Vampires: Fact and Fiction

The Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary defines vampire as such:

vam-pire n. 1. In folklore, a corpse that rises from it's grave at night to suck the blood of the living.

Hmmm, kind of a bland description, don't you think? Today's vampire has taken on a wholly new meaning, often beyond any description or definition. A vampire can be any way our imagination takes us. They can be as serious as Bela Lugoisi's portrayal of Count Dracula to as mundane as the female vamp in "Razor Blade Smile"… or even as silly as the vampire portrayed by George Hamilton. Unfortunately, the title of that movie escapes my memory, which is probably a good thing. Then you can have the hero vampire, such as Angel of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and who successfully pulled off his own spin-off television series. Or, Blade in the movie titled in the same name. Or, my favorite, albeit short lived program, "Kindred: the Embraced".

White Wolf took it a step further by making it a Role Playing Game (RPG), much in the genre of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). They gave vampires credence when the game stepped up to becoming a LARP (Live Action Role Playing). Still, even more vampires can be found here, on-line, in chat rooms of one format or another through out the Infinite Internet!

What exactly attracts us to these fantastic creatures of the night? Is it the desire to live out our own dark side? Is it the supernatural powers that vampires purportedly possess? Living for an eternity? Romance? Adventure? All of the above?

I surely can't put a finger on any one answer for myself. Guess I would have to check the box: All of the above. I find I am truly fascinated by vampires in all aspects. I think I would miss the sun though. I love the beach and I don't look good with the ghostly pallor of a vampire. And I surely don't think there are any sunscreens out there in SPF 1000! Don't think Raybans would help much either.

The other down-side presented by White Wolf is the vampire's inability to have sex or procreate in any manner other than to embrace a child. Like Louis, in Anne Rice's "Interview With a Vampire", did to the plague ridden girl whom he named Claudia. But then that child would never grow up! Man! Wouldn't that suck!

Then there is the ever presentable problem of the vampire hunter. There are just some folks out there that are really turned off by vampires and all they stand for. The religious fanatics, remnants of the Inquisition, seeking to purify the world and rid it of anything evil.

Hmmmm, maybe I'm just better off the way I am and should face the end of my life in a noble manner. Sorry, I'm digressing from the subject just a wee bit.

Let me carry on to the different types of Vampires there are; many of which can be found in today's society. These links will lead you to them.

"The Classic Vampire"  [ASR]

"The Energy Vampire"  [E]

"The Science Fiction Vampire"  [ASR]