A stake through their heart also causes them to decay very rapidly. In a modern variation of this detail, the stake merely renders the vampire immobile and apparently dead, but if withdrawn, the vampire immediately reanimates. Less common ways to kill a vampire in films and popular fiction are decapitation and a silver bullet through the heart. These animated corpses are condemned to wander the night in search of blood. The older version of the modern myth suggests that only human blood is suitable, but in recent vampire stories animal blood is said to be a poor, temporary substitute.
Obvious contradictions exist in the modern versions of the vampire myth.
These stem from an underlying confusion over whether the vampire is corporeal or spiritual. Dracula exhibits characteristics of both a physical and a spiritual being. He can pass through a keyhole or transform into a bat, yet his body must physically rest in a coffin during the day in his native grave earth. He can be killed with a wooden stake through the heart, yet when killed he dissolves into vapors. He can be touched by the hand, yet cannot be seen reflected in a mirror.