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Published by The Vampire Network on the 11th of August 2017I, Vampire: Exploring Connections Between Vampires of Myth and Modern-Day Blood Vampires: Part V
So now it was dawning on some of the brighter ones that the only way people would accept vampires was if they stopped being vampires.
TERRY PRATCHETT, The Truth
Part V: Supernormal vs Supernatural
Super-human strength, speed and endurance
Enhanced strength, speed and endurance upon ingestion of blood of their victims is another well-known characteristic of vampires of myth and legend. In contrast, starving vampires are reportedly extremely weak and slow. Modern day Blood Vampires are happy to report weakness and lethargy when starving, but many are quick to discount and scorn reports of strength, speed and endurance above that of non-vampire counterparts.
"Blood doping", the intake of extra blood to enhance performance, is a phenomenon millennia old. The Vikings did it, other Northern Europeans did it, the Tatars did it, some African nations did it and still do it, Native Americans did it. Today, endurance athletes, runners, swimmers, and cyclists do it. Most recently, it was a full blown scandal in the cycling world. In the past centuries, the blood, human or animal, was ingested orally; nowadays it's taken in by transfusion. The extra red blood cells increase the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, which increases strength, speed and endurance, i.e. extra blood in equals enhanced performance out. This alone could easily explain the enhanced strength, speed and endurance upon ingestion of blood.
In addition, alterations in muscle physiology could account for this phenomenon. It is known that chronic hypoxia causes changes in skeletal (and cardiac) muscle composition and function in human beings. The muscle becomes more effective at eliminating lactic acid, metabolism becomes more efficient, and the types of muscle fibers change so that the process of muscle contraction becomes far more efficient (1). There is no reason to assume that similar changes do not occur in the skeletal muscle of vampires, which is likewise exposed to chronic hypoxia. Fetal myosin isoforms are found in approx. 25% of patients with chronic anemia (2). Many animals have more efficient oxidative metabolism then humans. Mammals “waste”, on average, 60% of ATP they produce to generating heat for maintenance of their core body temperature (37C). During starvation, a blood vampire’s core body temperature has been known to drop an average of 6C, which reduces necessary ATP production by 25%. Any stored ATP can be used for muscle work instead.
Increased levels of sialic acid in muscle could also contribute.
Sunlight intolerance
This is another vampire trait most people consider a myth, primarily because Blood Vampires don’t burst into flames or turn into ashes in sunlight like their mythical counterparts.
However, the majority of Blood Vampires do persistently report severe sunlight sensitivity. Sunlight induces a range of symptoms in Blood Vampires: from tiredness, “heaviness” and lethargy, irritability, dizziness, vertigo and nausea, to extremes of losing consciousness. While many report moderate to severe eye pain with decreased visual acuity and uncomfortable burning or itching of the skin, a few indicate severe burns from short exposures.
A very high percentage (nearly 90%) of today’s Blood Vampires also complain of chronic migraines. In most, they are induced by starvation (blood) and sunlight. Migraines are likewise triggered by sunlight or fluorescent light in many non-vampires. It has been discovered that most migraine patients exhibit low levels of several neurotransmitters, among them serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters are typically very low in Blood Vampires, resulting in symptomatic dysautonomia (orthostatic hypotension, POTS, hypotension, bradycardia, GI disorders). While the reasons are unclear, genetics, gastrointestinal abnormalities (90% of serotonin is synthesized in the GI tract), and sensory overload have been suggested as most likely reasons. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and related drugs which also increase serotonin and norepinephrine levels (triptans, tricyclic anti-depressants) have become standard treatment for migraines. These drugs have long been used for treatment of clinical depression, another condition starving Blood Vampires report in significantly higher numbers vs. non-vampires. More recently, a connection between low serotonin and norepinephrine levels and sunlight sensitivity has been made. People with low serotonin/norepinephrine are naturally sensitive to sunlight, so that sunlight, instead of boosting serotonin production (a normal mechanism in human beings), enhances the effects of low serotonin: dizziness, vertigo, nausea, migraine, gastrointestinal issues, lethargy, and dilation of blood vessels, which may result in dangerously low blood pressure and fainting.
Moreover, many Blood Vampires have naturally inverted sleep-awake cycles; they are active at night and mostly sleep, or are at least indoors, through the day. Melatonin, the hormone which induces sleep opposes the actions and secretion of serotonin. Also, serotonin is directly converted to melatonin. Normally, melatonin peaks in the evening to induce sleep and is lowest right before sunrise to allow a peek in serotonin levels, which remain high throughout the day. It is reasonable to assume that the melatonin cycle is reversed in Blood Vampires (as it is in night-shift workers), which further amplifies the issue described above.
Our research, although still in its infancy, indicates that the level of damage induced by sunlight is significantly greater in Blood Vampires. While at baseline production of oxygen free radicals (oxidative stress) is much lower in vampires that in non-vampires of similar age, upon short exposure to sunlight, oxygen free radical production in vampires becomes many folds higher vs. non-vampires, which correlates with destruction of proteins in the skin and cell death. Sialic acid levels also increase rapidly in the skin of Blood Vampires with exposure to sunlight. Increased levels of sialic acid have been correlated with generation of oxygen free radicals and allergic reactions to sunlight, which manifest as moderate to severe red rash, sometimes with appearance of severe burns (2, 3).
Mental abilities connected to vampirism
A great variety of “psychic tricks” has been attributed to vampires in myths, legends and folklore of the world. They can shape-shift into bats and wolves, which is likely explained by assimilating non-vampire entities, specifically the werewolves and the Strigoi into the vampire myth, as discussed earlier.
In the form of hags or beautiful men (incubi) or women (succubi), they can steal the blood or life force from sleeping humans. Assyrians had Lili, a female sexually insatiable demon who nightly sought bed partners. She eventually evolved into Lilith, the blood-drinking, mother of all evil, or the mother of vampires according to some. By the Middle Ages, Europeans considered her to be the queen of the succubi. The Greeks had the Lamia. At first Lamia was a vengeful monster that stalked the night to strangle children and drain their blood. Later the word "lamia" was used for a whole race of blood-sucking female demons who would sexually entice young men, then drink their blood. West Africans have the “obayifo” (also known as Asiman), an unconsecrated spirit of a dead witch which comes in the night to drain people of their life force. In the Balkans, there is a female vampire called “Mora”, which translates literally as “nightmare”. These phenomena have been explained by modern science and medicine as visions during sleep paralysis (hypnagogia/ hypnopompia), a temporarily experience of inability to move, speak, or react in the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep, characterized by muscle weakness and often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations. An alternative explanation may be involvement of modern day Energy (Psi) Vampires and/or vampires who feed on blood during sex. It is also interesting that the distribution of these legends tends to follow the Scythian migration through space and time.
Vampires were known to also be able to read minds and manipulate human will, memory, and dreams. It is certain that some modern energy and hybrid vampires, can and do use some or all of these abilities, although the exact extent of their prevalence among vampires is difficult to determine. Two prerequisites for such a thing, altered neurochemistry in vampires vs. non-vampires and existence of “spooky action at a distance” have been confirmed by science.
This concludes our overview series of connections between mythical vampires and modern day Blood Vampires. Join us in future articles as we continue to examine and understand the underlying truths hidden in vampire myth and legend in order to enhance the knowledge and experience of Blood Vampires around the world.
References
- Murray AJ. Metabolic adaptation of skeletal muscle to high altitude hypoxia: how new technologies could resolve the controversies. Genome Med. 2009; 1(1):117-126.
- Vassileva SG, Mateev G, Parish LC. Photosensitive reactions. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:1993-2000.
- Bochner BS. “Siglec"ting the allergic response for therapeutic targeting. Glycobiology. 2016;26:546-52.
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The Vampire Network (2017)
