These are not fictional tales, but expert investigations of real people who were thought by their neighbors and others to be vampires-often with good reason. Providing background on Vlad the Impaler (the original Dracula) and other European members of this unholy clan, this book is based on extensive on-site research in Romania and environs. Also included is a survey of movie and TV treatments of vampires, as well as discussions of what habits and diseases might cause a person to be thought to be an evil immortal-and some of the rituals humans have undertaken to rid themselves of these creatures.