August 2, 2002

8:16 AM

Teenage vampire found guilty of murder.Last November a Welsh 17-year old stabbed a neighbour to death, removed her heart & drank her blood in a bid for immortality. He was sentenced to life imprisonment today.
posted by i_cola (32 comments total)

He's going to be there a loooooooong time. [Sorry, somebody had to say it.]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:19 AM on August 2, 2002

Dammit. I thought when Giles went back to the UK, he was going to take care of these things.
posted by Tin Man at 8:24 AM on August 2, 2002

My favourite part of the story is where it took place.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch

Is ceiriog around, to pronounce it for us?
posted by Marquis at 8:30 AM on August 2, 2002

Do you people know any of these vampirism fans? I have an old classmate who calls himself a vampire, and goes clubbing at night in a black trench coat with goth makeup and vampire teeth. Whether he's indulged himself in the culture as deeply as the linked teenage lifer is doubtful, though.
posted by brownpau at 8:34 AM on August 2, 2002

There was a large group of people at my college who were into Vampire roleplaying. I was always afraid when I had to walk past the cs building lounge on Monday nights...

:::shudder:::
posted by catfood at 8:37 AM on August 2, 2002

Marquis: The last 3 syllables could be mispronounced 'go, go, goth'. Which is kinda appropriate...
posted by i_cola at 8:39 AM on August 2, 2002

So wait...that's NOT the way to immortality? Damn, so all that Buffy-rerun-watching was for naught...

As an aside, I just stumbled upon this "fantastic" (and seemingly non-ironic) Page-o-Violence "fight club." A bit of VyRiZ' history:

"Born from the netherworld of the Dark Lotus, VyRiZ is a dark angel of Khaos magic. As an agent of Khaos VyRiZ joins the Mortal Kombat/Fight Club competition called Page-O-Violence. Here, the vamperic demon seeks for the lord of Shangri-La while enjoying the blood, pain, and sweat of combat."

Quality.
posted by tpl1212 at 8:40 AM on August 2, 2002

just once, I'd like to see a vampire dressed in something bright and summery.
posted by UncleFes at 8:40 AM on August 2, 2002

Did someone say "go goth"?
posted by brownpau at 8:42 AM on August 2, 2002

Coincidentally, I saw this in the paper the other day:

Alternate selves come out to play - Wednesday July 31, 2002 - Kitchener Record

Waterloo By Night is a variation on traditional fantasy role-playing games, called live action role playing.

Instead of using the cards and dice of popular games such as Dungeons and Dragons, about 40 players get into character and create their own vampire community.

Players from as far as Pennsylvania have travelled to play at Waterloo by Night, and the K-W players often take part in games in Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston.

The players stress that Waterloo By Night -- which is in its eighth year -- doesn't condone actual vampire or occult behaviour.

Occasionally, a player becomes consumed by his character, Gilroy said.

But players who forget the difference between the game and reality are shown the door pretty quickly, he said.

"It's difficult for all the other players if there's a person who's off their rocker," Gilroy said.
posted by Stuart_R at 8:46 AM on August 2, 2002

You would never expect to attract strange vampire-people to fantasy role-playing, I know, but during the period when I operated a MUD, one of my staff-members eventually had to be let go because he was creeping me out. He talked about "feeding on the energies of others", and of being "sapped". I occasionally wonder if he ever found help, or if he's still out there somewhere, wearing a cloak. Stories like this one make me uneasy.

I have a couple of friends who do live-action Vampire: The Masquerade at a bar, once a month. Harmless fun, seems to me.
posted by Marquis at 8:48 AM on August 2, 2002

I quite like Brian Lumley's take on the vampire as a disgusting, leech-like, parasitic interloper. It's a great corrective to all this "vampires are sexy and tortured" nonsense. Yes, you'll live forever and have strange powers over men and women, but you'll have a bloody great lump of protoplasm living inside you and sending little tendrils of itself into every corner of your body. It's sort of like a tapeworm, but much, much worse. Bleech.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 8:51 AM on August 2, 2002

Also, because it's Friday:

What's Your Vampire Name?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:05 AM on August 2, 2002

brownpau: some of the people that call themselves real vampires actually do consume other's (a donor's or lovers') blood, it's a fetish, a craving, and not necessarily a goth thing. See also The Vampire Church, which used to be a gathering of bloody serious people regarding this matter.
posted by Icestorm at 9:05 AM on August 2, 2002

This reminds me of the old "slaughterhouse" story I heard in grade school: appearently, there was a small circle of fetishists who thought vampire bats were real vampires. Inspired by the example of such lesser mammals, this group had purportedly bribed an employee of a meat packing plant into supplying them with cattle blood, which they drank from wine glasses in the hopes of becomming immortal. What they succeeded in doing, however, was killing themselves with an outbreak of hepatitis B.

For years, I was content to shrug it off as another urban legend, but given that there are some folks who are culpable enough to consider that stupid, I figured it wouldn't be long before some (actual) Darwin Award would arise under similar circumstances.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:12 AM on August 2, 2002

...which used to be a gathering of bloody serious people regarding this matter.

Or should that be '...which used to be a gathering of bloody, serious people regarding this matter.'

;-)
posted by i_cola at 9:20 AM on August 2, 2002

It's actually rather interesting to see the progression of the Vampire from monster to sensualist. Oddly, its all thanks to Lord Byron. (shameless self-link..)
posted by Perigee at 9:21 AM on August 2, 2002

In a separate case which attracted widespread attention in Britain, a German couple were sentenced to lengthy jail sentences in January after they killed a friend by stabbing him 66 times in a Satanic ritual.

One of the killers, 23-year-old Manula Ruda, said she had acquired a taste for vampirism during a visit to London, where she attended "bite parties" at which people voluntarily had blood sucked from their veins. [ article ]
posted by Stuart_R at 9:26 AM on August 2, 2002

If only these kind of fanatics knew they could become a vampire through rabies...
posted by nemesis at 9:46 AM on August 2, 2002

PinkStainlessTail: I agree that the Necroscope series is great, if not a tad bit graphic at time.
posted by Mick at 9:54 AM on August 2, 2002

Oooohhh bloody hell.... who forgot to bring the Tabasco? Mary?
posted by wiredgonzo at 11:04 AM on August 2, 2002

Dorks.

Killer dorks, but still.
posted by beth at 11:56 AM on August 2, 2002

I don't want to act like the killjoy or anything, but this bastard killed an old woman and mutilated her body. Vampirism be fucked.
posted by Summer at 11:57 AM on August 2, 2002

Weird timing.. I just watched The Lost Boys *again* last night.

"My own brother, a God-damned, shit-sucking, Vampire - Ooh, you wait 'til Mom find out!"

On a serious note, imagine how you would feel as a parent if the child you had thoughtfully nurtured suddenly needed to drink blood to "survive".
posted by sonicgeeza at 12:31 PM on August 2, 2002

A contradiction in terms and a concept whose time will never come: Gothic Summer Wear. Right up there with Womens Islamic Swimsuits.
posted by y2karl at 1:33 PM on August 2, 2002

OK, Vampire Girl Pedal Pushers or Capris.
posted by y2karl at 1:35 PM on August 2, 2002

I have a coworker who claims to be one of these vampires.... she eats pizza a lot for lunch. I'm confused.
posted by bradth27 at 1:47 PM on August 2, 2002

Maybe she get's it from Transylvania Pizza? (scroll down to bottom)
posted by UncleFes at 2:27 PM on August 2, 2002

bradth27: Maybe she's a vegetarian vampire?
posted by Stuart_R at 2:54 PM on August 2, 2002

Y2karl-
I've seen pictures of goth swimware in a magazine. There seemed to be two choices, 1) Extremely tiny spiderweb bikini and 2) Black (apparently crushed velvet) dress.

I've also heard of what Islamic female swimmers do. They swim in their clothes, although I'm not sure if they use the veil. If I remember right it was in a Smithsonian magazine, and the author commented that they were rather slow, but they did seem to be quite dedicated. Of course, it was an all-girl swim-team, and no men were allowed anywhere near-by while they swam.
posted by stoneegg21 at 3:29 PM on August 2, 2002

Ahem:

The Real Vampire Directory - The Official Search Engine of The Vampire Community Network

The New Jersey Association of Real Vampires

Queer Vampyre website

Piercing The Darkness: Undercover With Vampires In America Today by Katherine Ramsland

Event Horizon: Flashpoint Transcript: Katherine Ramsland 11/19/98

Polish Vampire Support Page

Katherine Ramsland: Vampire Junction

Interview With A [Vampire] Community Leader

St. Louis After Dark - Real Vampire Discussion Forums

The Bat Room - New Orleans Vampire Bar

Blood Sucking Dykes

Things I Will Do If I Am Ever the Vampire
posted by y2karl at 11:33 PM on August 2, 2002

I know what name, just to be geeky. I'm pretty sure it's pronounced chhlan far poch win gilgo garey win drobo chhlantisilio gogogoch. Could be wrong though. It means town with the chruch by the big red rock or something like that.
posted by Lame_Dave at 7:43 AM on August 4, 2002