During The Spanish & Papal Inquisitions, the Catholic Church stated that it did not believe in the existence of either werewolves or vampires yet many people were burned at the stake by the Inquisition for either being werewolves, being accused of being werewolves or thinking that they were werewolves. This was particularly the case in France. Werewolves are not just found in European folklore. They can also be found in the folklore & legends of the Native Americans.

   There are rare & rarely mentioned instances of the werewolf being associated with the High Priest (Man in Black) of the Witches coven. Lycanthropy is when a human voluntarily changes into a wolf. The oldest report of lycanthropy comes from ancient Greece and involves the displeasure of Zeus towards Lycaon. Lycaon pissed of Zeus & got changed into a wolf for his trouble. The cause of lycanthropy is also sometimes linked to a rejection of Christianity. In some cultures young warriors were ritually dressed in wolf pelts in an attempt to change them into wolves which was at that time admired as a warrior animal. The wolf later became a source of fear because they attacked both people & livestock.

    The vampire is also a part of European folklore. It was once commonly believed that suicides became vampires. Vampires were also known for transforming themselves into wolves, bats, rats & other creatures. One could also reject Christianity & become a vampire. Common physical traits linked to vampirism were “a widow’s peak,” excessively long canines, thirst for blood, excessive thirst, & others. Interestingly enough, my maternal Grandfather was diabetic & excessive thirst is also a symptom of diabetes. Coincidence or not?

   Modern vampire lore is reputedly based upon the legend of Vlad the Impaler & is Romanian in origin. Vlad the Impaler was the Prince of Wallachia. He had his inheritance stolen from him by his half-brother. Vampirism is also a part of the lore of other cultures. It is rumored that the biological children of vampires naturally become vampire hunters. There are few rumors that state that vampires can bear and/or beget children. Vampires have long been considered the “undead.” They are dead but yet live and inhabit a physical body. I actually a modern vampire hunter. He is my younger adult half-brother. His name is William Joseph Green. He tried to steal my inheritance. He is not the only one.

Author: M. Green, 2008

“The gift of eternal life”…

   The gift of eternal life is promised to Christians in the Bible but nowhere in the Bible does it say that the gift of eternal life is not due to the bite of a vampire…  Vampires are not Christian and whomever they bestow immortality upon change their belief system to something other than Christianity… Hmmm. Am I missing something?

   The Catholic Church has the reputation of executing accused vampires as well as those who claim to be vampires. If vampires existed & the Catholic Church executed real vampires then there’d be nobody to bestow the “gift of eternal life” (immortality) upon them so they’d just die and stay dead… Isn’t that kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face? Hmmm. Dying & staying dead does not sound like much fun to me… Is there a thirsty vampire in the house?

   Catholics and other Christians have no problem believing that someone can walk on water, turn water into wine, cast out demons, be resurrected from the dead, perform miracles, and other things but they seem to have difficulty believing that someone can be a vampire, turn water into wine, be resurrected from the dead, crawl up & down walls and other things… Fascinating… (Snicker. Snicker.)

   Catholics don’t believe in the Magic Power of Witchcraft or werewolves either but winemaking is not all that difficult. A little bit of this and a little bit of that and voila you have wine. I made honey mead (a type of wine) so I might know. (Snicker. Snicker.) 20% mead is some potent stuff, I kid thee not but then life is full of little absurdities… My mead recipe is patented/copyrighted by the way…and so is my recipe for making gold from baser metals. At one point the English government was seeking people to copyright their recipes for transmutating (changing) baser metals into gold. Better late than never or at least I think so… A little bit of this and a little bit of that…

   I’m not a Christian but I made mead (honey wine.) Maybe I’m even bragging… I’ll never tell. (Snicker. Snicker.) A belief in the existence & power of vampires, werewolves & witches is not any more absurd than a naïve belief in miracles or a savior to perform them. In point of fact, nothing is more absurd than atheism ( a belief in nothing.) Everything is absurd. Now you know. If one thing is absurd then they all are..

Gen. 1:1

In the beginning there was absurdity…

Author: M. Green, 2008

   This is an open letter to anyone named Dracul, Dracula, Tepes or Dragon:

To whom it may concern,

   You don’t know me but I felt I should write to you about a particular matter that might be important or might become important. I am the eldest child. My parents divorced shortly after I was born. I am the only child they had together though they each have other children by other spouses.

   I have a naïve & rude adult half-brother who has been trying to locate someone with your name because he is looking for Dracula, as in Count Dracula the vampire. He mentioned paying a visit to them if he ever located anybody with your name. I do not know his exact intentions. He says he is a vampire hunter. Traditionally, in movies at least, vampire hunters strive to end the existence of vampires by driving a stake through their heart. I do not know that this is not his intention. His name is William Joseph Green. I am his older sister.

   I collect books about vampires. I am a student of folklore, mysticism & the occult. I am a practicing Pagan. I am also Wiccan. I sometimes watch vampire movies for fun. When I was a child, I would sometimes pretend to be a vampire & my half-brother would pretend to be a vampire hunter. At other times he would pretend to be a vampire & I would pretend to be a vampire hunter.

   I sometimes still dress up in a costume on Halloween. I may dress like a vampire sometime in the future on Halloween. I’ve already dressed like a witch one Halloween and The Phantom of the Opera another time. I do not believe in the existence of actual blood sucking vampires. I might wish they actually exist but I do not believe they do.

   My weird half-brother seems to think that he will find me at your house because of your name or he would if he knew about you. I would not dream of invading your privacy in such a rude manner because we don’t know each other. I do find it interesting that your name is what it is though & I might like to know more about your family heritage if you’re willing to share the information.

   I am enclosing some information about Dracula both factual as well as fictional. The character of “Dracula” is actually based upon the life of a real historical person. It might be interesting if you are a descendant of this historical person. I’m not asking to meet you or even converse on the telephone with you.

   I am not seeking to impose upon you in any way. My weird half-brother may be a danger to us both. I have no way of knowing for certain regardless of my suspicions. I’m hoping that I don’t sound like a crackpot. I’m not sure that my half-brother is living in reality. It is against the law to end the existence of any human being or anything that looks like one (such as a vampire.) At least to me it is illegal to end the existence of a vampire. As I said, I don’t believe that blood sucking vampires exist but if they did it would be a moral offense to end their existence or try to end their existence.

   I would be remiss if I did not tell you my suspicions regarding my weird half-brother. It would be wrong of me not to warn you of any possible danger to you that he may represent and that is the reason I’m writing this. If you’ve read to this point then I thank you for that and I wish you the best. If my half-brother shows up at your door you could always invite him to a stake dinner… I would not blame you for defending yourself against him even to the point of staking him before he can stake you.

   At the present time he does not know my whereabouts and I would prefer to keep it this way. I am estranged from my family and I want to keep it that way. It is my hope that you will respect this wish of mine if any of my estranged family should present themselves to you. None of them know where I am and I do not want them to know where I am. I hope you will respect this wish of mine. I have no desire to make myself my brother’s accomplice by not warning you of any threat to your longevity that he may pose. Wishing you safety, happiness & a long life even though my weird half-brother would be appalled if he knew I was.

Sincerely,

Michelle L. Green

P.S.  I am a direct descendant of the Radcliffe family. One member of my family was an earl and there are those who are not Radcliffes who would like to steal my thunder much like the family of Vlad the Impaler tried to steal his thunder. I am estranged from my family because they too would like to steal my thunder. I collect swords, books about witchcraft, folklore & mythology, Bibles, rock & roll memorabilia, dolls & guitars among other things. I sometimes play Age of Empires on a computer for fun. I am divorced & I plan on staying divorced.