How to Tell If Your Friend is a Vampire

How can you tell if your friend is becoming a vampire or has completed the transformation? The old stories would tell you to look for sensitivity to light and garlic, bad reactions to crucifix or holy water, lack of reflection in mirrors. Now, those identifiers are not enough. They can even be misleading.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

The reason is that the spread of different strains of the vampire virus means the spread of different symptoms of the sickness. Here is a guide to seeing if your friend is a vampire of any strain.

Disclosures: Affiliate Links - I make a commission for purchases made through links in this blog post. Content - The information in this blog is for entertainment purposes only and should not be seen as a substitute for working with qualified professionals.

1.    Hypersensitivity to anti-bacteria foods like garlic and honey. The old belief was that vampires couldn't stand the smell of garlic. In reality it's the virus carrying vampire bacteria that's causing the negative reaction. If the bacteria is destroyed the virus will be exposed, making it vulnerable to attack. The vampire's physiognomy resists this happening and forces the vampire to avoid foods that kill bacteria naturally. Garlic is easiest for vampires to detect because if it's strong smell, but a vampire will also avoid honey in food or drink once it's been detected. If your friend is avoiding food with garlic on treats sweetened with honey, they could be a vampire.

2.    Unusually physically attractive. If your friend suddenly seems much better-looking, they could be turning into a vampire. In all but one case that is noted by the Undead Bar Association in Shadowed Demise and Matriculated Death the transformation results in a greatly improved physical appearance. I'm not talking about just a little more handsome or charismatic; it's a complete change: clearer shin, better posture, better figure - everything.

3.    Needs a haircut or manicure. If your friend's hair and nails suddenly seem a lot longer then they could be an undead vampire. Archaeologists who study the remains of supposed vampires have claimed that the reason for the appearance of increased hail and hair growth is that the skin pulls back after death, exposing more of the nail bed and more hair. In fact, increased nail and hair growth is a byproduct of the unusual bacteria and virus relationship behind vampirism.

4.    Your friend starts to order rare or raw meat a lot. This classic sign of vampire transformation is still true. The virus at the heart of vampirism needs protein, iron, and platelets from blood so that's what it drives the vampire to seek. This possible sign of vampirism is particularly noteworthy if your friend is normally a vegetarian or vegan.

5.    Sudden sensitivity to religious symbols. Every vampire is frightened by religion, even if the vampire was not religious as a living human, because religion provides the true answer to the question of immortality while vampirism only pretends to answer the question. The religious symbols a particular vampire fears will be the ones associated with the religion the vampire was most familiar with or exposed to in life. Just because your friend doesn't fear a crucifix doesn't mean they're not vampire; they may fear the star of Dark or the Koran instead, for example. The real question to ask is what do you know about what your friends believe in.

If your friend bites you on the neck and leaves fang marks than that’s a pretty obvious sign, but if that kind of thing is happening then you’ve more pressing things to worry about then doing a web search for how to know if your friend is a vampire.