Abnormally Normal
Courtesy of Universal Pictures; photograph, The Bettmann Archive
Vampire
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Characteristics
Because there is a long history of walking corpses and bloodsucking ghouls in folklore, it is difficult to pin down a distinct set of characteristics consistently attributed only to vampires. Central to vampire myth, however, is the consumption of human blood or other essence (such as bodily fluids or psychic energy), followed closely by the possession of sharp teeth or fangs with which to facilitate this task. In most depictions, vampires are “undead”—that is to say, having been somehow revived after death—and many are said to rise nightly from their graves or