Often the question is asked, can there be such a thing as a vampire? When the author was researching vampires, the case of the famous "Highgate" case surfaced. For more on it, click on the link.
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Vampires Live on in Romania
Vampire takes a bite out of Brum
Stories about a man who stalks the streets, sinking his teeth into passers-by, began to emerge from the Ward End area of the city last month.
According to the rumours, he bit a man walking along the street, then pounced on neighbours who came to his aid. One woman is said to have had a "chunk" bitten out of her hand. Local media have since been inundated with calls from people in the city's Saltley, Small Heath and Alum Rock areas, who have heard of attacks and of people being bitten after answering their front doors.
But West Midlands police believe they are dealing with a tall tale rather than a prowling bloodsucker.
They are baffled by the lack of forthcoming victims. "To date we have not received any reports from people stating they have been bitten. This appears to be an urban myth," a spokesman told the Birmingham Evening Mail. Those who claim to have seen the attacker say he is black and in his late 20s. Although police think he is probably nothing more than a bogeyman, some residents are no longer sure what to believe.
"All I've heard is that there's a fellow who is going round attacking people like a dog and biting them," said Josephine McNally, who works at the Old Barley Mow pub in Ward End. "It does put the wind up you."
Word had also reached the Saltley community leisure centre yesterday. "I've heard that this guy's a bit crazy and that he's been biting people" said one employee.
"I heard the story in the barber's the other day," said Father Anthony Rohan of the Holy Family Catholic church in Small Heath. "They asked me if I believed in vampires and I said no. Then the lollipop lady mentioned it to me as well.
"I'm not worried, though. I've got a lot of crucifixes in the house."
Village puts vampire to rest
From a Sunday Times (London) correspondent in Bucharest
April 12, 2004
IN THE windswept lowlands of Romania the villagers of Marotinul de Sus know
better than to skirt the cemetery after nightfall. After all, one of the wooden
crosses shifting in the wind may lie over the grave of a bloodthirsty vampire.
"For centuries we have had to protect ourselves against these creatures by
finding the graves of the undead and risking our lives by ripping out their
hearts," said 68-year-old local farmer Tita Musca.
The village of the vampire slayers has become the focus of a police investigation that has highlighted not only local fears of the undead but a startling willingness to act on them.
The saga began when Petre Toma, 76, was buried at the New Year. His nephew's family fell ill with an unexplained sickness and a few days later a witness claimed to have seen Toma leaving their house before sunrise as a flock of crows flew portentously overhead.
"He sucked the life from us so that he could live," said Mirela Marinescu. "We were all dying, my husband and my child, and we all saw him come to us in the same dream."
Armed with hammers and chisels, and fortified with home-made schnapps, four men led by Gheorghe Marinescu, the supposed vampire's brother-in-law, set out for the cemetery.
"When we lifted the coffin lid his arms were not on his chest as we had left them but at his sides," said Marinescu. "His head was turned to the side and his lips were stained with dried blood."
After the corpse's chest had been opened with a wooden stake the heart was removed. "It was full of fresh blood," said Marinescu. "His body relaxed and we heard him sigh."
The heart was burnt over the embers of a fire and the ashes stirred into a bottle of water from the village well to make a potion. The vampire's "victims" recovered after drinking it but Toma's daughter called the police.
Investigators soon discovered evidence of up to 20 vampire slayings in the
past few years. At the regional police station, the commissioner, Gheorghe Sandu,
said: "I'd like to be able to say this village is unique, but unfortunately
I can't because I know just how strong belief in vampires is here."
The Australian
(This news story found on the Fortean Times website.)
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Farmers blame vampire for chicken deaths |
A group of Chilean farmers are hunting vampires after their chickens died mysteriously.
The farmers, from Donihue, claimed 200 were found with all the blood drained from their bodies.
A police spokesman said: "The farmers are very scared. They organised a group and went out to hunt what they believe is a vampire.
"But the vets are investigating and they will come up with a normal explanation for the deaths, I'm sure."
Cristina Saldia and Carmen Cortes, owners of two of the farms, told La Cuarta online: "It is spooky, there wasn't a drop of blood left inside the chickens. Some say it was a vampire and others that it was an alien."
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Farmers say vampire creatures have killed sheep |
A family of farmers in the Mexican state of Chihuahua say mysterious vampire-like creatures have killed and sucked the blood of more than 60 sheep in the weeks leading up to Halloween.
The state news agency Notimex reported that farmer Ramiro Parra Gonzalez was heading to his field outside the city of Bocoyna on Wednesday when stumbled upon 35 dead sheep.
All were found without a drop of blood in their bodies and with two small bite marks on their necks.
Parra Gonzalez told police that the slayings were the work of the "chupacabras", or "goat-suckers," a group of legendary beasts that have terrorised his family, Notimex reported.
Parra Gonzalez said he heard dogs who normally sleep in his fields begin to howl exactly at midnight on Wednesday. A few minutes later he heard the dogs running for their lives.
"I thought it was probably a fox," Parra Gonzalez told Notimex, adding that he might not have liked what he would have seen had he ventured outside to investigate.
The mysterious attacks started on October 10 when Parra Gonzalez's brother, Francisco, said he returned to his fields after lunch to find the lifeless, bloodless bodies of 12 sheep and one pig.
Then on the morning of October 25, another relative, Martin Parra Orpinel, said he found 16 of his sheep dead and another 14 gravely injured. All had been bitten on the neck and mysteriously lost a lot of blood, Parra Orpinel told authorities.
A local police spokesman said authorities were investigating all three incidents.
Rumors of goat-suckers spread across Latin America several years ago, though many officials dismissed the reports, saying animals were being killed by wolves, dogs or coyotes.
