Vampires & Witches - Who were they really?

Just read a post on CNN that graves with iron stakes driven through the hearts were found in Bulgaria. So basically these people were thought to be vampires and they were killed in a horrible way because of it. This reminds me of The Messenger, which I finally saw a few days ago. As I'm sure we're all familiar - Jean D'Arc is thought to have heard voices from God that guided her on how to defeat the British while the British cruelly occupied French territory. Her visions helped the army to defeat the British but because of political desires to please the English, she was burned at the stake, accused of being a witch. We've all read about "witches" being burned and now "vampires" being killed this way. One theory is that the women accused of being witches were midwives and healers, possessing more knowledge about how to heal than the male doctors who commonly resorted to blood letting. Accusing them of being witches was a way to restore power to the doctors. History is literred with tales of people being falsely accused of being some sort of mythical creature for the sole purpose of those in power, staying in power.

So I'm curious - if we establish the fact that no, these people were not witches or vampires - then what were they? Were they people who just happened to be stronger than your average citizen? Or strikingly more attractive? Did they live longer than the average person? Were they smarter than the established power? Did they choose to believe in science over religion? Or were they autistic - having trouble interacting with people but possessing an extraordinary knowledge or memory in one particular subject? Or were they schizophrenic, multiple personalities? It would be interesting to learn the scientific reasons to these longstanding myths. Any ideas?

And some more food for thought - what has been going on in the last 5 years in American culture that has gotten us suddenly so obsessed with the world of vampires and witches? Is our life so difficult now with the ongoing recession that we need to transport ourselves to another world ?

Twilight Hangover

I finished the 4th and final book of the Twilight series about 3 hours ago and sort of feel hung over from the book. I'm already missing the world of friendly vampires. This is a very annoying feeling that I knew would happen. It could be why I stray away from fiction that's not based on something that can really happen. Like the feeling I'm sure we all had when we read the final Harry Potter book. Happy that we can re-enter the world of the living, so to say, but sad that we don't live in this world of mystery. And then over the last few days, I've gotten off track with reality. For the millionth time, my interest in the supernatural is renewed. Desire to study history instead of photography. Or become a treasure hunter. Yay, this is a whole other side of me that gets unleashed. The part that buys books on ESP, secrets of the Vatican, etc. and enjoys books like the DaVinci Code, Rule of Four, Historian, etc. Searching for antiques, mysterious family heirlooms in my basement that I'm hoping exist and a strong desire to marry someone who has a unique family history. And the sudden, intense desire to research my family history. All thoughts definitely NOT rooted in reality. Although I must say, I do have a strong feeling that there's always been something in my parent's house that I have yet to discover. Like evidence that my grandfather had an affair among the hundreds of slides, movies and his travel journal that I haven't read yet. Or other strange objects hidden in that attic that we missed like the 100 year old lantern I found in fourth grade. Or some evidence that I am, in fact, related to Napoleon. All likely mysteries yet to be solved..

From a scientific perspective, just because we haven't discovered something- it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There is more evidence of ghosts and UFOs that Jesus..