Halloween is around the corner and fans and friends have been asking if I have any Halloween-themed photos...so here is one...from this year's Venice Carnevale, with my friends Arnaldo and Daniel visiting me at my Mystery Hotel...They are a real life couple and certainly one of the best costumers and models in Venice.
Some say that Vampirism originated in the mating of angels with mortal women, spoken of in the Bible, in the book of Genesis. Vampires are their spiritual and physical descendants.
Vampires are men and women of great beauty and attraction. Gifted with uncanny occult powers, they emanate a seductive, unearthly charisma or "presence." They exert a powerful sexual attraction over others and their admirers frequently bestow them with gifts and favours, enabling them to gather great wealth and riches. Yet, the passage of time and the gathering of wisdom has taught them to value only life, and love.
In Italy, the vampire phenomenon took on a modern identity when a “vampiric plague” hit Serbia and other lands in Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century.
In 2009, Italian researchers believe they have found the remains of a female “vampire” in Venice, buried with a brick jammed between her jaws to prevent her feeding on victims of a plague which swept the city in the 16th century. The succession of plagues which ravaged Europe between 1300 and 1700 fostered the belief in vampires, mainly because the decomposition of corpses was not well understood.
Gravediggers reopening mass graves would sometimes come across bodies bloated by gas, with hair still growing, and blood seeping from their mouths and believe them to be still alive. The shrouds used to cover the faces of the dead were often decayed by bacteria in the mouth, revealing the corpse’s teeth, and vampires became known as “shroud-eaters.”
In modern times, the vampire lifestyle, vampire subculture or vampire community (sometimes spelt as "vampyre") is an alternative lifestyle and subculture based around the mythology of and popular culture based on vampires. Those within the subculture commonly identify with or as vampires, with participants typically taking heavy inspiration from media and pop culture based of vampiric folklore and legend, such as the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and the book series The Vampire Chronicles by author Anne Rice. Practices within the vampire community range from blood-drinking from willing donors to organising groups known as 'houses' and 'courts' of self-identified vampires. Vampirism is not a cult of death but one of life and overcoming death.
"To live forever and to never die..."
During the Venice Carnevale, there are groups of Vampires that participate in the festivities, and then of course there are costumers that just dress up as vampires. They do provide wonderful photo opportunities - you just have to know where to find them...
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