# Question about strangulation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080 "2011-02-11T23:59:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/21 "2011-02-14T06:11:29Z")
I thought the bite alone was sufficient to cause immortality. More like an infection than a transfusion. So did vampires kill some people by sucking out all their blood, and ‘convert’ others by pumping some in? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/22 "2011-02-14T13:23:03Z")
If you drink enough of the vampire’s blood you become a vampire (in many of the common mythos, and in my own story). Vampires feed by drinking human blood, but they don’t have to drink enough to kill you. ETA: I think you may be thinking of werewolves, where being bitten by one and surviving causes you to become one. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/23 "2011-02-14T13:54:53Z")
If becoming a vampire can heal it, how about a broken neck? That’s obviously lethal or severely crippling damage that even a layman vampire can likely recognize. And it’s the sort of damage a sufficiently brutal man could plausibly inflict with bare hands. > [@OpalCat](#): > > ETA: I think you may be thinking of werewolves, where being bitten by one and surviving causes you to become one. I’ve seen the “get bitten and you become a vampire” idea on occasion as well. _Love At First Bite_ for example; bitten three times, become a vampire. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/24 "2011-02-14T15:12:31Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > … Vampires feed by drinking human blood, but they don’t have to drink enough to kill you… Yeah, like ex-wives, they need to leave you alive for future feasts. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/25 "2011-02-14T15:21:30Z")
But if they don’t kill you, do you become a vampire? Or do they have to do something else special to make you a vampire? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080/26 "2011-02-14T15:35:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > But if they don’t kill you, do you become a vampire? Or do they have to do something else special to make you a vampire? Well, as pointed out one classic method dating back at least to Bram Stoker is a blood exchange. The vampire drinks from the mortal, then the mortal drinks from the vampire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-strangulation/571080.md?page=1)