Thursday, April 22, 2010

Vampires-R-Us

Porphyria has been suggested as an explanation for the origin of vampire and werewolf legends, based upon certain perceived similarities between the condition and thefolklore.

In January 1964, L. Illis' 1963 paper, "On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werwolves", was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. Later, Nancy Gardenargued for a connection between porphyria and the vampire belief in her 1973 book, Vampires. In 1985, biochemist David Dolphin's paper for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Porphyria, Vampires, and Werewolves: The Aetiology of European Metamorphosis Legends", gained widespread media coverage, thus popularizing the connection.

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