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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995                   TAG: 9502230063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

MAN CLAIMS TO BE VAMPIRE

Wythe County authorities have taken a suicidal man who claimed to be a vampire to the Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion.

A transient who said he was from New York had stolen a hammer and screwdriver, and tried to kill himself Sunday by hammering the screwdriver - in lieu of the traditional wooden stake mentioned in vampire myth - into his chest, Sheriff Wayne Pike said.

The injury was not life-threatening, Pike said

The man - who insisted to deputies that he was a vampire - was taken into custody at the Petro Truck Stop, treated for his injury at Wythe County Community Hospital and taken to Marion.

by CNB