One of the more insidious and most discussed characteristics of vampires is their ability to hypnotize their victims and even create a telepathic bond. More often than not, the transfixed gaze of a vampire results in the victim's full cooperation in surrendering freely and fully to the fiend's formidable dark gift. In truth, it's a clever tactic and animalistic in its execution. Interestingly, vampire bats impose a similar poise as part of their attack procedure. With the ability to walk upright, a vampire bat stalks its prey, mesmerizes it, and then heads for the nearest vein in order to pierce it and use its elongated tongue to lap up the blood. A vampire's hypnotic abilities cater perfectly to the strong sexual aspect of vampirism. Biting someone is a very intimate act, and compounded by the removal of blood in a commingling of fluids it is reminiscent of the sexual act itself. Of course, mesmerizing victims to perform acts against their will — regardless of their perceived cooperation — plays to the sexual deviancy of the vampire and vampirism in general.

Take Me to Your Bleeder

The greatest benefit of vampiric hypnosis is the most obvious — if you can will another to do you bidding, your ability to ultimately satisfy your sexual arousal or simply procure your food becomes infinitely easier. A compliant victim under a vampire's spell typically offers little resistance when the fiend moves to suck the life from the victim. This type of control also makes it easier for a vampire to move about society, travel, maintain living arrangements, and generally obtain whatever it is that he or she requires with minimal effort.

Mind Over Matter

The process of mesmerizing an individual first came to prominence with Franz Anton Mesmer during the late 1700s. When Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, the “science” of hypnotism would've been known to him, and as such he made good use of it in his novel. Many experts attribute the vampire's hypnotic ability to Stoker's creation, where it appeared on several occasions, the first of which Jonathan Harker discovered when attempting to strike the sleeping Count with a shovel and was hypnotically driven to flee. Lucy also falls victim to Dracula's remote telepathy as he bids her awake and to walk out into the dark night. During the scene in which Dracula baptizes Mina with the blood from his chest, Van Helsing declares that: “Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce.” But it's Mina who's ultimately the one who establishes a mind link to the dark devil, a fact that's confirmed after Van Helsing hypnotizes Mina and learns through their telepathic link that Dracula is aboard a ship sailing for home for Transylvania.