Answer:
Vampires are fantasy creatures, spawning from many past assumptions, the most popular being the Vampire Panic, in canon, Vampires drink blood, do not sleep, and can only be killed by being staked through the heart.
Explanation:
Suspicions of vampires of course started long before the Vampire Panic. which started in 1990, and was one of the more popular events, starting when a few children found a cemetery. No one believed them, but no one had the time to go follow the children, either. So, because why not, they brought a skull back to the village.
Archeologists came quickly towards the scene, and at first disregarding it as a dumping ground from a serial killer a few years prior. But after further examination, it was clear that the bodies were hundreds of years old.
Archeologists cleared the area, finding more bodies, mainly children, but nothing special. No jewelry, little clothing. The people were poor. Until they found another body. It was beheaded, the thighs disemboweled as well at the feet, and the ribs were damaged. The limbs were thrown carelessly into the tomb, which was painted red, and had been previously torn apart.
Upon further development, it was discovered that the disembodied corpse was cut up five years after death. And it’s tomb seemed to have been shredded from the inside out.
This is where rumors come in. Years prior, there had been locals who reported those who were dead, returning to life and sucking the blood from their living loved ones, leaving them dead. The only way these undead vampires were killed, was by burning their hearts.
J.B, the vampire corpse, inspired a young man named Michael Bell. He became a folklorist, determined to prove that vampires and werewolves and Wycca existed. He ruthlessly tore through history, finding records and death certificates of previous vampires, and confirmed that in the past the English had had the vampires' feet bound with thorns after they were murdered, or had their hearts staked and burned.
People affected by vampires inevitably died. And the ones who survived? Always got sick, with an illness that was rumored to essentially be the transformation into a vampire. Only three percent of the vampire-seduced people survived without the illness, and anyone proven to become sick, was executed if they weren't killed by the disease.
Hope this small amount of violent history helped :)
<em>stay cold, </em>
<em>Brook</em>