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BLOOD

“for the life of the flesh is in the blood”

Leviticus 17:11
a stone fountain running with blood

“Blut ist ein ganz besonderer Saft.” (Blood is a very special juice)

Faust

“There is scarcely any natural object with so profoundly emotional an effect as blood.”

Havelock Ellis
NEXT BLOOD MOON IN:
CALCULATING…
[December 31 2028]
FOLKLORE: the Bible calls it an omen—“the moon shall be turned into blood” before the end times (Joel 2:31)  •  the Inca believed a jaguar was attacking and devouring the moon, and would shout and throw spears to drive it off  •  in Hindu myth, the demon Rahu swallows the moon whole  •  some Aboriginal Australian traditions saw a red moon as the spirit of a dead man rising from his grave  • 

Bloodsuckers

Vampire bat
vampire bat
Vampire finch
vampire finch
Sea lamprey
lampreys
Vampire snail
vampire snail
Vampire jumping spider
jumping spider
Bedbugs, ticks, and mosquitoes
bugz
  • vampire bat: the vampire bat will regurgitate blood into it's friend's mouth if it notices it's friend is hungry
  • vampire finch: researchers think they might have accidentally developed their lust for blood from innocent parasite cleaning behavior
  • vampire snail: blood-feeding evolved independently at LEAST three times among snails. evolution led them there twice.
Cute vampire bunny ...and possibly a rabbit?
President Carter swimming rabbit 1979
carter's "killer rabbit" (1979)
The Vampire Rabbit gargoyle in Newcastle
vampire rabbit gargoyle
Bunnicula book cover 1979
bunnicula (1979)

in april 1979, president jimmy carter was attacked by a hissing swamp rabbit while fishing in georgia. that exact same month, deborah and james howe published bunnicula, the vampire bunny who drains vegetables dry. meanwhile in newcastle, england, a century-old gothic gargoyle known as the vampire rabbit still stares down from a cathedral wall with blood-red fangs and claws.

last but not least...

LEECHES

hirudo medicinalis
Medicinal leech, top and underside
  • jaws: three, with around 100 teeth each. the bite is a neat little Y.
  • eyes: ten.
  • leech collectors: usually poor women who waded into bogs and let leeches latch onto their bare legs. no legs to spare? they drove old horses into the water as bait.
  • "vampire of medicine": dr. françois broussais, who reportedly put 30 leeches on every new patient before even diagnosing them.
  • tempest prognosticator: an 1851 storm alarm powered by twelve leeches in bottles. when a storm came they climbed up and rang a bell.
  • today: the FDA cleared leeches as a medical device in 2004. surgeons put them on reattached fingers and ears.
leech jar
Blue and white ceramic pharmacy jar labeled LEECHES
another leech jar
White porcelain apothecary jar labeled LEECHES

green-blooded lizards

Green-blooded skink

skinks in new guinea have lime-green blood, bones, and tongues due to a poisonous bile pigment called biliverdin. their blood holds 40 times the amount that would kill a person. right on little guys.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

coming soon:

  • blood glue
  • blood mortar
  • calf-to-human transfusion, 17th century
  • blood relics
  • blood brother rituals
  • blood butter

...and more!