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Written by Benjamin Radford
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Wednesday, 02 December 2009 14:54 |
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Superstition, misunderstandings about post-mortem decay spawned belief.
Vampires are everywhere these days. Last weekend, the new vampire film "The
Twilight Saga: New Moon" broke box office records, taking in over $70 million
and may end up being one of the largest openings in history. The film is based
on the best-selling "Twilight" series, which of course joins a long
list of other vampire-themed best-sellers dating back decades.
The public's thirst for vampires seems as endless as vampires' thirst for blood.
Modern writers of vampire fiction, including Stephenie Meyer, Anne Rice, Stephen
King and countless others, have a rich vein of vampire lore to draw from. But
where did the modern idea of vampires come from? The answer lies in the gap
between science and superstition.
Some sources incorrectly trace vampires back to Romanian prince Vlad Tepes
(1431-1476), who fought for independence against the Ottoman Empire. Though
by most accounts his methods were brutal and sadistic (for example, slowly impaling
his enemies on stakes, drawing and quartering them, burning them to death, etc.),
in reality they were not particularly cruel or unusual for the time. Similar
techniques were used by the Catholic Church and other powerful entities and
rulers during the Middle Ages to torture and kill enemies.
Bram Stoker is said to have deled some aspects of his Count Dracula character
on Vlad Tepes.
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Last Updated on Friday, 29 January 2010 12:28 |
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Written by hmcpherson
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Tuesday, 18 August 2009 12:37 |
The once-fictional Tru Blood beverage from the HBO hit series True Blood has emerged
as a real blood orange carbonated drink that will be in stores this September.
Officially licensed from HBO Licensing & Retail by Omni Consumer Products,
the beverage boasts a crisp, slightly tart and lightly sweet tang, and the bottle
has been crafted to replicate the appearance of the vampiric sustenance found
on the series – blood type, logo and all.
“The success of True Blood has created a terrific opportunity to develop
a great tasting, refreshing and enlivening drink,” said Omni Consumer
Products founder Pete Hottelet. “We’re thrilled to represent the
True Blood brand in this category.”
“From its first season, fans have been enamored with the show and have
expressed a keen interest in the Tru Blood beverage,” added James Costos,
vice president, Licensing & Retail at HBO. “We’re extremely
excited to be able to bring this original drink to life.”
The Tru Blood drink was officially announced by Alan Ball, creator and executive
producer of True Blood, at the San Diego Comic Con July 25, where fans were
able to sample the beverage and take a bottle home.
The True Blood series kicked off its 12-episode second season June 14 and can
be seen Sundays (9-10 p.m. ET/PT) through September 13 on HBO. For more information
on the Tru Blood beverage, visit TRUBEVERAGE.COM.
The Tru Blood drink can be pre-ordered at www.HBO.com/store. A 4-pack costs
$16.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
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Last Updated on Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:04 |
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Written by Bertena Varney
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009 15:28 |
Have vampires been a socialization tool for the last two generations?
The last two decades have brought about a welcoming of vampires in society. Long
gone are the days of children cowering in the dark from fear of the vampire. The
1970’s opened the door to change that not only affected the image of the
vampire but how we accepted them into our lives. From enticing young children
to learn new academic and social skills and assisting teens to solve everyday
issues and explore who they are, the vampire has been the constant through each
stage of social development.
In the past, vampires were portrayed as the rat like Nosferatu or the strange
foreign speaking Bela Lugosi style vampire. However, today they are portrayed
as the cute Count von Count on Sesame Street or the sexy Edward of the teen
series Twilight. This familiarization with the vampire has resulted in the instant
recognition and acceptance of the once monstrous creature. They have been accepted
into our daily society and no longer have to be explained or labeled; we simply
know by sight that the creature on the television or in the description of a
character in a book that it is a vampire. Simply put everyone knows what a vampire
is through simple phrases or placement of symbols. Children and teens are not
immune to this knowledge through various forms of pop culture and are readily
acceptable of this icon that has inundated their world.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:10 |
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Written by ?
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Thursday, 12 March 2009 10:56 |
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 A SKELETON exhumed from a grave in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents.
Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see right) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice. At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says. The belief in vampires probably arose because blood is sometimes expelled from the mouths of the dead, causing the shroud to sink inwards and tear. Borrini, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Denver, Colorado, last week, claims this might be the first such vampire to have been forensically examined. The skeleton was removed from a mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576. However, Peer Moore-Jansen of Wichita State University in Kansas says he has found similar skeletons in Poland and that while Borrini's finding is exciting, "claiming it as the first vampire is a little ridiculous". Borrini says his study details the earliest grave to show archaeological "exorcism evidence against vampires". Source: NewScientist.com
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Last Updated on Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:12 |
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Written by Ki Mae Heussner
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Wednesday, 11 February 2009 19:35 |
Around the World, Subcultures Coalesce Around the Vampire Image With their cloaks aflutter and their fangs flickering in the moonlight, thousands of vampires will take to the streets tonight. Along with masquerading witches and warlocks, they'll knock on doors, nosh away at bite-size candy bars or guzzle a beer or two at a friend's party. But Anshar Seraphim, 28, doesn't have any special Halloween plans and has no intention of throwing on a plastic Dracula suit. Maybe it's because dressing like a vampire one day a year isn't anything special when it's who you believe you are for all 365 of them. "My personal belief: Vampirism is an inexplicable part of science that we don't understand yet," Seraphim said. "I don't know if the things that cause it to exist are chemical. When we associate ourselves with the word 'vampire,' we're describing the relationship that we have with the people around us."
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Last Updated on Friday, 29 January 2010 12:05 |
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