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Our current ideas about supernatural creatures called vampires
and werewolves come primarily from entertainment sources: the Dracula movies
of the last 40 years; the books of Anne Rice; and the world created by the
popular shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.”
According to the myth, vampires are demons who inhabit
the body of a human. They need to drink blood to stay alive; they’re
very strong; they can live forever; but they can be killed by sunlight, a
wooden stake through the heart, or being exposed to religious symbols like
crosses or holy water. Oh, and they can turn other people into vampires if
they want.
Werewolves are creatures who turn into ferocious and dangerous wolves when
the moon is full. A person bitten by a werewolf becomes one, also, and then
he or she can only be killed while a wolf by a silver bullet.
It’s possible that these monsters of movies, TV, and books got their
start in the real world. According to a great book by James Watkins called “Death
and Beyond” (Tyndale, 1993), researchers at the University of British
Columbia studied a rare disease called porphyria. Victims of this illness can’t
produce heme, the red pigment in blood hemoglobin.
They believe some early sufferers tried to alleviate their symptoms by drinking
blood. In addition, without that substance in their blood, these people are
painfully sensitive to light. Sunlight causes sores that deform their hands;
the skin of the face gets thin and tight, causing the teeth to stick out. And
the body tries to protect itself with increased (wolf-like?) hair growth.
Finally, these poor people are also violently allergic
to garlic. It’s
possible that the legends grew out of a real-world illness.
The Bible, of course, teaches that demons are very real
and that they can, in fact, possess unbelievers, making them violent and
giving them supernatural strength. However, the Bible doesn’t ever
talk about these people living unnaturally long lives.
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