Question of the Day – Myth or Reality?

Several weeks ago I had this discussion with a colleague of mine. It was about myths and legends about vampires all over the world. It seems there really is little in common among different nations’ perceptions as to what vampires represent. Clearly, they are more than human. In many cases, they drink human blood to keep going. In many cases, they are supernaturally strong. Sometimes, they are shape-shifters.
In most cases, they are plain mean and/or evil. They are often considered a threat that is strongly recommended to eliminate upon sighting; and as often the extermination is very hard to obtain. They are mostly night-walkers. Sometimes, they fear holy artefacts and/or direct sunlight. Mostly, they are a menace unleashed upon poor, unsuspecting society.
Verdict: vampires = horrible, terrible, no good at all.

Also, they do exist in myths all over the world. Question is – why? What misconception has made this particular myth so very popular? We don’t really believe in vampires, do we? People before us, they did. They also believed in leprechauns, faeries, elves, gnomes, trolls, dragons and a whole file cabinet of other creatures. And they thought the world is held by three whales. We believe in gene engineering, space exploration, nuclear physics and internet. To each their own, apparently.
Still, the question remains. Were all these things just a myth, a way to explain the world around our ancestors without a sufficient amount of scientific facts? Were these creatures created in their minds as a way around otherwise unexplainable phenomena? Or perhaps what they saw is what we get, and the whole lot of magical beings just went underground when people started breeding like rabbits and pollute the Earth. Who knows? I most certainly don’t. It’s better to leave this one open to possibilities.

In the meantime, I continue my quest with vamp novels. It was hard not to notice that in most cases vampires in contemporary prose are described as something dangerous but also unavoidably alluring. They are deadly, dangerous but, oh, so sexy. And the heroine always has a love affair with one or more of the ‘dark ones’.
Somehow, they’ve acquired reputation of something desired. If you can win the love of a vamp you are undoubtedly cool, and the world is at your feet. It is the ultimate prize.
Perhaps we have too little danger in our protected, safe lives of civilized people. Thing is, what if these glorified, drop-dead gorgeous monsters suddenly turn out to be all too real? Modern culture has rendered us incautious, unaware to them. Unprotected. Easy prey. I’m not saying anything, I’m not even assuming. It just provokes some thinking.