Since time immemorial, humans have believed in the existence of supernatural beings. A good example of these supernatural beings include: God, Satan, ghosts, demons, werewolves, vampires etc. This essay examines the concept of the vampire from a social/anthropological perspective based on the cultural context read in this course. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayDepending on the cultural context read, a vampire can be defined as an undead person (living or actual corpse) who derives physical or emotional sustenance from a victim, who is debilitated by the experience. Therefore, the type of person who might be considered a vampire in the given cultural contexts is one who possesses supernatural powers. A good example of such a person is Dracula, a prince who ruled using harsh measures and killed anyone who was not witty enough to solve his riddles and Aysa, a prostitute who used her sexual powers to accumulate much wealth. Aysa could be considered a vampire because, even after death, her image continues to haunt her clients in their dreams. Dracula on the other hand could be considered a vampire because he “abandoned the light” of the Orthodox Church and accepted the “darkness” of the Roman Church while in prison and committed mass murder throughout his life. believing in the existence of vampires meant instilling morality among members of the community and binding them to a certain religious belief. To begin with, the story of Dracula teaches courage when he ordered his men not to follow him into battle if they feared death and teaches honesty when he failed to impale the Hungarian merchant after he revealed that his gold had been recovered but there was additional gold that was not his. Second, Kashubians were bound by the religious belief that failure to take precautionary measures against a Kashubian vampire identified after his death could result in mass deaths in the community. In our current society, the type of people who might have been called vampires if they lived in the past are photophobics, cannibals, and serial killers. Photophobic individuals could be called vampires because they fear light and are affected by it in a similar way to vampires who are believed to thrive in darkness. Cannibals on the other hand could be called vampires because they kill their victims, devour their flesh and drink their blood while serial killers could be called vampires because they tend to derive pleasure from killing their victims. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The fact that people suffering from photophobia, cannibals, and serial killers could have been called vampires if they lived in the past implies that we humans still believe in the existence of vampires. The only difference is that instead of embracing the term vampire, our society uses different names like cannibal to refer to individuals who portray behavior similar to that of a vampire.