Credit must go to Bram Stoker for his classic novel, ‘Dracula’. It was this story of the blood-thirsty Count that drew attention to the world of vampires.

Dracula was first published in 1897 and many books and films have been and indeed still are being written and made. Such is the popularity of Stoker’s creation. My own novel, Memoirs of a Vampire Hunter, deals in part with Dracula himself, and of course, Van Helsing.

But what of the legend of vampires: are they fact or fiction? There is proof that some people do drink human blood, but does that in itself make them vampires? According to Webster’s New English Dictionary: ‘a vampire is a dead creature that by night leaves its grave to suck the blood of living people.’ Therefore, drinking human blood does not make someone a vampire, unless of course the person who drinks it is already dead!

Vampires exist in folklore throughout the world, from the Highlands of Scotland in the United Kingdom to  South America, China, Australia, India and Russia. In fact, there are few countries that do not have a vampire legend. Stories about vampires have been handed down over many generations. It is quite probable that the roots of these stories lie many hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

Because of their ancient cultures, it has been argued that the vampire legend began in ancient Greece, or, the Far East. The Greeks believed  that a creature called Lamia took children away and drank their blood. The Lamia has the head and breasts of a woman, but the body of a snake.  She  can win men’s love by changing herself into the human form.

Arabia also has a female vampire, the Algul. She satisfies her lust for flesh by eating dead babies. The Algul lives out her existence in cemeteries.

Scotland, with her tranquil glens and Highland peaks is home to the Baobhan Sith, a beautiful female vampire, clothed in green, lures men to their deaths then drinks her victims’ blood. She is also known as The White Woman.

There are times when drinking blood  is not enough. The Brahmapurish vampire of India also eats its victims’ brains!

Not all vampires are adults. The Doppelsaugers of Germany, are child vampires with a taste for eating relatives’ breasts.

What does seem to be an anomaly, is the fact that not all vampires drink blood. The Vampiir from Estonia is a non blood drinking vampire. Instead, it tends to suffocate its victims.

Vârcolaci vampires of Romania eat the sun and the moon. The Strigoica vampires are females with two hearts.

Whether fact or fiction, the vampire, in all its forms, will continue to cause some people to wear a crucifix, hang garlic by the front door, and definitely not wander through a graveyard at night: the rustling of leaves as they pass by your feet, blown by the merest kiss of a breeze. The moon, not quite full, hiding behind phantom-like clouds, but giving enough light to see... a cloaked figure rising from the grave, just off to your right!