Taken from: TheRed Cellar
I first came across the Online Vampire Community in 1999, while researching the Therian and Otherkin communities as a child. I was looking for explanations for the “trans-species” body dysmorphia that has been with me most of my life, and the two communities existed at the time and continue to exist in relative close proximity.
My reaction to a cursory evaluation of the “Real Vampire” website was a somewhat self conscious “Pfft…People who think they’re VAMPIRES? Come on, now.”….after which I continued reading theories about animal souls being misplaced and trapped in human bodies (yes, with a slightly uncomfortable feeling of hypocrisy).
My Therianthropy stayed with me, though, after initial research into theories. With the exception of occasional re-visitation for the reassurance that at least what I was feeling was not unique, I largely did not look back at the online Therian/Otherkin community. The offered explanations of spiritual causes did not resonate with my critical perspective. The claims of access to supernatural realms or possession of special powers or physical abilities beyond the norm they attributed to this “Other-species” condition bestowed upon me more self-doubt than they did comfort. I could not identify with a belief system that supported such claims which went against my own personal sense of logic and intuition which, from my perspective, devalued and discredited the community behind them.
Skip ahead to 2003. I’m sitting in my school’s computer lab feeding the google search bar with every variation of “Human+Blood+Drinking” I can fathom and I spend several hours sifting through anthropological articles describing ceremonies of isolated primitive tribes, medical papers describing safety risks of including blood in the human diet, cultural histories of blood drinking, mythologies, and articles about various hematophagous insects and other critters who’s prey included humans. These were the days only a scant few years before National Geographic started featuring human blood drinkers on shows like “Taboo”, and it was literally HOURS before my young mind finally thought to plug in the word
“Vampire”.