An imagined bloodsucking monster known as a vampire frequently appears in folklore, particularly in Eastern Europe.
When people sleep, folklore portrays vampires as men and women who had been buried but survived by sucking their blood; if the victims ultimately die, they too turn into vampires.
Vampires are nighttime monsters that must return to their graves or coffins by dawn. People might recognize them by the lack of shadows and reflections their bodies make in a mirror.
A crucifix, a thread of garlic, and other charms can keep vampires’ eyes off of sleepers. People can only put them to death by driving a stake through their hearts or by destroying their place of rest during the day.
Thanks to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, published in 1897, vampires became a prominent subject for horror fiction in modern times, and countless Dracula films made for the big screen and television have sustained public interest in them.
Revenants are human corpses that people think rise from the dead and attack the living. These vampires have Slavic origins and are the ones that most people are familiar with (such as Dracula).
However, folklore portrays older vampires as supernatural—probably demonic beings that do not take on human form rather than being at all human.
In fact, a select few truly vampire-like animals exist, such as leeches, lampreys, and vampire bats. The vampire’s goal in each of these instances is to draw just enough blood to keep them alive but not enough to kill their hosts.
What about human vampires, though?
Many self-described vampires exist in gothic-inspired subcultures. Others wear capes or obtain vampire-fang dental implants, while some conduct covert bloodletting rituals or literary clubs with a vampire theme.
Everything is exciting and frightful, but drinking blood tells a totally different story.
The issue is that blood is toxic; because it is so high in iron and the body has trouble eliminating excess iron, anyone who regularly consumes blood runs a serious risk of developing hemochromatosis (iron overdose), which can result in a wide range of illnesses and problems, including damage to the liver and nervous system.
Vampires have been a part of human society and legend in varying forms for millennia, and they don’t seem to be disappearing any time soon.
