A SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON VAMPIRISM

A SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON VAMPIRISM

VICTOR BROWN

Author of: Vampire Resurrection

24 July 2015

Part I

That’s Hollywood

         For those of you who cut your teeth on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Bella Lugosi, and all who have graced the silver screen, we need to do some surgery on you. You have been victimized. Let us begin by surgically removing some of your false beliefs about vampires.

         They are not vulnerable to sunlight—that’s Hollywood.  Nor do they sleep in a coffin during the day. They can’t be repulsed by a cross or crucifix, a rosary, a bible, holy water, garlic, wild rose, hawthorn, nor any of the other iconic inventions of, as they used to say, “stage, screen, and radio.” And yes, they do have reflections, and they do cast their own shadow, although some much older vampires have been known to dissipate their shadows and/or reflections based on highly-developed esoteric powers. A vampire’s power is an individual attainment that most often correlates to the length of time he or she has been a vampire. A seven-hundred-year-old will likely exhibit far more power than one who has a mere hundred years under his or her cloak.

Part II

The Evolution and Characteristics of Vampirism

How does one become a vampire? And what are the characteristics of vampirism? As was widely believed in the Middle Ages, were vampires revenants, an entity returned from the dead? No! An individual carrying the gene for vampirism evolves from a normal, mortal human into an active vampire. The trigger mechanisms that activate the latent vampirism gene vary but include: psychological shock, close and continuing relationship with an active vampire, a significant injury or illness, and contact with medicine or a chemical agent (DDT for instance) or pollutant.  Once the individual’s latent gene has been triggered, he/she begin the process of evolution—and each evolves at his or her own rate—from latent to full vampire status. This confers immortality when the evolution is completed.

A vampire can be killed under certain conditions, however. And in a few documented cases vampires have been known to commit suicide with the help of at least one other vampire who has been trained in the Vampire Death Rites.

Part III

Stages of Vampire “Life”
       and The Morality Factor

There are two stages of vampire life. During much if not most of a vampire’s existence, it acts like any normal mortal would. But when a vampire transitions into the “hunting phase,” it becomes a predator of man and beast. Scientists have discovered that the pineal gland, a small hormone-secreting endocrine gland located at the center of the brain, secretes a substance called absynthia. When secreted, a vampire will transition from the benign state into an active hunter.

Contrary to the popular press and the entertainment industry, most vampires have a residual sense of morality. They did not, after all, volunteer to become a vampire. Most, therefore, will kill animals (both domestic and wild) for their blood fix, rather than humans. But if a human is in the wrong place at the wrong time, or challenges a vampire who is on the hunt, his shriveled body, devoid of blood, will be the shocking result. Human blood is at the apex of a vampire’s diet. It is the high octane fuel that reinvigorates a vampire. Some vampires, after years without human blood, have been known to finally succumb to the ultimately insatiable desire for it, although they may suffer substantial guilt after a human kill. 

Part IV

Genesis of Vampirism

Vampirism has existed for millennia, as depicted in the histories of most cultures the world over. One history, attributed to the Scriptures of Delphi (some refer to it as the “Vampire Bible,”) purports to reveal that the initial progenitor of vampirism is an entity named the Serpent of Charna. Modern science, however, veers sharply away from that genesis story. Vampirism, like many other conditions and diseases, owes its existence to a mutant gene in the polluted blood lines of the strands and tentacles of descendents dating from at least as far back as the Australopithecus, an extinct genus of hominid—perhaps even further. Future archeological and paleontological study may push the origin of vampirism even farther back into mankind’s ancestry. 

         Scientists working to unravel the DNA of vampirism have discovered that every third generation of the latent carriers of the mutant gene are doomed to experience a triggering event that literally thrusts them into the world of active vampirism. Until quite recently, they were helpless to do anything about it except hide their condition and move from place to place because they stopped aging at the time of the triggering of their latent gene.

Part V

Vampire Immortality?

         It is not technically true to say that vampires are immortal, or that they are immune to death. Many have been killed. But in the absence of a ritual killing, assisted suicide, or a cataclysmic event (think Hiroshima and Nagasaki), they can, in effect, live forever. By ritual killing we refer to an aspen stake—some insist it must be made of ash—driven  through the heart, followed by decapitation, the two parts then interred separately, the wider the separation the better. In some cultures cremation of the two parts is employed.

         Upon death, vampires experience a very arduous journey across the “Valley of Tears” before they can emerge into the World Unseen (Life after Death), according early records that cite the ancient texts. This would suggest that vampires have souls, and indeed they do, but they are the shriveled remains of the original, rendered almost inert by the length of time the individual has endured active vampirism. The trek across the Valley of Tears provides the deceased former vampire the opportunity to regenerate its soul, at least sufficient to gain entrance to the Afterlife we all seek.

Part VI

The Promise of Redemption: Vampire Resurrection

         But for those vampires who wish to become mortal, there is new promise. Genetic scientists at Harvard University have isolated the mutant vampire gene and pioneered the technique for removing it and replacing it with a neutral or null gene. This permits the patient to reclaim his/her mortal status. That process has been named “Vampire Resurrection.”

Part VII

A Vampire’s Special Powers

         Do vampires have special powers? Absolutely. They are sexual athletes with capabilities that eclipse even the wildest stories told in pornographic books/DVDs and around campfires. But they are, almost without exception, unable to experience love, though they hunger for it and strive for it unrelentingly. While it is easy to fear and revile the species, they deserve a measure of pity as well. Pause to think on life without love and without death. It would be a rather bleak and barren plain, stretching out through eternity.

One of the quintessential ingredients of life is the awareness of one’s pending demise. That is an element denied to the vampire. Some are so riven with self-hate they elect ceremonial death administered by another vampire who has learned the ancient art of what some might call mercy killing. While that is rare, it is nonetheless well documented.

         Vampires can call on super-human strength when needed. They often leech energy from those with whom they have a close communion. As previously pointed out, when a vampire is in its latent state, which is most of the time, it can be indistinguishable from normal mortals. Vampires can almost always recognize one another, however, most often by the faint aroma of absinthe. When angry, frustrated, or sexually aroused, the aroma becomes quite strong, sometimes (though rarely) to the point that normal mortals can sense it.

         When the cumulative lack of, or thinning of blood occurs in a vampire, it will be propelled into the active vampire condition during which it must drink the blood of an animal or of a human. Some older vampires are more able to control these episodes, and many only forage for animals, domestic or wild. Still, after an extended period of abstinence, younger vampires especially are unable to resist the desire for human blood. Some few of the older ones, who revel in their vampirism, elect to go into the hunting state, deliberately targeting humans. These are the most fearful of the species.

Part VIII

Other Vampire Characteristics

One can address a host of other peculiar characteristics that are shared by vampires:

Red wine is the vampire’s beverage of choice (unless they are on the hunt); they rarely drink other forms of alcohol. For short periods, red wine can alleviate the need for blood.

Shortly after birth, their belly buttons completely heal over, leaving no trace. Some few vampires (mostly female) have been known to have belly buttons created through plastic surgery. 

A female vampire only ovulates three times per year, although this can vary somewhat. This makes it much harder for a vampire to become pregnant, and constitutes a natural barrier to the creation of ever-increasing numbers of such creatures. When two vampires mate they produce a diffuse green glow (detectable only in a darkened room). If they produce an offspring it is absolutely destined to become a vampire. Some of the worst of the species have resulted from this kind of inbreeding.

A vampire’s eyes will darken when he/she experiences anger, frustration, or become sexually aroused. They possess keen sight; in fact, all of their senses are exceptional, especially when they are on the hunt. Some can employ their will to overpower a victim, or even another vampire.

There is general agreement among them that the blood of a virgin has a terrible taste.

Vampires have not been found to exist in clusters or form clans, although they are loosely connected through a kind of clearing house for news. It is a leather goods boutique in Paris, which has existed since the early 18^th century under the direction of Countess Amberglass.

     Part IX

A final Word

While this treatise is hardly definitive, and much remains to be learned, we are elated at the work of Harvard’s Genetics Lab and look forward to future revelations about vampirism. Additional findings will be welcomed.

Footnote. The above material was compiled during the writing of the novel, Vampire Resurrection, authored by Vic Brown, and accessed by Amazon on
17 March 2015.  His Web page may be found at:  www.vicbrownauthor.com
Questions or comments may be addressed to the author at:

 P.O. Box 6282, Williamsburg, VA 23188, or emailed to:  spirit37@cox.net