By day, they sleep in coffins. At night, they hunt. Their prey? Humans.
We're talking about vampires, of course; the fanged-sort that drink blood and have appeared in folklore for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in cultures spanning the globe.
“The idea of vampires is worldwide,” says Jonathan Weiss, folklorist, historian and founder of Jonathan Weiss Tours in New Orleans. “It’s estimated that well over 98 percent of all the cultures that exist — or ever have existed — have vampire legends in them.”
It begs the question: Are vampires real?
When it comes to the kind of vampires portrayed in popular movies like "Twilight" or Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula," the answer is no. Humans don't have immortality or supernatural powers. And they certainly don't turn into blood-sucking monsters after being bitten on the neck.
That said, vampires aren't entirely relegated to fiction either.
“If you strip down folklore and just come up with a standard set of facts, vampires very well could be real,” Weiss says.
To learn more, TODAY.com spoke to Weiss and other experts who weigh in on the history, facts and folklore behind these mythical creatures, the possibility of their existence, as well as suggesting where vampires might hang out if they actually were real.
Read on to find out the answer and everything else you've ever wanted to know about the undead.
The history of vampires
The idea of vampire-like creatures feasting on human blood has been around for thousands of years. According to Joseph Laycock, professor of religious studies at Texas State University, the myth first gained foothold in Eastern Europe
And while vampire folklore isn't really new, the word “vampire” is, relatively speaking, according to Laycock.
“The first instance that we have of the word ‘vampire’ in English is actually from the 1700s and described merchants who engaged in price-gouging,” he tells TODAY.com.
Vampires became more mainstream in after author John William Polidori published “The Vampyre,” in 1819, a fictional story loosely based on the womanizing Lord Byron. It was the first of its kind to make vampires seem aristocratic and seductive, not unlike Lord Byron himself.
Nearly 80 years later, Bram Stoker published the famed novel “Dracula,” which is said to be loosely based on Vlad the Impaler, a real-life Romanian prince who had a thirst for bloody warfare.
Unlike Polidori's sexy vampire, Stoker's Count Dracula was downright appalling. “He has hairy palms, bad breath and he’s more like a corpse," Laycock explains.
In the end, it was Bela Lugosi's portrayal of the bloodsucker in the 1931 film “Dracula,” that established the modern-day vampire we know today and many of the legends associated with it.
Of course, we'd be remiss not to mention Stephenie Meyer's beloved “Twilight” series, which ushered in Edward, Bella and a whole new era of vampires that sparkle in the sunlight and enjoy playing baseball during thunderstorms.
Famous vampires in pop culture
While Bela Lugosi's “Dracula” may set the bar for many of the vampire portrayals that came after, plenty of other vampires in pop culture have helped to create today's image of the fictional monster.
Included among them is Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie adaptation of Stoker’s “Count Dracula.” Starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves, the film picked up four Oscar nominations in its faithful portrayal of the 1897 novel.
Another fan favorite is “The Lost Boys,” a campy 1987 movie about a gang of murderous young vampires that take over the fictional California beach town of Santa Carla.
After becoming a bestselling book in the 1970s, Anne Rice's “Interview with the Vampire” was turned into a feature film in 1994, famously causing a stir among fans after Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise were cast as beloved vampire characters, Louis and Lestat.
Along with the serious and seriously spooky vampire portrayals, there've also been plenty of humorous takes on the bloodsuckers over the years.
There's “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the 1992 film about a teenage vampire hunter, as well as “What We Do in the Shadows,” the hilarious 2014 mockumentary chronicling a group of vampire roommates and their mundane battles over whose turn it is to take out the garbage (it spawned a 2019 TV series by the same name).
And, naturally, the aforementioned “Twilight” series, which produced six books and five movies, leading to a whole new generation of vampire (rather, Edward Cullen) fans.
Are vampires real?
Now that you’re up to speed on vampire history and lore, it’s time to answer the question: Are vampires real?
Yes and no. The sort of vampires that have eternal life and supernatural powers simply don't exist. Period. However, if you consider people who drink the blood of others for pleasure, then the answer is yes.
A 2015 survey conducted by the Atlanta Vampire Alliance have found that there are at least 5,000 people in the United States who identify as real vampires.
Known as “sanguines,” they are people who have blood fetishes and participate in various blood-related activities. Others simply identify themselves as vampires and, like the fictional creatures, avoid sunlight and drink human blood from donors.
There are also psychic, or energy, vampires that feed in a completely different way.
“They steal the energy off the living,” Weiss explains. “Some people just don’t create energy that people normally make for themselves.” As a result, they they take it from other people to feel complete.
You probably come in contact with plenty of psychic or energy vampires every day without even knowing it. But if you've ever seen the TV show, "What We Do in the Shadows," you might remember that the character, Colin Robinson, is an energy vampire, tirelessly (and amusingly) boring everyone to death with inane conversation then "feeding" off their misery at having to continue to listen to him.
Where — or how — do you find vampires?
Blood-drinking vampires can be found, at least in mythology, on six of the seven continents, according to Weiss.
“It seems to be a worldwide thing and there are different forms, across different cultures.”
While it's hard to know exactly where vampires would live if they were real, nearly everyone agrees that New Orleans is a good place to start. “The idea of vampires in New Orleans is a very, very old concept,” Weiss explains. Believed to have been built on cursed ground, New Orleans has long been known as a city steeped in mysticism, voodoo and the occult.
New Orleans is also the backdrop of author Anne Rice’s bestselling book “Interview with the Vampire,” a novel Laycock says had a huge influence on vampire subculture after its release in 1976.
But does that make New Orleans a vampire haven? Do the undead walk the streets at night hunting victims in the Big Easy?
“Something a lot of people don’t realize is exactly how many strange disappearances that New Orleans has in just the past few decades,” Weiss says. But does he attribute them to the occult?
“Oh God, yes,” he says. “There’s always been a huge occult influence in New Orleans. It’s always just been accepted.”
Whether those disappearances have anything to do with vampires is up for debate. But according to Weiss, strange things — things we don’t necessarily want to know about — occur all the time.
“I always say New Orleans smiles at you but never shows its teeth, because if you saw its teeth you’d probably never come back again.”
