Anti Vampire Center

Signs of the loss of vital energy

Few would suspect that a very frequent symptom among victims of vampiric aggression is yawning. Or better yet, a series of yawns. By yawning, in fact, one attempts to regain lost energy, as popular traditions about magic teach us. Naturally to associate yawning with an encounter with a Vampire is practically impossible for someone in the year 2000; the explanations which would be given might be poor digestion, boredom, exhaustion, sleepiness, but never an act of psychological assault.

Vampiric aggression, involving an appropriation of vital energy, always leaves heavy traces in the victim, even if the latter, unaware of the very existence of the process, doesn't notice them, or attributes them to attendant discomforts and events which, besides those already indicated for yawning, may include nervousness, a tendency toward depression, a sudden mental block, personal weakness, or a defect of character.

As one can see from the examples which follow, the complex of symptoms that derive from a vampiric assault is quite articulated. Unfortunately, however, not being used to analyzing certain states of mind creates a generalized tendency to flee like the plague from any in-depth analysis; instead there is a tendency to consider internal signals that could point us toward the correct path to be of little value, and to favor standardized explanations like those listed above.

The recorded message that we have been taught to listen to each time we feel strange signals coming from within us is: "How complicated you are! Don't be paranoid!" Unfortunately, as long as we treat our feelings, impressions and intuitions this way, we will never learn to defend ourselves against the Vampires. On the contrary, we will leave the field completely clear for their incursions. The Vampire, in fact, has a fundamental advantage with respect to us: that he can most certainly act paranoid, in the sense that he doesn't overlook any detail to get what he wants. His entire attention, like that of a predatory beast, is directed toward analyzing the weaknesses of his adversary, the yielding points, the right times to attack, the correct dose of energy to be sucked off so that the victim will not become too defensive.

If we were to follow the tracks of certain strange states of mind we experience, we would come to ask ourselves certain fundamental questions, to unearth unspeakable taboos, to renounce the self-flagellation of our paranoia, to open up bursts of light in the dark side of reality where the Vampire runs rampant.

Unfortunately, however, we feel it is more important to exercise the right to live our lives frivolously, without being bothered too much, while the Vampires who want to take it away from us look after their strategies of theft in a maniacal and perfectly organized way. To continue to live this way is tantamount to believing that life is a safe and peaceful Toyland, where no one would ever dream of taking advantage of throngs of children who only want to enjoy themselves…

Dissatisfaction, discontent, sense of inadequacy

A typical symptom that arises after a meeting with a Vampire is a sudden condition of dissatisfaction and discontent, a feeling of hostility on the part of the real world. Even in this case there is a very high probability that the victim will attribute this state of mind to the unfathomable alternation of positive and negative moods in human beings, or to his own personal moodiness, or to stress, or to bad weather, or to objective factors such as traffic, buses running late, life's many little annoyances.

In Mario Corte's short story, The Building Manager, Massimo, the protagonist, has just been through a vampiric encounter with two people (the building manager himself, and the caretaker) who rudely denied him a greeting for no reason whatsoever. As a result, his day becomes strangely twisted, very different from his usual days which are full of the joy of life and enthusiasm for his work.

Massimo's day went badly. Full of little obstacles and hurdles. When he stopped at a bar to eat something around lunch time, he could feel within him the shadow of the memory of the fine appetite that used to accompany his lunch hours. He ordered a wonderful medallion with fried egg and ham, but he could not enjoy it and had a hard time digesting it. A couple of assignments which were very important to him were postponed. He interviewed only one person, an ex-manager of the British Budget who had promised him extraordinary revelations regarding certain uses of the funds of the British Crown, and who instead asked him for a small loan because he wanted to settle in Italy with his lover and was almost broke. At home, Ale had prepared couscous for him, but he hardly touched it. As he passed in front of the dark caretaker's quarters, before entering the house, Massimo thought he heard the caretaker greeting him in a low voice, as though he wanted to make up for the lack of a greeting that morning. He and Ale spent the evening on the living room sofa, looking at photographs. Massimo felt that he had grown old. He leaned his head on Ale's shoulder and suddenly fell into a dark and melancholy sleep. Ale caressed his head for a while and then led him to bed like a sleepwalker.

After a few days the scene is repeated, and this time the greeting is denied to him in an even more insolent way, with damaging results to Massimo's self-esteem.

He slowed down, stopped a moment before the two of them, took a deep breath and then let out a "Hello" so resounding that even a deaf person might have thought he heard something. The building manager continued scanning the paper, mumbling its contents between his teeth as though nothing had happened. As for the caretaker, he gave Massimo a venomous look that seemed to say: "How dare you bother the building manager, young man?". Then he went back to studying the manager's face, to discern any bad mood that might have been provoked by the intrusion of that impudent individual. Massimo understood that for those two the episode was over and done with. They were only waiting for that fool, him, to go away with his tail between his legs, having finally learned his lesson. Massimo felt all of his energies drain away in an instant. He was humiliated and defeated. And that defeat made all of the educational pillars on which his convictions had been built come crashing down around him. He seemed to see centuries of civilized, human accomplishments swept away by those two savages who wanted to teach him their law. And he had to put up with it. And learn it. No doubt their law provided that he, in turn, retaliate against others, and once having attained a trivial, sordid position of power, that he give himself up to the enjoyment of the delights hidden within the freedom of not returning a greeting. It was over. Massimo turned toward the door and reached it with a slow, heavy step.