True Vampires

[Sondst]

I have long heard rumors of actual people who practice as vampires.

My friend knows 3 that claim the practice. But will not reveal anything about it which doesn't surprise me. Apparently this practice is exclusive and only their own kin are allowed in. If you are not a kin member an dimly play the part you are shunned.

This is all I know. Has anyone had experience with those that practice and perhaps can tell me a bit more about it?

[Malflick]

Re: True Vampires

this isn't meant to sound condescending towards you, I'm simply sharing my experience with people like this, just to be clear.

The only people I knew who did that were way too into fiction, they assumed vampires worked like they did in Vampire the Masquerade or Anne Rice, and got... Way too into character. Essentially what I'm saying is that I haven't met anyone who did this who wasn't a teenager trying to look edgy, or an adult who descended into an incredibly unhealthy level of fantasy.

(and I play Vampire the RPGs, so don't think I'm bashing it. But there are a hand full of people who have gone off the deepend with it)

[monsno_leedra]

Re: True Vampires

.. (and I play Vampire the RPGs, so don't think I'm bashing it. But there are a hand full of people who have gone off the deepend with it)

Off topic reply. I know there were more than a few D&D and AD&D players who turned it real world and got lost in it.

ON topic.

I know there is a whole sub-culture of Vampire beliefs that tends to move within the Goth sub-culture. Most of those I've encountered though either fall into the Sanguine class or the Psychic class. I say class to denote a grouping not to imply a game status. But the notion of covens or hives seems to be more Hollywood and fantasy derived than any such actual groupings I am aware of. Admitted I do not belong to that category or sub-culture so can not speak from experience with them as a social or cultural group.

[Sondst]

Re: True Vampires

See from my understanding that has been told to me from others this subculture has been around much longer than fantasy novels dating back hundreds of years, apparently they move around a lot so their secrets do not get out. They are against people who 'pretend' especially rpgers and physic vampires.

This is what I'm told atleast. If they are real, it makes sense on why there are no books, because if there is a group of people that are vampires or believe to be...no one would want them hunting them down lol.

Id id love to meet someone else who knows more of them as perhaps real creatures.

[Aeran]

Re: True Vampires

See from my understanding that has been told to me from others this subculture has been around much longer than fantasy novels dating back hundreds of years, apparently they move around a lot so their secrets do not get out. They are against people who 'pretend' especially rpgers and physic vampires.

I'm pretty certain that's not the case, or at least that there's absolutely no evidence for it. I have a hard time believing that such a phenomenon would go completely undocumented, unmentioned, for hundreds/thousands of years. The whole thing, imo, is just a fabrication based on pop culture.

[Rae'ya]

Re: True Vampires

See from my understanding that has been told to me from others this subculture has been around much longer than fantasy novels dating back hundreds of years, apparently they move around a lot so their secrets do not get out. They are against people who 'pretend' especially rpgers and physic vampires.

This is what I'm told atleast. If they are real, it makes sense on why there are no books, because if there is a group of people that are vampires or believe to be...no one would want them hunting them down lol.

Id id love to meet someone else who knows more of them as perhaps real creatures.

The Psychic Vampire community is pretty open and transparent if you know where to look. The Sanguinarian Vampire community is more closed and cliquey, but it's not at all the level of of secretive that is described here. And it's not like an 'Underworld' type underground vampire community that have lived in secretive little groups for thousands of years funding blood banks so that they can feed in secret and fight werewolves.

If that were the case, people wouldn't be TELLING you this. They would be keeping their secrets in secret and doing everything in their power to make sure that 'their secrets do not get out'. The very fact that someone has told you this... that THREE people have told your friend this, smacks to me of cliquey secret dark snowflakes posers... I mean really, that's great secret keeping... tell a friend who tells a friend who posts it up on an internet forum. Really?

[Sondst]

Re: True Vampires

Lol that's very true. I just figured like all secret things sometimes secrets get out ect. And I figured its worth the ask to the group. Many people have different beliefs and opinions.

I personally do not believe in vampires, and I wouldn't want to. But there is such an obsession with them through history I figured there might be a bit of truth there.

They creep me out and I could never get down with the obsession pop culture has with them lol.

My curiosity is slightly based in fear. Ex. I'm petrified of squid lol. I know weird... But I love watching documentaries on them.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: True Vampires

Lol that's very true. I just figured like all secret things sometimes secrets get out ect. And I figured its worth the ask to the group. Many people have different beliefs and opinions.

I personally do not believe in vampires, and I wouldn't want to. But there is such an obsession with them through history I figured there might be a bit of truth there.

They creep me out and I could never get down with the obsession pop culture has with them lol.

My curiosity is slightly based in fear. Ex. I'm petrified of squid lol. I know weird... But I love watching documentaries on them.

Vampiric lore has a lot of roots in the fact that people were not always dead when they were buried. Coupled to the fact the body continues to grow fingernails, hair and such even in the grave. Many a grave has been opened only to discover the "Dead" awakened and clawed to escape their tomb. Occurring so frequently that a night watch was established in a lot of places with bells tied into new graves so the awakened could ring the bell and be free'd.

Then one has to look at the difference between the historical vampire and the Hollywood version that was inspired by the story of Dracula. Many vampires in Slavic lore are not much more than brainless corpses that haunt burial grounds and reek of the tomb. Not to many stories I am aware of that show the gentleman type of vampire that has come to represent the grouping today.

[Rae'ya]

Re: True Vampires

Vampiric lore has a lot of roots in the fact that people were not always dead when they were buried. Coupled to the fact the body continues to grow fingernails, hair and such even in the grave. Many a grave has been opened only to discover the "Dead" awakened and clawed to escape their tomb. Occurring so frequently that a night watch was established in a lot of places with bells tied into new graves so the awakened could ring the bell and be free'd.

... or from sensationalist stories of historical figures like Elizabeth Bathory, Vlad the Impaler and to a much lesser extent, the Marquis de Sade.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: True Vampires

... or from sensationalist stories of historical figures like Elizabeth Bathory, Vlad the Impaler and to a much lesser extent, the Marquis de Sade.

Oh I agree. It always intrigues me how both Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory hail from the same general region. One drank blood for life, the other bathed in it for youth and beauty. The Marquis de Sade falls into a realm all his own though I think the Hell Fire Club was supposed to run a close second in some ways.

[Ophidia]

Re: True Vampires

Vampiric lore has a lot of roots in the fact that people were not always dead when they were buried. Coupled to the fact the body continues to grow fingernails, hair and such even in the grave. Many a grave has been opened only to discover the "Dead" awakened and clawed to escape their tomb. Occurring so frequently that a night watch was established in a lot of places with bells tied into new graves so the awakened could ring the bell and be free'd.

It's a persistent urban legend that anything continues to grow after you're dead (much like the concept of hair & nails being 'dead' tissue to begin with). What happens is that the skin and muscle shrink away from hair follicles and nail beds, giving the illusion that the hair & nails have grown. Your hair and nails will not grow without supportive tissue and nutrients. Some species of mold can grow long filaments that mimic hair, and some after-death hair growth could be attributed to the fungus' presence on a corpse.

[Rae'ya]

Re: True Vampires

Oh I agree. It always intrigues me how both Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory hail from the same general region. One drank blood for life, the other bathed in it for youth and beauty. The Marquis de Sade falls into a realm all his own though I think the Hell Fire Club was supposed to run a close second in some ways.

I think the Marquis de Sade was probably born in the wrong time period... if he had been born today and had found his way into the BDSM community he wouldn't have half the notoriety he now has. And to me he is not in the same league as Countess Bathory... yet people tend to lump him in there and assume he was just as depraved as she was. Sexual sadism is not a depravity... and in his day prostitutes had to put up with what you wanted to do to them if they wanted their money. And really... he was sentence to death for sodomy with a willing partner. That's hardly a depraved act, let alone one deserving of the death penalty. He certainly made some bad decisions and did some things that were deplorable, but I think that if he had lived now he would have had willing partners and an acceptable outlet and therefore wouldn't have committed the crimes that he did.

Our favourite Romanian tyrant... he was a tyrant at war. He impaled his enemies, slew his enemies' peasants and treated his own harshly. He wasn't the only cruel tyrant ever to have existed, and he didn't do anything that much worse than what has happened in more modern wars. I actually don't think he is in the same league as Countess Bathory either... it's Bram Stoker who we can thank for linking his name to vampirism.

Elizabeth Bathory, on the other hand... torturing, mutilating and murdering young girls is never and will never be acceptable. Bathing in blood... well that's not actually verifiable but even if it were true, how depraved that is depends entirely on how you obtain the blood. Either way, her crimes went beyond cruelty and sadism and they had absolutely no cultural or societal context to act as a filter. I personally think she is much more deserving of her reputation than the other two are.

I had to look it up, but Countess Bathory was Hungarian... and of course Vlad was Romanian. Never specifically made that connection before, but I suppose it does make sense when you consider Eastern Europe / Slavic mythology and folklore. I'm not saying that Eastern Europe produced sadistic murderers because of it's folklore... not at all! I just mean that perhaps there is an inherent cultural context there to be considered. Of course, there are tyrants and murderers in all areas of the world... but we have to remember that the mythology of the vampire began in Eastern Europe. We also have to remember that many of the literary stories about Eastern Europe (as opposed to the folklore and mythological ones) were written by 19th Century English authors who were jumping on the Gothic literature wagon... the stories were set in Eastern Europe and thus began a set of assumptions about the area that are not necessarily true to the mythology and culture.

Anyway that's kind of off topic... didn't mean to derail the thread lol

[Jera]

Re: True Vampires

I am still uncertain as to whether these types of people truly exist or if they've just convinced themselves otherwise. You get those who convince themselves they're a descendant of royal or noble so-and-so or have mystical powers (special snowflake syndrome). They may just be trying to pep up an otherwise boring or mundane existence. However, my interest in the subculture has been piqued and I am observing it further in order to draw a conclusion.

[Ophidia]

Re: True Vampires

Elizabeth Bathory, on the other hand... torturing, mutilating and murdering young girls is never and will never be acceptable. Bathing in blood... well that's not actually verifiable but even if it were true, how depraved that is depends entirely on how you obtain the blood. Either way, her crimes went beyond cruelty and sadism and they had absolutely no cultural or societal context to act as a filter. I personally think she is much more deserving of her reputation than the other two are.

I've always wondered about how much truth there was behind Elizabeth Bathory's tale. It seems like folklore & local ghost-stories like to pick out certain powerful, wealthy women and turn them into monsters - Bathory, Chile's La Quintrala, Russia's Saltykova, New Orleans' Delphine La Laurie... all women who abused, tortured, murdered and/or ate the 'hired help', so to speak. It's a twist on the 'Black Widow', and particularly heinous because these were women who had it all, but still felt it necessary to destroy those they considered beneath them.

And of course, there were real women like Las Vegas's own Sante Kimes, who did actually abuse, torture and murder her housekeepers (along with various other crimes).

[fourgottenchilde]

Re: True Vampires

There is no truth in any of this Vampire romance. You should study on the legend, lore and myth.