Details of Vampirism?

EatenByBobcats Asked: Details of Vampirism?

Basically, I've been reading a lot about vampirism lately. Not fictional vampires, the real thing? And though there are a lot of sites about it, I'd find them a lot more convincing if they weren't black with dripping red writing and loads of pictures of bats ^.^

So I was wondering about some stuff. Firstly, why would anybody want to do that? I don't mean to offend any practitioners of vampirism who might be reading this, but to me it seems a little sick. Do you choose to be a 'vampire' or do you have no choice?

How common is it? Is it a religion, an illness, or what?

I find it a lot easier to believe in psychic vampires than psychical ones that actually drink blood. I mean, I'm sorry but it kind of confuses me. It just seems a bit unhealthy even with a willing donor, but I'm very ignorant of it so please excuse me if I'm being rude.

oh, and please don't just give me a link to one of the aforementioned websites, as I've been looking at a few of them (like drink deeply and dream) and they all seem to contradict each other a bit and leave me even more confused. o.0