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 Investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Investigation. 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
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.”
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