There has always been a wonder between what is fiction and nonfiction. There have been many questions about whether something is fictional or true, and a major example being the debate over vampires. Although the old sayings of humans becoming bats, never aging, and turning into dust while exposed to sunlight, are merely tales of vampirism, there are people in this world who have symptoms of being like vampires. There is reality woven under the many tales, and it is time to have the truth come to light and disprove this urban legend. With diseases causing pale skin, sharp teeth, a want for blood, and more, all the way to illnesses not being discovered, but diagnosed with fear, it proves this myth of vampires are merely just takes hidden behind the once undiscovered truth of disease and death.
Often, many incidents, people, and actions can scare others. When people become frightened, they make stories up to explain the phenomenon. This is what happened when it came to the blood sucking, horrors of vampires. The startles and fears of vampirism were due to the misunderstanding of the dead, contamination of disease, and minority groups (Little). These misunderstandings evolved because many wanted an answer so with fear and differences, the stakes that could kill vampires, people turning into bats, no shadow in pictures or mirrors, and living for eternity were created and believed. As time grew on with more disease, groups of people took this as a spread of vampires killing people, drinking their blood, and becoming these deadly creatures. Vampire hunters became a popular, scared group who would go and kill any suspected vampires, which in reality, were minorities or the sick. These once called vampires had their teeth and fingernails grow once dead as well as the skin shriveling and shrinking. It was all due to decomposition, and in mid-century Europe, nobody knew of this scientific understanding (Little). Not only did they not comprehend the decaying process of the dead, but people did not understand how diseases spread. In some cases, diseases like Tuberculosis could have caused symptoms like a very light skin complexion, small body mass, and the crave of blood sucking (Pringle). The urban legend was formed from reasons of fear and the nonexistent medical diagnosis of disease from older times in Europe.
On top of not understanding diseases, disorders, and relating it to fear, there is a whole other belief of the history of vampires. In mythology, there was a human names Ambrogio of the Middle East who was cursed by Apollo who was the god of the sun (Belmont). He had many blessings and curses by Apollo including sensitivity of the skin due to the sun, burned if he touched silver, and a crave for blood to be used as not only ink for love letters, but also for taste (Belmont). This is more of the mythical part of vampirism which was expressed in many common urban legend stories that is common today. The blood sucking, anti sun loving, and silver burning creature was made by the belief of mythology as well as undiagnosed disorders of the human body.
Over the years, there have been many false encounters of vampires. Some cases that have been put into light, have shown that people believed so much into vampires being real, that many would hunt, kill, or warn off these creatures. Frederick Ransom was a student from Vermont who died of tuberculosis which at the time, was believed to be part of the many vampires (Tucker). He was later dug up to have a steak be pierced through his heart so he wouldn't come from the dead for more victims. Another incident of a supposed vampire was Arnold Paole of Serbia in the ninetieth century. He died due to a fall causing a broken neck, but was believed to be a vampire because many of his family and neighbors died too. His body was dug up to find a liquid in his mouth, or the blood of his victims. The townspeople, so scared, spread the news which later created superstition in Western Europe (Tucker). In Lesbos, people of the island were so superstitious that they buried a suspected vampire in a wooden coffin in order to protect the people from being bitten as well as evidence proving a rod was pierced through the man in many locations to fully kill the vampire (Pringle). These cases all show that many people foreign to symptoms of disease, the decaying of a body, and a fear towards different people, that they made not only false stories to exaggerate for later scary stories, but also had real people be put into a mindset that there are these creatures that feed off others. The hunters and scared townsmen would go to the extreme of killing suspected vampires, which were actually sick people, dig up dead bodies believing that they had been bitten, all because they were not used to a natural occurrence s well as for entertainment purposes.
People who claim that vampires are real jabs many stories as to why they believe this claim. Some say that this type of DNA strand, endogenous retrovirus, alters the DNA of a human so they are more enhanced in strength, healing, against, and in living (). The author from this site, believes he himself is a real vampire than has stronger powers, and has had done research to back up his claims, as well as created a community of vampires on the site. With this being said, it is not the only reason said to prove vampirism. When people were afraid of the dead having this dark liquid in their mouth, presumed to be blood that was from the bite of a vampire, the people went to the extinct to kill suspected vampires. Iron stakes, garlic over these kinds, hunters, and bricks in the mouths of killed vampires were all real, committed actions of fearful people (). Others simply felt like they have a want it a need to fit into an urban legend so badly, they convince themselves they are vampires creating their own cite, going on a blood sucking run, and possibly going into a mental state of insanity. These arguments claiming vampires are real are not in ways scholarly, but does show there are vampires and people who have their own clans, or believe vampires are real, that they harm innocent people out of fear.
There are differences between folklore, and reality. This applies to the debate over vampires being this real blood sucking humans, to a human who just has diseases, and many illnesses. With medical advances being made, they only show that a person deemed a vampire, is actually a person who was ill and not a Halloween creature. It is said that vampires turn to dust when in the light, but these vampires could possibly have had Porphyria. Porphyria occurs when there is a build up of porphyrins that we're supposed to help break down a chemical in the body called heme (Anderson). This build up can cause less oxygen to flow through the body, which can the skin. Porphyria is a set of disorders that make the skin sensitive towards sunlight which means they can have a very pale skin complexion as well as explaining how so said vampires do not like the sun, and that turning into dust is just a tale added to the truth (Anderson). It is said that vampires live off of blood, and many victims can die or turn into vampires. The truth behind this tale is possibly being anemic which means there is a low supply of iron in the blood that can cause some people to also have sever paleness (American Society of Hematology). On top of that there is the are just many small things that can make a person go mad to push them to bite, like the taste of blood, and harm others. Rabbis can make the person have a want to bite, almost any mental disorder can make one go made to possibly think human blood, or any blood tastes good. The tale of no shadow can be easily disproven if the mirror is bent in an angle for the person to not be have a reflection due to no light. Another common saying is that vampires are also bates. Vampire bats are actually small bats that truly suck the blood of animals and other creatures at night to survive (Batworlds). Another true reason turned into a tale for entertainment. From disorders, to disease, the vampires who turn to dust, have no shadow, and transform into a bat, are all just small tales, but there are real scientific reasoning into a person who is like a vampire, and in my belief, proving that they in ways are real.
Over time, there has always been small lies in the truth. Vampires has been said to originate in many ways being from mythology, but actually from the unknown symptoms of death, disease, and disorders. These so called creatures are merely just humans who have the belief they are this blood sucking monster, an anemic, a person which porphyria, or just a person who wants a good laugh with others. The myth, living forever, blood sucking creatures are all just what makes an urban legend that hides truths. In the end, after people genuinely believe and being feared by vampires, to science proving vampires cannot be a thing, only shows there is truth in these debate. Despite the tales, vampirism is just a fantasy that has been disproven and is not true.