This Sunday , America ’s war against lamia - kind will be reignite when the sixth time of year ofTrue Bloodpremieres on HBO . While there ’s no existent grounds to prove the macrocosm of vampires ( unless you bet thatcreepy photograph of Nicolas Cage ) , murderers and other nefarious types have been blaming their evil deeds on bloodlust for more than 400 years . Here are eight examples .
1. COUNTESS ELIZABETH BÁTHORY
An early adoptive parent of the vampire defense wasCountess Elizabeth Báthory , a member of the Hungarian royal sept whose cruelty toward her female servants was said to have included drenching them in piss and leave them to stop dead to death outdoors in the winter . But it was n’t until 1609 , play along the execution of a vernal noblewoman which Báthory snitch to look like a self-destruction , that she was made accountable for her offense .
While it ’s difficult to separate fact from fiction in Báthory ’s typesetter’s case , the legend fence in her hint that she killed more than 650 women and bathed in their blood ( which she believed to have revitalizing powers ) . Báthory and four of her servants were eventually charged with 80 counts of slaying , though the countess go while under house pinch before ever being brought to trial . In the bookDracula Was a Woman , historian Raymond T. McNally claims that Báthory was in part the inspiration for Bram Stoker ’s famous bloodsucker .
2. FRITZ HAARMANN
Also make out as “ The Vampire of Hanover,”Fritz Haarmannwas one of the world ’s first nonparallel killers . And one of its most prolific . Between 1918 and 1924 , he mutilate at least two dozen citizenry , many of whom he kill by biting through their necks . On December 19 , 1924 , Haarmann was sentenced to expiry by guillotine for his offense ; he was beheaded on April 15 , 1925 . So that scientist could study Haarmann ’s brain , his head was preserved in a jar . It is kept at a medical school in Göttingen , Germany .
3. RICHARD CHASE
A lifelong captivation with line led to a dread , month - long execution spree that turnedRichard Chaseinto “ The Vampire of Sacramento . ” Between 1977 and 1978 , Chase murdered , eviscerate , and drink the blood of six multitude , pasture in age from 22 month to 36 years . Chase select his victim at random , but only recruit those family where the door was open . “ If the door was shut away that meant you were n’t welcome , ” he stated in court . Chase was sentenced to end after being found shamed on all six counts of first - degree murder , but have his own living with an overdose of stockpiled antidepressant in December of 1979 .
4. JAMES P. RIVA
James P. Rivawas just 23 years former when he killed his wheelchair - bound grandmother in Marshfield , Massachusetts in 1980 , stab her repeatedly and shooting her four metre through the spirit with bullets he had paint gold . for overcompensate up the criminal offense , he then bite down her house . When questioned , Riva claim that he was a 700 - year - old lamia who killed his gran for drink her blood . He later exchange his story , allege that he had move in ego - defense ; Riva believe that his grandmother was the vampire and that she was using an ice pick to debilitate his blood at dark . In 1981 , Riva was condemn to lifetime in prison house for 2d - degree execution and arson .
5. RODERICK FERRELL
use - playing crossed into real living for “ Vampire Killer”Roderick Ferrellin 1996 , when the teenaged loss leader of a Vampire Clan brought a few of his followers from Murray , Kentucky to Eustis , Florida to murder the parent of his girlfriend , Heather , so that she could be initiated into his coven . After beating Heather ’s sire with a crowbar , Ferrell and a friend used cigarettes to sting a “ volt ” into his thorax . Upon his arrest , Ferrell told constabulary that they would never be able-bodied to contain him because he was an all - powerful , 500 - year - old vampire name Vesago . He was n’t . Ferrell became the country ’s youngest prisoner on last course in 1998 , though his sentence has since been commuted to living without parole .
6. CAIUS DOMITIUS VEIOVIS
If you ’re wondering what “ real - living ” vampires reckon ofTwilight , Caius Domitius Veiovishas a very loyal opinion . “ Pop culture cheer me to vomit red-hot bloodline , ” Veiovis wrote in a letter to Massachusetts’Berkshire Eaglenewspaper in 2011 . Veiovis — who is localise to stand up trial in early 2014 for the abduction and murder of three men in Massachusetts and was convict of aggravated rape charges in Maine over the ritualistic drinking of a teenage girl ’s parentage year before — has a fork clapper , point tooth , engraft horns and the numbers “ 666 ” tattooed across his forehead . “ I have never seen this lightheaded picture show , ” he stay on , “ nor have I read the books , nor would I ever — even now — waste my meter with such useless drool . ” Point taken .
7. ALLAN MENZIES
Allan Menzieswas obsess with the 2002 vampire filmQueen of the Damned , which he had borrow from his full friend , Thomas McKendrick . Watching it up to three time each day , Menzies began to believe that the main character , Akasha , was real and wanted him to obliterate someone so that he , too , could become a lamia . “ I knew I had to murder somebody , ” Menzies said at his trial run . He settle on McKendrick after his champion insulted Akasha , prompting Menzies to stab him 42 times , murder him with a hammer , drink his blood and use up part of his brain . Menzies died in prison of an apparent suicide just over a year after being sentence to living .
8. JOSEPHINE SMITH
A shuttered Hooters restaurant may not be the first place you ’d think of as a vampire lair , but it ’s where 22 - year - oldJosephine Smithattacked a 69 - year - old stateless Isle of Man in 2011 as he slept in St. Petersburg , Florida . Smith allegedly recount the man that “ I am a lamia , I am going to eat you , ” before she bite off pieces of his facial expression , lip , and build up . The victim managed to escape and call police , who receive Smith overlay in blood at the criminal offence prospect with no anamnesis of the incident .
