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A vampire is a malevolent, blood-drinking creature. At least that is what some of the folklore tells us. But that isn't the whole story by a long shot. Over the millennia, vampires and vampirism have morphed into some pretty bizarre entities.

FOLKLORE

Nearly every primitive culture has myths and legends about the vampire. In Jewish mythology, she is called Lilith, the first bride of Adam, who was cursed by God for wanting to be superior to her husband. She was turned into a desert spirit that feeds on the blood of all the babies she cannot have. In Greece it is the Lamia, in Scottland the Lammikin, in Japan it is the Cat of Nebishima, in China the vampires reside in abandoned temples. Across the world, there are myths of blood-sucking fiends, but it is Eastern Europe that the Wampir, Vampyr or Nosferatu really gets notorious. With the publication of that truly awful book Varney the Vampire and subsequent treatments by Baudelaire and Goethe culminating in the magnum opus of Dracula by Bram Stoker, the myth transforms into literature.

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ORIGINS

There are probably two main sources for the ubiquitous vampire folklore. The first is ignorance about what happens to the body after death. In a case where a body was exhumed after a few weeks or months, the villagers would be treated to a horrid sight. The corpse suffers remarkable transformations in the coffin. These villagers would see that the corpse's hair and fingernails have grown, sometimes into claws, because hair and fingernails continue to grow even after death for some time. And the gums of the corpse recede, making it look like the corpse has fangs. In addition, post-mortum bleeding may leave traces of blood on the mouth. Add to that the occasional premature burial which would leave evidence of scratches on the interior of the coffin, and you have the basis for a re-animated corpse.

A second origin, although unlikely, is the real and very rare disease of porphyria, specifically systemic lupus erythematosus. This disease results in abdominal pain, vomiting, neoropathy, seizures, hallucinations, depression, anxiety and paranoia. It is also characterized by extreme photosensitivity. The photosensitivity can even result in blisters. Sufferers of porphyria have to avoid food with high concentrations of sulfur, for example , garlic. The disease can producea haemolytic anaemia seen as jaundice, extreme palor, and a need for a high carb diet. So, the disease produces intense fear of sunlight,

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