A vampire is a creature from folklore that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited while they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in the Balkans and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Eastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania.
In modern times, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures such as the chupacabra still persists in some cultures. Early folk belief in vampires has sometimes been ascribed to the ignorance of the body's process of decomposition after death and how people in pre-industrial societies tried to rationalize this, creating the figure of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. Porphyria was linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited.The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of "The Vampyre" by the English writer John Polidori; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend, even though it was published after fellow Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, television shows, and video games. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre.
A fierce space race between two global superpowers gives rise to the Nosferatu Project, a top-secret plan to train up some unusual cosmonauts–vampires! When Lev Leps, a human soldier, is ordered to supervise vampire test subject Irina Luminesk, the unlikely pair bonds over their shared dream of...
Vampire bat saliva keeps blood from clotting
Vampire bats do more than just bite their prey—they also keep the other animal's blood from clotting. Their saliva works as an anticoagulant so that the blood can flow freely as they feed.
Here's another fun fact: The protein in the anticoagulant...
Vampires: Los Muertos is a 2002 American direct-to-video Western horror film written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and starring Jon Bon Jovi as a vampire hunter. A sequel to the 1998 film Vampires, it was produced by John Carpenter (who directed the original film). Vampires: Los Muertos...
Distinct from ordinary cannibals, aswang refers to men and women who feed on the blood, flesh, and life force of people through supernatural means. Most appear as normal persons by day but at night they turn into terrifying creatures. Some don’t attack people but prefer to s†éál and eat corpses...
The blood-sucking mandurugo of Philippine folklore use their beauty to attract and prey on men. In the olden days a mandurugo would get married to a healthy, plump youth to ensure a constant supply of blood every night. The tip of her hollow tongue tapers to a needle point and pierces the...
According to Waray and Western Visayan folklore, the amalanhig or maranhig (a.k.a. amamanhig, amaranhit) are flightless aswang that came back to life after death. They rise from their grave after failing to pass their power to a relative. Upon rising from the grave, these amalanhig lurk in the...
As psychic vampires, the aswang na gala feed off the energy of sick, weary, stressed, and dying persons. They appear as normal people - some work in hospitals to prey on the patients. But staring into their eyes reveals their true nature because it is believed everything is reflected upside-down...