Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #193729 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Amazon.com
Feeling drained? Perhaps you are the unwitting victim of a psychic vampire. Want to know more? In this his second book, Konstantinos explores the folklore surrounding the blood-drinking vampire and, more importantly, exposes the threat of 20th century vampires which feed on psychic energy. I found this amalgam of stories from the past with Konstantinos' experiences in the present appealing to both the folklorist and the occultist sides of my curiosity. Konstantinos' theories will be considered controversial by many, but I don't feel that they can be summarily dismissed.

About the Author
Konstantinos is a recognized expert on occult, new age, and paranormal topics. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and technical writing from New York Polytechnic Institute. He is a published author of articles and short fiction which have been featured in numerous publications including Popular Electronics, The Spook, and FATE Magazine. Konstantinos is a popular lecturer on the paranormal at colleges and bookstores in the New York City area and he has appeared on CNBC's After Hours and The Ricki Lake Show.A Dark Neopagan, Konstantinos has been researching the occult and practicing magick for over fifteen years. Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Konstantinos now devotes his time to writing, singing Gothic rock music, and exploring nocturnal life in New York City and around the country.Konstantinos is also the author of Vampires: The Occult Truth, Summoning Spirits: The Art of Magical Evocation, Speak with the Dead: 7 Methods for Spirit Communication, Gothic Grimoire, Nocturnal Witchcraft, and the forthcoming Nocturnicon: Calling Dark Forces and Powers (Sept 2005).

Excerpted from Vampires: The Occult Truth by Konstantinos. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
C H A P T E R O N E SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION

While preparing this book, I have been asked, by many skeptical people, questions like: How could vampires really exist? or even, Are you serious? Most went on to add that the bloodsuckers of fiction seem a bit hard to believe in; after all, if they really feed on humans like they are portrayed in the movies as doing, wouldnt there be an enormous number of victims found in alleys, or perhaps even in graveyards, on any given morning? There obviously havent been any such victims, though, because their blood-drained bodies and the familiar punctured neck wounds would have attracted enough media attention to make belief in vampires commonplace by now. These types of arguments make it a little hard for most people in the twentieth century to believe in the existence of an order of being that can live forever and feed off the vitality of humans. In this technological age, who among us finds it easy to accept that such a creature can escape the notice of science? Before we get into the hard-to-believe nature of the vampires attributes and abilities, lets do away with the need for any pre-existing scientific skepticism. I consider those who are interested in the occult to be the scientists of the future. If everyone were to accept that what science has not yet discovered does not exist, science would stagnate and society could not advance. Keep in mind that a lot of things that the ancients considered mystical have been explained by scienceand the ancients believed in vampires. Lets apply some rational, scientific thinking to the subject of this books study. The truths presented in these pages have been proven empirically, both by myself and by others before me. In each case presented in the chapters that follow, all the evidence (which takes many different forms) is presented fully to show how certain conclusions were drawn. In other words, dont take my word for the bizarre, yet true, facts you are about to read. Please judge them for yourself. My intention in writing this book was not to create a fantastic tale of vampirism and expect others to believe it; that is what vampire novels are for (and there are a lot of thosearound the time of this writing, two or three are published every month, with even more coming out near Halloween). Instead, I wanted to present the first complete treatise on the subjectone that looks at all the realities of vampirism in detail and separates the truth from the fiction. Doing away with preconceived notions is one of the hardest things that an investigator of the paranormal has to do. It is important to keep an open mind when dealing with things that do not lend themselves to easy observationto my knowledge, no immortal vampire has ever knocked on a medical scientists door and asked for a physical exam. The subject of our study is a covert one, and we therefore have to look for covert clues. Solving the puzzle of vampirism requires that we see all the pieces and recognize them for what they are. Keeping an open mind makes that possible. In the case of vampires, we have to remember that they are not fictional creatures created by early novelists. The undead are creatures of folklore, and the first literature mentioning them was in every way considered nonfiction by those who penned it; in fact, most of those early treatises were written by the respected scholars of the day. Few people, however, are aware of the various tales of the undead that were not made up for the racks of bookstores, but were instead documented for preservation in the libraries of the time. Fortunately, age-old occult literature about vampires still exists. From various firsthand accounts, diaries, and investigations, one can quickly see that something very real was being described. There are, however, several distinctions between the vampires described in those texts and the beings portrayed in popular fiction and movies. Before looking for the reality behind the legends, it is important to first separate the legends from the fiction. Writers like Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, Tanith Lee, and Brian Lumley, among countless others, have created fantastic attributes and powers for their vampires, but those beings are not the subject of our study. Trying to find the truth behind those fictional creations is as ridiculous as trying to find the truth behind the monster created by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. Therefore, lets begin our uncovering of the truth by defining the attributes of the vampire of folklorethe creature that you might be surprised to discover exists in more than one form. THE APPEARANCE OF THE VAMPIRE The vampire of folklore does not closely match the romantic character that has been developed in the past century. Since Bela Lugosis suave portrayal of Dracula in 1931, vampires in fiction have become progressively better looking and more and more associated with sexuality through the yearsa far cry from the creatures of folklore. What does the vampire of folklore look like? Ancient descriptions of the appearance of the undead vary just enough to indicate that two distinct types of beings were described: vampires that...(Continues)

Customer Reviews

Not the truth, and not an original work
Most of the content of this book has been printed elsewhere:
Anyone familiar with Montague Summers' "The Vampire in Europe" will recognize stories that this scholar set down, almost word for word, reprinted in this book.
And anyone familiar with Dion Fortune's "Psychic Self-Defense" will recognize that esteemed occult scholar's theories on psychic vampirism lifted out of her works wholesale, without much elaboration on the part of the author.

For example, why is Konstantinos so prejudiced against psychic vampires? (He even says at the start of Chaptre 9, "These are the darkest of creatures." Well, thanks for that value judgement there, buddy. What, did a psivamp run over your dog or something?) Because Dion Fortune is, in her defense theory. She came from a less tolerant time period, when psychic vampires hadn't come out of the closet yet and were a poorly understood phenomenon. Even Fortune's original descriptions were mainly of unconscious temporary energy drainers or of non-vampiric occultists stealing energy from others on purpose. Had Dion Fortune gotten the chance to meet one of our century's modern, self-aware and well-adjusted psychic vampires, she may have changed her analysis. So what's Konstantinos' excuse? Where's this hate coming from? Does he even know what modern psychic vampires are up to these days? The phrase "armchair anthropologist" comes to mind.

"Vampies: The Occult Truth" fails to deliver on any of its promises: "many" never-before published case histories? Not many, really. Letters by modern-day vampires? If you believe in Real Vampires (tm) you won't recognize any of the key giveaways here. However, if you're familiar with real-life role-players, you'll recognize Konstantinos' "vampires" immediately. And there is no fail-safe way to protect yourself from a psychic vampire. Give that up right now, Kon.

Nearly everything in this volume was published before, and the author does nothing to bring the varying sources together, or update them - it's more the Cliff's Notes or Bathroom Book version of works which happen to be foundation material for what we know about vampire folklore and occult practice. Go back to the originals; it will serve you better. Get the roots FIRST, and then start exploring the less well-known corners of vampirism.

Pretty poor.
Was poorly sourced, unbelievable, and often demonstrated a total misunderstanding of modern psychology when offering "statistic" on how vampires exist.

Finally A Good Read On the Occult
I'm so glad that I finally found an occult book where the guy doesn't claim he came from the 1800s and knew Anne Rice's (fiction!) character Lestat personally! You have any idea how many occult books are like that out there? Millions, and I was so worried when my friend loaned this book to me that it would be another waste of time. But wow, alas there's a book where he tells what I want to hear- facts and origins of the vampires. I must admit the vampire pyschic chapters had me crook an eyebrow, for I believe pyschic vamirism is a mere derviation from the myth of the blood- sucking vampire- but just to hear of them and how people believe they are was a good study, for you do have to be open- minded, regardless of how you personally feel. The one thing I hated in this book though were those letters. Really, I implore you readers. How are we to believe in these people- honestly? You can't. They sound like just a bunch of people who are bored of their life so much that they have jumped right out of reality into their own flase fantasies. Harsh- but you just get that feeling when you read that section don't you?
Anyway what you will get out of this is the origins of vampires, the stories of actual accounts of vampirism such as from Elizabeth Bathory and the real Vlad Dracula himself, and accounts of psychic vampirism. All the stuff you wanted to know if you're interested of vampires.
Konstantinos is finally an occultist who can be taken seriously. He doesn't claim anything of himself- he mainly claims what he has heard and studied for years about vampires. And all he asks is to have an open mind, and I think we can all do that can't we?