I was just watching a show about people who think they are vampires, act like vampires, admire vampires, try to contact Vlad the Impaler, and generally mess around with occult stuff like ouija boards, seances, etc. I personally would not mess around with this kind of stuff, because I think there are some things in this world better left alone. So, my question is, does anybody here mess around with this kind of dark stuff? What is everybody else’s opinion of occult, voodoo, witchcraft, vampirism, etc.? Does anybody think real vampires exist today?
I won’t touch anything that smacks of “evil.” However, I’m trying to convince my husband to try to develop our ESP.
I don’t think “real” vampires exist, but I’m sure there are plenty of weirdos out there doing the best they can to be like vampires.
Well, I wouldn’t mess around with it because it doesn’t particularly interest me. But I wouldn’t be afraid to mess with it, because I don’t believe any of it is real. And no, I’m pretty confident that there are no “real” vampires.
When i was in college, 4 of my friends and i got really caught up in this whole weird our town is run by witches kind of thing…it was freaky, and my college town was known for being haunted, and there were supposedly murders on our campus (years before we got there). It was the weirdest time of my life, although it wasn’t like the blair witch project or anything…and we didn’t sacrifice animals, but we definately put the responsability of holding seances and psychic meeting thingies on our shoulders…and there were some shady characters who would say weird things to us like…“we know what you are doing, you need to be careful” or “do you really want to know the truth about these matters”…and the time i got chased by a black dog while i was driving down the street, going at least 60 mph, and that thing kept up with me for at least 2 miles…AND I SWEAR, we weren’t on drugs…at least not the whole time.
anyway, one day one of us graduated, and we sort of refused to talk about it ever again…god i hope nothing bad happens now that i spilled the beans…if this works, i might write a book
I agree with Ferrous.
My mother refuses to allow a Ouija board into the house; she thinks it would be inviting evil. I think she’s superstitious. (Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; superstition can be fun; but I really don’t think having a Ouija board or Tarot cards in the house is gonna invite the wrath of der duyvil upon us all.)
Incidentally, I do own and use Tarot cards, but I don’t think there’s anything magic about them. I use 'em to guide my introspection. Just like the horoscopes in the paper, a Tarot spread can be interpreted to fit anyone’s situation at any time, but if you start from there and use it to look at your life from a fresh angle, then it’s done some good. My sister, on the other hand, thinks they’re some kind of fortune-telling magic, and it is HER use of the “magic” in her Tarot deck that made my mom be uneasy about bringing them into the house. :rolleyes:
Well, I imagine you’re going to get a lot of bemused responses telling you that such stuff is all completely bogus. I try not to write it off so carelessly. I’ll grant that most “paranormal” activity is probably either fake or imagined, but I won’t go so far as to claim it’s impossible that any of it can be true.
However, I am not frightened of messing with such things. I do believe very strongly that, if some unexplained phenomena really are genuine, they will fit into some model of science just like anything else. Some things may be unexplained, but nothing is inexplicable.
I think it’s counterproductive to shun such things out of fear. The number of reported cases where people were supposedly harmed by an unexplained phenomenon is very minute, even if you take into account some very questionable claims. There are a few claims of such injuries that seem quite legitimate, but still, you probably have a greater chance of being injured while doing mainstream biological research than while researching unexplained phenomena, unless you trip and fall on your Ouija planchette or something. I’ve always thought that someone being stabbed with one of those would be a great horror movie incident. Perhaps it’s already been used. But I digress.
In terms of personal experience, I have witnessed some things that appeared at very least unusual, and at most to defy any known explanation that I could come up with. Because I can’t really prove that I’m a truthful eyewitness, I’m not going to tell a big story here just to be asked for evidence that I cannot provide. But basically, my stance is that
-
I’m not really afraid of investigating unusual things.
-
I’ve seen some things that imply to me that such investigations are worthwhile.
-Andrew L
I’d have no problem ‘messing’ with it.
My only problem would be keeping a straight face.
Well said. I agree completely.
Perhaps I answered too quickly. I have known people who have experienced “paranormal” events. Since I don’t believe them to be either liars or insane, I have to grant that some things possibly do occur that are not explained by our current scientific theories. But I do firmly believe that, if such events are real, there is some physical, scientific explanation that we just haven’t found yet.
Personally, however, I think the answers will be found in neurology, rather than general physics.
I have mixed feelings about occult things, myself. On one hand, I’m fairly pragmatic, and I’m not willing to credit the occult for making things happen that can easily be explained by mental instability or coincidence. On the other hand, I’ve had a couple of very realistic, very scary dreams in which evil forces were trying to take my soul (which I fought to keep). These dreams are not exactly scientific proof that good and evil exist and oppose each other, but they scared me enough to make me not want to leave myself open to any possible evil influences. I would not have a ouija board in my house, or participate in playing with one. I don’t think anything bad would happen, but I just wouldn’t take that chance.
I’m with those who think it’s bogus. If anyone ever seriously invited me to take part in a Ouija Board session, I’d probably start rolling my eyes and doing scary voices about halfway through, just to make the others piss their pants.
As part of my protracted time-wasting at University, I actually took a course in pseudo-science and the paranormal. We were actually given some plausible scientific explanations for some “unexplainable” phenomena, such as ESP, ghosts, and telepathy. However, our professor, the skeptic, always spent some time refuting this stuff as well. When All was said and done, I resolved to not dismiss anything without being 100% sure what it is or isn’t.
To get back to the subject of this thread, I don’t believe vampires exist and I don’t believe they existed in antiquity. But I wouldn’t dismiss them entirely without conclusive evidence, nor would I join a vampire cult and start drinking other people’s blood on the off chance that messing with that shit might bring some unspeakable horror on my person and/or my soul.
I’m with Ferrous on all counts.
And Cervaise, wouldn’t it be more fun to make the Ouija Board spell out something like “gullible” instead? 
But if vampires never existed, why do we have such pervasive, persistent folklore regarding them? It seems like almost every native culture has its vampire myths.
Because, featherlou, pretty much all cultures equate blood with life. If you lose all your blood, you lose your life. Creatures who live on taking the blood from others exist in nature as it is (moquitos, vampire bats, leeches, etc.) and it wouldn’t be hard to come up with the idea of people doing the same thing.
Considering how completely different vampire legends are from one another (the only thing that they share is that vampires like to drink blood… and even then some things have been put into the category of ‘vampire’ which don’t involve blood at all), it’s a bit like asking why lots of cultures have songs.
Will such powers enable me to get my father to buy me $200 worth of new D&D figurines and manuals? If not, what’s the point?
You see the odd TV special around Halloween about these people who try to be “Vampires”. It is sooo sad. These people go so far as to get “implants” around their teeth. I really, truly find it quite pathetic. I genuinely feel really sorry for these people. Its pitiful. Trying so hard to “fit in” or be noticed… 
I don’t believe “real” vampires have ever existed, but that’s not to say that the concept can’t be troublesome.
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I played the Ouija board with the two little boys who lived next door. I had no idea it wasn’t your run of the mill board game. Hey, I was just a kid, and a sheltered one at that. I recall it told me I would die when I am 88. I had nightmares about demons and such for a month. My mom was really upset when she finally figured out why I was sleeping so poorly.
I think there is evil in this world and why submerse yourself in it?
Well, bernse, to be fair, my brother has dental fangs made up that he sometimes wears. He’s not a loon: he just likes vampire chic, same way some folks like Flapper chic.
I have, however, known folks that got way too into vampire chic, like my friend who boasted about drinking blood from one another’s wrists during sex. Don’t worry, though – I’m sure they were using condoms.
Something happened to me when I was twelve that made a big impression on me. One morning, it was cold outside and I was standing at the bus stop. I set my backpack on the ground, and when I looked up, I was surrounded by shining motes of light. I watched in utter delight for several moments as these brilliant pinpoints drifted around me, like glowing snowflakes, for all the world like something out of the movie Legend.
Eventually, they went away, but the memory remained. I had seen magic! There was no other explanation.
A couple of years later, I was in the bathroom. I finished my business and stood up – and there were the lights again! Hmm…
Eventually, I figured out what was happening. Sometimes when I stand up too quickly (or, for example, set my backpack down and then stand up straight), blood must rush from my head or something, and I get these weird optical effects. It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s often enough and in prosaic enough settings that I’m pretty sure it’s not magic.
I suspect that a lot of paranormal experiences are something like that. Folks encounter something that they have no idea how to explain, and they figure it’s magic. That doesn’t make them liars, or insane. It just means that something is going on that they’re not aware of.
Of course, I could be wrong, and frankly, I would love nothing more than to find out that I was wrong. But as I grow older, and I have fewer experiences that I can’t explain, I’ve begun to lose faith in magic.
Daniel
Daniel-it’s called an aura. Those of us with migraines get them from time to time.
I remember at Snopes someone mentioned a site about people who insisted they were vampires and drank the blood of others. Oooookay.
:rolleyes: