The Black List
Within any community or culture there will be those individuals who will either ignore generally accepted guidelines, practices and ethics of the community, who violate these tenets to the detriment of the community as a whole, but also most typically, to those who look up to them or invest their trust in them.
Numerous cult evaluation frameworks exist in the public domain on the internet, which allow the ordinary user to evaluate whether or not such individuals who exhibit suspicious or shady behavior or practices are indeed acting in a manner which casts the broader Vampyre Community under a dis-favorable light.
This section is dedicated to exposing and warning against individuals, organizations, and websites who misrepresent either themselves or their organizations as spokespersons for the entire Vampyre Community or subculture (or as ‘experts’ on the subject).
Some have promoted personal agendas using uncorroborated views and opinions regarding the Vampyre Community, made fantastic or provocative claims which go against accepted norms or common sense, or what has been proved to be true by scientific or medical studies. Many have done so in order to facilitate “money-making schemes” for self-enrichment, or otherwise acted in ways which are undeniably hostile and vampophobic – and by whatever association with the community, pose a risk or threat of endangerment to the community.
The Black List:
The following have been blacklisted:
- Vampirewebsite.net (Steve Leighton)
- Father Sebastiaan/Ordo Strigoi Vii
- Anthony Hogg (aka ‘the Vampirologist’)
Vampirewebsite.net
Vampirewebsite.net
This website is generally a misinformation site, designed to steer genuine seekers and the curious away from the real Vampyre Community, or to persuade them that real Vampyres and the Vampyre Community are in fact role players and mentally ill blood fetishists or other kinds of deluded individuals. Rather, it presents the image, using faked statistics and other falsified pseudo-science – as well as distortions of actual scientific studies (i.e. the references on the front page to Yale university research about retro-viruses) to show that “real” Vampyres are the people who have a condition brought on by a virus which in fact has not been demonstrated to exist.
While the science quoted from Yale regarding the operation and transmission of any generic virus or retro-virus will most likely (if unaltered) be scientifically sound, the entire flim-flam story will be shot down by the absence of any evidence to show that any such virus that causes vampyrism has been detected, identified or proved to exist.
The manner in which the site owner presents the study by Yale serves to suggest that Yale University could have identified this virus and therefore may have also accepted scientifically the existence of Vampyres,
The simplest way to disprove this is to ask Yale, or any of the Universities listed at the bottom of the index page cited as sources for this position on vampyrism being caused by a retro-virus, whether they have identified any kind of virus which causes vampyrism. Please send us any responses you receive – we can’t wait to see them!
Vampirewebsite.net is run by Steve Leighton, aka Whyte_Panther, and has been since 2008. This individual is rumored to have been a participant in the Vampi(y)re community for a time, although, for reasons that are not clear, he is generally no longer considered to be part of it, although if his views aired on the site are taken into consideration, this is hardly surprising.
The page called “The New Code” is meant to be the owner’s own take on a Vampyre legal code, one which echoes in some ways the Black Veil, but which has some serious flaws. In the second point in the “New Code”, the owner discusses vampires being responsible for the actions of those they “turn”, and then also states “Because any real vampire, or person that claims to be a real vampire, that lashes out makes us all look bad. Generally the punishment results in death.” Death? I suppose he doesn’t realize how this looks? If, as many assume, this site was aimed at teenagers, many clearly unable to differentiate fact from fiction or reality from fantasy, so well-blended and obscured on this site – then would such a statement not encourage a tragedy? That is, assuming whoever takes this to heart and lives by it, being unable to see through this facade of legitimacy to the layer of fecal matter underneath? By an extreme contrast, point 4 admonishes Vampyres to “Only acquire blood with a donors permission, never by force or against a persons wishes.” That is good and well, but how does this practical and wise bit of advice manage to share the same space as the previous statement in point 2?
That isn’t the only place where a total lack of regard for safety is displayed on this site – on one page “How to get turned into a vampire”, mention is made of how this person believes one can turn into a vampire – by a “simple exchange of blood with a vampire. Even just a 1/4 teaspoon of blood is more than enough blood to turn you into avampire.” “As is already commonly believed, when a vampire turns you into a vampire, the vampire must receive the normal persons blood first. This exchange of blood can be done orally. Afterwards the normal person must receive the vampires blood, they can do this orally as well. This is the only way that you can be turned into a vampire.“ All of this flies in the face of what is generally held to be the accepted truth in our community – that Vampyres are born and awaken to being Vampyres around puberty – not made or turned. And look – not a single warning about having a blood test prior to undertaking this activity, or any other warnings about how to safely procure said blood etc. The only place mention of HIV and AIDS and transmission of this disease is to be found, is where the alleged “vampire retro-virus” is discussed, such as on the bottom of the index page, hidden in masses of text – and still without any explicit warning that Vampyres are just as susceptible to HIV and AIDS as anyone else. This is an extremely careless omission.
Leighton also goes on to say that “Unlike how this is portrayed in movies, there is no need to drain someone of their blood to the point of death, when turning them into a vampire. Any person that claims they are a real vampire and says that they have to drain you to the point of death to turn you into a vampire, is a poser and should be avoided.” No kidding.
The one amusing part of the entire website is the description of “slayers“, a little more lethal in conceptualization than “hunters”, but equally as fictional in general terms. There are really hunters and slayers of course – though the type of “hunting” and “slaying” they do is more in the line of the wing-nuts that dug up a relative’s body in Romania to cut out and burn the heart and drink the ashes to satisfy their own superstitions; and delusional people like those involved in the “Highgate Vampire” saga of the 1970’s. That’s about the gist of it. Read that page, if just for the lulz of it.
This site also fuels the Psi-Sang divide by pushing the notion that only those infected with a retro-virus (being by nature sanguines) are “real” vampires. Leighton states that “People that refer to themselves as “energy vampires”, aren’t actually vampires. They are people that have been brainwashed in to believing that being able to take energy is what makes some one a vampire. While in truth any normal person can learn to take energy, and any normal person can learn to use psychic abilities. Any person that actively uses psychic abilities and energy, will for obvious reasons use energy quicker than their body produces energy. In effect this will result in them feeling a need to draw additional energy from outside sources, until they learn ways to make the energy on their own. This side effect that would seem obvious to most people, is what makes some people think that they are “energy vampires”. ” Thus, if you are a Vampyre who feeds via energetic means, he’s talking about YOU. If you’re upset about that, then that’s likely exactly what he wants – so it’s best to ignore this statement – along with the entire site. The actual VC got over this silly little difference of opinion back in the early 2000’s already.
The thing with websites like these is, you never know when they are set up by someone with good intentions or not. The best way to tell is whether they include some kind of negative message about the VC as a whole. This site has, and also in the past, listed many genuine information resources which are highly respected in the VC which provide objective information about the real community as “fake” and “posers”. Under “Good real vampire sites and information” NOT A SINGLE SITE is listed which fits that description. In fact, only 5 urls are listed, while the general VC web-directory contains several hundred known linked resource sites and forums around the world which one would assume, should be listed if the site were genuinely part of the Vampyre Community. The fact that not a single one of them, even the more well-known ones, such as Sanguinarius.org, SphynxCatVP’s resource page, the Atlanta Vampire Alliance information site etc is listed, is certainly suspicious. When you see what references he makes to the VC, it becomes clear why.
In one place he says: “There is a group that calls itself the vampire community that is estimated to be 98% posers and the very few real vampires in that group aren’t the ones that are running it.” Naturally, he is referring to his own “estimate” since no statistical survey or census exists to support this claim (and the only known examples of VC surveys reflect otherwise). When you read the site-owner’s rant on his “Vampire Community” page, where he basically vents his hatred and anger at the real VC, you begin to understand the true purpose for his site. It’s personal. It’s about revenge and about making real Vampyres and the real Vampyre Community look as bad and as insane as possible.
Considering the amount of traffic that gets diverted to this site by web searches, high internet rankings, and the amount of effort spent to gain views, hits and link-backs, shows that the owner clearly wants this message to get out there. Badly.
More disturbing is the fact that this site has been referenced on several occasions by media and news agencies seeking facts about “the vampire cult” – usually while doing research for articles and inserts about crime and social dangers they perceive to be linked to real Vampyres and the Vampyre subculture!
The drawback of sites like this is that more spinoffs and long-time users of Vampirewebsite such as Izidari will create their own “information” websites, and go out into the VC – and into the mundane world to continue to spread this misinformation to any and all who will listen (see “My First Interview With A Huge Audience” on Izidari’s blog and also her “official website“). This is irresponsible at best. Izidari is clearly one of Steve’s minions biggest fans. She has even written (self-published) several books (1, 2) now peddling his stuff. The Vampirewebsite franchise appears, collectively, to be heading the way of similar enterprises infamous throughout the VC for pushing misinformation for a slice of fame and a fast buck at the expense of any potential dignity or credibility the VC might achieve without their sabotage help.
The VC at large appears to view this site with irritation and embarrassment, while it provides a dangerous and confusing blend of low fact to fiction ratio as “the truth about vampires”. It is strongly suggested that anything posted on this site is taken with a shovel full of salt, and cross-referenced with reputable sites or community resources.
Father Sebastiaan/Ordo Strigoi Vii
Father Sebastiaan (a.k.a. Father Todd, Aaron van Houten etc)/Sanguinarium (Endless Night events etc)/Ordo Strigoi Vii (OSV)
Category: Misinformation
Following is a post on Michelle Belanger’s page on Livejournal.com detailing some of the issues this individual has become known for in the VC. In the post, permission is given to re-post it elsewhere.
“Since late 1998, I have worked with Father Sebastian Todd. Our initial partnership began after my work was plagiarized in his Vampyre Almanac 1998-1999. The material plagiarized was originally published in the 1997 Monolith Graphics Art Calendar. I touch upon this in my book, The Psychic Vampire Codex, but at Sebastian’s insistence, left out the specified incident of plagiarism because he did not want to look bad.
At the time, Father Sebastian alleged that he had no idea who sent him the material. As reparation, he offered to have me write for the next Almanac — without pay, of course. To this day, I am certain that Todd himself plagiarized my work, and this knowledge in part influenced my decision to work with him on future projects.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but I had been plagiarized before, and as a relative no-name, I had discovered just how hard it is to call someone to task for intellectual theft. I felt that if I worked with a known plagiarist, at least I would have some say in how my work was presented and I would be much more likely to be able to keep my name attached to that work. In later years, another factor that kept me working with Todd was the fact that I could influence him to be less destructive to the community — my revisions of the Black Veil are a sign of this, as Todd’s version that first appeared on the Sanguinarium website was criticized by many as reading like a bad rehash of The Traditions of the Masquerade. It was.
Last week, after many long and eventful years, my House and I decided to bring our association with Father Sebastian Todd to an end. For multiple infractions that have built up over a span of years but have specifically reached a head over the past 8 months, Father Sebastian Todd is no longer an ally of House Kheperu. Subsequently, he is no longer someone who can use our name, reprint our work, “borrow” our ideas, or otherwise continue to enlarge his own projects with our creativity, inspiration, or reputation.
First, I want everyone to understand that this was not done lightly. Ever since I first started working the Father Sebastian Todd in 1998, I have had various people approach me and warn me not to work with him. More people than I can count have approached me over the years with complaints against him and reasons for why our association should end. Until recently, I never felt there was sufficient evidence for such a drastic move. However, over the course of the past year or so, a number of events, incidents, disagreements, and issues have built to a point where the cessation of his ally status was inevitable.
When the infractions are based on material reported to us by another, be assured that we have acquired the text of letters, IM logs, chat transcripts, and other primary evidence to back up each individual’s claims. Furthermore, the individual infractions are not limited to single incidents but represent a repeated pattern that cannot at this point be resolved. The material we have on file will remain private as it contains peoples’ names and we have no desire to spread further drama and recriminations throughout the community. Just understand that by our exacting standards, it is more than sufficient to prove each case.
Here are the main points that inspired this radical decision:
Primary Infractions of Father Sebastian Todd:
- Stating that House Kheperu is sponsoring events without first gaining permission from the House. Further, not even notifying House Members that we were supposedly sponsoring the events
- Presenting himself under a known alternate ID as an ally of House Kheperu to other houses and then implying or outright stating that House Kheperu supports the issues and/or policy changes he is attempting to enforce in said houses.
- Reprinting material from members of the House in his publications without first acquiring permission to do so. (plagiarism)
- Frequently taking ideas and partial writings from the House for reprint in his own publications without proper attribution. (intellectual theft)
- Misrepresenting concepts, ideas, and teachings from House Kheperu.
- Attempting to recruit an established member of House Kheperu. Furthermore, attempting to use sex to do so, via a third party.*
- Misrepresenting House Kheperu and/or its members to potential members and other individuals within the community.
__________________________________________
Ordinarily, when someone becomes an ally or loses that status, we treat it as a private matter. It is only because of the very public identity of Sebastian and the widely known nature of our association that we make this a public matter on our boards. For the sake of peace in the community, we do not wish to debate the matter further.
We also wish to take this time to apologize to anyone in any order, coven, or house who has been approached by Todd, a member of House Sahajza, or its affiliates using our name. If any person claiming to be abbon of House Kheperu has attempted to inform you of our opinions or policies, they had no right to speak with our voice. They did this without our knowledge or our consent.
House Kheperu has no interest in dictating policy to other houses or individuals. If someone attempts to tell you what to do, using our name to back up their credibility, they are abusing both us and you.
If you run a vampire-related House, Order, or Website, please reprint this letter in its entirety. I am especially distressed to learn that Todd frequently used my name and the name of House Kheperu in private correspondence to lend credibility to his claims and demands. He never had permission to do this. If he has run an event and our name has been attached to it, he has never even asked if he could use that name. Some abuses I can tolerate when it’s for the good of the community, but too many of the liberties he has taken with us have hurt the community I love.
–Michelle Belanger
*Ordinarily, we have no problem with our members joining other organizations. It is the fact that Sebastian has railed against other individuals who have sought to recruit his members that we take this into consideration at all. Our members can come and go as they please, but we feel that by Sebastian’s own standards, a concerted effort to draw them away represents a serious insult to us and our House.”
The below article also gives a lot of information about why this individual and his organizations are bad for the image of the VC:
The Obfuscation of Father Sebastiaan Inc. An Illuminating Investigation for the Vampi(y)re Community – by Octarine Valur Dec 12, 2012.
Anthony Hogg aka ‘the Vampirologist’
Anthony Hogg (aka ‘the Vampirologist’)
Category: Misinformation, vampophobic trolling.
Anthony Hogg – is an Australian ‘arm-chair critic’ with a passion for the fictional and mythological vampire who entered the online VC a few years ago. Presenting himself as an ‘academic’, and an ‘amateur vampirologist’, he has written numerous articles on his blogs about fictional vampires as well as critical articles about the VC and subculture. His ‘study of vampires in fiction’ and his articles appear to be the sole basis for his claim of being an ‘academic’. The drama and flame-wars in various groups across the VC resulting from his attempts to force his views on the community were not welcome, and by August 2015, Anthony Hogg had been banned and excluded from most if not all Vampyre Community Facebook groups and essentially is viewed as a ‘white swan‘.
More information about Anthony Hogg – 1, 2
The following websites critical of Hogg (and his co-troll and sidekick Erin Chapman) may also be of interest: Hoggwatch (2012) and Anthony Hogg (August 2015).
The following community warning/joint statement was issued on 08/09/2015:
“***COMMUNITY-WIDE WARNING*** (Version 3)
We are posting this as a community service warning to prevent further damage to our community and its individual parts. All participants in the VC are free to choose their level of involvement with the above mentioned individual, but as leaders of our particular parts of the Vampyre Community, we feel it is our duty to caution the VC against such an undesirable individual.
It is with regret that we the undersigned separate ourselves from Anthony Hogg. We as Group Admins/Community Leaders et al cannot condone or tolerate behavior under the circumstances as described below:
• Pursuant to the recent surge in academic interest in the Vampyre subculture, numerous academic researchers have been generally granted access to VC groups on FB, to interact freely and socialize with self-identifying Vampi(y)res.
• However, this granting of access to the VC via FB is not without expectations of how a professional academic researcher ought to conduct themselves within the context of the VC subculture and/or VC groups on Facebook.
• Anthony Hogg has been interacting with the Vampyre Community via Facebook groups for a number of years, presenting himself as a ‘vampirologist’ – an ‘expert’ or ‘academic’ who ‘studies vampires’, and has compounded a list of infractions as follows:
• This individual is not a professional academic or a scholar in any scientific discipline and his aim is not to study the Vampyre subculture, but as admitted in open conversation several times, to alter it to suit his own biases – to match his questionable actions in VC groups which have resulted in flame wars and drama and intimidating behavior which has been costing the VC its most valuable resource – its members.
• His actual field of interest is the fictional/mythical vampire – not the living human Vampi(y)re, and his track-record in VC groups has demonstrated hostility and intolerance for individuals who identify as living Vampi(y)res, and whenever they introduce themselves as such.
• We strongly believe that it is not the place of an outsider to dictate to Vampyres how we should construct our own identity, our culture, or that we should expect our members or participants to have to put up with a hostile element, in particular any individuals who could only be described as ‘white swans’, and that the safety and integrity of the VC and our participants should be placed first and foremost.
For in-depth descriptions of the circumstances surrounding this warning, kindly view the following links for more information:
https://savampyrenews.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/vampirology-poll-ruffles-a-few-feathers/
As a collective of VC group representatives, community leaders and Admins on VC Facebook groups we hereby encourage all other VC group representatives and VC Facebook groups and Admins to stand with us and to sign their support for this initiative and to take action to suit at the earliest convenience.
We strongly believe that it would be in the best interests of the VC and the subculture if agitators, trolls and hostile influences are totally removed and excised from all VC groups, forums and interactions, to ensure a better, safer VC for all participants.
Listing of groups and/or Admins signing support to this community warning:
1. Octarine Valur – ‘The South African Vampyre Alliance’ (SAVA), including sub-groups, namely ‘The South African Vampyre Community’, ‘Friends of the South African Vampyre’ and ‘The Vampire Unification Forum’, ‘Real Vampire Forum’ (RVF).
2. Dennis Myers & Carla Cadenas – ‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ (BITW).
3. Jason De Marco – ‘Castle of the Vampyre’, ‘House Obsidian Raven’, ‘The Sydney Vampire Guild’, ‘Real vampires’, ‘House Crimson Thorn’, ‘Vampyres Beyond the Myth’, ‘the Vampiric Society’, ‘the Australian Vampire Society’, ‘the Australian Vampire Community’.
4. Mina Von Ulf – ‘Vampyres Of Facebook’.
5. Lady S. RavenHeart – ‘Kingdom of Vampyres’, ‘Ravens Den’.
6. Kate Gallwey – ‘British Alliance of Vampire & Otherkin’ (BRAVO).
7. Daley Catherine Hodges – ‘Vampire Court of Austin’ (VCA).
8. Lady CG – ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ (Facebook and forum).
9. Mikyla Abigor – ‘Global Vampire Community’.
10. Davis Campbell – ‘Canadian Collaborative Vampire & Otherkin Alliance’ (CCVOA).
11. Aramond Sebastian Van Rahamdalph – ‘Texas Bay Area Court’, ‘Texas Bay Area Council’, ‘the New Age Kajira Training School’.
12. JP Vanir – ‘Vampyrian Temple’ (TUVUP).
13. Stefan Resurrectus – ‘Clan Resurrectus’.
The South African Vampi(y)re Culture Center 