Well here's another nutty story for this nutty thread...

WHen I was about 21 I went to a Hallowe'en party in an old farmhouse. Lots of people drinking and indulging themselves with various other mind-bending substances. A young not-so-talented guitar-playing friend of mine was having the time of his life belting out old Jimi Hendrix tunes at the top of his lungs. He just wouldn't quit, even after he'd been threatened by a couple big growly (but obviously not deaf) bikers and clearing the room a couple times.

I'd stuck around, trying to talk him into moving the "concert" outdoors or taking an intermission or something, but he just wouldn't listen to reason. So I finally gave up and left him to his own devices. WHen I tried to find him again in the crowd a while later, he seemed to have just disappeared or something.

NExt day I ran into him downtown. I never saw someone change appearance so drastically overnight! He was white as a sheet. His eyes were glazed, seemed twice as big as usual, just bulging out of his head. He grabbed my arm, pulled me aside and whispered "I got bitten by a vampire at that party last night". Then he pulled his hair back and showed me a pair of deep swollen bloody holes in his neck, right under his ear. I was just :-O Didn't know what to think.

He was admitted to hospital the next day, spent a couple months on the psyche ward. He's been battling "schizophrenia" ever since (or at least that's how the doctor's diagnosed his condition. "Schizophrenia" is kind of a catch-all diagnosis psychiatrists use when they can't pinpoint a better one).

I still don't know what happened that night. I can't imagine that those not-so-deaf bikers would have taken the time to carve out those neat little holes in his neck, instead of just knocking him out biker-style. I'd known Gord for a few years by then, he seemed pretty "normal", not the type to inflict that kind of damage on himself anyway. And over the next couple months a few other people DID reluctantly came forward with the same story of vampires at that party. But the whole subject was avoided, like a taboo, only spoken of in whispers.

Now I'm not much into fantasies and fairy tales, but it does seem to me that a drunken party would be a GREAT place for vampires to hang out and feed at. They'd even get a bonus buzz with their (bloody) dinners!

I've had direct experience with "psychic vampires" -- the kind of people that suck your electrical energy and leave you feeling exhausted, like you've had the wind knocked out of you, after spending time with them. But the blood-sucking Dracula type? Well, other than that VERY strange incident on Hallowe'en night with Gord, hmmmm ....

So there's my story. Sucks, eh?   ;-)

daylia