Vampire Sightings. Is House a Vampire? Johnny Depp?

It's true. I'm strange. Unusual. Not normal (whatever that is). But, that's okay. I have no problem disclosing my bizarre undercurrents.

Not only have I always seen things other people couldn't see, felt vibes other people said they didn't, and heard conversations nobody else acknowledged, but I enjoy "outing" vampires. Or, at least letting them know I "see" them. It's my way of tiptoeing along the edge of danger. Feeling alive.

Seriously. I'll bet I'm not alone.

Since I've spent so much of my life in "alternative" settings -- psychic fairs, goth events, seances, witches circles, hands-on healing sessions, trance dancing, hypnotic explorations, etc., etc. -- not to mention sleep-overs as a pre-adolescent girl where we each used only one finger to lift a volunteer into the air -- and fundamentalist revival meetings in tents during my early childhood, where I witnessed things I still haven't made sense of -- I tend to attract paranormal/supernatural/metaphysical experiences.

I've always recognized vampires.

Maybe because I'm obsessed with them. Or maybe because the dark aspects of my own nature resonate naturally with them. Or maybe because there's something about the way they hold eye contact . . .

Anyway, I see them everywhere.

Recently, I waited for friends in the bar area of a Denver restaurant and I felt the force of a gaze on the back of my head. Unable to resist, I swiveled in my seat to find intense dark eyes staring at me. He was very young. His purple hair spiked up in a rigid Mohawk, his lips spread in a smirking grin. He wore a very trendy leather coat. I was old enough to be his mother, so I didn't experience any confusion about his communication. He wasn't hitting on me. His energy simply tapped me on the shoulder. Unconsciously. He knew that I knew. I nodded and he did the same before gliding toward the door. What the hell was that? I said to myself. What had he seen in my energy field?

I moved to Colorado in 1977. My first extended visit to Aspen came many years later, when I drove up to participate in a psychic fair with one of my spiritual teachers, the magnificent Brian McCarthy (who has since stepped into the void -- transformed -- and is no longer present in the physical). I had never seen so many vampires in one place before. Some of them were garden-variety psychic vampires, but the others . . . Doing tarot readings for them was like stepping into a landscape deficient in oxygen. I now know what empty eyes look like and I understand the skin-crawling awareness of "other."

Of course, I run into psychic vampires every day. I had a clear experience recently at an author event. I met a man who was blatant in his attempt to solicit benefits from his connection with me -- who tried to join my energy field and siphon it away. I knew just how to handle him. Flicked him off like a mosquito. Psychic vampires can't help themselves. They suck energy -- emotions (and, they suck in general, as well). They give new meaning to the word "narcissism."

I often suspect certain politicians are vampires. And, of course, movie stars. Have you noticed?

So, what about you? Do you encounter vampires on a regular basis? Occasionally? Rarely? We'd love to hear about your experiences with the nightwalkers . . .