YOU won’t believe this story: A couple in the United States were recently charged for stabbing a homeless man and …wait for it … drinking his blood.

Like, what? This couple attacked the poor man when he refused to let them drink his blood — thus proving that this world is indeed made up of all kind of freaks.

Right when we thought that the vampire phenomenon couldn’t get any weirder, we hear news of young lovers biting and drinking each other’s blood.

Edward: Can't wait to drink your blood. Bella: Whatevs.

Yup, it’s true. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a kid biting someone until they bleed and then proceeding to drink their blood.

That is not even the disgusting part. These kids happen to enjoy it and don’t seem to mind the serious consequences of their silly acts like transferring blood-transfused viruses.

This disturbing ”trend” has been around for a while now and practised among those who believed they were descendents of vampires. There used to be stories of vampire cult followers so immersed in the lifestyle that they truly believed they were the living dead. But this was many, many years ago.

Now, though, the trend is popular again, thanks to some overzealous vampire fans who want to emulate the characters they see on screen.

Some of the movies and television series that have helped regenerate the fad are Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.

These shows, mostly based on books, are by far the most talked-about vampire-inspired anything. Even author Anne Rice would have nothing against them, I think.

These super successful shows have romanticised the act of taking a huge bite out of someone’s neck (or arms if you’re True Blood’s Bill Compton) and drink their blood hungrily, and sometimes even sexily.

First of all, there is nothing sexy about drinking someone’s blood!

I know that there are some people out there who truly believe that they are vampires and/or maybe related to a vampire, so I don’t want to get into that discussion. But seriously, drinking someone else’s blood is downright freaky, don’t you think?

What next? You want your skin to sparkle under the sunlight like the Cullens in Twilight or have the inability to show any emotion like Bella Swan? Oh wait, that’s just Kristen Stewart unable to act.

Just because you see it on screen doesn’t make it all right to reenact the scenes in real life.

Dexter: Don't emulate me! I'm a fictional character.

A teenager from Indiana in the US killed his 10-year-old brother recently because he thought he shared similar traits with the character Dexter Morgan from the hit TV series, Dexter. In that show, Michael C. Hall plays a ruthless serial killer who goes on a hunt for bad guys and kills them mercilessly. To be fair, Dexter thinks that he is doing the society a favour by getting rid of the bad seeds; still, he kills.

Perez Hilton wrote on his blog that this delusional teenager, Andrew Conley, had admitted to his former girlfriend that he wanted to be just like Dexter before commiting the gruesome act.

The comments section for the blogpost was abuzz with how certain television series and movies influence the kids for the worse, I am not sure if I agree with that.

I mean, I have watched Twilight (forgive me Lord, for I have sinned) and even Dexter but I never once felt like turning into a vampire or go on a killing spree. Although, I have felt like going on a vampire killing spree … does that count?

Harry: Can you see if anyone's doing witchcraft? Ron: Yup...I see one.

To be honest, I’ve had my fangirl moments as well, and it was for Harry Potter. I remember the days when I would say ”lumos” before switching on the lights or ”alohamora” before turning the doorknob, but that was all. Totally innocent, right?

Nevertheless, Harry Potter has its share of weirdo followers as well — those who think that they can use witchcraft on unsupecting folks or make a broom fly.

In fact, when Harry Potter was first released, there were stories of young kids faking poor eyesight just so they could wear glasses like their idol. Poor kids, they didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into.

Sharm says: Not everything on TV is good … and not everything good is on TV either. Be smart.