I'm bored. So another post.

Do Vampires Still Exist?

There is little tangible evidence available on the existence of Vampires, and undue weight has to be placed on circumstantial evidence.

1. Every occurrence of human combustion - especially 'spontaneous' combustion - needs thorough examination. In practice, this is patchy and details often emerge too late for firm conclusions to be drawn.

A trickle of reports has arisen in Eastern and Central Europe, most provided by professional Vampire hunters. Several isolated reports have come from urban areas in the USA - 50% of these in New York.

2. Vampire-Typical injury reports (neck bites, severe bleeding from small wounds), also need investigation. This is almost impossible, as no health service categorises wounds in a useful way - and victims often go to great lengths to disguise or deny such injury.

3. Exsanguination deaths and missing bodies: A significant number of such events have occurred in key locations; reports of body snatching have continued, some with no evidence of external assistance, and few with any possible motive for such theft.

4. Vampire sightings have increased in recent years; this may be in part due to unwelcome and inaccurate televisual displays - a badly educated public is in increasing danger, and compounds this by false reports

Verification is difficult, but there is sufficient circumstantial evidence, and individual experiences, to assert that not only do Vampires still exist - but they are thriving.

Are Vampires Evil?

Not necessarily; vampires just "are"; as a lion is not evil when it kills a zebra, so a vampire is not evil for feeding off a person; living creatures do what they must to survive. The consensus is, however, that for the most part, Vampires are "not very nice".

However, like the fox killing all the chickens in the hen house, rather than just the one, some Vampires are particularly unpleasant - and as they have intelligence, those that choose such a lifestyle are probably evil. Just as some humans are evil ...

How Do Vampires Survive?

The advance of technology must pose a threat to the vampire; bureaucracy, finger print identification and security photography may force vampires to finally decide whether to risk life within the 'normal' community - or to survive in the netherworld of the drug and crime community, illegal immigrants and the homeless: they must be tempted to want the advantages of each, without the disadvantages of either. I suspect a fear of the tightly-ordered modern world will make the decision for them.

Long life brings opportunities and knowledge; a stable community has the chance - and the need - to plan for the long term. Legends of lonely castles and huge empty estates are probably close to the truth.

The modern equivalent would be the Swiss bank account, the off-shore trust ... but still an emphasis on property, the safest deposit of them all - and the one vital to the Vampire life style.