavic "pij" (to drink), which may have entered the Slavic
 language from the Greek, via Old Church Slavonic. A. Bruckner proposes
 Russian "netopyr" (bat).

 These are just a few of the possible origins of the word "vampire." For
 now, it appears that the best answer to the question of where the word
 originated is that it's a Slavic word. But where the Slavs got it is
 still an unanswered question.

 [2.03] What is the translation of "nosferatu" into English?

 Bram Stoker used the word "nosferatu" in his novel _Dracula_. Most
 people think it is a Romanian word for "vampire" or "undead." Actually,
 no such word exists in any Romanian dictionary. It first appears in
 print in an article entitled "Transylvanian Superstitions" [Emily
 Gerard in _The Nineteenth Century_, July 1885, pp 128-144]. Gerard had
 spent some time in Transylvania and may have heard a word that sounded
 to her like "nosferatu." It may be a corrupted form of "nesuferit" or
 the Greek "Nosophoros," both of which translate as "plague-bearer."
 The word "nosferatu" was later incorporated by Gerard into her book
 _The Land Beyond the Forest_ (1888). We are not sure if Stoker ever
 consulted this book; it is not on his own list of sources. But the
 article is. In fact, Stoker borrowed many items from this article,
 including the blue flames and St. George's Eve. To quote from Gerard's
 book, "More decidedly evil is the nosferatu, or vampire, in which
 every Roumanian peasant believes as he does in heaven or hell."
 [written in part by Elizabeth Miller]

 [2.04] What types of vampires are in existence?

 This is a sampler of vampire legends from around the world.

 - Asasabonsam: W. African. Folklore of the Ashanti people. Asasabonsam
 are human looking vampires except that they have hooks instead of feet
 and iron teeth. The Asasabonsam are tree dwelling vampires that live
 deep in the forest. They sit in the tops of trees with their legs
 dangling down which enables them to catch their victims with their
 hooked feet. They tend to bite their victims on the thumb.

 - Baital: Indian. These vampires natural form is that of a half-man,
 half-bat creature roughly four feet tall. They are otherwise
 unremarkable.

 - Bajang: Malaysian. The bajang normally take the form of polecats.
 Sorcerers could enslave and force them to kill his enemies, and some
 families were believed to be hereditarily stalked by the bajang.

 - Baobhan Sith: Scottish. The baobhan sith (pronounced buh-van she) are
 evil fairies who appear as beautiful young women and will dance with
 men they find until the men are exhausted and then feed on them. The
 baobhan sith can be harmed and destroyed by cold iron.

 - Callicantzaros (also spelled as Kallikantzaros): Medieval and Modern
 Greece. According to Christian Greek folk belief, a child born during
 the time from the beginning of Christmas to New Year's Day (or, in
 some versions, to Epiphany, Jan. 6) will become a callicantzaros. It
 is also during this period of the year that the callicantzaroi become
 a threat to normal humans. Then they roam the countryside, sleeping in
 caves during the day and entering villages at night. They can appear
 half-human, half-animal shapes. At the end of this period, they travel
 down caverns or other tunnels to Hades where they remain until the
 next Christmas. While on the world's surface, a male Callicantzaros is
 apt to kidnap a mortal woman to return with him to the underworld as
 his bride and to bear his children who also become callicantzaroi. To
 To prevent an infant of two mortal parents born during the Yuletide
 season from becoming a callicantzaros, the infant was sometimes held
 feet down over a fire until the toenails were singed. It was said that
 the first victims of a callicantzaros whose parents were both mortal
 were often his own brothers and sisters, whom he was apt to bite and
 devour. The callicantzoroi are actually closer to werewolves than to
 vampires--there is no direct connection with blood drinking--but they
 are frequently described in nonfictional books about vampires.
 (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Ch'ing Shih: Chinese. Ch'ing shih appear livid and may kill with
 poisonous breath in addition to draining blood. If a Ch'ing Shih
 encounters a pile of rice, it must count the grains before it can pass
 the pile. They can be harmed and destroyed by normal weapons and by
 sunlight. Their immaterial form is a glowing sphere of light, much
 like a will-o'-the-wisp.

 - Civateteo: Mexican. These vampire-witches held Sabbaths at
 crossroads and were believed to attack young children and to mate with
 human men, producing children who were also vampires. They were
 believed to be linked to the god Tezcatlipoca.

 - Dearg-due: Irish. The dearg-due is a standard European vampire,
 except that it cannot shapeshift and may be defeated by building a
 cairn of stones over its grave.

 - Empusa: Ancient Greece and Rome. Empusas appear as either beautiful
 women or ancient hags. They are strongly related to the incubi and
 succubi (q.v).

 - Ekimmu: Assyrian. Montague Summers described the ekimmu as vampires,
 but recent re-interpretations of "The Gilgamesh Epic" seem to refute
 this conclusion. The ekimmu are simply the souls of those who died
 without proper burial and so they wander the Netherworld looking for
 peace, not blood.

 - Hanh Saburo: Indian. These creatures live in forests and can control
 dogs. They will attempt to lure or drive travelers into the forest to
 attack them.

 - Incubus: European. Incubi (plural of incubus) are sexual vampires.
 They are spirit vampires of a demonic nature. The general way they
 feed is by having sexual relations with the victim, exhausting them,
 and feeding on the energy released during sex. They may enter homes
 uninvited and can take on the appearance of other persons. They will
 often visit the same victim repeatedly. A victim of an incubus will
 experience the visits as dreams. The female version of an incubus is a
 succubus.  Closely related to the incubi/sucubi are the Slavic mora,
 the German mahr, and the Scandinavian mara, from which the word
 "nightmare" is derived.

 - Jararaca: Brazilian. Normally appearing as snakes, jararaca are said
 to drink the milk, as well as the blood, of sleeping women.

 - Krvopijac: Bulgarian. Krvopijacs (also known as obours) look like
 normal vampires except that they have only one nostril. They can be
 immobilized by placing wild roses around their graves. One way to
 destroy a krvopijac is for a magician to order its spirit into a
 bottle, which must then be thrown into a fire.

 - Lamia: Ancient Greece and Rome. Lamias are exclusively female
 vampires. They often appear in half-human, half-animal forms and eat
 the flesh of their victims in addition to drinking their blood. Lamias
 can be attacked and killed with normal weapons.

 - Loogaro: West Indies. Appearing as old women, these vampires go
 abroad at night as blobs of light, much like the will-o'-the-wisp.

 - Mulo: Gypsy. Gypsies all over Europe generally believed that the mulo
 was the spirit of a dead person which left its corpse in its grave at
 night and returned to the corpse at dawn. The mulo was generally
 invisible but could be visible to certain people, in which case it
 usually appeared in the original form of the dead person.

 Some Gypsy clans believed that their muli were too loyal to their clan
 to trouble them. But in the cases of clans who believed otherwise, esp.
 in Balkan countries such as Kosova, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, the
 mulo often played the role of the vampire. The vampiric mulo mostly
 preyed on sheep and cattle, but there are tales of entire households
 being victimized by a mulo. In the Balkan countries, the adult male
 mulo typically came at night to visit his widow or perhaps a woman he
 had loved during his lifetime. In some versions of the story, he acted
 kindly towards her, helping her with household tasks and regaining her
 favor. Or, he might make demands on her for good tasting food, always
 rejecting what she offered. While visible to his wife, he might at the
 same time be invisible to other family members, behaving much like a
 poltergeist. In a third version, the mulo is invisible even to his
 wife--but he lies upon her and rapes her while she feels paralyzed and
 is unable to cry out for help. In these chases, the widow may become
 sick with terror, refuse food and drink, and eventually die.

 Some Gypsies in Kosova believed that twin brothers and sisters born on
 a Saturday could see a vampiric mulo if they wore their underwear and
 shirts inside out. The mulo would flee as soon as it was seen by the
 twins. A Gypsy practice in Moravia, now the eastern province of the
 Czech Republic, was to use a hen's egg to bait and ambush an invisible
 mulo. When the egg suddenly disappeared, the men would fire their guns
 at the spot. (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Nachzerer: German. These are ghosts of the recently dead that return
 to kill their families.

 - Rakshasa: Indian. The Rakshasas are powerful vampires of the spirit
 variety. They usually appear as humans with animal features (claws,
 fangs, slitted eyes, etc.) or as animals with human features
 (flattened noses, hands, etc.). They often appear as tigers. In any
 form, rakshasas are powerful magicians. They eat the flesh of their
 victims in addition to drinking blood. Burning, sunlight, or exorcism
 may destroy Rakshasas.

 - Shtriga: Medieval and Modern Albanian. The Albanian Shtriga, like
 the ancient Roman Stryx, is a witch who preys upon infants by drinking
 their blood at night. But instead of transforming into an owl when she
 goes for her midnight snack, she is more apt to take the form of a
 flying insect. As recently as the early 20th century, many Albanians
 regarded the Shtriga to be the most common cause of infant deaths.
 (See also Veshtitza.) (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Strigoi: Medieval and Modern Romania, including Transylvania. The
 feminine form of the name is Strigoiaca. The terms derive from the name
 of the blood-sucking, shape-changing, ancient Roman 'Stryx' [which see].
 They apply to either a person who is already an undead vampire (Strigoi
 Mort) or to one who is still living (Strigoi Viu) but predestined to
 become a Strigoi Mort. In most ways, the Strigoi Morti resemble the
 undead vampires found in other Eastern European countries. They can be
 destroyed by such typical means as impaling with a stake or by cremating
 them. They were often blamed as the cause of death in cases of epidemics
 --with the dead victims frequently becoming Strigoi Morti, too.

 The Strigoi Vii are more unusual. According to old Romanian folklore,
 a person who is born with a caul (a veil of fetal membrane still
 attached to the head), a small tail, or other peculiar circumstances
 is a Strigoi Viu. While living, the Strigoi Viu is not a blood drinker,
 but his powers include what could be called psychic vampirism--he can
 steal the vitality of his neighbors' crops and animals to enhance his
 own. Also, he can leave his body at night and travel in the form of an
 animal or a small spark of light. Sometimes it was said that a Strigoi
 Viu took animal form by stealing the form from the animal. The Strigoi
 Vii join together in covens and meet with the Strigoi Morti on special
 nights such as the Eve of St. George (April 22)--the same auspicious
 night when Jonathan Harker meets Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel.
 (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Stryx: Ancient Roman. Stryx [plur: striges] literally means "screech
 "owl" but the ancient Romans also applied the term to witches who
 transformed into owls at night in order to prey upon infants, drinking
 their blood and sometimes eating their internal organs. In modern
 Italian, "striga" has become a general word for "witch". Ovid, in his
 book _Fasti_, tells a story about an infant who was attacked each night
 by a flock of striges. The demigoddess Crane is called upon to ward away
 the striges by sprinklng the doorway with "drugged" water and placing a
 branch of hawthorn in the window. In later European lore, hawthorn is
 often as effective as garlic for warding away or confining vampires and
 is the best material for stakes to pound through their hearts. [See also
 Shtriga, Strigoi, and Veshtitza] (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Vampir: Serbian. The vampir is naturally invisible but can be seen by
 animals or by a dhampir [q.v], the living offspring of a vampir. The
 Serbian vampir cannot shapeshift.

 - Veshtitza: Medieval and modern Montenegro and Serbia. A blood drinking
 witch similar to the Roman Stryx and the Albanian Shtriga [q.v.]. The.
 soul of a Veshtitza leaves her body at night and enters the body of a
 hen or black moth. In this body, the veshtitza flies about until she
 finds a home where there are infants or young children. She drinks their
 blood and eats their hearts. Veshtitze may join together to form covens,
 the members of which flock together in the branches of trees at midnight
 on certain nights to hold a meeting while they snack upon what they have
 gathered earlier. Since it was commonly believed that witches become
 vampires after they die, it seems unlikely that the natural death of a
 veshtitza ends her drinking habit. (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Vrykolakas: 17th - early 20th Century Greece. The term derives from the
 Southern Slavic name Vorkudlak which can either mean an undead vampire
 or a werewolf. The name Vrykolakas (plur: Vrykolakes) has variants such
 as Vourkalakas and Vrukolakas. On the isle of Crete, the name is often
 replaced by 'Kathakano". In some moutain regions on the mainland, the
 term Vrykolakis could also apply to a shepherd who is compelled by the
 full moon to go about biting and eating both man and beast. But most
 generally it was applied to dead people who return from their graves,
 bringing death to the living. When a dead person was suspected of being
 a Vrykolakas, his corpse was exhumed to see if it had resisted decay.
 Also, there was a religious practice of exhuming all corpses after three
 years from their original burial. Typically, an exhumed corpse appeared
 bloated and ruddy. This was interpreted as evidence that the body had
 become a Vrykolakas and had gorged itself on the blood of its victims.

 A person could become a Vrykolakas after death by having been
 excommunicated, by having committed a serious crime or by having led a
 sinful life. Those conceived or born on a holy day were predestined to
 become Vrykolakes. Even if a person died without these taints, he was
 apt to become a Vrykolakas if a cat jumped over his corpse before burial.
 Though Vrykolakes were most active at night, they could also go about
 during daylight. They were only obliged to be in their graves on each
 Saturday. According to one report from the 17th century, revenant
 Vrykolakes prowl at night, knocking on doors and calling out the names
 of the inhabitants. Anyone who answered was doomed, but those who
 resisted were spared. Perhaps this is the origin of the modern literary
 tradition that a vampire cannot enter a home unless invited? Vrykolakes
 can be destroyed by exorcism or burning. Yet another recourse was to
 rebury the corpse on a desert island. This was done in belief that a
 Vrykolakas could not cross sea water (s/b Patrick Johnson)

 - Wampir: Polish and Russian. Wampiri appear exactly as normal humans
 and have a "sting" under their tongue rather than fangs. They are active
 from noon until midnight. A vampir may only be destroyed by burning.
 When burned, the wampir's body will burst, releasing hundreds of small,
 disgusting maggots, rats, etc. If any of these escape, the wampir's
 "spirit" will escape as well and will later return to seek revenge.
 Wampiri may also be called vieszcy and upierczi.

 Of course, this list is not exhaustive. Some other regional variants
 on the vampire are: Austrian dracul, Amer. Indian kwakiytl, Bohemian
 ogolgen, Brazilian lobishomen, African otgiruru, African owenga,
 Romanian avarcolac, Babylonian sharabisu, Greek brucolacas, Tibetan
 khadro, Singhalese kattakhanes, and Hindu kalika.

 [2.05] What powers are most commonly ascribed to vampires?

 There are many different versions of the vampire myth, both in legend
 and in fiction, therefore any ability you could name has probably been
 been ascribed to vampires at some point.  Here are some of the powers
 traditionally ascribed to European vampires (the kind most often
 portrayed in movies and literature)...

 - Ability to change shape. Common animate forms assumed are: wolf, bat,
   rat, cat, owl, fox, weasel, raven, spider, scorpion, moth and fly.
   Inanimate objects which might also be assumed are mist, orbs of light,
   even a ball of dust like you find under your bed [q.v. ch'ing shih,
   loogaroo 2.03]. In some myths, the vampire's true form is inhuman,
   and they shapechange into humans [q.v lamia, baital, bejang, jaracara,
   rakshasas 2.03].
 - Strength, speed and sensory perception far greater than that of humans.
 - Ability to summon and control animals, particularly rats and wolves.
 - Mind-control...may command mortals, strike fear with a look, or cause
   selective amnesia.
 - Ability to control the weather...summoning rain clouds and fog.
 - Ability to command some form of magical or mystical beings, with the
   implicit idea that the vampyre is in league with an evil entity.

 [2.06] What are the vulnerabilities of vampires?

 - Weakened or harmed by sunlight. Although this vulnerability seems
   prevalent, there are notable exceptions to it, i.e., Dracula was
   relatively unaffected by sunlight.

 - Repelled/harmed by religious symbols. This is a subject of debate.
   One theory is that the symbol itself is useless unless the wielder
   possesses a strong faith in the efficacy of the symbol as a despoiler
   of evil.  As such, the symbol is a mere vehicle for the faith of the
   holder, thus the actual symbol need not be religious. Another theory
   is that the icon is powerful in and of itself and channels power from
   above, whether or not the holder believes in it.

 - Repelled by garlic. During the Middle Ages, breakouts of certain
   communicable diseases were sometimes attributed to the presence of
   of a vampire, for example, bubonic plague. During the early 1700s, as
   the plague swept across Europe, people turned to a concoction of vinegar
   and garlic called "Four Thieves' Vinegar (FTV)." FTV is said to have
   originated with four thieves who confessed that wearing a facemask
   saturated with garlic vinegar protected them against catching the
   plague when they plundered the dead. It is true that garlic contains
   an antibacterial substance which might very well have afforded some
   protection against the plague bacillus and other pathogens.

 - Repelled by wolfbane. Wolfbane was mentioned in the Bela Lugosi
   movie version of "Dracula" and was used in place of garlic.

 - Does not cast a reflection in a mirror. Reflections were believed to
   capture a bit of a person's soul, something a vampire is thought not
   to possess. In some areas, vampires were also believed not to show in
   photographs or to cast shadows.

 - Unable to cross running water, except at the ebb and flow of the tide.
   The reason for this is uncertain. Some say it may be linked to the
   similarities between mirrors and the surface of the water. Others
   suggest that it has to do with water being a purifier. Regardless
   of the theory as to how it works, it became a practice in some places
   to bury suspected vampires on islands so that they couldn't return by
   crossing the water. One famous such island is Santorini (in the Aegean
   Sea, north of Crete) which was reputed as having so many vampires
   buried there that the phrase "sending vampires to Santorini" has a
   meaning similar to "selling freezers to Eskimos". They don't need any.

 - Can't enter the home of someone without an invitation

 - Must pass the daylight hours in a coffin filled with the soil in which
   he was originally buried.

 - Cannot pass a thicket of wild rose or a line of salt

 - Has to stop and count every grain in a pile of grain (type of grain
   varies, such as millet, rice, even sand)

 [2.07] How can one kill a vampire?

 Vampires in legend and fiction are usually already dead...er...UNdead.
 Therefore, the aim is not to kill them but to destroy them in such a
 way that they can never again rise up to walk among the living. Some
 time-honored ways of destroying a vampire include:

 - Burning. This seems to be a universal method in both legend and
   fiction of destroying vampires.

 - Cutting out the heart and burning it.

 - Cutting off the head. Some legends say that this must be done with a
   gravedigger's shovel. In fiction, however, Van Helsing's autopsy
   knives seemed to work just fine on Lucy. Other legends require that
   the head be moved away from the body lest the head and body re-unite.

 - Driving a stake through the heart. This method seems to work best on
   fictional vampires. In legendary vampire lore, staking a vampire
   serves merely to "nail" him in place so as to prevent him from leaving
   the coffin or to allow other procedures [as above] to be performed
   without having to worry about the vampire moving, shapeshifting, or
   otherwise escaping. In many of these legends, the stake must be of a
   particular wood, such as ash, hawthorne, maple, blackthorn, buckthorn,
   or aspen. The power of these woods is often claimed to lie in Christian
   symbolism. For example, ash has been cited as the wood from which
   Christ's cross was made. Plants with thorns, such as hawthorn, wild
   roses, and blackthorn, are associated with the crown of thorns worn by
   Christ at his crucifixion. However, in his book _Fasti_ [which was
   written prior to the death of Christ], Ovid describes the value of
   hawthorn in warding off vampire striges [see 2.04 Stryx] who like to
   feed on the blood and guts of human infants, so the roots of some of
   these legends obviously predate Christian influences.

 - Exposing to sunlight. Like staking, exposing a vampire to sunlight has
   become one of the more common methods of destroying fictional vampires,
   at least since Count Orlock greeted the dawn through a window in the
   1922 classic movie "Nosferatu". Legendary vampires are not quite so
   sun-sensitive. [see Vrykolakas 2.04, vulnerabilities 2.06, and
   dhampirs 2.08]

 - Dispelling the vampire with holy symbols, such as the Eucharist or
   holy water. This idea seems to derive from the Christian belief, as
   espoused by Leo Allatius (and later by Dom Augustin Calmet) that
   vampires are in league with Satan.  In modern fiction, however, this
   tactic is more commonly used to prevent a vampire from returning to
   his coffin, and he is consequently killed by exposure to the sun.

 - Calling in a dhampir.

 [2.08] What are dhampirs?

 In Eastern European and gypsy vampire lore, some vampires are believed
 to be invisible to all but a dhampir, the offspring of a vampire and a
 mortal. In spite of the fact that the gypsy mulo [q.v. 2:03] was said
 to be a spirit of the dead person separate from the physical corpse, it
 was also believed that the male mulo was capable of impregnating living
 women, often their grieving widows. The resulting child was variously
 called a "vampijorivic", a "vampiric", or a "lampijerovic", all of which
 mean "little vampire". Another name for such an offspring is "dhampir".
 Depending on the legend, dhampirs may be able to automatically see
 vampires, or they may have to enact some sort of ritual, such as putting
 on their clothes backwards or looking through a sleeve.

 The typical dhampir story has a vampire bothering a town. A wandering
 dhampir comes through, hears of the town's vampire problem, and offers
 to kill the vampire--for a fee, of course. The dhampir goes to the town
 square and calls out a challenge to the vampire, asking him to meet the
 dhampir there on the morrow. (Vampires in these legends aren't limited
 to nighttime.) The next day, the dhampir returns to the town square and
 waits for the vampire to arrive. When the vampire "appears", the dhampir
 wrestles the invisible creature, shoots him with a gun, or somehow bests
 him and chases the vampire out of town. End of the town's vampire problem.

 There are also cases where a dhampir is able to detect the grave of a
 vampire and destroy it by shooting a bullet into the corpse or by more
 traditional means such as staking, beheading or cremation. The natural
 male offspring of a dhampir were also believed to be dhampirs, and so
 the profession of vampire hunting was often an inherited career. At
 least as late as 1959 in Kosova, there were dhampirs still in the
 business of hunting down and destroying vampires.

 Dhampirs in legend don't have special abilities other than being able to
 see invisible vampires. As with legends, however, writers have liked the
 idea of a dhampir and have added to the legend, often completely redoing
 it and just taking the name, as with Vampire Hunter D, for example.
 (written in part by Cathy Krusberg)

 [2.09] What is a "psychic vampire"?

 The term "psychic vampire" was popularized in the mid-1800s when members
 of The Theosophical Society turned their attention to researching the
 psyche, described as the human mind, soul, emotions, and all the latent
 mental processes which take place within an individual and which are not
 visible or measurable in the physical world. Psychic vampires (sometimes
 referred to as psi-vamps) are characterized as individuals who suck
 energy (as opposed to blood) from others.

 Members of The Theosophical Society theorized two types of psychic
 vampires.  One was the "astral", described by Henry Steele Olcott as
 undead but able to separate astral from material body and leave the
 grave in search of blood or energy from the living, which it could
 send back to the buried body in order to sustain its hold on life.
 The other was the "magnetic", described by Franz Hartmann as a living
 "psychic sponge" who absorbed energy from those around it.

 Although psychic vampirism seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon,
 legends about vampirelike beings who drain others of their energy or
 lifeforce, soul or vitality, chi or pa, or who use humans as a means
 of procreation, predate blood-drinking revenants by thousands of years.
 More information on some of these ancient psychic vampires can be found
 in section 2.04, q.v. empusa, incubus, and mulo.

 [2.10] How does one become a vampire?

 There are many possible routes of becoming a vampire.  Some of the more
 prevalent mythological routes are:

 - Suicide
 - Excommunication, dying unbaptized/apostate, or anything else that
   puts one "outside of the church"
 - Being a wizard/witch
 - Having been a werewolf
 - Having your parents curse you, as in "May the earth reject you!"
 - Being born with teeth or a caul (sometimes specifically a red caul).
   In this case, it may be possible to prevent the inevitable by burning
   the caul and feeding the ashes to the baby.
 - Having a cat or other animal jump over your corpse before it gets
   properly buried.
 - Possessing red hair.
 - Being a victim of an unavenged murder.
 - Being a seventh son.
 - Being sexually promiscuous.
 - Being the offspring of a human woman and a demon or incubus.
 - Being bitten by a vampire. In some versions, the victim has to die from
   the bite to become a vampire; in others, three bites are necessary.
 - Drinking the blood of a vampire.

 If it is suspected that someone is likely to become a vampire, it is
 possible to prevent the occurrence by using one or more of the methods
 listed in 2.07 for destroying vampires or by burying the suspect body
 face downwards. In Eastern Europe, it was common to periodically check
 bodies to see if they showed any signs of vampirism. In China, potential
 vampires were not buried until after they had decayed considerably.

 [2.11] What is porphyria, why is it called "The Vampire Disease"?

 Porphyria is actually a group of diseases, all pertaining to the
 metabolism of porphyrin rings that, along with iron, are responsible for
 the oxygen-carrying properties of hemoglobin--the red ingredient in
 blood. Porphyria is a very rare genetic disorder and is not contagious.
 It may have developed among the European nobility due to inbreeding.

 In a 1964 article in the _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine_,
 it was proposed that porphyria might be an explanation for werewolf
 legends. Twenty-one years later, chemist David Dolphin presented a paper
 at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
 proposing that porphyria might explain vampire legends. It was later
 refuted by other professionals, due to the fact that the only form of
 porphyria which could have been likened to vampirism was the rarest
 form, occurring in very few people throughout history.

 So why the link between porphyria and vampirism? One of the varieties of
 porphyria, congenital erythropoietic porphyria, has among its symptoms:
 severe light sensitivity, reddish-brown urine and teeth, mutilation of
 the nose, ears, eyelids, and fingers, an excess of body hair, and anemia
 (compare these symptoms with the description of Stoker's Dracula). In
 addition, some kinds of porphyria are associated with epilepsy. However,
 there is no evidence that porphyrics have any sort of craving to drink
 blood and, although it has been conjectured that eating garlic might be
 harmful to them, it is not.

 In short, the hullabaloo over porphyria and vampirism was simply a media
 overreaction which negatively affected the lives of porphyrics by
 associating them with vampirism. In one instance, for example, a woman's
 husband left her because he was afraid he would be bitten in his sleep
 and have his blood drained by her. So please, take a grain of salt along
 with anything you hear about porphyrics as vampires.

 [2.12] I've Heard That Vampirism Is REALLY Due To a Vampire Retrovirus.
        Is This True?

 Yes, we've heard all about the DNA-altering vampire retrovirus as well
 as vampiric symbionts from across "the veil." Unfortunately, the
 originators of both of these theories, convincing as they may sound, are
 attempting to pass off their theories as "truths". Theories presented to
 alt.vampyres as "fact" or "truth" will probably be scrutinized,
 challenged, and referred to experts.  To whit:

 Following is a letter I received from Jon Martin, Ph.D., Associate
 Professor for Virology at Mercer University School of Medicine.
 Dr. Martin explains the current status of human retroviruses:

      "...Personally, I think the retrovirus as an explanation is a
  clever notion ... but nothing more than that.  There are only three
  retroviruses known to infect the human.  One of them is HIV, which
  causes AIDS. A second one causes an uncommon leukemia (human T-cell
  leukemia/lymphoma virus; HTLV), and the third is not yet clearly
  associated with human disease (but is related to HTLV)."

 [2.13] I have a theory about how vampires originated. Care to hear?

 Sure.  Theorizing about the origin of the vampire is a hot topic here
 and one which often results in some interesting discussions. Just be
 sure to phrase it in terms of a "theory". If you present it as a "truth",
 and claim to have proof, you will probably be asked to provide it--
 a situation which can lead to some wicked debates. Here is a sampler of
 some theories that have been discussed in the past.

 THE VAMPIRE HORMONE THEORY
 A genetic complex that is usually dormant becomes activated by a
 hormone brought in from an external source, i.e., a bite. The genetic
 complex produces more of the hormone, thereby creating a chain reaction
 in the victim's body. The hormone also transforms the victim's physical
 form. The new form will be superficially human but with a pair of fangs
 with poison sacs which can inject the hormone into another victim,
 should the vampire so choose. [Madman Who is Sane]

 THE FALLEN ANGEL THEORY:
 The first Vampires were Fallen Angels aka "The Watchers", who were cast
 out of heaven for bringing sin unto the Earth [Stef Zodiak]. An adjunct
 to this theory suggests that the first vampires were the offspring of
 humans and Watchers. When the Children of the Watchers had consumed all
 of the available food, they turned to mankind and began to eat their
 flesh and drink their blood.

 THE ANGEL OF DEATH THEORY:
 The Bible says that the fallen angels came to earth and mated with
 the "daughters of Eve" to create half demon types who terrorized the
 populous in pre-flood times.  God wanted to even the score and sent
 His loyal angel, the Angel of Death, to mate with a daughter of Eve
 in order to create vampires to control the demonic offspring of the
 fallen angels.  After the flood, however, the demons were gone and
 the vampires (who of course survived because they are immortal and
 can't drown) had no purpose and began preying on humans. [Sable Siren]

 THE VAMPIRE ALLERGEN THEORY:
 The vampire injects an allergen of some sort.  The allergic reaction
 in the victim transforms him into another vampire. [White Spirit]

 THE VAMPIRE POLYMER THEORY:
 Vampires are the victims of a DNA-like polymer that was created by the
 decomposition of a dead body many thousands of years ago. The polymer is
 transmitted to others via a bite to a vein or artery and may have the
 ability to evolve, like other life on Earth. [Madman who is Sane]

 THE REPRODUCTION THEORY:
 Similar to the Vampire Polymer Theory, but the material passed to the
 victim is actual DNA, created by a completely different species which
 uses humans as hosts for a method of asexual reproduction. The human
 host eventually changes into a member of the vampire species. [Madman
 Who is Sane]

 THE ATLANTIS THEORY:
 The Atlantans, in their quest to prolong life, were doing genetic
 experiments, the end result being a new human that could live forever
 but had to drink the blood of humans in order to survive. [Aziel]

 THE INTERDIMENSIONAL THEORY:
 Vampires are interdimensional travellers who come to this dimension to
 feed on humans because their blood source died out long ago in their
 own dimension.  [Aziel]

 THE HUMAN PREDATOR THEORY:
 Humans are destructive to Nature and so Nature, striving for balance,
 created a humanoid mutation in order to "cull the herd". Seems fitting
 that it would be a vampire, since vampires would be able to walk with
 humans without creating too much notice.

 THE VAMPIRE HOMINID THEORY:
 Vampires are an ancient offshoot from human evolution.  They evolved
 in a barren region, i.e., desert or tundra, so they have high tolerance
 for the elements but no way to make hunting tools. Consequently, they
 learned to steal from humans.  The vampire's thirst for blood lies in
 their need to take as much water as possible from the arid environment
 in which they evolved.  [BJ]

 THE ALIEN VAMPIRE THEORY:
 In 1894, in "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid", H.G. Wells explored
 the possibility of space aliens taking over a human body in order to
 live off the life energy of others. Since then, vampires have become a
 favorite alien in SciFi.  Many theories have issued since, ranging
 from the purely fantastic to plausable, but all were inspired by the
 host of SciFi books and movies that portray vampires as space aliens.

 THE VAMPIRE NANOBOT THEORY:
 Nanobots, created by either a) renegade scientists or b) a race of
 reptilian saurians, were introduced into a handful of human bodies in
 order to repair cell damage. The Nanobots performed so well that they
 rendered their hosts immortal. However, the Nanobots themselves are not
 immortal and must self-replicate by utilizing the iron atoms from the
 hemoglobin in the host's red blood cells. The result of this
 nanoreplication process is the constant need for blood. Unable to keep
 up with the demand, the host has no choice but to seek blood from
 another. If the colony of Nanobots exceeds the host's ability to feed,
 some Nanobots may migrate into another host, usually the next victim
 of the primary host's bite. [LuckyHoodoo9 (a) and klaatu (b)]

 THE SEVEN MAGES THEORY
 Seven mages made a deal with seven demons many millenia ago. The mages
 were granted certain powers. In exchange, the demons were able to cross
 the Veil into this world. They merged with the mages, turning them into
 vampires. Each time a demon-infested vampire reproduces, a part of the
 demon passes into the child. [Trinn]


 PART 3: QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIFIC VAMPIRES IN HISTORICAL FACT/FICTION

 [3.01] Who was the first vampire? Caine? Lilith? Lord Ruthven?

 It could be all of the above or none of the above, depending upon how
 "vampire" is defined. Whitewolf fiction names Caine as the first [see
 _The Book of Nod_]. In other rpgs, Lilith is the first. Etymologists
 might consider a 1047 CE reference to one "Upir Lichy" [q.v. 2.02] as
 the first mention of a vampire. Historians might point to the influence
 of the Gypsies as they spread across Europe in the 15th and 16th
 centuries. Certainly there is a strong similarity between the Gypsy mulo
 [q.v. 2.04] and the Eastern European vampire. On the other hand, the
 literati might look to Polidori's Lord Ruthven [q.v. 3.03] as the
 inspiration for today's fictional vampire.

 The oldest known document with a reference to a vampirelike being is a
 @2400 BCE tablet known as "The Sumerian King List", a very boring list
 of all the kings of Sumer, their paternal lineage, and the years of
 their rule. One entry is for the famous King Gilgamesh. It says that
 Gilgamesh's father was a Lillu. In Sumerian myth, there were a number
 of beings who, like the incubi and succubi [q.v. 2.04], come to sleeping
 individuals to mate with them. Lillu is an incubus (male). One of the
 succubi was Lilake/Lilitu whom some claim to be a forerunner of Lilith.

 But not even Sumer can be definitively credited as coming up with the
 first vampire. Why? Because Sumer is also the first civilization to
 develop cuneiform, a form of writing which uses word sounds rather than
 pictures. Consequently, there is no written histories prior to Sumer.

 [3.02] Is Lilith really mentioned in the Bible?

 The Bible is a compilation of many individual "books" written by
 different authors at different times in history. The Old Testament
 concerns events prior to the birth of Christ. The New Testament tells
 the story of Christ and the teachings of his disciples. In some versions
 of the Old Testament (Jewish Tanakh, Biblia Hebraica, etc.) the word
 "lilith" appears in the Book of Isaiah 34:14, said to have been written
 during or just after the Babylonian Captivity @597 BCE. Translated, it
 reads something like:

        "Wild beasts shall meet with hyenas,
        the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
        there shall [the lilith] alight,
        and find for herself a resting place."

 When this passage was translated for the Greek Septuagint in the 3rd
 century BCE, "lilith" became "onokentauroi" [ass centaur]. When Jerome
 translated it in the 4th century CE for the Latin Vulgate, he changed
 it to "lamia". The King James version of the English bible, published
 in the early 1600s, substituted "night hag." Modern translations may be
 found using everything from "lilith" to "night creatures" to "screech
 owl".

 The oldest known copy of the Book of Isaiah is the Qumran Isaiah scroll,
 found in the Dead Sea caves in the 1940s. It has been dated to the 1st
 or 2nd century BCE. The text, handwritten on a 26cm by 7m leather scroll,
 is in Hebrew. The word in 34:14 is "lilith." So, as of now, it appears
 that "lilith" is indeed the original word. However, there are still many
 questions surrounding this passage, not the least of which is: To whom
 (or what) does "lilith" refer? Is it Lilith the Demoness herself, one of
 a group of succubi known as the lilim, or is it merely a word for an
 owl common to Mesopotamia?

 [3.03] Who is Lord Ruthven?

 Long before Dracula was even a gleam in Bram Stoker's eye, there was
 Lord Ruthven, a fictional vampire popularized by John Polidori in a
 short story published April 1819 in "The New Monthly Magazine" [England].

 The story behind the story goes that Polidori was a guest at Lord Byron's
 Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva (Switzerland) in June 1816. During a rainy
 spell, Byron suggested that the guests pass the time by writing ghost
 stories. One of the stories to come out of this write-a-thon was Mary
 Shelley's _Frankenstein_. Byron himself wrote a fragment of a tale about
 a vampire he called Augustus Darvell. John Polidori's contribution was
 apparently unremarkable.

 Three years later, however, after a falling out with Byron, Polidori
 published "The Vampyre", which featured the suave yet fiendish Lord
 Ruthven. There are many rumors surrounding the writing of "The Vampyre,"
 i.e., it was first attributed to Lord Byron then to Polidori, and then
 it was rumored that Polidori based the fiendish Lord Ruthven ON Byron.
 In actuality, Lord Ruthven had already been created several years prior
 by Lady Caroline Lamb, one of Byron's discarded lovers, to portray the
 heartless, but non-vampire, lover in her novel _Glenarvon_.

 Within a year after "The Vampyre" was published, the vampyre Ruthven
 became hugely popular throughout western Europe. By June of 1819, he
 was already onstage at the Theatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin (Paris) in
 a melodrama called "Le Vampire", written by Charles Nodier.

 In August of 1820, James Planche brought Nodier's play to the London
 Lyceum under the name "The Vampire, or The Bride of the Isles." Although
 adapted from Nodier's "Le Vampire", it wasn't quite the same play, as
 Planche's version was written to fit the available wardrobe, and so his
 play was set in Scotland. (Vampires in kilts...oh la la!) In that same
 year, Nodier's friend Cyprien Berard wrote a long sequel to Polidori's
 story, which he titled "Lord Ruthven ou Les Vampires." Berard's sequel
 has the distinction of being the first vampire novel ever written (till
 then, everything had been in the form of short stories, plays or poetry).

 In 1823, Alexandre Dumas attended a revival of Nodier's "Le Vampire" and
 wrote about the experience in his _Memoirs_. Dumas was so impressed with
 the vampire Ruthven that he rewrote Nodier's play and took it back to the
 Paris stage in 1851. He also authored a piece about Ruthven-type vampires
 that has appeared under the title "The Pale Lady" and may be the first
 story to set the vampires in the Carpathian Mountains.

 In 1828, Polidori's Ruthven was recast in the first vampire opera, "Der
 Vampyr", by Heinrich Marschner. Marschner's brother-in-law (Wilhelm
 Wohlbruck) wrote the libretto, and "Der Vampyr" was performed for the
 first time in Leipzig (Germany) in March 1829 where it, too, was a great
 success. By August, "Der Vampyr" was on the stage at the London Lyceum,
 the same theater that, some 70 years later, would be frequented by Bram
 Stoker and would become the site of the original dramatization of the
 most famous vampire story ever written-- _Dracula_.

 [3.04] Ever heard of "The Ruthvenian"?

 In his book _Monsters_, Donald Glut mentions The Ruthvenian. He writes:
 "Many infamous vampires are found in literature. The first to achieve
 real notoriety was Lord Ruthven, star of 'The Vampyre,' a story by Doctor
 John Polidori published in 1819. The 'Ruthvenian,' the bible of the
 vampires, was named after Lord Ruthven." [w/b Lord Ruthven].

 Actually, the "Ruthvenian" was a supposedly "legendary book" that I
 made up for my novel _Frankenstein Meets Dracula_. From there, I
 carried it into the "Dr Spektor" comic book, which I created and wrote
 for Gold Key. It has since turned up in various places, including my
 recent movie "Scarlet Countess" (on DVD/video as "The Erotic Rites of
 Countess Dracula"). [private communication from Donald Glut]

 [3.05] What is the chupacabra? Is the chupacabra really some type
        of vampire?

 Imagine an animal that looks like a gorilla-reptile-gargoygle with
 batlike wings, bulging red eyes, large claws, fangs and a long darting
 tongue. Imagine that this creature can fly or, at least, take great
 leaps. Imagine it to be a nocturnal predator of livestock such as goats,
 sheep, chickens, and cows, and that it feeds on them by drinking their
 blood from two puncture wounds near the jugular vein, doing no other
 damage to the body. Finally, imagine that this creature's handiwork has
 been reported as far north as Michigan, south as Chile, west as
 California, and east as Puerto Rico, although it seems to prefer the
 Latin American countries. This is the chupacabra as pieced together
 from reports made by persons who claim to have seen it.

 Sightings of the Chupacabra [from Spanish "chupar" (to suck) + "cabra"
 (goat)] gained worldwide attention in the mid-1990s, but chupacabras
 have been around since the 1960s. After some 40 years, however, no one
 has yet photographed or caught a chupacabra, live or dead.

 Cryptozoologists (scientists who study animals which may or may not be
 real) have placed the chupacabra right up there with Bigfoot and Loch
 Nessie but have found no evidence to confirm or deny its existence.
 Locals think the chupacabra is some sort of genetically-engineered bat
 or other experimental animal which got loose. Skeptics blame something
 more normal, such as dogs, coyotes, wolves, or pumas. But one thing is
 certain. There are hundreds of photos of livestock carcasses that have
 been drained of blood with no bodily damage other than two puncture
 wounds in their necks.  If not a chupacabra, then what?


 PART 4: MISCELLANEOUS VAMPIRE STUFF

 [4.01] How can I find out more about [name of TV show]?

 Forever Knight:
 alt.tv.forever-knight - The FAQ for this group can be found at
 http://lavender.fortunecity.com/wildbunch/241/

 Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
 alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer -  The FAQ for this group can be found [4/01]
 at: http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ra_forti/FAQ
 alt.tv.angel - The FAQ for this group can be found [4.01] at:
 http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ra_forti/angelfaq

 Kindred: the Embraced:
 alt.tv.kindred

 [4.02] Where can I get more info about _Interview with a Vampire_ and
 the rest of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles?

 alt.books.anne-rice - The FAQ for this group can be found [4/01] at:
 http://www.angelfire.com/ri/cerat/ARFAQintro.html

 [4.03] Where can I get more info on White Wolf's "Vampire:
 The Masquerade"?

 alt.games.whitewolf - The FAQ for this group can be found [7/01] at:
 http://www.mants-lair.org.uk/WoD/faq.txt

 alt.games.vampire.the.masquerade - The FAQ for this group can be found
 at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6242/2agvtmq.html

 alt.games.vampire.tremere - The FAQ for this group can be found at
 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6242/agvtfaq.txt

 rec.games.frp.storyteller

 [4.04] Where can I get more info on real vampires?

 Actually, alt.vampyres *IS* about real vampires--the vampires from the
 histories and legends of multiple cultures. If what you mean by "real
 vampires" is blood fetishers and others who liberally apply the term
 "vampire" to themselves, try:

 alt.culture.vampires - The FAQ for this group can be found [4/01] at
 http://earthops.org/a-c-v/faq.html

 [4.05]  Do you know of any good websites about vampires?

 There are hundreds, far too many to include in this faq. A good place
 to start might be Strigoi's Tomb [http://zyworld.com/vampirelore/].
 Strigoi (aka Patrick Johnson) explores the legends of the undead in
 Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Western Europe, Asia, and the Americas,
 looking at everything from vampire fairies to vampire fangs.

 [4.06] Where can I get a copy of [this hard-to-find vampire movie]?

 Try Tapes of Terror. Write them for a catalog at P. Riggs, 6226 Darnell,
 Dept. VC, Houston, TX 77074-7416, USA. You can also view their online
 catalog at: www.morticiasmorgue.com/tot.html. [NOTE: I get no kickback
 from ToT. It's just that I've never seen a better list of hard-to-find
 horror movies, including vampire movies like the BBC version of "Count
 Dracula", Hammer's "Vampire Circus", Vincent Price in "The Last Man on
 Earth", etc.]


 PART 5: WHO HAS HELPED TO MAKE THIS FAQ POSSIBLE?

 [5.01] The creators and subsequent maintainers of the alt.vampyres faq:

  -Travis S. Casey, who started this whole thing up;
  -Robert Herrick, who expanded it and put up with a lot of grief while
   doing so;
  -Clint Hauser, who took over for Robert and updated where necessary;
  -Barbara Kuehl (as Baby Jinx), who was asked by Clint to take it off
   his hands (it's a thankless duty);
  -Lucadra, who put her heart and soul into it for over two years,
  -Baby Jinx again (as ^BJ^), to whom the faq reverted when Lucadra
   took an unexpected, lengthy medical absence; and
  -jetgirl, who housed an HTML version of the faq on her personal webpage
   for several months during Lucadra's absence.
  -From there, the faq split into two factions with jetgirl claiming the
   right to the HTML version on her website and with BJ updating and
   renovating Lucadra's version, thus creating this VAMPIRE faq.

 [5.02] Special thanks to these contributors

 In order to give thanks where thanks are due, an attempt is being made
 to bracket the names of faq contributors following the passages they
 have contributed. If your contribution appears uncredited in the a.v.
 VAMPIRE faq, please contact me with the details.

 [e-mail]
 [To email me, remove altvampyres.]


^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

  A copy of the most recently-posted version of this faq may be obtained
  at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/alt/vampyres/vampire-faq

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^