Vampires, it turns out, are real—at least to the thousands of people worldwide who self-identify as vampires and regularly suck human blood from willing donors.

Daily Beast reporter Abby Haglage ++recently interviewed++ [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/04/i-feed-once-a-week-the-real-life-vampires-of-atlanta.html] a vampire from Atlanta, Georgia named Merticus, who explained how vampirism works for him and others in the vampire community.

On the Daily Beast podcast, Haglage shared what she’s learned with Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman and BeastStyle editor Tim Teeman.

According to Haglage, scientists have begun to study the vampire community, although there is still no scientific evidence that vampirism is a real biological condition.

Scientific skepticism means many vampires fear “coming out of the coffin,” Haglage said. But for vampires like Merticus, feeding is not a choice—he believes it’s crucial to his health.

“I was surprised with how immune he was to the fact that really no one in the world—except for the thousands of people who identify as real life vampires—believe them,” Haglage said.

“It’s kind of noble, right?” asked Shachtman. “There is a kind of like, ‘I don’t care what the world thinks, I’m just going to be who I’m going to be, even if that thing is literally unbelievable.”

The Daily Beast podcast is excerpted from Daily Beast Radio on Sirius XM Insight 121, which airs Saturdays at 9 a.m. and Sundays at 5 a.m. and noon. Sirius subscribers can listen to the entire show ++online++ [http://www.siriusxm.com/siriusxminsight]. You can subscribe to the Daily Beast Podcast in the ++iTunes store++ [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily-beast-podcast/id1020401737?mt=2]. The theme music is by the Breuss Arrizabalaga Quintet.