Here's the interview--long forgotten by me--I did in 2010 that ultimately sank me with the "mainstream" online vampire community. On reflection, I'm not sure how the shitstorm that followed actually developed--a lot of slander, rumor, and hearsay, I suspect. At any rate, here it is for your edification. My only regret is not exploring my own nature as a sanguinarian. What can I say--I just wasn't comfortable sharing it with the world. Anyway...
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Vamping The Vampires
Philadelphia is an American metropolis with a thriving vampire community. But out of all the real vampires in the area, P. Rob Royal singled me out for a project about--of course--vampires. I wanted to share our (Facebook) correspondence with you.
P. Rob Royal June 17 at 7:18pm
Hello,
My name is Rob Royal and I'm an executive producer here at Channel 6. I'd like to talk to you about vampires. I need to get smarter about them. I would like to get a copy of your handbook. Can yo please call me at 484-664-8603.
Emilie Conroy June 17 at 10:49pm
I would be more than happy to help you to the fullest extent that I can, but as my schedule is so busy I prefer to use messaging or e-mail for communications. Let me give you the basics.
I am the elected Matriarch of the Order of Maidenfear, an international network of real vampires. This weekend we are celebrating our fortieth anniversary with an event we call the Ruby Solstice. Much of the vampire community participates in organized groups such as ours.
Additionally, I am the director and webmistress of Vampgeist Creative Media at http://www.vampgeist.com/ . Our main task has been to help people in the community and people outside the community find each other and successfully navigate media opportunities and traps. If you visit the website you will find a lot of information, all of which is freely available.
The Hybrid Vampire Handbook is available athttp://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-hybrid-vampire-handbook/2756708 . At the moment I'm contracted for several other real vampire book projects, including a conversational narrative about my personal experiences, a history of our Order, tales from the Vampgeist project, and a workbook in energy or pranic vampirism.
The world of the real vampire is multifaceted and always changing. It's been my experience that people find real vampirism even more interesting than the vampirism of film and fang. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
P. Rob Royal June 17 at 11:31pm
Thank you for responding to my message.
I have been reading information on the various websites you suggested since this afternoon. I have not been able to see a copy of the Hybrid Vampire Handbook, but we would like to read it.
I'm working with reporter Brian Taff to produce a report on vampires in our area.
As I'm sure you are aware, there is a renewed facination with vampires. Our network has a new TV show beginning and the newest Twighlight movie opens next week. But we're looking to give viewers insight into real vampire communities. Would you allow us to attend part of the Ruby Solstice? We would also need to interview someone about the vampire community. Could you do that video interview?
I've read some of your messages detailing what you do and don't do as a vampire ... kind of letters to educate people outside your community. I would really appreciate the opportunity to let our crew attend part of this weekend's event. We have attended and recorded Wiccan ceremonies in the past and have been very respectful.
You can respond via facebook or my email address: rob.royal@abc.com
Thank you again.
Emilie Conroy June 18 at 12:25am
Let me get back to you. I think I can provide what you're seeking, or if not I can point you in the direction of someone who does.
Unfortunately Ruby Solstice is a closed event, mainly to protect those in our group who do not wish to go public with their vampire lifestyles. I've been out in the open since 1988, and would have no trouble giving you a thorough and interesting interview--so long as no one is expecting Morticia Addams complete with fangs, cape, and a wooden coffin filled with the ground of my homeland!
I'm more aware of the pop vampire than I care to be, but it's all part of the package I suppose. For example, I have gotten e-mail addressed to the famous names in vampire fiction--Edward Cullen, Lestat, Celine from "Underworld", and the rest of the gang. That is, there are people who expect me to put them in contact with one of these characters, since I have the connections and whatnot. Sometimes I think a real vampire's biggest headache is the vampire fan!
Keep in touch, and take care!
P. Rob Royal June 18 at 12:47am
I thank you again for being willing to help.
Unfortunately for me, I'm trying to broadcast a report within the next couple of days. If at all possible, I would like to interview you tomorrow evening. You can reach me anyway that works for you ... facebook, email or my cell phone. Good night.
Emilie Conroy June 18 at 1:13pm
I have to apologize. You had originally written I "I'd like to talk to you about vampires. I need to get smarter about them", and so I believed you were planning to take the time to research. I didn't realize how important rushing this story was. That being the case, I really can't do more than I've already offered.
Getting an inherently secretive community to open up about its activities is hard enough. Best of luck working with a tight time constraint.
I'm looking forward (in a macabre masochistic way) to seeing what these guys do manage to produce. Sure, it was an opportunity to talk about the vampire community as we know it, but I'm pretty sure anything I said would have been mangled and the whole thing turned into a one-ring circus. Sigh.
(2016 postscript--nothing ever materialized)
P. Rob Royal June 17 at 7:18pm
Hello,
My name is Rob Royal and I'm an executive producer here at Channel 6. I'd like to talk to you about vampires. I need to get smarter about them. I would like to get a copy of your handbook. Can yo please call me at 484-664-8603.
Emilie Conroy June 17 at 10:49pm
I would be more than happy to help you to the fullest extent that I can, but as my schedule is so busy I prefer to use messaging or e-mail for communications. Let me give you the basics.
I am the elected Matriarch of the Order of Maidenfear, an international network of real vampires. This weekend we are celebrating our fortieth anniversary with an event we call the Ruby Solstice. Much of the vampire community participates in organized groups such as ours.
Additionally, I am the director and webmistress of Vampgeist Creative Media at http://www.vampgeist.com/ . Our main task has been to help people in the community and people outside the community find each other and successfully navigate media opportunities and traps. If you visit the website you will find a lot of information, all of which is freely available.
The Hybrid Vampire Handbook is available athttp://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-hybrid-vampire-handbook/2756708 . At the moment I'm contracted for several other real vampire book projects, including a conversational narrative about my personal experiences, a history of our Order, tales from the Vampgeist project, and a workbook in energy or pranic vampirism.
The world of the real vampire is multifaceted and always changing. It's been my experience that people find real vampirism even more interesting than the vampirism of film and fang. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
P. Rob Royal June 17 at 11:31pm
Thank you for responding to my message.
I have been reading information on the various websites you suggested since this afternoon. I have not been able to see a copy of the Hybrid Vampire Handbook, but we would like to read it.
I'm working with reporter Brian Taff to produce a report on vampires in our area.
As I'm sure you are aware, there is a renewed facination with vampires. Our network has a new TV show beginning and the newest Twighlight movie opens next week. But we're looking to give viewers insight into real vampire communities. Would you allow us to attend part of the Ruby Solstice? We would also need to interview someone about the vampire community. Could you do that video interview?
I've read some of your messages detailing what you do and don't do as a vampire ... kind of letters to educate people outside your community. I would really appreciate the opportunity to let our crew attend part of this weekend's event. We have attended and recorded Wiccan ceremonies in the past and have been very respectful.
You can respond via facebook or my email address: rob.royal@abc.com
Thank you again.
Emilie Conroy June 18 at 12:25am
Let me get back to you. I think I can provide what you're seeking, or if not I can point you in the direction of someone who does.
Unfortunately Ruby Solstice is a closed event, mainly to protect those in our group who do not wish to go public with their vampire lifestyles. I've been out in the open since 1988, and would have no trouble giving you a thorough and interesting interview--so long as no one is expecting Morticia Addams complete with fangs, cape, and a wooden coffin filled with the ground of my homeland!
I'm more aware of the pop vampire than I care to be, but it's all part of the package I suppose. For example, I have gotten e-mail addressed to the famous names in vampire fiction--Edward Cullen, Lestat, Celine from "Underworld", and the rest of the gang. That is, there are people who expect me to put them in contact with one of these characters, since I have the connections and whatnot. Sometimes I think a real vampire's biggest headache is the vampire fan!
Keep in touch, and take care!
P. Rob Royal June 18 at 12:47am
I thank you again for being willing to help.
Unfortunately for me, I'm trying to broadcast a report within the next couple of days. If at all possible, I would like to interview you tomorrow evening. You can reach me anyway that works for you ... facebook, email or my cell phone. Good night.
Emilie Conroy June 18 at 1:13pm
I have to apologize. You had originally written I "I'd like to talk to you about vampires. I need to get smarter about them", and so I believed you were planning to take the time to research. I didn't realize how important rushing this story was. That being the case, I really can't do more than I've already offered.
Getting an inherently secretive community to open up about its activities is hard enough. Best of luck working with a tight time constraint.
I'm looking forward (in a macabre masochistic way) to seeing what these guys do manage to produce. Sure, it was an opportunity to talk about the vampire community as we know it, but I'm pretty sure anything I said would have been mangled and the whole thing turned into a one-ring circus. Sigh.
(2016 postscript--nothing ever materialized)
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Vampgeist Statement of Purpose
There are already more real vampire sites and projects on line than any online explorer could visit in their lifetime. All right, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but there are still a lot of sites out there.
So what is Vampgeist? What is the operating idea? What is it we plan to offer those who come a seeking?
In short, it goes something like this.
First and foremost, we are seeking to better understand ourselves through the vampire archetype. This archetype has been found in virtually every human culture around the world.
Vampgeist aims to describe a system of vampiric practice that can be understood by society in general.
Vampgeist operates independently of the real vampire community and of society at large. In this way, we serve both through information and education.
Vampgeist will assert that our paradigm is but one of many in the vampire community.
Vampgeist seeks to represent the real vampire community with respect and dignity.
Vampgeist is here to provide information to people outside of the community about the phenomenon of real vampirism. If you think people aren’t perennially interested in vampires, ask someone.
Vampgeist hopes to provide timely and relevant warnings and cautions against media traps and disambiguations.
Vampgeist will mediate access to the real vampire community for those seeking to learn or satisfy their curiosity.
Vampgeist can provide provisionary legal advice to individuals who feel that their essential rights are being threatened.
So what is Vampgeist? What is the operating idea? What is it we plan to offer those who come a seeking?
In short, it goes something like this.
First and foremost, we are seeking to better understand ourselves through the vampire archetype. This archetype has been found in virtually every human culture around the world.
Vampgeist aims to describe a system of vampiric practice that can be understood by society in general.
Vampgeist operates independently of the real vampire community and of society at large. In this way, we serve both through information and education.
Vampgeist will assert that our paradigm is but one of many in the vampire community.
Vampgeist seeks to represent the real vampire community with respect and dignity.
Vampgeist is here to provide information to people outside of the community about the phenomenon of real vampirism. If you think people aren’t perennially interested in vampires, ask someone.
Vampgeist hopes to provide timely and relevant warnings and cautions against media traps and disambiguations.
Vampgeist will mediate access to the real vampire community for those seeking to learn or satisfy their curiosity.
Vampgeist can provide provisionary legal advice to individuals who feel that their essential rights are being threatened.
Vampgeist exists to protect individuals from media predators and exploitation.
Vampgeist will produce quality non-fiction articles and press releases independently and at the request of Client-Members.
Vampgeist is a SERVICE, not an Order or a Court.
How can we do this? We are media professionals, with experience in print and broadcast journalism. Our basic tenet is that being a vampire is fascinating enough without needing to dress the part or throw in some stereotypical imagery.
Vampgeist will produce quality non-fiction articles and press releases independently and at the request of Client-Members.
Vampgeist is a SERVICE, not an Order or a Court.
How can we do this? We are media professionals, with experience in print and broadcast journalism. Our basic tenet is that being a vampire is fascinating enough without needing to dress the part or throw in some stereotypical imagery.
Vampgeisticon
When we’re talking about a concept that is as fluid and as fantastic as the vampire, we really need to define our terms upfront. We’ve already outlined our definition of vampire. For the sake of clarity, here are some more words we use and what we mean by them in this instance.
ADVISORY
An advisory is an announcement with the intent to warn or otherwise make readers aware. When an advisory is posted to this site, it means that there has been sufficient evidence to consider a given situation as a threat.
AUDIENCE
These are the people you want to get yourself across to, whether in writing or another form of media. There really is nothing so valuable as an interested audience.
COMMUNITY
A group of individuals united by a common interest is a community.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
This academic field is really what Vampgeist is all about. A fuller definition is here reposted from Wikipedia.
Cultural anthropology is one of four or five fields of anthropology (the holistic study of humanity). It is the branch of anthropology that examines culture as a meaningful scientific concept. Cultural anthropologists study cultural variation among humans, collect observations, usually through participant observation called fieldwork and examine the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. One of the earliest articulations of the anthropological meaning of the term “culture” came from Sir Edward Tylor who writes on the first page of his 1897 book: “Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” The term “civilization” later gave way to definitions by V. Gordon Childe, with culture forming an umbrella term and civilization becoming a particular kind of culture.
The anthropological concept of “culture” reflects in part a reaction against earlier Western discourses based on an opposition between “culture” and “nature“, according to which some human beings lived in a “state of nature”. Anthropologists have argued that culture is “human nature,” and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences, encode classifications symbolically (i.e. inlanguage), and teach such abstractions to others. Since humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, people living in different places or different circumstances develop different cultures. Anthropologists have also pointed out that through culture people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures. Much of anthropological theory has originated in an appreciation of and interest in the tension between the local (particular cultures) and the global (a universal human nature, or the web of connections between people in distinct places/circumstances).
The rise of cultural anthropology occurred within the context of the late 19th century, when questions regarding which cultures were “primitive” and which were “civilized” occupied the minds of not only Marx and Freud, but many others. Colonialism and its processes increasingly brought European thinkers in contact, directly or indirectly with “primitive others.” The relative status of various humans, some of whom had modern advanced cultures that included engines and telegraphs, while others lacked anything but face-to-face communication techniques and still lived a Paleolithic lifestyle, was of interest to the first generation of cultural anthropologists.
Parallel with the rise of cultural anthropology in the United States, social anthropology, in which sociality is the central concept and which focuses on the study of social statuses and roles, groups, institutions, and the relations among them, developed as an academic discipline in Britain. An umbrella term socio-cultural anthropology makes reference to both cultural and social anthropology traditions.
EDUCATION
The process of attaining knowledge of both a practical and esoteric nature hopefully leads to better awareness and understanding.
MEDIA
For our purposes, a medium is that by which we gather our knowledge of the world around us. The media refers to the relay of information from a source to an individual.
RESOURCE
Hopefully, this would be a trustworthy and honest repository of information that can be accessed by individuals.
SEEKER
We are all seekers. Here, we will use “seeker” to differentiate from “vampire”, the latter being self-described as such.
At the moment we are undertaking an enthusiastic public relations campaign both with vampire groups and sites and with various media outlets (US, soon to go global). We are also interested in showing that real vampirism doesn’t have to be a masquerade and can be based in some very solid philosophy and experience.
ADVISORY
An advisory is an announcement with the intent to warn or otherwise make readers aware. When an advisory is posted to this site, it means that there has been sufficient evidence to consider a given situation as a threat.
AUDIENCE
These are the people you want to get yourself across to, whether in writing or another form of media. There really is nothing so valuable as an interested audience.
COMMUNITY
A group of individuals united by a common interest is a community.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
This academic field is really what Vampgeist is all about. A fuller definition is here reposted from Wikipedia.
Cultural anthropology is one of four or five fields of anthropology (the holistic study of humanity). It is the branch of anthropology that examines culture as a meaningful scientific concept. Cultural anthropologists study cultural variation among humans, collect observations, usually through participant observation called fieldwork and examine the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. One of the earliest articulations of the anthropological meaning of the term “culture” came from Sir Edward Tylor who writes on the first page of his 1897 book: “Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” The term “civilization” later gave way to definitions by V. Gordon Childe, with culture forming an umbrella term and civilization becoming a particular kind of culture.
The anthropological concept of “culture” reflects in part a reaction against earlier Western discourses based on an opposition between “culture” and “nature“, according to which some human beings lived in a “state of nature”. Anthropologists have argued that culture is “human nature,” and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences, encode classifications symbolically (i.e. inlanguage), and teach such abstractions to others. Since humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, people living in different places or different circumstances develop different cultures. Anthropologists have also pointed out that through culture people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures. Much of anthropological theory has originated in an appreciation of and interest in the tension between the local (particular cultures) and the global (a universal human nature, or the web of connections between people in distinct places/circumstances).
The rise of cultural anthropology occurred within the context of the late 19th century, when questions regarding which cultures were “primitive” and which were “civilized” occupied the minds of not only Marx and Freud, but many others. Colonialism and its processes increasingly brought European thinkers in contact, directly or indirectly with “primitive others.” The relative status of various humans, some of whom had modern advanced cultures that included engines and telegraphs, while others lacked anything but face-to-face communication techniques and still lived a Paleolithic lifestyle, was of interest to the first generation of cultural anthropologists.
Parallel with the rise of cultural anthropology in the United States, social anthropology, in which sociality is the central concept and which focuses on the study of social statuses and roles, groups, institutions, and the relations among them, developed as an academic discipline in Britain. An umbrella term socio-cultural anthropology makes reference to both cultural and social anthropology traditions.
EDUCATION
The process of attaining knowledge of both a practical and esoteric nature hopefully leads to better awareness and understanding.
MEDIA
For our purposes, a medium is that by which we gather our knowledge of the world around us. The media refers to the relay of information from a source to an individual.
RESOURCE
Hopefully, this would be a trustworthy and honest repository of information that can be accessed by individuals.
SEEKER
We are all seekers. Here, we will use “seeker” to differentiate from “vampire”, the latter being self-described as such.
At the moment we are undertaking an enthusiastic public relations campaign both with vampire groups and sites and with various media outlets (US, soon to go global). We are also interested in showing that real vampirism doesn’t have to be a masquerade and can be based in some very solid philosophy and experience.
Introduction to Project Vampgeist
VAMPIRE. It’s a loaded word. The mere whisper of the word conjures up an amazing spectrum of images and human emotions–from fright to passion to curiosity. Understandably, many people are reluctant to accept that there are real vampires wandering about society, and denial turns into a kind of defense. Yet vampires–use defining the word instead of the word defining use–are very much real.
Well, not in the legendary sense. They're not immortal, they don’t shirk away from sunlight, and they don’t only feed on human blood. At the other end of the spectrum we have self-proclaimed vampires claiming to writhe in exquisite agony from a lack of feeding. When people from outside of the community encounter one of these attention vampires, they may dismiss everyone as products of a warped imagination. What’s the fun in a vampire so very dark in emotion drinking soda and eating white bread?
Yet somewhere in between Count Orlock and Lestat de Lioncourt and the Hot Topic pay-to-be-different crowd you will find most of the real vampire community. Not being fabulous creatures certainly hasn’t rendered the community boring.
VAMPGEIST is the brainchild of individuals who are active leaders in and advocates of the real vampire community, but Vampgeist itself exists to serve the community, to serve those outside the community, and to serve people’s endless curiosity about vampires. Vampgeist is its own community, an independent entity that welcomes everyone. There is no one truth that explains away the personal philosophies of everyone who calls themselves vampire, but Vampgeist aims to explore and share a few truths. Vampgeist is not about cosmetic fangs or aesthetic sensationalism, but rather about thought, deed, and experience.
You do not need to count yourself as a real vampire to interact with Vampgeist–in fact, one of Vampgeist’s main purposes is to be accessible to the general public as well as the media.
The age of the vampire is here.
The time to embrace a new reality is now.
Well, not in the legendary sense. They're not immortal, they don’t shirk away from sunlight, and they don’t only feed on human blood. At the other end of the spectrum we have self-proclaimed vampires claiming to writhe in exquisite agony from a lack of feeding. When people from outside of the community encounter one of these attention vampires, they may dismiss everyone as products of a warped imagination. What’s the fun in a vampire so very dark in emotion drinking soda and eating white bread?
Yet somewhere in between Count Orlock and Lestat de Lioncourt and the Hot Topic pay-to-be-different crowd you will find most of the real vampire community. Not being fabulous creatures certainly hasn’t rendered the community boring.
VAMPGEIST is the brainchild of individuals who are active leaders in and advocates of the real vampire community, but Vampgeist itself exists to serve the community, to serve those outside the community, and to serve people’s endless curiosity about vampires. Vampgeist is its own community, an independent entity that welcomes everyone. There is no one truth that explains away the personal philosophies of everyone who calls themselves vampire, but Vampgeist aims to explore and share a few truths. Vampgeist is not about cosmetic fangs or aesthetic sensationalism, but rather about thought, deed, and experience.
You do not need to count yourself as a real vampire to interact with Vampgeist–in fact, one of Vampgeist’s main purposes is to be accessible to the general public as well as the media.
The age of the vampire is here.
The time to embrace a new reality is now.
Vampire? Say What?
What is a vampire, anyway? There has to be something more than cloaked gentlemen from Creature Double Feature. Time to play my favorite game (isn’t it everyone’s?)—etymology!
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives a tidy summary. The word “vampire” is of French origin and came from the German Vampir, which in turn came from the Serbo-Croatian vampir. As for the vampir, it can be a reanimated corpse that rises from the grave by night to suck the blood of the sleeping, or simply a creature that exists by preying on others.
This would be a neat definition if it were complete. Historians, linguists, and many other scholars trace “vampire” to Slavic origins. One example is the Lithuanian wempti, meaning to drink. Another possible root is the Turkishuber or witch, the Russian upyr, or the Polish upior. In the end, the term came into English from the French in the Eighteenth Century, which is why we have “vampire” instead of “wempti” or “upior”.
Where does this leave the modern real vampire? They’re not walking corpses and they don’t necessarily prey on others. One connection I see is longing. The vampire of lore is drawn to commit certain acts because of an inner need. Real vampires also have a need, whether it is for emotional soothing, power, awareness, or energy. We could say that real vampires have needs, know they have needs, and do something to satisfy those needs, as opposed to the usual human who may aspire but never attempt. What is a real vampire? Ultimately you may come to your own understanding.
We go from the real to the folkloric entity that binds human societies together. There are hundreds of vampiric creatures in worldwide legend and folklore. It’s my conclusion that there is something in the human psyche wired to explain certain occurrences through vampire-like creatures. In turn, this is a clue as to how the vampire in some form can be found in virtually every world culture. To me, each creature is more colorful than the next. Here’s a brief sampling.
In the Philippines, the aswang is an extraordinarily beautiful woman by day. At night, she turns into a flying monster. Her preferred prey are local children, but sometimes her blood thirst is so strong that she will feed on anyone convenient.
The civatateo of the Aztec Empire were servants of the central god Tezcatlipoca. This status was their afterlife reward for having died in childbirth, which to the Aztecs was as noble as dying in battle. Hideous to look upon, the civatateo were especially fond of feeding on children, perhaps in a kind of revenge for the infants that claimed their own lives. To a mortal, a child would appear to be dying of a wasting illness.
Appearing in many Japanese folktales, the kitsune is a shape-shifter. Most often she takes the form of a wild fox or a beautiful maiden. Sex is her device for feeding from a victim. The kitsune is also a great prankster.
Lamia was once the queen of Libya. As punishment for some affront, the goddess Hera slew Lamia’s children. As revenge, Lamia abandoned her mortal form to drift through the countryside draining the blood of infants. Later, lamia was any child-killing demon.
The rakshasa is an especially powerful vampire in India. Its shape-shifting abilities are unparalleled. At the very least a human can be struck with nausea and vomiting just by passing through the area where a rakshasa has been. A young boy who, for whatever reason, eats human brains will become a rakshasa.
Greece has an especially rich vampire tradition, and the common name for these creatures is vrykolakas. They can be created through improper burial, immorality in life, or dying unbaptized. Everyone who is killed by the vrykolakas will then become vrykolakas.
I can’t leave this subject without mentioning my personal favorite, the Balkan vampire watermelon. Any object left outside on the night of a full moon was believed to become vampiric, so why not watermelons? Of course, vampire watermelons aren’t to be feared. They don’t have teeth, and if they did, they wouldn’t create much horror by biting ankles. More than anything, they are a nuisance, rolling around and growling at people. I bet you’ll never look at a watermelon the same way.
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives a tidy summary. The word “vampire” is of French origin and came from the German Vampir, which in turn came from the Serbo-Croatian vampir. As for the vampir, it can be a reanimated corpse that rises from the grave by night to suck the blood of the sleeping, or simply a creature that exists by preying on others.
This would be a neat definition if it were complete. Historians, linguists, and many other scholars trace “vampire” to Slavic origins. One example is the Lithuanian wempti, meaning to drink. Another possible root is the Turkishuber or witch, the Russian upyr, or the Polish upior. In the end, the term came into English from the French in the Eighteenth Century, which is why we have “vampire” instead of “wempti” or “upior”.
Where does this leave the modern real vampire? They’re not walking corpses and they don’t necessarily prey on others. One connection I see is longing. The vampire of lore is drawn to commit certain acts because of an inner need. Real vampires also have a need, whether it is for emotional soothing, power, awareness, or energy. We could say that real vampires have needs, know they have needs, and do something to satisfy those needs, as opposed to the usual human who may aspire but never attempt. What is a real vampire? Ultimately you may come to your own understanding.
We go from the real to the folkloric entity that binds human societies together. There are hundreds of vampiric creatures in worldwide legend and folklore. It’s my conclusion that there is something in the human psyche wired to explain certain occurrences through vampire-like creatures. In turn, this is a clue as to how the vampire in some form can be found in virtually every world culture. To me, each creature is more colorful than the next. Here’s a brief sampling.
In the Philippines, the aswang is an extraordinarily beautiful woman by day. At night, she turns into a flying monster. Her preferred prey are local children, but sometimes her blood thirst is so strong that she will feed on anyone convenient.
The civatateo of the Aztec Empire were servants of the central god Tezcatlipoca. This status was their afterlife reward for having died in childbirth, which to the Aztecs was as noble as dying in battle. Hideous to look upon, the civatateo were especially fond of feeding on children, perhaps in a kind of revenge for the infants that claimed their own lives. To a mortal, a child would appear to be dying of a wasting illness.
Appearing in many Japanese folktales, the kitsune is a shape-shifter. Most often she takes the form of a wild fox or a beautiful maiden. Sex is her device for feeding from a victim. The kitsune is also a great prankster.
Lamia was once the queen of Libya. As punishment for some affront, the goddess Hera slew Lamia’s children. As revenge, Lamia abandoned her mortal form to drift through the countryside draining the blood of infants. Later, lamia was any child-killing demon.
The rakshasa is an especially powerful vampire in India. Its shape-shifting abilities are unparalleled. At the very least a human can be struck with nausea and vomiting just by passing through the area where a rakshasa has been. A young boy who, for whatever reason, eats human brains will become a rakshasa.
Greece has an especially rich vampire tradition, and the common name for these creatures is vrykolakas. They can be created through improper burial, immorality in life, or dying unbaptized. Everyone who is killed by the vrykolakas will then become vrykolakas.
I can’t leave this subject without mentioning my personal favorite, the Balkan vampire watermelon. Any object left outside on the night of a full moon was believed to become vampiric, so why not watermelons? Of course, vampire watermelons aren’t to be feared. They don’t have teeth, and if they did, they wouldn’t create much horror by biting ankles. More than anything, they are a nuisance, rolling around and growling at people. I bet you’ll never look at a watermelon the same way.
Who Are The Vampires? A Survey
Who are the vampires?
Good question. A lot like climbing Mount Everest with no gear and with no idea how far away the summit is.
The real answer is that there is no real answer and there cannot be a real answer. At the very least, there can’t be only one answer. I can say with conviction that the real vampire community is a fluid and organic entity. There is always change and there is always room for change.
Ask ten vampires, get twenty answers.
“Vampires are the next step on the evolutionary ladder.”
“Vampires manipulate energy.”
“Vampires have suffered an acute loss.”
“Vampires drain life force from other beings.”
“Vampires are humans with heightened senses.”
“Vampires need to drink blood.”
“Vampires are supremely powerful leaders.”
“Vampires drain mental energy without being aware they are doing it.”
“Vampires are initiated members of certain groups.”
“Vampires worship ancient and immortal gods.”
“Vampires are the children of vampires.”
It’s a simple enough question and a good beginning, at least as a matter of facts and figures. Yet after stepping into the vampire community I soon understood that it’s a question with an almost impossible complex answer.
All right, then. I decided to tackle the question from two perspectives. On the one side, I would collect data through a carefully crafted survey to be collected from individuals describing themselves as real vampires. The other side would be more subjective and reflect my personal conversations and relationships with real vampires. My hope is that putting both sides together will present a multifaceted and multidimensional existence of the real vampire.
In truth, there is no real answer. I would not recommend trying to capture the essence of the real vampire in simple words. Rather than taking this as any kind of absolute fact, use it to tickle your imagination, as a starting point in your own explorations of the vampire community and of any subculture.
When I began my research I had already taken and administered enough surveys to know that quantitative research would suit my purposes. My goal was to present the real vampire using more routine data such as age and politics in order to show that real vampires exist much like anyone else.
Where to start? I made a list of what I wanted to know about real vampires. Where do they live? How do they vote? How is family life? The survey would present simple questions in order to draw more complex conclusions. I structured the questions to be neither too broad nor too particular—asking about the political spectrum rather than specific party affiliations, for example.
I was hesitant to leave anyone out of the final compilations, but I knew I needed to work a galaxy of information into a form I could handle. Originally the survey was open to anyone eighteen years old or older. I decided that my concentration group would fall between the ages of 25 and 50, which is based upon my finding that most of the respondents to the survey were in this bracket. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to narrow the pool to real vampires living in the United States, as this is where I live and is where I have had most of my vampiric adventures.
After this basic trimming, survey replies were chosen as randomly as possible until I had one thousand bits of data. I chose to use a thousand because I felt it was sweeping enough and yet would work neatly in breaking down percentages.
The process took me two years, hundreds of contacts, and a lot of shuffling papers, but in the end I had my statistical vampire. I could only reach one conclusion. Vampires cannot be put into such dry and empirical terms!
All the same, let me share the results of my vampire survey with you. Keep in mind that the vampire community is a fluid entity. Any information given here is an honest result of my statistics carnival, but may or may not reflect actual vampires you may meet.
Real vampires are everywhere. At least a small population of self-described vampires can be found in all fifty states. The heaviest concentration exists in the Northeast Corridor, between Washington DC and Boston, while the Los Angeles area is a close second. Other significant populations can be found in Central Florida (Tampa and Orlando), Austin, Texas, Seattle, Washington, and Chicago, Illinois. Some surprise hotbeds of vampire activity are Spartanburg, South Carolina, St. Louis, Missouri, Akron, Ohio, Madison, Wisconsin, Dothan, Alabama, Athens, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee,
Naturally, existence as a real vampire is a little more difficult in some areas. 71% of respondents indicated this as a concern to some degree. Even respondents living in the areas of greatest vampire concentration are still concerned about their place in their greater community. Fortunately, only 3% reported any violent incidents as a direct result of being a vampire—which is still 3% too many.
84% indicated that silence is the best safety measure in any community. Vampires are open about their vampirism with other vampires and like-minded people, but keep it quiet among untried groups. Of that 84%, 42% resent having to mask who they really are.
My sample group members were between 25 and 50 years of age, as I’ve said. Within this group, the largest swell occurred between 28 and 32.
In my own experiences the gender break among vampires is fairly even, but the survey revealed that 63% of respondents were male and 37% were female. How many of these are actually transgender is unknown.
I asked a number of questions about politically important issues. The vampires were predominantly conservative in the sense of favoring a smaller government and keeping government interference out of their lives.
Spirituality and religion are complex subjects in the vampire community. With this in mind, I asked responders to choose from a wide variety of concepts and affiliations, with the option to make as few or as many choices as desired. Thus I discovered Evangelist Shamanics and Neo-Pagan Qabalists.
Only a handful of respondents said that they have lost employment for reasons they believe relate to their vampirism. This is survey data, but my conversations with vampires tell a different story. The statistic here is most likely not an accurate reflection—the numbers are probably much higher.
When asked about religion and spirituality, the most popular response was “unaffiliated but spiritual.”
Good question. A lot like climbing Mount Everest with no gear and with no idea how far away the summit is.
The real answer is that there is no real answer and there cannot be a real answer. At the very least, there can’t be only one answer. I can say with conviction that the real vampire community is a fluid and organic entity. There is always change and there is always room for change.
Ask ten vampires, get twenty answers.
“Vampires are the next step on the evolutionary ladder.”
“Vampires manipulate energy.”
“Vampires have suffered an acute loss.”
“Vampires drain life force from other beings.”
“Vampires are humans with heightened senses.”
“Vampires need to drink blood.”
“Vampires are supremely powerful leaders.”
“Vampires drain mental energy without being aware they are doing it.”
“Vampires are initiated members of certain groups.”
“Vampires worship ancient and immortal gods.”
“Vampires are the children of vampires.”
It’s a simple enough question and a good beginning, at least as a matter of facts and figures. Yet after stepping into the vampire community I soon understood that it’s a question with an almost impossible complex answer.
All right, then. I decided to tackle the question from two perspectives. On the one side, I would collect data through a carefully crafted survey to be collected from individuals describing themselves as real vampires. The other side would be more subjective and reflect my personal conversations and relationships with real vampires. My hope is that putting both sides together will present a multifaceted and multidimensional existence of the real vampire.
In truth, there is no real answer. I would not recommend trying to capture the essence of the real vampire in simple words. Rather than taking this as any kind of absolute fact, use it to tickle your imagination, as a starting point in your own explorations of the vampire community and of any subculture.
When I began my research I had already taken and administered enough surveys to know that quantitative research would suit my purposes. My goal was to present the real vampire using more routine data such as age and politics in order to show that real vampires exist much like anyone else.
Where to start? I made a list of what I wanted to know about real vampires. Where do they live? How do they vote? How is family life? The survey would present simple questions in order to draw more complex conclusions. I structured the questions to be neither too broad nor too particular—asking about the political spectrum rather than specific party affiliations, for example.
I was hesitant to leave anyone out of the final compilations, but I knew I needed to work a galaxy of information into a form I could handle. Originally the survey was open to anyone eighteen years old or older. I decided that my concentration group would fall between the ages of 25 and 50, which is based upon my finding that most of the respondents to the survey were in this bracket. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to narrow the pool to real vampires living in the United States, as this is where I live and is where I have had most of my vampiric adventures.
After this basic trimming, survey replies were chosen as randomly as possible until I had one thousand bits of data. I chose to use a thousand because I felt it was sweeping enough and yet would work neatly in breaking down percentages.
The process took me two years, hundreds of contacts, and a lot of shuffling papers, but in the end I had my statistical vampire. I could only reach one conclusion. Vampires cannot be put into such dry and empirical terms!
All the same, let me share the results of my vampire survey with you. Keep in mind that the vampire community is a fluid entity. Any information given here is an honest result of my statistics carnival, but may or may not reflect actual vampires you may meet.
Real vampires are everywhere. At least a small population of self-described vampires can be found in all fifty states. The heaviest concentration exists in the Northeast Corridor, between Washington DC and Boston, while the Los Angeles area is a close second. Other significant populations can be found in Central Florida (Tampa and Orlando), Austin, Texas, Seattle, Washington, and Chicago, Illinois. Some surprise hotbeds of vampire activity are Spartanburg, South Carolina, St. Louis, Missouri, Akron, Ohio, Madison, Wisconsin, Dothan, Alabama, Athens, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee,
Naturally, existence as a real vampire is a little more difficult in some areas. 71% of respondents indicated this as a concern to some degree. Even respondents living in the areas of greatest vampire concentration are still concerned about their place in their greater community. Fortunately, only 3% reported any violent incidents as a direct result of being a vampire—which is still 3% too many.
84% indicated that silence is the best safety measure in any community. Vampires are open about their vampirism with other vampires and like-minded people, but keep it quiet among untried groups. Of that 84%, 42% resent having to mask who they really are.
My sample group members were between 25 and 50 years of age, as I’ve said. Within this group, the largest swell occurred between 28 and 32.
In my own experiences the gender break among vampires is fairly even, but the survey revealed that 63% of respondents were male and 37% were female. How many of these are actually transgender is unknown.
I asked a number of questions about politically important issues. The vampires were predominantly conservative in the sense of favoring a smaller government and keeping government interference out of their lives.
Spirituality and religion are complex subjects in the vampire community. With this in mind, I asked responders to choose from a wide variety of concepts and affiliations, with the option to make as few or as many choices as desired. Thus I discovered Evangelist Shamanics and Neo-Pagan Qabalists.
Only a handful of respondents said that they have lost employment for reasons they believe relate to their vampirism. This is survey data, but my conversations with vampires tell a different story. The statistic here is most likely not an accurate reflection—the numbers are probably much higher.
When asked about religion and spirituality, the most popular response was “unaffiliated but spiritual.”
Why Vampires? Why Me?
How did a nice girl like me get involved with real vampires? Just how does a mild-mannered historian find herself researching vampires? And what is a vampire, anyway?
The most interesting bits of history are about people. Who are we? Where did we come from? What have we done? All of these are questions that help us better understand an even greater question—where are we going? When we question the past, we are in a sense bringing it into the present. Through discussion and reflection, we bring the people of history to life.
This is how—in the course of academic research and study—I have become a cultural anthropologist as well as a historian. The biggest difference is that in history I don’t have the actual people in front of me doing what they did and being what they were. In today’s world we have such a variety of societies and cultures that even the most avid cultural anthropologist can only touch on a few in a lifetime. But the field is rich and beckoning for anyone who dares.
All of this is great academic grounding. I never set out to be a removed observer of the vampire community. My journey began with an epiphany—the idea that there was something much more to being a real vampire than popular beliefs would have us think. For my own education, I needed to get right into the heart of things, to gain the insight of someone in the community. As a result, I’ve earned trust. I have made good friends and have come to know many fascinating people. I’ve had experiences that someone on the outside might never know. Most importantly, I have made my own contributions to the community and to the cause of social tolerance.
I am not betraying that trust in this work. Instead, I seek to share my experience in the vampire community. I seek to share because I have found something beautiful and wonderful in the people who call themselves vampires and in their thoughts. The average person might hear “vampire” and dismiss the whole community as a gaggle of kooks. Here my task is to present “vampire” as a term in transition, to encourage the reader to look beyond the word and see that words are really what we define them to be.
Great, you may be thinking. But why vampires?
The day I understood that use determines meaning liberated me. In all honesty, I had never thought of vampires as anything beyond the seductive characters from a Saturday night double feature. Then I met my first real vampires and listened to everything they shared with me. I was kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t expanded on the idea in my mind previously. But when I got it, when I understood how vampires could be real and how there was a thriving community, I felt as if the universe had opened up to me.
In the world of the vampire, there is no beginning and no end. Reality is a fluid state that each of us determines with our own minds. There’s something good going on here that’s difficult to define. We have a subculture that encourages individuals to be in touch with themselves, to be themselves instead of a cookie cutter of everyone else. We have a subculture that elevates the importance of reaching beyond ourselves out into the greater mysteries of the universe. We have a subculture where bonds between individuals are strong. As odd as it might seem at first, the vampire community is doing a lot right.
Am I blind to the uglier side of the vampire community? I’ve had a few encounters that have been less than pleasant. However, these have been the exception to the rule. As in any group, the vampire community has its troublemakers and its malcontents, and sometimes they have a valid point to make. There are vampires who seek to hold power over other vampires, but I suspect that most realize that the only real power comes from within. The real conflict is the vampire community coming up against the rest of society, a society that is not very tolerant and not willing to listen to any explanations. In order to survive, the vampire community needs more unity than discord.
My goal is to share something I have found to be fascinating and beneficial. No one needs to become a vampire. If you read through and pick up little treasures to use in your own life, they are yours to use as you see fit. But if you ever run into a real vampire, you might want to thank them. Whoever they are, they are a part of the living energy.
The most interesting bits of history are about people. Who are we? Where did we come from? What have we done? All of these are questions that help us better understand an even greater question—where are we going? When we question the past, we are in a sense bringing it into the present. Through discussion and reflection, we bring the people of history to life.
This is how—in the course of academic research and study—I have become a cultural anthropologist as well as a historian. The biggest difference is that in history I don’t have the actual people in front of me doing what they did and being what they were. In today’s world we have such a variety of societies and cultures that even the most avid cultural anthropologist can only touch on a few in a lifetime. But the field is rich and beckoning for anyone who dares.
All of this is great academic grounding. I never set out to be a removed observer of the vampire community. My journey began with an epiphany—the idea that there was something much more to being a real vampire than popular beliefs would have us think. For my own education, I needed to get right into the heart of things, to gain the insight of someone in the community. As a result, I’ve earned trust. I have made good friends and have come to know many fascinating people. I’ve had experiences that someone on the outside might never know. Most importantly, I have made my own contributions to the community and to the cause of social tolerance.
I am not betraying that trust in this work. Instead, I seek to share my experience in the vampire community. I seek to share because I have found something beautiful and wonderful in the people who call themselves vampires and in their thoughts. The average person might hear “vampire” and dismiss the whole community as a gaggle of kooks. Here my task is to present “vampire” as a term in transition, to encourage the reader to look beyond the word and see that words are really what we define them to be.
Great, you may be thinking. But why vampires?
The day I understood that use determines meaning liberated me. In all honesty, I had never thought of vampires as anything beyond the seductive characters from a Saturday night double feature. Then I met my first real vampires and listened to everything they shared with me. I was kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t expanded on the idea in my mind previously. But when I got it, when I understood how vampires could be real and how there was a thriving community, I felt as if the universe had opened up to me.
In the world of the vampire, there is no beginning and no end. Reality is a fluid state that each of us determines with our own minds. There’s something good going on here that’s difficult to define. We have a subculture that encourages individuals to be in touch with themselves, to be themselves instead of a cookie cutter of everyone else. We have a subculture that elevates the importance of reaching beyond ourselves out into the greater mysteries of the universe. We have a subculture where bonds between individuals are strong. As odd as it might seem at first, the vampire community is doing a lot right.
Am I blind to the uglier side of the vampire community? I’ve had a few encounters that have been less than pleasant. However, these have been the exception to the rule. As in any group, the vampire community has its troublemakers and its malcontents, and sometimes they have a valid point to make. There are vampires who seek to hold power over other vampires, but I suspect that most realize that the only real power comes from within. The real conflict is the vampire community coming up against the rest of society, a society that is not very tolerant and not willing to listen to any explanations. In order to survive, the vampire community needs more unity than discord.
My goal is to share something I have found to be fascinating and beneficial. No one needs to become a vampire. If you read through and pick up little treasures to use in your own life, they are yours to use as you see fit. But if you ever run into a real vampire, you might want to thank them. Whoever they are, they are a part of the living energy.
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