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For centuries man has been fascinated by the legend of the Vampire. Although every culture has a different spelling or name for this legendary undead creature, the similarities are almost always the same.

Whether in Japan, Turkey, Romania, Britain, or the U.S. the vampire legend almost always consists of an undead or spiritual being, usually the recently deceased, who rise at night to gain sustenance and life force from the living.

Almost every culture on the Earth has a vampire legend. How is it possible that all of these different groups of people can have legends so similar? The passage of time makes it very hard to say, but to fathom a guess one would have to believe either A) supernatural vampires are real, or B) the legends were spread by migrants and travelers and became part of folklore in other areas.

Since believing the first option is often more far fetched than the original legends they are based on, it is far more reasonable to believe that the legends were spread by superstitious travelers.

In the last 100 years modern film and entertainment has become obsessed with the vampire, making many films featuring the blood sucking undead, many of which are adaptations and variations on Bram Stoker's Dracula and the title character of the infamous book first published in 1897.

What many modern vampire fans and a strange fringe group of believers fail to realize is that these modern interpretations of the vampire differ greatly from not only Stoker's book, but from the traditional legends they are based on as well.

The trappings and weaknesses of movie vampires were in large part created by Hollywood to add plot points and drama to big budget (and not so big budget) films. The things that most of the world thinks they know about the vampire legends; such as the crucifix, sleeping in a coffin, weaknesses to sunlight and garlic, and yes even blood sucking, are all additions to the legends made by Hollywood to make their movies more exciting and entertaining.

A close examination of the actual legends will reveal that a vampire is defined as a person who gains life and energy by siphoning it from other people. Although in most legends these people are spirits or corpses risen from the dead, this isn't always the case. In many legends the vampire does not necessarily have to suck blood either, other ways a legendary vampire can sustain themselves on the life force of the living can be through sex, energy or excitement, the company of animals, being near a person with

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