# Do vampires, fairies and werewolves exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158 "2012-09-19T11:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Klisterhjernen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@Klisterhjernen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klisterhjernen)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/1 "2012-09-19T11:46:58Z")
Simple question, really. I’ve been watching a lot of True Blood lately, and now I am DYING to figure out whether vampires, fairies and/or werewolves do exist? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/2 "2012-09-19T11:54:10Z")
:dubious: In case this is a serious question: No, Virginia, there are no such things as vampires, fairies and werewolves. They are what we call “made up”. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/3 "2012-09-19T11:54:17Z")
They certainly exist in stories. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/4 "2012-09-19T11:59:27Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/5 "2012-09-19T12:06:02Z")
Well I can’t prove they don’t exist, and nor can anyone else. I for one welcome our new vampire, fairy and werewolf overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/6 "2012-09-19T12:10:44Z")
No. … But could you _imagine_!? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/7 "2012-09-19T12:27:53Z")
One might disagree with the answer “NO” vampires, certainly people who consider themselves vampires do exist. Usually mentally desterbed and nasty it has been used as a sort of pleading for leniency due to madness in murder cases (seemingly especially in Russia) Fairies, well as nature sprites the belief is popular in certain “new age” circles. But as yet no one has taken a photograph that is convincing (see Cottingley Fairies) werewolves, the odd mad person believes them selves to change literally into an animal and behave like that animal. It is recognised as a mental illness. Wolves are by no means the only animals that people think they change into notable Leopards in Africa under the influence of strong “medicine” or religious fervour. Your better off with the romantic view than the reality. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/8 "2012-09-19T12:36:14Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > One might disagree with the answer “NO” > vampires, certainly people who consider themselves vampires do exist. Usually mentally desterbed and nasty it has been used as a sort of pleading for leniency due to madness in murder cases (seemingly especially in Russia) > > Fairies, well as nature sprites the belief is popular in certain “new age” circles. But as yet no one has taken a photograph that is convincing (see Cottingley Fairies) > > werewolves, the odd mad person believes them selves to change literally into an animal and behave like that animal. It is recognised as a mental illness. Wolves are by no means the only animals that people think they change into notable Leopards in Africa under the influence of strong “medicine” or religious fervour. > > Your better off with the romantic view than the reality. Right, but a human who believes him- or herself to be a vampire (or a werewolf) isn’t a vampire (or a werewolf), but a human with a loose grip on reality. The mistaken belief itself doesn’t change the biological facts. And even if such a person was to undertake, say, a surgical operation in order to… Wait, why this sudden feeling of déjà vu? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/9 "2012-09-19T12:49:40Z")
In the documentary, [The Brotherhood of the Wolf](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237534/), it turns out: The werewolf was a trained lion in a costume. Also, Native Americans know Kung-Fu. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/10 "2012-09-19T13:32:04Z")
NO ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/11 "2012-09-19T13:36:21Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > NO Says ‘Chimera’… 😃 Interestingly enough, in [this book](http://www.amazon.com/The-Vampire-Casebook-Alan-Dundes/dp/0299159248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348061637&sr=8-1&keywords=vampire+a+casebook) edited by Alan Dundes, apparently in the 1700’s (ish, I can’t quite remember) there were some empirical tests on ‘vampires’. Rather, there were empirical tests done on corpses that the people at the time thought were vampires. So if a corpse had characteristic X, Y, and Z they were said to be a vampire. Today we know these characteristics are actually due to other factors - for instance, the appearance of the nails growing after death is due to dehydration (IIRC), **not new growth.** Good book, btw. I think the last reported case of belief in vampires was around the 1970’s. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/12 "2012-09-19T13:37:31Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > :dubious: > > In case this is a serious question: > > No, Virginia, there are no such things as vampires, fairies and werewolves. They are what we call “made up”. Yeah, but Shape Shifters… they _totally_ exist. I mean, how else could Sam Merlot change into a dog on _True Blood_? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/13 "2012-09-19T13:51:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yeah, but Shape Shifters… they _totally_ exist. I mean, how else could Sam Merlot change into a dog on _True Blood_? Obviously he was simply _cursed_. He just assumes he’s a shapeshifter. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/14 "2012-09-19T14:05:24Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > In the documentary, [The Brotherhood of the Wolf](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237534/), it turns out: > > The werewolf was a trained lion in a costume. Also, Native Americans know Kung-Fu. And a very bitchin’ documentary that was. 🙂 Then there is the documentary about a clan of fairy vampires vs. a clan of fairy wolves. No doubt a clarification of the old, long-since-debunked hack “[The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066160/)” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/15 "2012-09-19T14:15:56Z")
[Cecil addressed the issue](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1321/did-vampires-suffer-from-the-disease-porphyria-or-not) of whether real-life “vampires” could be people suffering from porphyria. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/16 "2012-09-19T14:23:04Z")
Of course they exist. What do you people think? That someone just made them up? Yet people still believe in totally fictional creations like eskimos and kangaroos. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/17 "2012-09-19T14:37:48Z")
Werewolves in the traditional sense don’t exist, but [hypertrichosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrichosis) does. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/18 "2012-09-19T14:38:01Z")
“You’re living a fantasy. There is no Easter Bunny. There is no Tooth Fairy. There is no Queen of England.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/19 "2012-09-19T16:14:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > “You’re living a fantasy. There is no Easter Bunny. There is no Tooth Fairy. There is no Queen of England.” There ain’t no Cecil Adams either. (Although he sometimes dresses as the Queen of England. And the Tooth Fairy.) ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158/20 "2012-09-19T17:55:25Z")
No, but I have it on good authority that the a robot once fought an Aztec mummy and a luchador. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-vampires-fairies-and-werewolves-exist/635158.md?page=2)