A/N: The characters are not mine.

Bella's Bloodsucking Blog

July 5th, 2008

Debunk A Myth Day

There are so many common misconceptions about vampires which makes sense really. Why wouldn't they hide the truth? The lore of popular culture protects them. So, my second entry here is going to take on a popular belief.

Myth #1: Vampires sleep in coffins.

My assessment: False

Degree of certainty: 80%

In my years of research and now my direct contact with them, I have become convinced that vampires don't sleep at all.

It doesn't take but a few Google strokes to know that most people attribute the iconic work of Bram Stoker and the 1931 movie Dracula with the association of vampires to coffins. At least that solidified it. Historically, there was some connection between the undead and the ritual of the dead. I have done so much reading on the subject, but I'm not going to get into all of the details here. I have a links page that will direct you to more information if you are so inclined. I assume that the majority of you who made it this far have some interest in the vampire world and probably know as much, if not more, than I do on the general history. So, I'm going to focus on the myth itself. That's the only real new information I have to offer.

Why has this myth remained so prominent? I'm not positive about that to be honest. I think vampires themselves probably find it humorous. I would. If I didn't sleep, and everyone believed I was in a weakened state from up to sun down and if they could just find my coffin, they'd be able to slay me easily, it would sure throw my attackers off wouldn't it? They'd constantly be seeking something that didn't exist.

It almost makes me wonder if there are vampires in the entertainment industry. Who would be more interested in proliferating the myth than the ones it benefits?

In addition to sending people off into the daylight with stakes looking for sleeping vampires, the myth serves the dual purpose of hiding the fact that vampires don't actually fry in the sun, but that's a whole other topic.

Of course, it could just be a particularly visual and fear inspiring tale. Vampires are symbolically horrific creates. Imagine the sleeping vampire in a coffin with arms crossed over his chest. How incredibly terrifying it is to approach that coffin slowly only to have the vampire rise up and come at you baring fangs. That may be where some of the religious connections come into play.. Vampires represent a concept of evil, something to thwart. It was another way to label people who were different, who didn't belong and perhaps to convince others that religion was the only way to overcome such evil.

For most humans, death is something to fear as well. I don't exactly know what I think about death at this point. I mean, I'm not ready welcome it with open arms, but I'm not really afraid of it. For me, though, it's not really about my fear of death as my unwillingness to let go of life, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I always thought it was funny how in history, even those most directly connected to the church were terrified of undead beings, fearing an attack though they believed in an afterlife.

I imagine it was a combination of all of the above that led to the current state of beliefs, and in the end it doesn't really matter.

I've thought a lot about the concept of being eternally awake. What would that mean? If you don't need sleep, your body doesn't need repair, which, in turn, means you don't get tired. Ever.

Now that is a concept. Think of everything we could accomplish if we didn't have to sleep, or rest, or stop at all. Anything we chose to do we could literally do indefinitely if we so choose. How many books could you read? How many houses could you build? How many road trips could you take? How much sex could you have? How much life could you take?

For years, I thirsted for this one. Not needing to sleep would be immensely useful in the human world. I can't begin to count the number of times someone said, "Oh if I only had a few more hours in the day." Imagine eight. More than that really because you'd also add all the hours of non productive time where you were just too damned tired.

And then a nagging sentiment hit me. How insanely boring would it get? Wouldn't you want to be able to shut out stimuli at some point—not because you were tired physically but because you're sick of it? Isn't there something precious about waking up and starting a new day with hope? Don't our brains just need a rest sometimes? What would it be like if you never had a natural cycle of days—each just bled to the next? I just got really tired all of a sudden, and sleep sounds so good. Yeah, I don't think I'd like never sleeping.

Perhaps, it's karmic justice in a way. If a creature is going to be granted other gifts, then there has to be a penance of sorts. Maybe not sleeping is the tradeoff for immortality, which by the way is my next blog topic.

Until then, my faithful readers . . . happy hunting!

E/N: Thanks to all of you who are still reading and reviewing. I appreciate each and every one. This entry foreshadows the next chapter. There are a few very big happenings coming up. Who do we need to hear from yet? And can you guess how this one is connected to the next chapter?

Just a quick note. It's a busy month, and I want to post the next two chapters a little closer together, so it may go past the week mark for the next chapter.