
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995                   TAG: 9510270044
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SOMETHING TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO

This week, the talk around the office is of baseball bats; next week, with Halloween brewing, it will be bats of another kind.

You won't find too many trick-or-treaters hanging upside-down with folded wings, (it's too hard to hold out a goodie bag that way), but plenty of little befanged bloodsuckers will be prowling the streets.

There's a serious thirst for vampires among adults, too. They can join the Count Dracula Fan Club, which already has more members than the Sinatra Society of America and the We Remember Elvis Club.

There are almost 80 vampire fanzines, with names ranging from Bites & Pieces to Good Guys Wear Fangs. For the most intense enthusiasts, Death, Inc., of San Francisco, offers a full ``vampire line'' of coffins. Now that's hitting the nail on the head.

In ``The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead,'' J. Gordon Melton points out that there are 33 active vampire-interest groups in the U.S., but only three believe vampires are real. One group thinks its members are real - vampires.

Melton wrote that Bela Lugosi was paid $500 a week to film the 1931 version of ``Dracula.'' Tom Cruise was paid $15 million for ``Interview With the Vampire.''

Despite his donning a cape and sharpening that flashy smile, though, there are no Tom Cruise fan clubs. Hard to believe, but true.

Cross my heart.

by CNB