source/copied from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44192205/ns/us_news-
life/t/vampire-arrest-sparks-discussion-pop-culture/?GT1=43001
there is also a video at the link above : D

Police: Attacker who bit woman claimed to be 500-year-old mythical creature who needed to 'feed'

HOUSTON — The arrest of a man accused of breaking into a woman's house and trying to suck her blood has sparked discussion about the impact of vampire books and movies on youth culture.
Whether pop culture played a role in Saturday's attack remains to be seen, as 19-year-old Lyle Monroe Bensley awaits a psychiatric evaluation in jail on burglary charges in Galveston, Texas.
Galveston police say the man forced his way into the apartment of a woman he did not know and made growling and hissing noises while biting and hitting the victim in her bed.
Found in a parking lot and wearing only boxer shorts, the pierced and tattooed Bensley claimed he was a 500-year-old vampire who needed to "feed," Galveston Police Capt. Jeff Heyse said.
Vampires have been a focal point of literature since Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula." But fascination, particularly among young people, has peaked in recent years with the popularity of the "Twilight" books about teenage vampires and the television series, "True Blood."
"I think the vampire is a metaphor for the outsider and the predator in all of us," said author Anne Rice, whose Vampire Chronicles series has captured the imaginations of horror fans since the 1970s.
"We're all conscious at times of being alone, of being alienated, of being a secret self that fears exposure to the judgments of others. So we feel like vampires," she told Reuters.

Bensley is being held in the Galveston County Jail on a $40,000 bond on a charge of home burglary with intent to commit a felony.
The woman, who lived near Bensley and did not know him, escaped the attack unharmed, Heyse said.
Kevin Petroff, chief of the Galveston County District Attorney's office, told Reuters no defense attorney has been appointed to date, and if Bensley had hired a lawyer privately, no notice had been filed.

Youthful for eternity
Dr. Thomas Garza, who teaches a course in vampire lore at the University of Texas, said young people might aspire to be like vampires because they cheat death and are able to stay beautiful, powerful and youthful for eternity.
The modern vampire in popular culture is more attractive, suave and fashionably dressed than the Old World Slavic vampires, adding to the resurgence of their appeal, he added.
"I would say that it is the Twilight saga in particular that has brought out the younger teen fans. In that connection, Edward is a very 'safe' vampire, a kind of 'starter vamp' for beginners, if you will," Garza said.
"He's pretty, yes, so the seduction's there, but he's more than reluctant to act on his and Bella's sexual desires. He can go out in daylight - and even 'sparkles' in the sun, giving him a completely non-threatening character. He drives a Volvo, for goodness sake."
While Bensley's Texas antics have captured international attention, the delusion of actually being a vampire has been a contributing factor in other criminal cases as well.
In 1996, a 16-year-old Kentucky youth obsessed with the role-playing game, "Vampire, the Masquerade," enlisted three other teenagers to go with him to Florida to help kill the parents of his former girlfriend.
Two years later, a San Francisco man claiming to be a 2,000-year-old vampire was arrested for slashing the necks of four homeless people, one fatally. A serial killer arrested in England in 1949 allegedly drank a cup of blood from each of his six victims.
Rice has interacted with thousands of fans of her Vampire Chronicles novels, but said such intense personal identification with vampires was "quite beyond me."
"My readers are romantics. They're into the poetry and the romance of vampires; they don't think they themselves are vampires," Rice said. "I have never personally met anyone in all these years who claimed to be a vampire."

thoughts/discussions?
i actually heard about things like this but i've never seen it on the news or anything, anyone else heard of this kind of thing?
its pretty funny if you think about it, but if more people start doing this....well lets just say im not looking foward to it. u_u;;

Seems like he bit off more than he could chew.

Buh-dum-TSH!

>>2 lol nice

TWILIGHT GAY FAN.......THAT'S WHY I DON'T WATCH IT :D

Can't belive that Twilight fans would go this far....wait i don't sympathize them so never anyway dude be stupid.

Well, that plan apparently sucked for him.

Man I say to prevent any more attempts, We burn the books and smash the DVDs. :D

I laughed at this XDXDXD

I lol'd.

Wow. That's just... I don't even..

bump!

Can you say mental?!

Boy do I feel bad for Ryan Sheckler

craze

Yeah...Twilight ruined Vampires and created so many idiots. I CAN see the appeal, if I try and look from their perspective, but something like that...with girls wanting that pretty boy, and guys wanting the power, they don't seem to usually last. Because, well at least the movies, Twilight has no substinence. It's just so stupid. As for these people, I can't help but wonder what was it that started it all for them. Aside from "vampire pop culture" that is, and if that was is it exactly. Though I really agree with that Professor who was talking about the appeal for vampires. Anyway, I haven't actually seen a story in the news like this so its a first for me too!

i dont know about everyone else but can a vampire be caught that easily?

Wondering if he can sparkle too..

i bet the dude probably put giltter on him like a friggin idiot lols

If this guy does turn out to be a real vampire then i say... GET THE STAKES, HOLY WATER AND TORCHES... AND DONT FORGET THE GARLIC!

^_^ LOL just kidding but it would be interesting.

hmmm.....
he is just another baka.....

I really hope he rubbed glitter on himself.

A Edward skinhead?

xDDD im still laffing. O-O did she get a hicky?

it's really not a new thing at all, the only reason it seems to be more public is because of those shitty twilight movies and now people think it's a cool romantic thing to be a vampire, if i every meet stephanie meyer i'm gonna punch that bitch right in here fake canines.

I used to be scared of vampires, thanx to twilight now they are irrelevant to me. Also they have become overrated.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore... =n=

>>24
Ditto.

>>25
Ditto again.

Oh god did that guy have to bring up twilight? There not vampires there sparkly fairy's duh! Vampires burn and turn to ash while fairy's sparkle.......*Cries* Why did she have to ruin Vampires?

everyone knows vampires stab you with their hand to get blood!

He might just be sick, guys. Mentally ill. Who knows, he could be a paranoid schizophrenic hearing voices telling him he's a vampire. It's sad more than anything else, and I pity the guy, because he's obviously not right in the head :(

Insane crazy freak.He should be in jail n die there ...vampires can die right?

He's got it all wrong, vampires don't bite they scrape and lick.

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhwCNT4cvHg

Though I should probably know better by now, I'm still shocked each time I hear about those people that are influenced by the media like this. He's probably just mentally ill.

if he is deranged get him help

if not..... kill it with fire!!!!!!

Check his teeth, if he has a cell mate in jail wont he try to bite him 2!!! lol

WOW

This dudes sexy, Besides the 500 year old BS

>>35 Let's put him in jail with all the sweet pedophile. I swear they'll disapear in a few weeks

IM a fan of Vampires but this is just eww.Something must seriously be wrong with him or he's on drugs and is playing some seriously sick jokes and when i say sick i mean disgusting.

Dude, this is just stupid.

I'm a fan of vampires, but I don't wish to be one!

I mean sure, I would love to live forever and never grow old, but come on! Only drink blood? I love meat and Ice Cream too much too do that.

This is just stupid people being stupid, think nothing of it

vampires dont live in texis to hot to bright to meany guns. light-wates

Interesting. He was trying to be a vampire? Looks like the media is more influencing than we think.

>>42 Actually I'm pretty sure there's a vampire subculture in Texas.

As for whose to blame here no one is really except Stephanie Meyer and Tom Cruise (I just like to blame him for everything). But in all seriousness this isn't the first time a teenager was influenced by something from pop-culture. Back in the 90's and even into the first decade of the new millennium there was a RP game that was really popular. It was called Vampire The Masquerade. A teen like this one claimed he was a centuries old vampire, and was going to kidnap his gf so they could run away together. He ended up killing her parents, and his clan members got all freaked out that he took it so far. So I think what it is really is both just got out of touch with reality. I imagine the vampire subculture is just face palming and going "not again =_=." While sanguine vampires in the vampire subculture do drink blood they don't drink it to kill someone. It states in the Black Veil you are suppose to have discretion, control, and have willing donors among other things. Now I don't think this guy was in the vampire subculture I just think he has something wrong with him mentally.

I don't get it...
why would they be in texas?

Well for one if you are a psi or psychic vampire then the cities would be where you would get your energy from other than your donor. As for the Sanguine I would imagine they would live in Houston, Galveston, Austin, and maybe San Antonio. But honestly what's wrong with Texas? Just because it's hot, and everything does not mean that at night it's different. The Vampire subculture is like the Steampunk subculture. There's no limit to where they could possibly be or who they are. Your neighbor might be in the vampire subculture for all you know. They won't tell you of course cause it goes against what the Black Veil says.

this is how you know the modern-age vampire theme has gone too far XD
or rather, this is how you know that some modern-day vampire fans are idiots.

that guy wants AIDS.

The world's officially lost it.

Those actions are that of old vampiric stories, legends of Dracula. NOT the new pop culture vampires of Twighlight, etc where all preceding principals of vampire stories have been completely demolished... This wasn't "Pop culture", this guy's been raised like this.

Who Know -:|
All Is Possible XD

Lol, what the fuck? That's like saying 9/11 happened cause of video games relating to airplanes used in warfare.

No one in their right mind would seriously suck off someone's blood just because of something he/she read/watched relating to vampires.

What's really in fault is his self-control, nothing more. These people always push the blame on something else, lol.

How crazy, he must really have a problem facing reality.

>>52 This

I dislike what Twilight has done to vampire lore as much as the next guy, and the wrongly advertised appeal it gives to tweens and lonely, lonely women, but it all boils down to one thing most of us are all too familiar with dealing with.

This man

is a dumbass.

I've heard about the case in 1996 plenty of times. However, the very idea of people claiming to be vampires just seems ridiculous to me. They want attention. There's more than one type of vampire but everyone claims to be immortal blood drinkers because of today's literature. I've even seen interviews with people who take small amounts of blood from willing doners. While it's understandable that people have unusual cravings that need to be satisfied, teenagers claiming to be vampires and running around harming people in a violent manner is just immature. I agree that Twilight has some blame in this because of people wanting eternal youth and power but I think the violence of vampirism comes from their own imagination. I think any teenage claiming to be one of the undead should get some serious help.

I remembered watching a cop show were a camera crew go in and talk to prisoners who been locked up for a long period of time. One of the people they talked to was life sentenced for killing a mother and a father and kidnapping their youngest daughter (15 yrs old). All because of their belief of becoming vampires. From my memory, the ring leader was life sentenced, the one other was sentenced 30 yrs and the other 25. The daughter moved in with her older sister.

>>28, agreed. >>29, and>>32, don't be stupid, vampires bite. I don't know where you get your vampire lore frome, but it is not a reliable source at all.
And this whole thing is retarded. Blood tastes good. I like it, and I have three willing donors who also drink mine. I don't go around claiming to be a 500 year old parasitic creature, though! C'mon, people! And also, in most cases, a craving for blood stems frome an iron deficiency.

Sorry. Got really frustrated and forgot to add name. >>57 was me

>>57 What the fuck?

>>57
Here you go.

>>60 I don't know what to be more scared of: that >>57 said he likes the taste of blood or the fact that you actually took the time to find that.

First result for "iron sources" on google.

A diet of blood wasn't on the first page.

dear god these people remind me of a friend of mine I had in Elementry school, she claimed she had no blood in her system and has poison running through her veins and the only way she could live was that she has to drink peoples blood, I went along with it cause I thought she was being funny, turns out it was what she truly thought, I'm still friends with her but I try to tell her the things she thinks up about herself are false and she should never act on things like 'needing to feed' cause all she needs is some food and she'll be okay. >>57 don't take this the wrong way, but its true in her case she just has an over active imagination that she twists into reality

This guys psycho!!!

ive been accused of being a vampire on more than one occasion, due to having elongated canine teeth. But this...this is just madness. people like this need help, serious help. you cant blame media, its the overactive imaginations and longing to be something more than human that cause this in people. In a very few cases it is caused by an iron deficciency. but these people have a medical condition that makes them crave blood so they cannot be blamed for the cravings just for giving in to them. vampires are romantic in the way all supernatural creatures are, thus making certain people want to be vampires. and over time they convince themselves they are vampires because they need to be more than just the human that they are.

(annoying pre-teen girl) "Yay team Edward!"

Now if some dumbass thinks he's a werewolf and disembowels someone, this thread would be complete!

Lol. That's so funny.

Not being mean but... Wtf, this is ridiculous and insane!?

what a weirdo! thats so weird he has to be insane or have been playing a joke gone to far

I don't mind being bitten by him ;)

>>70 You kinky SOB :|

I guess some people get so sick of reality they turn into this guy......scary!!! no there are better ways to detach yourself from reality draw pictures or Larp or something just dont bite people it's scary that people really can get this far without realizing they have a problem. well hope the guy gets some help like seriously

I don't think this guy was a vampire, you know why? Why would he want to reveal that he himself is a bloodsucking 500 yr old vampire?? So wouldnt someone who is a vampire wanna keep that a secret? and a vampire wouldnt get caught either?
im not saying vampires are real, i mean if u were a vampire would u want everyone knowing your a vampire?

vampire books and pop culture can't be blamed for pure stupidity and/or severe mental issues

people must be so tired of reality that they're minds turn them into their fantasy selves,you know the you you think you are in your head,the hero of the story,poor women to have an insane person who was engulfed by his own corrupted mind

who the hell does he think he is? LMFAO ROFLSHITIGD (Rolling On the Floor Laughing So Hard I Think I'm Gonna Die)lol he's only fooling himself!!! vampires dont exist and if they did i'm sure they'd be smarter than to break into somebody's house to suck their blood!!! HA HA HA HA!!!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/26/inside-the-human-blood-drinking-real-vampire-community-of-new-orleans/

Read about this guy's report on the community.