According to a study now out, after five years of research done by a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State University, New Orleans is home to at least 50 real vampires. The study was done by John Edgar Browning, who told The Washington Post that despite having a reputation for blood sucking and mayhem, they are pretty much just regular folks. There is even an official New Orleans Vampire Association!

Even though the term 'vampire' has a negative connotation, these individuals are really just people who claim to have a medical condition that requires them to drink blood, whether its human or animal, to sustain themselves.

Even more surprising, a survey conducted by the Atlanta Vampire Alliance estimates that there are around 5,000 real vampires in the United States. Wow! Some are worried about the stigma of being identified as blood suckers, so they don't even tell their own doctors what's up. It seems to start manifesting itself around puberty, according to the documentation and studies about the subject.

Mr. Browning says the real vampires he met in New Orleans, mainly in the French Quarter, were all friendly, and willing to talk to him. Not quite sure if those conversations took place after dark, or not.....just sayin'.

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