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A top academic claims there is an “underground network” of 15,000 vampires in the UK who regularly meet up to drink BLOOD.

Dr Emyr Williams is sinking his teeth into studying Britain’s real-life Draculas and wants them to come out of the dark and talk about their blood-sucking habits.

The psychology lecturer has created an online survey he hopes vampires will complete as he insists this alternative section of society are ‘not mad or mentally ill.’

Dr Williams said: “This is a subculture that exists in every country, especially in the West.

“They are a group of people who drink blood and drain energy from people, but their well-established laws mean they know who it can and can’t be taken from.

“For example Sanguine vampires receive blood from willing donors who they can only cut on certain parts of the body and they are forbidden from taking too much.

“There are also Psychic and Hybrid vampires - as well as blood donors, role-players and enthusiasts who are also part of the community. It is fascinating and all very real.”

(Image: Mirrorpix)

Dr Williams, a psychologist at Glyndwr University, in Wrexham, North Wales, hopes lots of genuine vampires will support his study.

He said hopes to learn how vampires form communities, what their levels of happiness and self-esteem are and their religious beliefs.

Dr Williams added: “We are trying to understand them better, reduce the fear around them allow them to be accepted into society.

“I don’t want to label them as mad, bad, dangerous or only interested in Gothic culture and graveyards. They’re just a group of people we need to know more about.

“The psychology of vampires is so interesting and I genuinely don’t believe it is linked to mental illness or madness.

“It’s a religious belief - we all have different belief systems and for many people vampirism is a genuine way of life.

“Vampires are not dangerous. There are around 15,000 in the UK who call themselves vampires and with another 30,000 being donors.”

Dr Williams admitted access to the underground vampire community is difficult as they are incredibly private but he is confident his research will attract their attention.

He added: “I wrote a previous paper on how we’ve gone from the old scary image of vampires to the sexy sparkling people you see in the Twilight films.

“That was published in the Journal of Dracula Studies and gained me some respect and trust within that particular community.

“Hopefully that’ll reinforce what I’m trying to do here.”

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