Samantha CarlettaComm. 10013 March 2009Origins of myths about vampires and werewolvesI. IntroductionA. "I could feel the soft, trembling touch of lips on the hypersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dent of two sharp teeth, touching and stopping there. 1. I closed my eyes in languid ecstasy and waited - waited heartily for beats."2. Everyone knows the famous Dracula, even if only fleetingly. Like most people, stories of vampires and werewolves have always fascinated me.C. I started wondering when, how and why these stories came about, so I did a little research.D. Today I will tell you about the origins and basic beliefs of the vampire and werewolf myths and the medical conditions believed to be at their root.1. Let's start with the undead.II. BodyA. The exact origins of the term "vampire" are unknown, as is the exact origin of the myth, but in almost all countries there are legends of these "blood-sucking monsters". Although specifics about vampires vary from place to place, when you think of the term "vampire" the image depicted by Bram Stoker in Dracula usually comes to mind. A vampire is a person who has returned from the grave and steals the life force from a living creature in the form of its blood.a. A person can become any vampire: criminal, witch, seventh son of a seventh son, or bitten by another vampire.b. Vampires can be recognized by their aversion to sunlight and fire; they have no reflection or shadow; and in some tales they can transform into a bat, a wolf, or a mist. 1.) The physical characteristics are deathly pale skin, willowy build, very long upper "fangs" or canine teeth, do not age and often possess an otherworldly beauty.2.) Above all,......center of the card. .....mal, usually, though not always a wolf.3. Rabies is an often fatal viral disease that affects the central nervous system of mammals.a. It is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal.b. Immediately after being bitten, a person goes through a period of tiredness, headache, fever, cough and sore throat, followed by extreme irritability, inability to sleep, depression and hallucinations.c. A form of rabies called "furious rabies" causes strange behavior, such as restlessness, aimless wandering, biting other people, and an uncontrollable fear of water.III. ConclusionA. Stories of vampires and werewolves have existed long before most of recorded history and modern medicine is barely uncovering the mysteries behind them.B. As Bram Stoker says: “There are mysteries which men can only guess at, and which age after age can only partially solve.”..”