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20. Folklore vampires can become vampires not only through a bite, but also if they were once a werewolf, practiced sorcery, were excommunicated, committed suicide, were an illegitimate child of parents who were illegitimate, or were stillborn or died before baptism. In addition, anyone who has eaten the flesh of a sheep killed by a wolf, was a seventh son, was the child of a pregnant woman who was looked upon by a vampire, was a nun who stepped over an unburied body, had teeth when they were born, or had a cat jump on their corpse before being buried could also turn into vampires.

21. In vampire folklore, a vampire initially emerges as a soft blurry shape with no bones. These are “bags of blood” with red, glowing eyes and, instead of a nose, a sharp snout that they suck blood with. If it can survive for 40 days, it will then develop bones and a body and become much more dangerous and difficult to kill.

22. In some vampire folktales, vampires can marry and move to another city where they take up jobs suitable for vampires, such as butchers. That they become butchers may be based on the analogy that butchers are descendants of the “sacrificer.”

23. Certain regions in the Balkans believed that fruit, such as pumpkins or watermelons, would become vampires if they were left out longer than 10 days or were not consumed by Christmas. Vampire pumpkins or watermelons generally were not feared because they do not have teeth. A drop of blood on a fruit’s skin is a sign that it is about to turn into a vampire.

24. Mermaids can also be vampires — instead of sucking blood, they suck out the breath of their victims.

25. Some historians argue that Prince Charles is a direct descendant of the Vlad the Impaler.

(Reprinted with the permission of RandomHistory.com.)

Popular culture reflects a society’s prevailing attitudes and perspectives at a given time, its notable distinction from high art that it’s changeable, influenced by media, and often urban-based. As such, vampire lore has been reinterpreted to suit the needs of each creator. For instance, that sunlight can kill vampires is a fairly modern invention, possibly started by the U.S. government to scare superstitious guerrillas in the Philippines during the 1950s. This was borrowed by authors such as Anne Rice. Recently, authors like Stephenie Meyer have subverted the genre further. Garlic, holy items, and sunlight don’t harm her vampires, traits that will undoubtedly be carried forward into other adaptations of the vampire persona. And Hollywood’s vampires are typically pale, beautiful, and aristocratic, whereas in the days before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, vampires were often peasants, shapeless “bags of blood,” not the charismatic, six-pack-ab vampires roaming the courtyards of suburban high schools.

Even Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jason Stackhouse, has his own, slightly fanboyish theory. He thinks the popularity of vampires is due to the fact that they’re relatable, “unlike a superhero who, to me, seems out of our reach,” he says. Psychologist Andrew Bates adds that vampire stories were created at a time when it wasn’t possible to write about sex, which is how he explains the erotic metaphors associated with vampirism, “although,” he adds, “they’ve had to face some pretty grim ironic retelling along the way.” Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones drives even deeper, noting in his essay “On the Nightmare” that vampires are symbolic of our edgy emotions — love, guilt, anger — that are employed when a loved one dies. We yearn for their return, he explains, and yearn for them to want the same.

The vampire is also our communal “go-to” creature in times of great loss and vulnerability. For instance, when U.S. President George Bush declared a New World Order after the fall of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe, his strongest opponents created Operation Vampire Killer 2000 (with Bush painted as the vampire), designed to hinder police