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Interview with a 'real vampire': man who makes fangs for his community debunks myths

Father Sebastiaan identifies as a 'real vampire' and has spent the last 25 years helping define the culture of the community he loves so much.

Father Sebastiaan began the task of rallying a vampire community in New York City in 1995, which he says also marked the beginning of his work as a 'fangsmith' (someone who makes prosthetic fangs). After training under a prosthedontist, he made his first pair of fangs for his mother, but now he's made fangs for thousands around the world.

“It sets the tone of the psychological archetype,” he explains. “I don’t wear them all the time, because I don’t need fangs to be a vampire. They’re an aesthetic symbolic thing.”

While many may assume vampires drink blood, Father Sebastiaan says this is extremely uncommon, and only 3-5% of 'real vampires' have practiced blood drinking. And while he says that vampires do need to feed on energy, blood drinking is the most impractical way to do this.

“You go to events like a concert, you'll feel the energy, you can take it in,” he explains. “A vampire knows how to tap that energy and harvest it. That's the easiest one that almost anybody can do, so anybody can be a vampire.”

While role players attend Father Sebastiaan's 'Endless Nigh Vampire Ball' Halloween events to immerse themselves in vampire culture for a night, 'lifestyle vampires' embrace the identity of a vampire as a culture.

"It's based on spirituality," he says. “We have tea parties, and classes, and seminars, and discussion circles, and rituals, and games, and archery, and we eat together."

"This does not happen in mundane life."

Video transcript

FATHER SEBASTIAAN: The vampire experience has defined my life. We're not breaking the law. We're not eating babies. We're not worshipping Satan. We have nothing to hide.

Greetings, my name is Father Sebastiaan. I've been a part of the vampire culture since there wasn't one. There wasn't defined roles, there wasn't defined elements. So in 1995, I moved to New York City and started making one. And I'm the author of the book "Black Veils". I travel the world helping vampires find their path.

The difference between a role-player and a lifestyle-- a role-player knows they're playing a fantasy. They put the character down when they're done. A lifestyle vampire is someone who embraces the identity of a vampire as a culture. Vampires think differently than humans-- we have a "no religion, no politics" policy in our community. It's based on spirituality. We're not about death, we worship life. I think the best way to do it is say, it's like being gay. You just know.

So a lot of misconceptions about vampires-- the most major is blood. I would say about 3% to 5% of vampires have experienced or practiced blood drinking. Vampires need energy because their physical body does not generate enough energy to satisfy their hunger or their thirst.

The sanguine vampires are the blood drinkers. They believe they need blood-- there's no scientific evidence or psychological evidence whatsoever that any human being needs to drink blood to be able to survive. You have the realities of bloodborne diseases, then you have the legal end. It's just the most impractical way of getting energy possible.

I'm a sanguine vampire, but I don't practice it. I've learned how to take energy. You go to events like a concert, you'll feel the energy, you can-- you can take it in. A vampire knows how to tap that energy in death and harvest it. Kind of like an atmosphere above the body, which is called an aura. This is very much like a comet with a tail. The vampire feeds from the tail of the comet, not the core of the comet.

Fangs are symbolic. It sets the tone of the whole psychological archetype. I'm a fangsmith, which means I make custom fangs for vampires. I'm like the vampire dentist. My grandfather was an orthodontist, and it took me about 18 months of training under a prosthodontist to learn how to do it safely.

- OK, open up.

- Ah!

- Oh, that's sick!

- Oh my.

FATHER SEBASTIAAN: There's a lot of sanitary standards, and we even have a union. A fangsmith guild. I don't wear them all the time because I don't need to wear fangs to be a vampire, they're an aesthetic symbolic thing. Majority of the time I would have them on. I have several pairs for different situations.

Sunlight questions, one I get all the time. I go out in the day, I'm just more awake at night. Vampires often complain about headaches during the day. Most vampires are nocturnal. I feel more comfortable when the psychic energy of humanity is more chill. But I go to bed at 10 o' clock at night most of the times, and wake up at 6:00 and go walking. I just don't like the midday sun.

I think the most rewarding thing is that there's a family element to what I do. I'm also the impresario of the Endless Night Vampire Ball, the largest network of vampire events in the world. Tripadvisor called Endless Night the number one Halloween party in the world. There are people that want to go to a vampire ball run by vampires who take it seriously, and see burlesque shows and rock band, beautiful costumes. And we had tea parties, and classes, and seminars, and-- and discussion circles, and rituals, and games, and archery. There's no blue or red definitions in politics. Everybody comes together. This doesn't happen in mundane life.