The term vampire has long been associated with blood-sucking monsters, but there is a group based in New Orleans that believes vampires are not a myth and instead walk among us with a real and specific need for blood, according to the Washington Post.
The New Orleans Vampire Association, or NOVA, is a "nonprofit organization comprised of self-identifying vampires."
According to its website, different sections within the organization have differing opinions about what it means to be a true vampire, with some looking to the lifestyle as a biological need for blood, while others see it more as an identity or spiritual choice.
"Until 2009, the only area of vampire studies that I hadn't approached was real vampires," said John Edgar Browning, a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State University who has been studying vampires and the people who adore them for about five years. "I think I subconsciously saved it for last because I just thought what a lot of people think: that they must be crazy and have read too much fictional work about vampires."
The community, according to Browning, turned out to not be "crazy" after all. After talking to different members, he said that they were no crazier than the normal "average Joe."
There are a recorded 50 vampire-identifying members in New Orleans, and about 5,000 all over the U.S., according to the Atlanta Vampire Alliance.