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The disease porphyria has been speculatively linked with the vampirism myth, based on a number of superficial resemblances between the symptoms of porphyria and attributes of mythical vampires. However, these claims are generally considered to be false and based on a misunderstanding of the nature of porphyria, and have been abandoned by those who first proposed them.
To some extent contemporary consumers of blood appeal to myths about vampires for legitimacy.
Vampiric legends have abounded throughout history and are sometimes intermixed with legends of cannibalism, although "true vampires" are generally considered to be mythological, certainly a number of people have not only believed in vampires, but believed they they themself were a vampire.
It is sometimes argued that energy may be harvested through not only through blood, but through any number of sources of spiritual or psychological "energy".
During January of 2003, mobs in Malawi stoned to death one individual and attacked four others, including Governor Eric Chiwaya, due to a belief that the government is colluding with vampires.
See: Vampire, Vampire fiction, Dracula, Anne Rice, Carmilla. Bram Stoker, Nosferatu, Vlad the Impaler
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump