We've all sat up late at night and watched U.S.A. up all night, maybe Twilight Zone, and seen the classics. Frankenstein, Dracula, the werewolf man, all have been imprinted into our minds. Some even scared us that sleep was rare for a few days. For me the older the movie the better and scarier it is. Being a science fiction writer U.F.O.'s and the X-Files were my favorite subjects to view on the small or big screen. Most people have a favorite dark sided character that we watch, vampires in particular have always been a popular cult classic. In the next few paragraphs we are going to take a look at were these classic "horror" villians came from, and if there is any evidence to support if our darkest fears are real.

There are of course all kinds of paranormal events and creatures out there that people claim are real. Throughout time man has believed that creatures of the night were hunting him and taking his animals and children. Low intelligence and superstition formed creatures with uncanny abilities that Superman would be impressed by. As we know though that out of every myth is a tiny fragment of truth. To start off with we shall talk about vampires, in particular Dracula or also know as Vlad the Impaler. We've all read the books or seen the movies so I shall not bore you with the details that most know. Basically turn against what many call god and you can become a vampire. Suicide, the devil changing you, or just plain war on the throne and one can become a vampire according to myth. Of course the bite or scratch from a vampire can "turn" you as well. Of course these stories are just that, stories. During the middle ages after Vladimir strung up his enemies and drank their blood, supposedly for strength and power, the vampire legends swarmed around Europe. In many cities and villages when an animal or human that was found dead or ran away, it was contributed to vampires. The fact that humanity is somewhat nuts and people doing horrid things to others, then admitting they were vampires did not help matters any. One such incident was from Germany, after a man killing someone in his village the people strung him up. After burial he showed up in town staggering around "like an animated corpse" acting strangly. He apparently was shot, stabbed, beheaded, burned, and then buried face down. Of course if I had been hung and dug myself up from the grave, I'd be staggering and acting strangly myself, just don't think I would have gone home! Villagers turned out in groves all over Europe to dig up bodies and run a corpse through with a stake and cut of the head. The churches and governments had even come up with wonderful and "proven" methods to tell if someone was a vampire. These methods were bloated body as if fed, blood around mouth, long hair and fingernails, and a body that was not decomposing. Basic science now can explain all of these "mysteries" and many bodies are in wonderful condition if buried in the proper conditions. People including queens and kings have believed in vampire myths, and tried to use the rituals, i.e. bathing in the blood of virgins, to obtain supernatural powers. Other than in the minds of Anne Rice fans and other movie goers, vampires have now been reduced to childrens' fairy tales were they belong. Sometimes the myth is more terrible than if the real thing existed.

Our second avenue we shall persue is the werewolf, or man wolf. Werewolf mythology comes from our friends the Greeks. The word "lycanthropy" derives from the words "lykoi" meaning wolf, and "anthropos" meaning man. According to myth Lykaon served Zues human flesh for dinner, in Zues's rage he turned Lykaon into a wolf man, or werewolf. This myth traveled up through Europe into Iceland, and then to North America were the Navajo's really picked up on the mythology. Most parts of the world have werewolf legends but the European's (France especially) of course were the one's that got really intricate on the details. Leave it to the church to say something doesn't exist and then come up with rules on how to tell if someone or thing is that very object. European mythology tells us that the werewolf has to do certain things to transform, our American movie views with the moon are apparently strictly Hollywood. First in the ritual the human must draw a magick circle on the ground. No indoor use apparently. Then he/she must remove clothing and recite a spell, the clothing is a real issue here as we will soon discuss. Then some sort of ointment or salve must be spread all over the skin, making sure entire body is covered. Lastly the individual must put a special and lavishly designed belt on to complete the transformation. The belt must be made of wolf or human skin, either the wolf or human must have killed someone. After either species kills someone the person desiring to be a werewolf must kill that particular wolf or person and make the belt from the skin. Getting creepy enough yet! Oh yeah, the belt must be 3 fingers width. Now, here's the good part. To change back to human form the wolf must get in circle, take off belt, put on the clothes, and then repeat the encantation backwards. If the clothes have been taken or misplaced the werewolf cannot change back into human form. Legend also says that there are two kinds of werewolves, good and evil. Most are evil since they apparently learned the encantation from the devil, but there are stories about "guardian" or good wolves that run in the fields unless they are needed by humans or the one's they are guarding. Another legend is that most werewolves are extremely religious and are tricked by Satan or lower level demons to do their work. Ways to turn a werewolf also vary, the most common is to make the sign of the cross and say the wolf's human baptized name three times. You may also put 3 drops of the wolf's human blood on the forehead or use steel, iron, or a knife and tap the wolf 3 times on the head. Of the countries that werewolf legends abound France and Germany lead the pack. France is the capital of werewolves according to legends and the myth still exists in many parts of the country. Germany actually respected the werewolf and celebrated them. Beserkers would dress up in wolf skin and go to battle, and many used the word wolf in naming their children. All of that ceased with the spread of Christianity to the region though. During the 16th-17th centuries werewolves were seen during the day and these "wolves" were arrested and executed on sight. These were mostly people that had diseases mainly lycanthropy, porphyria, or hypertrichosis. Lycanthropy is a nutricional imbalance that can lead to cannabilism. Porphyria causes discoloration of the teeth and sensitive to light ( can also be associated with vampirism). Hypertrichosis is a condition that causes hair growth all over the body including face, palms of hands and bottom of the feet. For a complete detail of werewolves, vampires, and other monsters http://www.mythicalrealm.com/ has excellent coverage of all the topics.

We now move on to U.F.O.'s. This is our most recent and talked about topics in the modern age. Unidentified Flying Objects or ufo's have made a big impact on our current society. From the Roswell, New Mexico incident on July 7th 1947 to abductions, shadow people, to the greys we are bombarded with life from other worlds. Since the 50's movies to comic books have captivated audiences with flying saucers attacking Earth and enslaving us. But we are not alone, some believe that these strange beings in the orbital ships have been visiting, if not introducing humans to Earth since before homoerectis. In the Hunan Province, China cylindrical objects appeared to be carved into the rocks some 47,000 years ago. Egyptian pharoh's had records kept of supposed u.f.o.'s that seemed to cause disturbences in the Empire. Pharoh Thurmose III was the first to document such occurences around the time he ruled. (1504 - 1450 B.C.) While the pharoh meditated a "fleet" of ufo's circled the province and caused the priests much excitement. This lastest a couple of days until the pharoh had incense burned to "bring peace to the land". For our christian friends all you need to do is read Ezekiel chapters 1-3. Many historians and researchers believe this is the first abduction in recorded human history. Rome had it's share of problems with ufo's as well. According to the books "Prodigorium Liber" by Julios Obsequens (4 A.D.) and "Liber Chronicarum" by Verclun France (1493) describe seeing disc objects falling from the sky, hovering, and then shooting back up. Let us not leave out Japan which has had many reports during the Empires regimes. Most notable is on September 24, 1235 General Yoritsume reported the stars moving around the sky. He attributed this to a "natural" occurance from the wind blowing the stars around. His report came upon reports from soldiers about objects circling the encampment. Throughout the middle ages people reported seeing strange objects in the sky. Our modern times we have had many "encounters" with ufo's from the average joe, to pilots and astronauts. One reoccuring factor that is reported by N.A.S.A. is Venus. During Venus's Waning Cresent phase it is at it's brightest, outshining even Sirrius. When Venus is in this phase it can cause people to believe it is a ufo. Read this report at www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/03may_maximumvenus.html for full details. Despite shows like Coast to Coast and http://www.blackvault.com/ that seem to agitate the situation, the intelligent human being can read and research that these reports are bogus and actually quite entertaining. N.A.S.A. had to do it's own research when astronauts took pictures of a floodlight during an Apollo 16 mission. It took research and pictures from Apollo 17 too nullify the public, that it was not a ufo following the Apollo ship home. Despite evidence from Roswell and other cases whiched showed that there has been no landings on our planet people still remain dogmatic about "beliefs". Interviews by professional theropists and psychologists have shown most abductees are mentally unstable, loners, or just plain liars. Very few, and I mean very few cases have come up where the interviewers have determined that the subject MAY have been abducted. Documentation shows that over 300 people reported seeing and handling debris from the Roswell incident. After exhaustive interviews, time, and taxpayer dollars it came to light that 25 had actually seen something fall and only 7 had touched the debris.

Resources:

1. www.ufoscience.org/history/history-home.html
2. www.angelfire.com/ok/ladyhorror/wolves.html
3. www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/werewolf.html
4. www.qsl.net/w5www/werewolves.html
5. http://www.nasa.gov/
6. "Flying Saucers on the Attack" by Harold T. Williams
7. "Passport to Margonia" by Jacques Vallee
8. "UFO's in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon
9. "The Open Bible" by unknown