Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
Although sucking blood from out of two holes in a neck would no doubt be totally awesome and instantly refreshing, if we were vampires we’d still take the time to clean the area with sani-wipes before taking a sip. After all, just because we’d be undead doesn’t mean we’d not be sanitarily cautious.
The Vampire of Mineral Point, on the other hand, well he’s not cautious at all. Well – unless by never ever biting anybody you’d deem him cautious. Actually, we would too. He’s actually pretty polite as far as vampires go. Sure he hangs out in cemeteries – but he usually gets while the getting’s good once the authorities become involved.
Just to get this out of the way from the start – the Vampire of Mineral Point seems more mysterious than he does dangerous. He’s never been reported to have bitten a single stupid neck, and he can’t even turn into a bat. At a vampire convention he’d be more likely served? on the buffet table than have a reserved seat.
What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of the Vampire of Mineral Point? Well let us brief you on him. This summary is from the demoniacal.blogspot.com:
“In 1981 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, sightings of a reported ‘Vampire’ were made in the local Graceland Cemetery. Police Officer John Pepper had a run-in with the phantom, which he described as being a tall, white-faced man in a cape. Pepper pursued the suspect but gave up after the man leaped over a barbed-wire fence and disappeared in the darkness. Pepper reportedly discounted the Vampire rumours, believing the suspect to have possibly been mentally ill.”
With leaps like that – this guy reminds us far more of the super cool Spring-Heeled Jack, or the slightly copy cat-ish Hopping Phantom of Calch?n than a vampire. Kind of strange that these high jumping hooligans have been encountered so often. Sounds to us like Larry Bird in a bathrobe.
The sightings for this particular creature go on. On a Facebook page called Wisconsin Death Trip Discussions, a poster named ‘Derek‘ adds quite a bit to the story. He doesn’t cite a source, so take it with a grain of salt. Here’s a first portion of what he said:
“On March 14, 2008 around 9 PM, Mineral Point police responded to a number of calls of a person sitting in a tree outside an apartment complex and leaping upon those who passed by. The person described matched that of the Mineral Point Vampire. As police arrived, the suspect jumped from the tree and ran off into the night. Authorities followed what they believed to be his tracks in the snow, which led to a 10 foot high cement wall and stopped. The suspect could not be found.”
Again with the jumping. So far the alleged Mineral Point Vampire doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe he’ll start sucking your blood after you die of a heart attack. If that’s the case – you’re not using it anymore anyway, right? The next bit from Derek’s post show’s a more supernatural, possible serial killer type side to the vampire. Keep in mind we’ve tried to google confirmation sources on this story and couldn’t find any.
But it’s fascinating none the less:
“Taken off the news wire reporting out of Madison:
“On July 11, 2008 at about 10:00 PM Mineral Point residents Brandon Heinz (22 years old) and his girlfriend Jamie Marker (19 years old) were fishing off the jetty on the far west shore of Ludden Lake when the couple heard noises coming from under the jetty. The noises were described as sounding “like something was using the boards of the jetty like a ladder, climbing along underneath us”.
“Heinz began stomping the boards believing it was some kind of animal and hoping to scare it away. He aimed his flashlight between the cracks of the boards when he and Marker heard water splashing down towards the other side of the jetty. Heinz shone his flashlight towards the sound to see “a figure with dark hair and a very pale face pulling itself up onto the jetty”. Heinz and Marker stood in shock as the figure began to rise to it’s feet. Marker turned and ran up the path towards Heinz’s vehicle as Heinz kept his flashlight aimed on the figure.
“”It was wearing some kind of Dracula looking cape and a suit, sort of,” Heinz stated. Marker claimed the same. Heinz threw his flashlight towards the figure and ran up the path after Marker, who was already in the vehicle with the doors locked. As Heinz started the vehicle and began leaving, Marker saw out the passenger window that the figure was coming up the path at a run and she screamed for Heinz to hurry.
“The couple drove to the Mineral Point police department and made a statement directly after. A patrol unit in the area of Ludden Lake investigated the area where Heinz and Marker had been but found no one. Heinz and Marker returned the next day to retrive their belongings with everything accounted for, except for Heinz’s flashlight.
“Whoever it is,” Heinz says, “they can keep it.””
That sound like something out of a movie. If it’s a 3-D movie with a tall, blue lead character and a two dimensional villain, well then we’d like to buy our tickets now.