Vampires, Vampires, Vampires, Oh My!

Unless you live under a rock, I am sure you have noticed the craze sweeping the world right now, mostly in the teenage girl population. Twilight. Vampires. Taylor Lautner. Mostly just vampires in general. TV shows, books, movies, and almost everything else seems to be jumping on the undead bandwagon. It's everywhere. And it's driving me insane. I DO NOT ENJOY TWILIGHT. I am a die-hard Harry Potter fan. Give me hormonal teenage wizards any day over whiny sparkly teenage (but actually centuries-old) vampires and their even more annoying mortal girlfriends. I do admit that I have been known to quote Harry Potter and I still carry that faint hope that on my next birthday I will finally receive my very late Hogwarts acceptance letter. (maybe it got lost in the mail?) That sort of obsession is harmless, but it seems that with vampires, it goes way too far.
Last night, my parents, my sister, and I were watching 20/20 on abc, a sort of tradition. They always have very intriguing stories, and last night, what was on but vampires. But this was not about those screaming girls throwing themselves at Rob Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, but real, normal adults who believe they are vampires. Apparently their are a few types of vampires; they don't all drink blood. Some feed off crowds, some feed off the elements, psychic, sexual (?), etc. Then of course there are the Sanguines who are blood-suckers. Excuse me, but i really and truly thought a vampire was one of those pale, dark-haired, long-fanged creatures that do not enjoy garlic and live in Transylvania. Funny thing is, none of the "vampires" shown on the segment were any of those things. They were not normal per se, however. They were different and did not fit into society.

In fact, there are multiple underground organizations catering to the needs of these elite, few individuals. In New Orleans, where most of the video took place, there is an entire group of adults who commune to talk about their individual vampirism. There is even of Temple of the Vampire which has a Vampire Bible and an entire website if you care to research more. To be a member you have to purchase the bible and apply for a lifetime membership given that you don't engage in physical blood-drinking or criminal activity. At least they're not endangering the community. To me, this whole being-a-vampire business is just an escape for people who feel unique and need something to provide an escape. Everyone needs that , but most people just find something else that makes them confident and happy, like sports or music. If pretending to be a vampire makes people feel good, then by all means, who am i to stop them? i just hope that they realize that the vast majority of the population does not believe in anything found in fantasy novels and that they will be ostracized even more than they were to begin with. Also, I'm sure drinking blood is not the healthiest way to live life.