DO VAMPAIRES TRULY EXIST? A TRUE STORY

Oh yes, this is a true story of my encounter. Most people have always thought vampires, mermaids etc. to me a myth, I was never sure. I have always believed that no human being wakes up and formulate something and almost everybody buys it if there is no element of truth in it. As the saying goes, there is no smoke without a fire. Before I move directly to my experience, let us know some of the myths about vampires.

It is believed that vampires consume blood to restore life. it is also believed that they are weaker during the day and stronger at night, they shapeshift into bats, they do not reflect in mirrors, they sleep in graves etc. Visit 10 MAJOR MYTHS ABOUT VAMPIRES for more information.

It was towards the end of August, 2023; I had just recently moved to my new lodge after moving out of the hostel. My roommate could not sleep in the room that night because she had some issues she needed to sort out; it was my first night there, so I just decided to prepare noodles before going to bed. After cooking my noodles turned black, I tried to ransack my mind on what kind of ingredient I had put in it to make it black, but I knew that was not it. Or was it the method I used to prepare it? But I have always been using the method and I have never made black noodles before. I was only able to take few spoons, but even the taste was dark, so I just had to throw it away. Before you judge me, indomie noodles was not as expensive as gold as it is now. This was the first sign, but I ignored it.

I woke up the next morning with bite marks on my leg and arms, with sharp nail claws all over. My roommate came to join me and she too had the same experience. We felt we were losing blood and we never knew where they were coming from. We couldn’t scream for help, because we never know when it happens, we just wake up with bite marks and scratches. We lock our doors before we sleep, so we couldn’t tell how they got in. after a week, we decided to watch through the night to see these creatures for ourselves. We slept off, but I woke up by 2am to hear singing going on in my room. I did not see anybody because my room was dark, and my roommate was fast asleep. I couldn’t even tell what they were singing because it was in a language in could not understand. I don’t think you would want to be me in that situation. Can you just take a few seconds to imagine waking up in a dark room to hear subtle singing and see no one? I did not know if I should wake my roommate up or turn on my torch light. I decided to go with the latter. Immediately I turned on my light, I received the biggest shock of my life. They were not only singing, they were also dancing and flying around. They were so tiny that I could barely see them. One just fly passed me even as I am typing this. Don’t worry about me; I have gotten a bit used to them. Unfortunately or should I say fortunately they were not vampires, they were actually mosquitoes.

Sorry if I burst your bubble but someone out there needs this article, and it may be you. so I did some probing. My compound is very neat and there are no gutters, sewages or stagnant water. My room is also very neat and I do not have any thing that attracts mosquitoes, except my blood? So why is there are village of mosquitoes in my room. If you know you are having the same problem with me, do not stop reading. This article would be of great help to you.

The name “MOSQUITO” is a Spanish and Portuguese word for ‘LITTLE FLY’. But it would be a FRESTSKY word for ‘VAMPAIRE’ There are many mosquitoes out there, when I say a lot, I meant a whole lot of them. The American Mosquito Association confirms that there are over 3,000 different species of mosquitoes throughout the world. I think it would be fair to say we cannot eliminate mosquitoes completely even if we tried to, but we can curb and reduce them to the barest minimum.

Why do I call them vampires?

1. MOSQUITOES FEED ON BLOOD; the female mosquitoes feed on blood, they need the protein from the blood to help them reproduce and develop their eggs. The males on the other hand feed on nectars from plants and flowers. So now, you know only the female mosquitoes that perform all the work on your body.
2. MOSQUITOES ARE VERY GREEDY ANIMALS; mosquitoes do not only bite and suck the blood of only humans, but also that of animals too. They can suck more blood than an average baby can drink in a week. Moreover, they do not only suck blood from humans, but also from animals. These tiny insects seem greedy to me. Don’t you think so?
3. MOSQUITOES ARE HIGLY ACTIVE AND THY ARE ATTRACTED TO ACTIVE PEOPLE; mosquitoes are ten times active than an average child who took overdose of sugar. They are also highly attracted to active people, people who are always busy with maybe; exercises, manual labour etc. This is so because, whenever a person is performing an activity, his/her body produces sweat and emits heat and the heart pumps blood faster, making blood circulate round the body organs at a higher speed and as you know already, mosquitoes love blood. At that point, you have become a mosquito magnet, because your blood will be very attractive to them at that point.
4. MOSQUITOES BARELY REST; I know this point may seem similar to the former, but there are a few perquisites to this point. If you can recall in my introduction, I stated that there are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes, this links to this point. Let me give you an illustration “if you leave in a community that highly mosquito infested, let’s say about 3 different species are situated in the community. And specie A are more active during the day, specie B are more active at night, and specie C are always active both day and night, so you see that being active is not the only criteria to be a mosquito magnet, you just be resting peaceful and your blood  still becomes mosquitos food.
5. MOSQUITOES ARE ONE OF THE WORLDS DEADLIEST AND DANGEROUS ANIMALS; this sounds funny right? Nevertheless, it is a fact. It seems like mosquitoes were created to attack whether they are attacked or not. It is also important to note that malaria is not the only disease package that mosquitoes release as they bite and suck blood, they also release other diseases like Zika, Dengue Fever and West Nile Virus.

BUT! There are actually somethings about mosquitos that are not in our conventional vampire stories

1. MOSQUITOES DO NOT LIVE FOR A LONG TIME; this might seem like a funny reason, but it is reasonable. Mosquitoes live for the maximum of two months. You know the saying that goes “LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST, LIVE IT LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW, BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NO KNOW HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE”  I think mosquitoes live by this policy, the females to be précised. They know that they have limited time on earth, so they will want to bite and suck as much blood as they can and reproduce as much as they can to leave their legacy behind to torment you with their bites. While our vampires actually do live a lot longer.
2. MOSQUITOES ARE SLOW FLYERS; if you ask me; I will say it is because of the excess amount of blood they consume in a day. Nevertheless, their nature of flying slowly makes them remain in one spot for a relatively long period. That is why it seems like no matter how many times you slap them off your body, they don’t seem to go away and as long as you remain in that spot, she will keep biting and sucking your blood and, in the process, she releases her spit into your body. This is what makes you itch, and if there is continuous itching; you would be left with itchy red spots. But have you seen the speed vampires take to save their damsels in distress.

Since mosquitoes cannot be eliminated these are the ways to avoid and curb them.

• Always use mosquito nets. When I say mosquito nets I mean even for your doors and windows. If they are properly sealed you might not even have the need for actual mosquito nets. I was able to find out that the reason mosquitoes were creating an army in my room was because my window net was half open and I never knew, because I never opened my louvers, until someone opened it for me. Secondly, my door net had some openings in it, so it was very easy for mosquitoes to penetrate into the room.  
• Avoid staying around dirty environment, with sewages, gutters, swamps, puddle or bushes. Plus, be neat always. And if you are living in a continent of mosquitoes, just make sure all your nets are sealed; or get nets if you do not have one.
• Constantly spray your house with insecticides, at least twice every week. But as for me, I spray almost every night. However, give your distance from the house for a short while, until the smell vanishes into the air, make sure to follow the guidelines of these insecticides, because if used improperly, it can be hazardous to the health. Some insecticides I recommend are ‘baygon’ and ‘read-a-dream insecticide’
• If you must stay outside, at night or evenings, spray your body with anti-mosquitoes, I will advise you use (Longrich Anti-mosquito) to make you immune to their bites for few hours.
• Never leave your doors open especially early in the morning or in the evenings, because mosquitoes are more active during this times.
• Dispose your waste properly. And aunty and uncle please sweep your surroundings also. I don’t know why inside your house would be neat but outside would be like you are hosting a party for rats.
• Talking about rats, I know many of you are living with rats and cockroaches that are even looking healthier than you. Worry no more. Just click on this link and let’s show them who is the boss.

If you encounter a vampire, do not fail to drive a wooden stake through is heart. But if you encounter a mosquito, clap the life out of it. I don’t know about you, but it has shown me shege. But I still cannot tell if they are fake or real.

If in addition to mosquitoes, rodents and pests won’t let you rest, make sure to read HOW TO PERMENENTLY GET RID OF PEST FROM YOUR HOUSE