• Question: Do you believe that the stuff from horror stories, like vampires and werewolves, are based on facts/could be real?

    Asked by jetski to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I believe that most myths and legends are based on facts, twisted and changed over time of course!

      one of the possible explanations is the disease Porphyria, which can cause symptoms similar to those commonly associated with vampires (sensitivity to sunlight being chief amongst them)

      There are also people born with illnesses that can cause massive hair growth such as hypertrichosis which may have lead to the idea of werewolves or wolf-people

      Most folklore is based on real-world occurences, changed over time!

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I don’t think they could be real. Just too far-fetched! But usually these kind of myths and legends have something real to inspire them. For example, maybe a long time ago the idea of a werewolf came from someone who just happened to be really hairy and caught rabies? I don’t know, but it’s really interesting how many different cultures end up with similar stories. Either these stories moved between cultures, or the thing that inspired the stories happened separately in each culture.

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I agree with Simon, I think the actual myths don’t exist but are inspired by real life events which have been changed over time. I didn’t know about diseases that cause lots of hair growth! That is interesting!
      I think they are fascinating and I enjoy reading about myths and watching films about them!

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Many of these myths have some true origin. Vampires and werewolves, I’m not sure. But there are other mythical creatures, especially in the ocean, that actually exist and are mostly very rare and strange-looking animals (like the Manati which was confused for a mermaid, or the giant squid which actually exists!).

    • Photo: Hannah Bentham

      Hannah Bentham answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      I have a phobia of zombies so I hope they are not real!

      No I don’t believe in vampires, warewolfs etc as mythical creatures, but as Simon has outlines, there are possible explanations. There are loads of mutations that can exist in humans that don’t require special powers! Centuries ago people did not understand medical science so would not have understood that these people are the same as us but for some genetic mutation they have extra hair or extra long teeth!

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