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I had to run to the mall for one damn thing yesterday...and this is what I encountered

Three cast members from the vampire film 'Twilight' drew a crowd of screaming fangirls and more to the Mall of America.

By KRISTIN TILLOTSON, Star Tribune

Last update: November 14, 2008 - 11:14 PM

Sorry, Jonas Brothers. It's vampires who really make the girls scream.

At Mall of America on Friday afternoon, a crowd of 1,200 "Twi-hards" -- all but a handful of them teenage girls -- raised the roof during an appearance by three actors from the vampire-love film "Twilight," premiering at midnight Thursday. The decibel level was "the loudest I've ever heard for any event here," said mall spokesman Dan Jasper.

Never mind that Taylor Lautner, Rachelle Lefevre and Edi Gathegi were not the film's stars but peripheral characters. The impetus for this unholy din is a book series by Stephenie Meyers that has rocketed from niche lit to best-selling craze. The four-book "Twilight" series follows a vampire boy in love with a human girl, and it has spawned an unusually intense obsession. Meyers' vampires don't have fangs (just venom-coated teeth), and the good ones ("vegetarians") only attack animals, not people.

The series is often compared to the Harry Potter phenomenon because of its age-spanning appeal -- moms like it as much as their daughters -- and magical intrigue. While only 17 million "Twilight" books have been sold compared with 40 million for the Potter series, the hysteria factor seems several notches higher. Crowds became unruly at mall appearances in San Francisco and Chicago by the film's headline heartthrob, Robert Pattinson (who played Potter pal Cedric Diggory in the wizard flicks). Security was tight and vigilant at the MOA event. The crowd was orderly, except for the premature squealing and chants of "Taylor! Taylor!"

Were the fangirls packed in a row closest to the stage disappointed that the Twin Cities didn't rate a visit from Pattinson, who plays conflicted vampire Edward?

"I love Edward, but I'll take anyone we can get," said breathless 13-year-old Elena Montanye, of Eau Claire, Wis., who got up at 4 a.m. to make the trek to the MOA. She said she loves the "Twilight" series because "it just feels so really real. It really does."