‘500-year-old’ vampire arrested for biting woman

A US teenager has been arrested in Texas after breaking into a woman’s home and biting her because he “needed to feed”.

Lyle Monroe Bensley, 19, appears to have broken into the woman’s home in Galveston, Texas, while wearing only his boxers. After hissing and growling at the frightened woman he bit and hit her while she was still in bed, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The woman was able to escape the teen’s grasp as he dragged her outside the apartment. The woman does not know Mr. Bensley.

When the police arrived, they saw Bensley standing in the car park hissing and growling in the dark. He scaled two fences before he was caught by police and when he was being arrested he shouted that he "didn't want to have to feed on humans".

"I've dealt with some really strange people. You know, guys who think they're Jesus and that. But I've never seen anything like this,” said police spokesman Captain Jeff Heyse.

Another police officer, Daniel Erickson, told the Houston Chronicle, “He was begging us to restrain him because he didn't want to kill us. He said he needed to feed.”

“I'm a vampire, and I've been alive for over 500 years,” Mr Bensley reportedly said to Mr Erickson. Mr Erickson then said paramedics did not find Mr Bensley to be under the influence of drugs.

Mr Bensley was held on a $40,000 (€27,800) bond and is awaiting a mental health examination.

[Image via Josh Berglund - Flicker Commons]