The Myth of the Vampire

One of the notable characters of Halloween is the vampire. He is the stuff of legend, isn't he? Learn a few facts and myths about the Halloween bad guy and after reading this, you'll either sleep a bit easier or keep a string of garlic bulbs and a wooden stake beside your bed.

What is it about creatures like the vampire that fascinates us? It could be the book by Bram Stoker by the same name but most people these days haven't cracked a page. They've watched shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

In the days of early film, the vampire legend was brought into our living rooms by actors in deathly white makeup with alien looking bald heads and large fang-like teeth. They didn't look to attractive and the purpose was to scare us out of our shorts.

Vampires slept in coffins during the daylight hours and patrolled the streets at night looking for their next liquid meal. When threatened they would just morph into a black bat and fly off. Being members of the legion of the undead, they were forever a slave to their thirst and a plight upon mankind.

Okay, fast forward to the twentieth century. Vampires have been given a face lift. They now look like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and David Boreanaz. Who wouldn't mind being bitten by someone who looked like those three?

The vampire is no longer a grotesque creature of the night but a sex symbol. The myths have been carried further in movies like the Blade trilogy to include the fact that while they are infertile, they can still enjoy a tryst and their bite doesn't always result in death. They can have human familiars who they drink from on a regular basis. Don't they know it's dangerous to mix blood products?

But, where did all this come from? As always, myths and legends are fueled in part by fear. Between the spine-tingling pages of Stoker's book and the discovery of bats that drink blood, Dracula because possible. Later in history, the rise of Vlad the Impaler to power in Romania added to the legend. His cruel ways of dealing with his country's enemies led to the suggestion that he could be kin to such a creature as Dracula. He is as close as we've come to an actual "Dracula" type of person in the flesh.

It seems the fear has given way to fascination. The vampires of Halloween with their black cape and blood-dripping fangs are a thing of the past. We no longer fear that they may exist but welcome them as a kind of new age super hero of the demon realm that fights other nasty creatures to protect humankind.

Oh well, as long as they sell fangs and fake blood in the costume shop we'll see vampires on Halloween. The rest of the year, you'll have to tune in to reruns or rent a DVD to reach them.