Inside the Dark Hunger: What This ‘Real Life Vampire’ Eats Will Shock You

Ever wondered what it’s like to live as a ‘real life vampire’ without the whole neck-biting, coffin-sleeping, garlic-avoiding drama? Meet Hellen Schweizer, aka Vampire Hellie—a 29-year-old from Ohio who’s taken the vampiric lifestyle out of the shadows and onto TikTok, racking up over 47,000 followers along the way. She’s got the fangs, the Gothic flair, and the cloak—but here’s the twist: instead of sinking her teeth into flesh, Hellie feeds on energy (with consent, of course!) and satisfies her ‘bloody’ cravings with a rather earthly favorite—blood sausages. Intrigued? Dive into the curious world of this modern-day Dracula who blends cosplay, spirituality, and a dash of sausage into a unique way of life. LEARN MORE.

A woman who believes she is a ‘real life vampire’ has revealed the unusual contents of her diet.

Hellen Schweizer – better known as Vampire Hellie – certainly looks the part, as she sports sharp fangs, Gothic-style shirts and a cloak on a daily basis.

Although the blood-drinking, immortal creatures who kip in coffins and avoid sunlight like the plague are mythical, the 29-year-old still fancies herself as something of a modern-day Dracula.

She doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the stereotypical version of a vampire though, as she promises she won’t stick her teeth into your neck at any given opportunity and she loves to scran garlic.

Hellie has documented a lot of her life as one of the ‘undead’ on social media, seeing her rack up more than 47,000 followers on TikTok.

And in one of her videos, she detailed what she means when she describes herself as a ‘real life vampire’.

“I’m literally a vampire,” Hellie, from the US state of Ohio, said. “And while I do love to wear the fangs, the makeup, the costume, that’s not exactly what being a real living vampire is all about.

Although Hellie says vampire stereotypes are made up in the movies, she does play into them in her TikTok videos (TikTok/@thevampirehellie)

“For me, I feed off of energy,” the content creator said, before emphasising that this doesn’t mean she’s one of those people who sucks all of the energy out of the room.

“But, energy is everywhere and in every living thing,” she continued. “And there is ambient energy which is great, you can take that.”

According to Energy Education, the term ambient energy refers to ‘nature’s energy that never gets harnessed by people’, such as thermal energy in the Earth’s atmosphere.

To Hellie, it also somewhat means the vibes which people radiate.

“But you cannot just take someone else’s energy, you need consent,” Hellie continued in her clip. “Consent is beautiful. So, deep energy feedings always need consent. But why do we need energy?

“Basically in a spiritual sense, I don’t have enough energy on my own, so I need a little help from my friends.

“And I’m not alone, there’s a community of people out there all around the world of people just like me who need to do a little more energy work.

The ‘real life vampire’ says she feeds off of other peoples energy – as well as ‘bloody’ sausages (TikTok/@thevampirehellie)

“They can be anyone – they can be custodians, they can be baristas, lawyers. In my case, I make vampire content. So I’m a vamp-fluencer, as they say.”

According to Hellie, she is a ‘real life vampire’ rather than an average person because of the fact that she ‘doesn’t naturally have her own’ energy – so must take it from another living being.

“We as vampires don’t naturally have our own and become drained when we don’t ‘feed,'” the TikTok star told the Daily Mail.

“We’re called ‘vampires’ because we suck energy out of a person and put it into ourselves through meditation practices.

“For example I might feel drained, and a friend might have too much energy. She’ll ask if I can take some and it’s a win-win for everyone.

“‘Then there’s ambient energy, which isn’t necessarily in someone but around them. That type of energy usually manifests at concerts, festivals, etc.”

As we’ve established, Hellie isn’t the kind of vampire who feeds on humans – although she admits that other people who identify as bloodsuckers do enjoy drinking the red stuff.

Instead, she satisfies her craving for a vampish snack by chowing down on bloody sausages whenever she gets a hankering.

“A lot of people ask me if I eat people or suck on people’s blood – I don’t,” she told the Mirror. “I do eat blood sausage quite a bit.”

She explained she turned her childhood interest in vampires into a career after finding her crowd on social media, saying that ‘people love her dressing up’.

Discussing why she started sharing her niche with the world, Hellie added: “It really did start out as a cosplay on TikTok for fun but one day I looked at myself in the mirror and thought ‘this is not the costume’.

“When all of the fangs and costume are off – that’s the costume. So I started digging deeper into what real vampirism is.”

Hellie also manages to hold down a job at a book shop, while enjoying hobbies such as working out, reading and writing – but when night falls, her vampire side really comes out to play.