Dungeon Of Diversity

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AND HEARD!

Upon examining the "spark of truth" behind the legend of the vampire, we discover that the "myth" diguises a very morbid reality. Although Count Dracula flitting around in the form of a bat is the product of a creative imagination utilizing the superstitious lore of previous centuries, Stephen Kaplan, director of the Vampire Research Center in Elmhurst, New York, claims there are at least twenty-one real vampires secretly living in the United States and Canada today. some of these vampires have admitted to Kaplan that on occasion, they have murdered humans to obtain blood. Kaplan further states that some of them may be as old as three hundred years, but appear amazingly young due to the blood they ingest.

We might expect Kaplan next to tell us that his vampires sleep in coffins and come out only after sunset, but he does not go that far. "They are simply humans who have an unsatiable thirst for blood," he told a reporter. "Two-thirds of these vampires are men, one-third are women. They marry, have children, keep regular jobs...some even go to church."

Kaplan reports that the twenty-one vampires discovered by his research are distributed throughout the United States and Canada, "Massachusetts is ahead with three, followed by Arizona, Califonia, and New Jersey with two each.

Kaplan promised anonymity to each of the vampires who responded with startling frankness to his request for interviews:

They live to a vast old age. There is some elements in human blood that slow down the aging process-so much so that modern vampires can live up to 300 years.When they cannot obtain human blood, they drink blood from cows, dogs, cats, and other creatures such as lizards, birds and snakes.

Kaplan told of one vampire who worked as a technician in a hospital who simply took blood from the hospital as he needed it. Although the man was nearly sixty, he passed as a man in his early twenties.

The vampire in Arizona looks like a teenager, but who is actually in his late thirties. He's a university student, and admitted that he lures people into the deasert to obtain blood.

One attractive blonde vampire, in her sixties but appears to be in her twenties, exchanges sexual favors for blood. "I watched her drink blood from a willing victim." Kaplan told the reporter, "I watched her use the a scalpel to make several incisions in the body and drink blood from them!"

Kaplan found that thier blood needs varied. Some required two pints a week; others, half a gallon.

Those who confessed to having killed humans for blood, said they preyed mostly on hitchhikers, and people they assumed to be transients with little or no family ties. Others confessed to rendering thier victims unconcious to take blood, but always left the "donor" alive.

The myths about vampires, Kaplan said, were not true. Although long-lived, they are not immortal. They sleep in beds, not coffins. They have no ability to transform themselves into other creatures. They functon well in either darkness or light, and they have no fear of a crucifix or church.

Vamperism is a genetic disorder. "They are born ito it. Thier mothers and fathers were vampires, and thier children will be vampires."

Vampires can be made, as well as born; and blood as the elixir of youth has long been esteemed-whether one drinks it....or bathes in it....that is another investigation...into the history books.

CONTINUE YOUR DECENT "ROUND THE RINGS"

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