Unfortunately, no mortal can ever ask the king of vampires, Bela Lugosi, whether or not drinking bloodis healthy because the man has been dead for quite a while by most standards. However, his celluloid image is immortal, representing the darker aspects of humanity as illuminated by the brilliant imagination of authorBram Stoker. But what about imbibing blood as a nutrient? We need it to live and die if we lose too much of it. Why then, shouldn’t it be apart of our diets, like vitamins or spinach or something like that? Read on for some very strange answers.
Why do so many people drink blood?
While there might be just a few of us who might think of vampires as having the optimum life style (sleep late, never die etc), for most of us mortals sucking and drinking blood remains a bit distasteful in more ways than one. Despite this, vampirism and blood-feeding are more common than one might think. According to Georgia Tech researcher, John Edgar Browning, many ordinary people drink human blood on a regular basis.
In his own words: “… I don’t think it’s a fad. Their symptoms and behavior are a genuine mystery.”
Small vampire communities exist in most of the world’s major cities.
According to DJ Williams, a sociologist at Idaho State University, vampires come from all walks of life.
Although there are some that sport black capes, wear fangs and sleep in coffinsmany more take very little interest in the vampire trappings so heavily personified in cinema and books. Before the accessibility offered by cyber space, these groups were very few and far between, but now they thrive via a myriad of underground networks.
They are suspicious of outsiders and hide from the judgmental eyes of theworld at large. Although some do speak in strange tongues, fear mirrors and the sign of the cross, most live very mundane lives.
Some believe that drinking blood can cure certain ills.
According to Tomas Ganz at the University of California Los Angeles, drinking blood may well render a placebo (psychological) effect and true relief from what has been described as extreme fatigue, severe headaches and stomach cramps.
Ganz states that: “This effect can be further enhanced if there is a ritual component associated with the ingestion, and if the individual feels a sense of some kind of exclusivity.” He believes further that combined with the fact that “blood is highly nutritious and a natural laxative,” it may well have a palliative affect.
Believe it or not, apparently, blood comes in a diversity of flavors. These depend upon blood group, diet, and whether or not the donor has been drinking enough water.
When Shakespeare wrote that there were “more things in heaven and earth, my dear Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” he really wasn’t kidding!
