The Disallowed
Real Modern Day Vampires
‘Are there real modern day vampires?’ It is one of those obscure questions that can be answered on many levels, with several eliciting the answer ‘yes’ and yet others the answer ‘no’. Why is that?
There are people who think that they are vampires, or like to think that there is something of the vampire in them, either because they are mentally disturbed or because they have an illness that replicates some of the trad vlad images or vampires like very white skin or a craving for blood.
Then there are those who like the image of modern vampires and so choose to dress like their screen idols and affect their mannerisms, but are they really modern vampires? No, not really, are they?
So, who could you call real modern vampires?
Modern day vampires may be those who could be typified by Hannibal Lecter in the novels and the films. Some of these real murderers displayed some of the characteristics of mythical vampires. Some of these cannibal serial killers may even have thought of themselves as modern vampires.
This is my list of modern vampires, if not modern day vampires.
Boone Helm – The Kentucky Cannibal – who openly admitted to killing and eating people ‘out of necessity’ between 1850 and 1854.
Hamilton Howard ‘Albert’ Fish, born in Washington D.C. in 1870. Known as The Grey Man, The Werewolf, The Moon Maniac, The Bogey Man and The Vampire. He tortured, killed, drank the blood of and ate at least three but possibly nine children aged four to eighteen years, boys and girls, in New York in the 1920’s and ’30’s before being executed.
During the Second World War, German and Japanese troops were reliably reported to have resorted to cannibalism while in POW camps because of undernourishment and the citizens of Leningrad were advised against eating their children during the protracted siege.
Si Ouey Sae Ung was Thailand’s first recorded cannibal serial killer. He lived in Bangkok killing and eating children in the 1950’s. Many Thai s are still ashamed of him and go to great lengths to point out that he was of Chinese origin (Sae indicates that Ung is/was his surname and is a Chinese identifier).
Nikolai Dzhumagaliev killed 50-100 women in Kazakhstan in the 1980’s and ate them with his metal teeth.
In short, there have been many lunatics who think of themselves or are thought of by others as modern vampires, but whether they are real modern day vampires or not is up to you. If you have gleaned your definition from the multitude of modern vampire films made in Europe and America, then these people do not fit your definition, but if you take a more traditional, pre Bram Stoker view, they could well be classed as real modern vampires.
If you fancy reading a non trad vlad story of modern vampires, try the first chapter of my book free of charge below. The Disallowed is a comedy about a contemporary vampire family and how they got that way, I hope you like it.
The Disallowed: The Tale of a Modern Vampire Family
by +Owen Jones
