14 DAY TRIAL // There is no question that vampires are one of the hottest topics today. They can be seen everywhere, in the make-up teenagers wear, on the T-shirts they have, in bookstores, movie theaters, posters, notebooks and so on. They have always remained hidden somewhere in the public mind, but from time to time, they spring back into the open, and take the world by storm. There have always been vampire movies, but most of them were so poorly made that they never even managed to catch the fleeting attention of the general public. With the advent of movies such as Queen of the Damned and the Twilight series, the phenomenon has taken on a new scale.
Though many people believe that vampires originate in Transylvania, and say that Romanian prince Vlad Tepes (1431-1476) was the prototype vampire, the roots of these mythical creatures go way deeper than that. In fact, entities feeding off people's blood are so ancient and widespread that they made some believe they were simply because they could be found in all cultures of the world. Some authors say that even primitive vampire depictions and descriptions bear an uncanny resemblance to the European variety we are accustomed to.
The first mentions of vampires can be found in the Middle Ages, when people used to blame the creatures for everything that went wrong with their communities, ranging from diseases spreading, fires breaking out, and crops failing. This happened in the dark days, when Science could not yet explain germ theory, and seed movements. Poor sanitation was never accused of being the culprit for epidemics killing thousands. It was all an act of God, the people thought, a form of retribution for their sins. And they found an easy answer to the old question of why bad things happen to good persons in the vampire.
Villagers used to test their beliefs in vampires by unearthing their dead. They would then mistake some natural processes for supernatural ones. When they saw blood on the mouth of a corpse, they immediately assumed that the recently deceased had killed someone who was still alive, and then feasted on their blood. They never thought that putrefaction of the intestines led to bloating, which forced the blood inside the body to the mouth. Over the centuries, the meanings attached to the word vampire evolved and changed, until they became the creatures some praise even today.
The way things are, there is little people can do about vampires. They will most likely remain a “dark passenger” for humankind throughout its history, and some will always find a deep fascination for them. Therefore, not even solid Science could ever persuade some hardcore fans that their preferred creatures no longer exist. And thriller authors will always play this card when thinking up new ideas for their books, LiveScience reports.