Vampires Curses

[caleb]

That guy must feed on stoners. Look at his droopy eyes. No I think Blackula was the definition of cool undead. Count Chocula was easily the geek of the bunch.

[ 06-21-2002, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: caleb ]

[Volguuz RageWaar]

Sundeame to pariô pa todos.......
You are all laughing on my back, so be it...

You are some ignorant fools who laugh of what you don't understand...

Tomorrow I shall post here something that i found, maybe then you understand and learn something more of the vampiric life-form, just wait...

[ 06-21-2002, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: Volguuz RageWaar ]

Originally posted by Volguuz RageWaar: I have a question for you, do you ever read the "Book of NOD"? Nope, Im not into that kind of fiction, even tho I do actually own a copy of the Necronomicon Then i ask you another question do you believe in supreme beings such as gods. I believe in 1 God If you do then tell me why the word god symbolizes the good and the light, The word God is a proper name given to one God also known as Jehova, yaweh and several others, and from our writings about God we see he is the definition of Good. even if i see vampires as cursed ones that doesn't make them fiends, but a kind that suffers form their curse and yet live... If they were cursed, then there had to be an originator of the curse, that being God and since the modern definition of vampire says that they can't abide the name or image of God well...anyway try reading the actuall accounts of Vlad the Impaler. Real history isn't as flashy as Holywood but can be just as interesting.

If you believe in Vampires and werewolves you also should believe in Frankensteins monster, the invisible man and Jason Vorhese. get a grip dude, drinking blood is just plain bad for you and the second you try to hurt another human being you will quickly find that it doesnt matter how fast you regenerate, several hundred bullets will spread enough bits and pieces of you across the landscape that it will take you weeks to find them all, to put them back [img]smile.gif[/img] Heck one good fragmentation grenade could keep you lookin for parts for the rest of the decade [img]smile.gif[/img]

See what Goth culture does to people?? see?

[ 06-21-2002, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[caleb]

DAMn GOTHS! hehe

Well anyways what are your thoughts on the biblical cain being the first vampire. A special mark (maybe teeth) and cursed to wander the earth forever.

[ 06-21-2002, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: caleb ]

[AzureWolf]

Originally posted by caleb: That guy must feed on stoners. Look at his droopy eyes. No I think Blackula was the definition of cool undead. Count Chocula was easily the geek of the bunch.

Then I mean you have the "Blade" type, the big bad-ass type who likes to go around getting his thrills by killing his own kind! I mean where is the fun in that?
The human species is the inferior one, ITS CHOW TIME ALL ROUND!
I mean you would think they had some underground human product supermarket franchise, "Blood and Blubber pudding only 99c! Get it while its fresh!"

Originally posted by caleb: DAMn GOTHS! hehe Well anyways what are your thoughts on the biblical cain being the first vampire. A special mark (maybe teeth) and cursed to wander the earth forever.

Errr what did he do when Noah's flood hit? walk around on the bottom of the ocean till the waters receeded? [img]smile.gif[/img] I have such funny mental images of that [img]smile.gif[/img] Sort of like the one scene in the movie "Highlander"

Ya know the flood was to have wiped out all non-fishy life on the planet..which is why God needed Noah to build the Ark in the first place!

[ 06-21-2002, 10:40 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[caleb]

Everyone knows he fed on the dinosaurs on the ark. Thats why their extinct

[khazadman]

actually cains mark was on his forehead.i guess god tattooed "punk as bitch" on his forehead. and the mark was to identify him so nobody would kill him.but i don't think he was given immortality.

[Volguuz RageWaar]

I've found some intressing articles throughout my research for the vampiric origins that may instruct you in the vampiric ways and here they are...

This one is about a woman who seekes only but the thruth of herself, yet associated with vampiric meanings...

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Vampire as Path to Meaning
Or What Does It All Mean?

Liriel McMahon
Novemeber 9th,1997

THE VAMPIRE is a myth. Now hold on a minute! Don’t just stop reading! At least ask yourself what you think I mean. Okay, so what do I mean by myth? The word myth is Greek in origin, mythos, meaning: Word, speech, story and legend. Confused yet? I was. Try this:
"Parts of mythology are religious, parts of mythology are historical, parts of mythology are poetical, but mythology as a whole is neither religion, or history, nor philosophy, nor poetry. It comprehends all these together under that peculiar form of expression which is natural and intelligible at a certain stage, or at certain recurring stages in the development of thought and speech, but which, after becoming traditional, becomes frequently unnatural and unintelligible." --Max Muller*
Whew, that’s a lot of ideas all at once. What does Mr. Muller mean by all this? Well, let’s take it apart and look at it. He says that mythology has parts; religion, history and poetry. Mythology takes all these parts, and then weaves an idea out into a story form or legend. It’s like mixing ingredients together, and ending up with a cake that we eat. What’s missing from this cake picture? The baking process, the ingredients have to be baked in order to end up with the cake. How does this process work? Well, most simply, the ingredients are heated, and that heat breaks them down and joins them together. The same process goes into mythology. What we see, hear, touch, taste and smell, all that goes into our heads, where we think about them (or don’t think about them), and all that then ‘bakes’ in our minds and eventually becomes our beliefs. If the ancient authors of myths knew how baking worked like modern scientists do, then they would probably agree. Ever heard the phrase: "That’s a half-baked idea."? See, I’m not saying anything new here.
Let’s look at the mysterious ‘something’ our minds have baked up, what is it? It’s a belief. Often our beliefs are unexplainable, or difficult for others to understand. A belief is often something that’s easier to show than to tell. Myth is a way of showing what we have learned. The keyword is learned, the past tense of learning. Learning is a process, and something you learned is a product. And this is exactly what Muller touches on at the end of his statement, to refresh your memory, "[mythology which] after becoming traditional, becomes frequently unnatural and unintelligible."
Let’s look closely at what he means there. After a myth becomes tradition, something taken for granted, then the myth becomes misunderstood or unintelligible. The myth dies. This may be because we no longer question a myth, because we just follow along, do the ritual, and then end up hating it, because we don’t understand why we don’t get it, and that makes us feel inferior. Or even worse, we think we do understand it, and we know the truth of it, and that this truth must be The Truth, and then go about trying to force The Truth onto other people. Do either of these sound familiar? I bet they do, because again I'm not saying anything new here. The point is this: Myths are dead the moment they are accepted without questions. The allegorical myths or fables are absurd for the reason of getting you to question. If you accept without question you’ve missed the point of myth, and indeed of life. And when you demand others to accept without question you commit a great crime.
If these words upset you, then I have achieved my first goal in presenting all this to you. What’s my point? Please, read on, but do so only if you want to find out. Becoming upset means you are entering the stage prior to asking questions. This is a good thing, because it leads to learning. But, here comes the second problem of this situation. You ask me questions: "What do you mean? Explain yourself." If I was given the time to explain myself to everyone who wants to know what I mean -- I’d become immortal. Think about that one for a moment, read it again if you have to. Okay, the point I’m getting to is don’t ask me questions about what I mean. Ask yourself questions about what I say, and find out for yourself what my words mean to you.
This is the essential truth behind why myths are told. Myths are not meant to be taken as The Truth, but each one has in it, somewhere, A Truth, and what that truth means is different for each person.
This is what I meant when I said the vampire is a myth. The vampire myth has a truth in it. But let’s not mistake the absurd for reality, and reality for the absurd. Sure, vampires are part history, part religion, part philosophy, and part poetic imagery, but it’s not one or the other. It’s all of those put together and ‘baked’ in our own minds. There are as many vampires as there are people who believe in them, because they reside in our minds and are very close and personal there. Believing in vampires is a way of seeing the world, or what one has learned from the world, or what our thoughts and beliefs of what we take in from our five senses has taught about the world. In other words, there are very real reasons to see vampires everywhere. There are also very real reasons for becoming a vampire yourself.
But the point I want to get at is that it’s very easy to get stuck in a myth and not question it. The closer that myth is, the more personally you believe it, the less likely you are to question it and to change. Ah, yes, and the vampire myth addresses change, doesn’t it? Among other things. Let me explain how I’ve arrived at where I am now very briefly. Keep in mind that I don't know The Truth, only a truth that may or may not be helpful to you.
I started by with believing thoroughly in vampires, that they were real and someday they would come and make me one of them, and I would live forever like they do. I did not question this, I didn’t need to -- or so I thought. Then in my search for real vampires I ran across books with people asking why people would want to become vampires. Why became a very important question to me. I started asking myself this, and then I started asking others. Why lead to other questions, like what is a vampire, what does it mean, etc. I constantly asked. Then one day I found the deep unexplored cavern of my personal view of the vampire. What's down there? I wondered. I went spelunking to find out.
I constantly wondered the meaning of what I found, I kept going. I didn’t stop when I found what vampires meant to me. I kept going, asking the meaning of every myth I found, of every religion and or philosophy. I looked at it all, considered, thought over, and wrestled with every thought, word, idea and concept. When I didn’t understand a word I’d look it up. I’d pull it out and look at it’s roots, where it came from and how it’s meaning has changed over time. And suddenly I wasn’t in the cavern anymore, I was standing in bright sunshine, wide awake and alone with the thought that change is the only constant. And that the reason I first went to the vampire was because I was afraid of change. And now that I knew what change was, and what it means to me, I saw there was nothing to be scared of. I’m no longer afraid and I continue to seek truths.
So here’s my final question to you: What are you afraid of? Don't tell me the answer, because you should know the answer for yourself, not me. Go. Ask yourself questions, take no lies, and you will continuely find truths. It's not a short or easy path, nor are there imediate rewards, but then what thing of value have half-baked ideas gotten you? Cake that tastes and feels wrong.

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Here are ,Vampires - Fact and Fantasy, possible facts of vampire thruts and some fantasy created by the humans...

Fantasy: Vampires are undead creatures, doomed to wander the earth draining the blood of humans ...
Fact: Vampires are living, breathing, flesh and blood creatures. Many do drink human blood, but certainly not to the extent that it kills the source. Apart from anything else, that would take hours!

Fantasy: Vampires are demons, creatures with no souls who are striving to open the hellmouth and bring hell to earth ...
Fact: No, that's from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Much as I enjoy the show, not one episode has been based on truth. Not even slightly.

Fantasy: Vampires have large canine teeth, which they use to puncture the jugular of their victim before draining him or her of blood ...
Fact: Although some vampires do claim to have large canines, this is nothing out of the ordinary - So does my brother, and he's certainly not a vampire. As for puncturing the neck ... Well a vampire once told me that 'biting in the right situation can be very enjoyable, but I certainly don't bite to drink blood ...' A better place for drawing blood is from the shoulder, thigh, or fleshy base of the palm. And only use surgical instruments - Otherwise there is a risk of doing serious damage to the source.

Fantasy: Vampires are immortal, and may only be killed by a stake through the heart or having their head cut off and a slice of lemon put in their mouth (??) ...
Fact: Personally, I'm highly skeptical about the whole 'immortality' thing - As are most vampires. However, it hasn't been proven one way or the other, so I guess it's possible ... Just not plausible. As for the 'stake through a heart' bit - Well obviously a stake through the heart would kill a vampire ... It would kill anyone. A vampire may be immortal, but s/he is not invulnerable. A vampire's physiological make-up is no different from an average human's, and they are just as likely to get sick and die as anyone else. And what's that lemon-in-the-mouth thing about anyway?

Fantasy: Vampires have a strange power over people's minds ... (Mind control, or hypnosis).
Fact: Not necessarly. Anyone can learn hypnosis, or even a form of mind-control (perhaps, for example, through aura-manipulation). However, not every vampire has the requisite knowledge. I should probably note, however, that most vampires claim to have enhanced psionic powers. I'm not sure if this is true, but if it is then it would mean that a vampire would find it easier to use hypnosis, and many forms of mind-control.

Fantasy: Vampires can turn into a bat/mist/wolf/so on and so forth ...
Fact: No - That would make them a therianthrope, and even then most therianthropes are skeptical about the idea of p-shifting ('Physical-Shifting', or 'Shape-Shifting').

Fantasy: If a vampire bites you, then you get turned into one of them ...
Fact: Good grief, no! If that were true, vampires would be in the majority and vampire-sex would be a most cautious affair. In actual fact, there is no 'tried-and-true' way of 'turning' someone, or being 'turned'. A lot of vampires are doubtful that it is even possible. Check out my 'To be a vampire' page for more info on that.

Fantasy: Vampires hate the daylight - It turns them into dust/kills them ...
Fact: Ah, at last - Something resembling the truth. Vampires do not shrivel up and die if exposed to daylight. They do however get migranes and often a very nasty case of sunburn. Most vampires are photo-sensitive. This means that they are extremely sensitive to any kind of light - It hurts their eyes, causes sunstroke in the case of daylight, as well as sunburn ... Not all vampires are photo-sensitive, and not all photo-sensitive people are vampires ... However it does seem to be one of the only things almost every vampire has in common.

Fantasy: Vampires have enhanced strength/speed/senses ...
Fact: Actually, this seems to be true, at least according to the majority of the vampiric community. I remain skeptical, however, and there has been no proof of augmented senses etc. except for a few rather unbeleiveable tales ...

Fantasy: Vampires hate the smell of garlic ...
Fact: This follows on from the above Fantasy/Fact - The reason, apparently, is that because a vampire's sense of smell is enhanced, all smells are stronger ... As you can imagine, this is not a good thing when it comes to garlic, which can be pretty overpowering to most people anyway ...

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Dracula confronting is very former self...

What's That in the Mirror?
Looking at Mirrors, Vampires, and You the Reader

Liriel McMahon
Novemeber 10th,1997

Part I
Why Dracula Hates Mirrors -- Bram Stoker

“THE NOW popular idea that vampires cast no reflection in a mirror (and often have an intense aversion to them) seems to have been first been put forward in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. Soon after his arrival at Castle Dracula, Jonathan Harker observed the building was devoid of mirrors. When Dracula silently came into Harker’s room while he was shaving, Harker noticed that Dracula, who was standing behind him, did not appear in the shaving mirror as he should have. Dracula complained that mirrors were the objects of human vanity, and, seizing the mirror, he broke it.

“The mirror incident does not seem to have any precedent in either vampire folklore or earlier vampire short stories and dramas, although Stoker seems to have been aware of folklore about mirrors. Mirrors were seen as somehow revealing a person’s spiritual double, the soul. In seeing themselves revealed in a mirror, individuals found confirmation that, that there was a soul and that hence life went on. They also found in the reflection a new source of anxiety, as the mirror could be used negatively to affect the soul. The notion that the image in the mirror was somehow the soul underlay the idea that breaking the mirror brought seven year’s bad luck. Breaking the mirror also damaged the soul.

“Thus, one could speculate that the vampire had no soul, had nothing to reflect in the mirror. The mirror forced the vampire to confront the nature of his/her existence as the undead, neither living nor dead.” (Melton 407)*

Well, yes, we are allowed to speculate, aren’t we? Thank goodness, other wise we would never come to understand what this author was stabbing at, as if in the dark, armed with only what they knew and been told. That is one point of this exposition, to help people come to understanding the importance of mirrors, not only in the novel Dracula, or in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles talked of later, but the importance of mirrors in general, and the fact that this article is a mirror, you just don’t know it yet. The final point will become obvious at the end, or at least I hope it will be. So let’s look closely at the mirror, shall we?

The word mirror has it’s root in the Latin verb mirari, which means to wonder at. And what does wonder mean? Wonder comes from the Anglo-Saxon word which means “... a portent. The original sense is awe, literally, that from which one turns aside.” † Awe has it’s distant roots in the Greek word achos, or fear. What I’m getting at here is the differing reactions to mirrors. I want to find out possibly why folklore then assigned mirrors as containing our souls, and to possibly why breaking a mirror was considered as bad luck. It becomes clear to me that the mirror was an experience of wonder that could be either thought of as bad or good, depending on what one thinks one sees. If the mirror is broken then one could no longer wonder at it and hence oneself. Its even worse if one breaks it on purpose, because then one is refusing to look at what’s there. I can see why the mirror can become frightening, especially if one doesn’t approve of what one sees there, which is oneself. The mirror can often expose the real self, as opposed to the delusion of what one thinks one is.

Consider this when you wonder why Dracula did not appear in the mirror, and then why he then broke it. I’ve come to think that he wasn’t soulless, but he was afraid of looking upon what he had become, which metaphorically was nothing. He did not want to reflect on what he had become. He had ceased to wonder at himself, and in that act had ceased to change. Since he had ceased to change he really was dead. He’s only still ‘alive’, or existing because he drinks the blood of others.

Blood comes from the Anglo-Saxon word blõd, which comes from the word blõwan, which means to flourish or bloom. That’s a strange concept, isn’t it? Let’s look at other words, or ideas about blood, or the red fluid in our veins. The Latin word for blood was sanguis, from which comes many words, the two most interesting I’ve found are Sang-froid (French for cold blooded) and Sangraal (“...same as Holy Grail” †). In Sang-froid, or cold blood, the idea is about someone that’s lifeless or does not have “... agitation or excitement of mind,” † or passion. And then we have Sangraal, or Holy Grail, or cup with Holy in it. Blood is Holy? Well, yes I guess it is. Without enough blood I wouldn’t be writing these words, and if you didn’t have enough blood you would not be reading them. In this sense saying that, “The Blood is The Life” is true, but they are not the same. Otherwise why have two separate words? Blood is just something that’s essential to life. Deep within all our minds blood has a deep significance, without it we can’t live, we know this.

So when Dracula drinks the blood of others he’s stealing their life essence. Dracula is no longer changing, or learning how to adapt and create his own life, he’s no longer able to support his existence. And since he’s no longer ‘blooming’ he steals other people’s ability to bloom and this is how he sustains himself. He takes, and takes, and eventually you become transformed into a similar creature, or rather learn to be like him in my view. No wonder Dracula smashes the mirror, he doesn’t want to see that he has become nothing. A horrifying idea, isn’t it?

Bram Stoker knew symbolically that vampires are the stealers of blood and hence of life. Bram Stoker was really addressing larger issues than the legend of Vlad Tepes, that must have been a flash of insight that lead him to the story. Stoker uses the story Dracula to address his own dilemmas of people who suck off other people to make their own existence. Stoker was addressing people he’s seen as vampires in his life. Let’s at least realize what he was saying about what he saw going on. Otherwise the whole point of the story is lost. And you wonder why the vampire image has been so captivating to people in recent years? Let’s get real here.

Part II
The Dawn of Reflection -- Anne Rice

“[ANNE] RICE felt that her character’s, despite their supernatural status, should have no more proof of the existence of God than do mortals. “If Louis failed to see himself in a mirror,” she says, “he would know that some force was at work.” Rice wanted her vampires to “possess supernatural powers without explanation” and to exist as what they logically were: being outside of humanity, but still part of it and still governed by the same physical laws. Since vampires take up physical space and represent eternal substance, they naturally see them selves in mirrors.” ‡ (Ramsland, 301)

I will point out here that the ‘physical laws’ and ‘space’ and such are as Anne Rice’s sees them in the universe she has created in the Vampire Chronicles. Let’s not mistake these laws for the scientific laws that are made by scientists, even if her laws are based on what she’s learned of their laws. The Chronicles are a work of fiction, don’t forget that. It’s easy to believe that when we here such language as above that it must be real.

Anne Rice has borrowed the vampire image from those that have followed Stoker’s idea and did a fairly new thing with it, and it’s turned out to be a very successful idea. She’s allowed them to look in the mirror and see what they see. Sounds simple enough, let’s examine what happens...

“Louis is the first to describe his experience of seeing his vampire image. He is amazed, because he had expected that, as a vampire, he would be unable to do so. It means to him that perhaps he does have a soul and there are no supernatural processes at work. But when he catches the image of himself sucking blood from a rat, he comes to wish that he could not see himself. IV 37, 196

“Lestat is horrified when he first picks up a mirror in Magnus’ tower and perceives the image of a replica of himself. “I became frantic to discover myself in it.” VL 103 It is clear that he has lost some of his humanity and the mirror seems to mock that. Gradually, however, viewing what he has becomes fills Lestat with an eagerness to know all about his new existence.

“On a later occasion, after he has been on a killing spree with Akasha, he looks at himself naked in a full-length mirror and thinks back to his original experience. “I was just as afraid right now,” he claims. QD 357 Examining his white skin, he grows more aware of what becoming a vampire can mean. There seems to be something beyond the mere reflection in the mirror, and the scene hints at the larger theme of self deception.” ‡ (Ramsland, 301)

What Anne Rice has so skillfully shown throughout her Vampire Chronicles, and indeed beyond into all her other writings, is how mirrors, or the act of wondering at ourselves can make or break a person’s development. For instance Louis gets stuck in his shame and guilt over what he is. Whereas Lestat does not turn aside from the fear of what he sees, sure it horrifies him, but he then wonders what it all means and goes to seek answers. It’s no wonder Lestat is the hero in the Chronicles, even if they started with Louis’s story, Lestat is the one character who carries the questions forward in the search for answers. He goes on a epic quest for the meaning of his existence as a vampire. Why? Please recall Lestat’s ‘Dark Moment’ or the ‘malady of mortality’:

“Rice based this scene on her own experience. She had smoked some marijuana when she was twenty-six and had suddenly realized that everyone, including herself, was going to die. “I realized that we might not even know, when we dies, what this [world] was all about -- which is exactly Lestat’s experience. I was a basket case for six months. I could hardly function. I never again felt the same about life or death.” ‡ (Ramsland, 86)

This was her dilemma, and hence Lestat’s dilemma, and it’s really a dilemma that most people have, especially for those who don’t want to look at what “this” is. The author who reports Rice’s quote felt they had to explain what Rice was saying when she said “this”, I must argue that it’s not just “world”, it’s much broader than that -- “this” is existence. ‘Why are we here?’ is an eternal question. It’s one that Anne Rice tapped into and struggled with through her characters. Especially Lestat, who is someone on the other side of life, one who’s really a human predator, but as he reflects upon himself, he finds that he’s really still human.

“...Rice often uses pairs of characters to mirror each other. For example, Louis sees himself mirrored in the hypocrisy of the priests. The effect makes him more self-aware and more appreciative of what his vampire experience offers him. By the end of [Interview], however, after Louis loses his passion, Armand sees in Louis a reflection of his own emptiness and despair; unfortunately, neither of them is able to utilize this insight for psychological growth.” ‡ (Ramsland, 302)

Indeed, and yet, I will argue that Rice shows us that it was a matter of choice for them. Since they did not choose to conquer their fears, they did not change or grow. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they chose not to. Louis loses his passion because he lost everyone who had passion. He had no passion of his own to begin with because he was always dependent on others to impassion him. When Lestat and Claudia left he did become empty, and when he did not address the real issue he remained empty. This is something important that Rice had learned from her life, I would even go so far as to say it was because of her daughter’s death, but she showed us this through her character Louis.

And when you consider this, its no wonder it was nine years before Lestat was published, because Rice had to find life’s passion again for herself. She then showed us this ‘way’ she had found in Lestat’s quest, which ends in a confrontation with God, this is highly symbolic, maybe even more so than Rice realizes. This may be why after writing Memnoch The Devil, the character of Lestat didn’t have anything more to say. This may be because Rice found that Lestat and perhaps even God is not the answer to her dilemma, the ‘malady of mortality’, that perhaps it’s not a malady at all. Consider her non-vampire writings after 1995 and perhaps you’ll see that other issues are being addressed, especially Violin. This is all an interesting speculation, but let’s put this all back into the context of mirrors.

The Vampire Chronicles were Anne Rice’s mirror, one that wondered at the ‘malady of mortality.’ But her works of fiction are offered to us as mirrors, for our own speculation, not as to the possibilities that vampires exist, but as to possible ways how to exist. This is why her works seem so real, and I’m sure she would think if you have suspended your belief then she did her job as a fiction writer.

The point of fiction is not for you, the reader, to believe fiction as fact but to learn something of life from it. How’s this work? Well think about it, what fictional characters do you like the most? What is it about them that you like the most? Consider then, why do you like them? I think you will find some essential truths to your own existence in the particular characters you like, or for that matter, even learning something about yourself in the characters you hate. For better or worse, look deeply into the mirror. Do you want to be on a quest for answers, like Lestat and Anne Rice? Or do you want to stay where you are, like Louis? Or stay where you are, and deny what you are, like Dracula who can’t stand the sight of himself? It’s a matter of choice.

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Here is what i consider as a testimonial of "In the presence of a vampire" Written by Liriel...

Moroccan Vampires
Liriel McMahon
March 10th 1997

ARE THERE vampires in Morocco? Depends on who you ask, as I found out.

First of all, Morocco is on the North-West coast of Africa, just south of Spain, separated only by the narrow Straights of Gibraltar. Morocco is a Muslim country, but fairly unorthodox. Prior to the Arabs, who brought Islam in AD 700, there existed a native people known as the Berbers. It is believed that the Berbers gradually migrated to Morocco from southwest Asia beginning 2000 BC. They brought with them a strong tribal existence and an affinity for the mountains. Differing a great deal in beliefs and practices from the Arabs, the Berbers strongly resisted the idea of Islam and the Arab culture, and they still do even to this day. These people account for about half the population of Morocco today. Colonization of Morocco by Europeans began in the 15th Century, ending with France as the supreme force there all the way up to 1956. All these factors tie in to constitute the makeup of Moroccan culture.

I spent a month in Morocco (namely in the cities of Rabat, Casablanca, and Assouara), with my friend Andy. I had no idea whether I would find any evidence of vampires or not. The first sign of vampires was fairly harmless. In Rabat, the capital of the country, I stumbled onto a French theater playing a dubbed version of Mel Brooks’ movie Dracula, Dead and Loving It. I was very surprised, namely because that movie hadn’t even hit video in the states yet.

At one point I asked a Moroccan acquaintance, Hisham, who spoke a little English if he knew of any Moroccan vampires. At first he wasn’t sure what I was talking about. I had Andy, who spoke better French than I, help out. When Hisham understood the question he shook his head. "No. There are no such thing as vampires. Not in Morocco. Maybe in other countries but not here." Well, needless to say that dampened my hopes of finding any evidence of vampires in Morocco.

A few days later, while again with Hisham and Andy at a soccer game, we saw a five year old boy playing around the side lines wearing a gruesome set of purple plastic fangs. Hisham turned to me smiling and said "Dracula!" I doubted that the boy was actually a vampire (it was broad daylight!), but I assume that perhaps he had seen the Mel Brooks movie, or something along those lines to inspire his behavior, which consisted of chasing around his younger brother and menacing him with the fangs. Things were looking up in terms of finding vampires.

While Andy and I were relaxing in a cafe two days prior to leaving Morocco, we met a group of young English students. During the course of our long conversation I talked with one young man, Sa’id, about authors and we compared our favorites. I told him my favorite author was Anne Rice. Sa’id had never heard of her and I told him that she writes novels about vampires. Once on that subject I asked him if he knew of any vampires in Morocco. He smiled and said, "Not here in the city, no."

"But, are there vampires elsewhere in Morocco?" I persisted.

"Yes. If you were perhaps to go out to the dessert. And if you found a Berber witch, a sehhira and if you asked her, she could do a ceremony and call down all kinds of djjins, and riah [spirits and demons]. And if you asked her nicely she could probably call down a vampire for you." Sa’id motioned his arms as he said this, pulling imaginary vampires out of the cool winter air.

What he said suddenly caused me to remember that perhaps I had already been visited by a vampire, two weeks prior. The event I would classify as a Mara experience (night-terrors) commonly attributed to psychic vampires, a subject that vampirologist Martin Riccardo has written much about.

What happened was this: I was soundly and peacefully asleep, when I suddenly became aware that I was wide awake and totally unable to move. I could not even open my eyes as I lay there on my side. I laid there for a good ten to fifteen minutes mentally struggling to get control of my body. I started breathing rapidly in my panic, and somehow through that I was able to roll over and break "the spell". I say the spell because that’s what it felt like I was under. Contrary to a common Mara experiences, I did not sense that there was anything near by or on top of me pinning me down.

So perhaps it was not a real Mara experience, but I didn’t want to find out, and I certainly didn’t want to venture out to the desert and have a Berber witch call up any vampires or riah for me. After realizing that perhaps I was getting a little too close to finding real vampires I was ready to leave.

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After you all read this i hope that you'll not make any stupid comentaries such as the Sesame Street and other's...

I have my own viewing of the world and you'll not change it, if i have chosen the vampiric form to live throghout the centuries who are you to contest it...

Remeber what i've said in the begining of this post, Those who not beleive in vampires or it meaning should stop reading...

salive... Adios... [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]

[ 06-24-2002, 09:53 AM: Message edited by: Volguuz RageWaar ]