UPDATE -HALLOWEEN 2009 - Watch the interview on uVu
Vampires…most think they are mythological beings such as Dracula and that they only are fictional people that appear in movies and books. As I found out they are among the public today and there are communities of them. The thought of vampires among us today may be a scary thought but if more is known about these people, one would find out they aren’t so horrifying after all. For the vampire I met today, Elijah, to be a vampire is more about adopting the culture of what people see in the old classic vampire movies rather then the thought of turning into a bat and those who hunger for blood.
When I first saw him he stepped out of an all black SUV with tinted windows and on the rearview mirror hung what looked like a vampire doll. Across the front window on the top read the words “If I Was Your Vampire.” I figured maybe he is just proud to be a vampire such as people represent their homeland with a flag on the back of their car and those people who are proud to be a fan of a professional team. Elijah then stepped out and my first impression surprised even myself. He looked for the most part a normal looking guy, wearing jeans, a black shirt, black hat, sunglasses and shoes. The only thing unusual about the look of him was his nails were painted black, four of his teeth, two on the bottom and two on top, were chiseled so that they were more sharpened, and the tattoo he had on his face. His looks may come off as strange to some but they were not frightening nor were they way out there such as wearing a cape. Elijah spoke clear and did not have any accent such as Count Dracula. Everything about him surprised me; I suspected a very pale person, wearing something other than jeans, shirt, and hat, and I expected some sort of accent. As I found out these are all stereotypical things that people believe vampires to look like.
The vampires today are not all that people may think of them to be. As Elijah did admit, he has drunk blood and he has bitten a person and also has been bitten by one. When I heard this I thought to myself that such a thing was a bit out there and scary to think there are vampires do this, but he then told us that those that do this bite the people whom they have relations to and that share the same beliefs in the vampire culture. So people, you can find comfort in knowing that vampires today don’t go around searching for blood. For the most part he was a normal guy with a little few things out of the ordinary. Vampires are not scary people though the thought and idea of a vampire may be scary, they are very much normal people who have found a niche in associating themselves to the old classic vampire movies. Meeting Elijah is a perfect example of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Though I said he was dressed normally people may be scared off by the tattoo on his face or the fangs that he has created amongst his teeth. But as we talked, I began to that this is just his way of life, such as a catholic going to Mass on Sunday and praying to God or how certain cultures of people eat differently. The thought of the horror movie vampire is just a myth but the vampire culture of today keeps today’s vampire very much alive and Elijah is living proof.
-Erik Lilly
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