Vampires

The Midnight Article "Vampires: real or Imagined? You decide" was written by u/smoke_and_mirrors22 and posted to r/MidnightPaper.

The text for the Article was as follows:

'''VAMPIRES: REAL OR IMAGINED? YOU DECIDE''' It's pretty well impossible to verify whether vampires exist, but that doesn't stop reports of sightings coming in thick and fast.

The following are real accounts of supposed vampire sightings.

Archaeological Remains of a Vampire. Italy. Archaeologists uncover their very own vampire sighting. They discovered remains of what appears to have once been a vampire, a woman, with a brick that had been rammed into her jaw. Researchers were investigating a 1576 mass grave of medieval plague victims at the time.

It was common during the Middle Ages, to bury plague victims then unearth them as more bodies were thrown into huge mass graves. Some corpses had a dark, blood like substance under their nose and mouth and workers mistakenly thought it was a sign that these were vampires, and they were to blame for the plague. They would shove bricks or rocks into the mouths of these bodies in hopes that it would stop the spread. The state of the body discovered above is evidence of this belief.

The Vampire of Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery, constructed in 1839, London, England. Intended as a burial place for the elite, soon fell into many years of neglect, the cemetery reportedly became home of a terrifying vampire. Sightings began in the late 1960s and continue on to this day. A tall figure with red eyes was sighted and reported so often that, investigations have been repeatedly launched on the location and sightings prevail to this day!

Serbian Vampire Arnold Paole This account begins in 1727 when the Serbian soldier Arnold finally returned home from war. *People around him say that he seemed lost and subdued, he was then said to admit to believing he had been attacked by a vampire while in the army. He stayed that he had tracked and killed the vampire and believed he was now tainted. Paole died a short time later, and people began reporting sightings of him, three weeks after death. His body was exhumed and it appeared that new skin was growing beneath his dead skin. His body was staked, it's said he groaned in pain as it as driven into him. His head was also removed, and his body burned to prevent further issues. Though more recent reports suggest he still isn't resting in peace.

So dear reader, do you believe these witness reports? Vampire sightings continue to mystify and terrify us, even now, so what's true and what's not? Are there more reasonable elements at play here? Whose to know? For now though, the existence of vampires still remains a mystery.

Description:

Vampires are a Undead-Type Oddities that have a long and well-documented presence in mankind's culture and folklore.

The Midnight Article, "Vampires: Real or Imagined? You decide" serves as an exploration into the possibility of these creatures being real. It documents several cases spanning several time periods and locations and gives an in-depth account of each sighting.

Archeological Remains: The remains of a woman with a brick rammed in her jaw reminds us of the fear and paranoia during the Black Plague. Some people were so frightful of outsiders that they blamed them on the pestilence around them, and would often exhume them and find that they had black blood under their tongues and that their hair and nails had grown. This prompted the townspeople to call label the diseased as a vampire and to desecrate their remains to ensure that they would be unable to reanimate once more.

The Vampire of Highgate Cemetery: "A tall figure with red eyes" has been spotted at Highgate Cemetery in London throughout the centuries.

Serbian Vampire Arnold Paole: Upon returning home, townspeople find that Serbian soldier Arnold Paole appears very different. He admitted to killing a vampire during his time in the military, and that he believed he was now "tainted." Upon his death, he was sighted around town. The body was exhumed and it was discovered that he was growing new skin instead of decomposing. His body was then staked, with onlookers claiming that he exclaimed in pain as they did so. Paole's remains were beheaded and burned, and sightings of him stopped altogether.