Vampire-Human 'Twilight' baby has origin in folklore

Say what you will about the Twilight Saga (and there is admittedly a lot to be said), but you can't dismiss that Stephenie Meyer's epic does get a few things right about vampires. In fact, Twilight has some support from none other than that high-brow institution, the National Geographic

Depending on how well you know you're Twilight, you may be aware that the new film Breaking Dawn, Part 1 has heroine Bella getting preggers with vamp Ed's undead spawn, and culminates with her having a gruesome birth. Well, after speaking with vampire expert George Gutsche of the University of Arizona, Nat Geo reveals that folklore from the Balkan region of southeastern Europe spoke of vamp-human offspring.

Gutsche says kids with vampire baby-daddies do possess some supernatural powers, but they are not vampires themselves, and have no more affinity for the night than normal humans. Then again, early vampires myths never said the undead couldn't hang out in the day anyhow, although there isn't any talk about lame sparkling in the sunlight.

Also, the children of vampires are typically male -and are carried to term in a normal manner - but some folklore about female kids exists.

So there you have it: Vampire children are people, too. And we can all learn a little something from Twilight - beyond the fact that Jacob is really opposed to wearing shirts.