On Thanksgiving Day 1996, Roderick Ferrell, 16, from Murray, Kentucky, led a pack of kids to Eustis, Florida, where he killed the elderly parents of a former girlfriend. Ferrell had lived in Eustis for a year and had then returned to Kentucky, where he'd gotten involved with a fantasy role-playing game called Vampire: The Masquerade.

October 13, 2007 (The Herald / Graeme Smith) -- The castle which provided Bram Stoker with the inspiration for Dracula has been closed to the public for the first time in a century. Stakes have been hammered, not into the heart of vampires, but into the clifftop on which the ruined Slains Castle stands.

The following is a summary of the more common species of vampire believed to have infested Europe in the 18th century. This was taken from a book by a Rumanian author who's main hypothesis was that the prevalence and persistence of the vampire myth in central and southern Europe was due to conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

April 1, 2002 (BOWLING GREEN, Fla. / AP) - A man dubbed "The Vampire Rapist" because he drank the blood of a kidnapped hitchhiker killed himself in his prison cell, officials said Monday.

The mist glowed with an eerie light,
She held onto his hand so tight.
He looked at her with tender eyes,
And led her firmly on.

The night was cold and chilled her bones;
He spoke to her in soothing tones.
She put her trust in him alone,
And knew she need not fear.

They reached the castles mighty door,
Uneasy thoughts began to soar.
But standing safely by his side,
Her doubts flew swift away.

He pushed the door and walked on through,
Then beckoned her to enter too.