section_path: Culture and religion/Vampirism
section_name: Vampirism
paragraph_text: Vampirism
  
  Vampires are mythical creatures that drink blood directly for sustenance, usually with a preference for human blood. Cultures all over the world have myths of this kind; for example the ' Nosferatu ' legend, a human who achieves damnation and immortality by drinking the blood of others, originates from Eastern European folklore. Ticks, leeches, female mosquitoes, vampire bats, and an assortment of other natural creatures do consume the blood of other animals, but only bats are associated with vampires. This has no relation to vampire bats, which are New World creatures discovered well after the origins of the European myths.