History of Vampires
The history of the vampire is a long one which dates
back many centuries. Belief in vampires grew from a
respectful fear of the dead, and a belief in the magical
qualities of blood. One of the first written records of "
vampire" activity was by William of Newburgh, an English
historian. He noted that in the 12th century, there were
some cases of the dead coming back to terrorize, attack and
killl the living during the night. He called thses creatures
sanguisuga, otherwise known as "bloodsucker". Many different
terms were used to describe these creatures such as vukodlak
(Serbian-taken from the word for werewolf), vampir(Serbian
also though its origin is debated), vrykolakas, and upyr(
Russian).
On January 7, 1732 a report was signed by Regimental Field
Surgeon Johannes Fluckinger and three of his assistants of
the Austrian government describing their involvement and
investigation of vampirism in Serbia. This was the case of
Arnold Paole.
**Account I**
Peter Plogojowitz
One of the first written accounts of vampiric activity
took place in 1725. This case was witnessed by German military
officials stationed in the village of Kisilova, a part of
Serbia but today is known as Slavia. The subject Peter Plogojowitz
had been dead for 10 weeks when 9 more people died after
suffering an illness which lasted 24 hours. Each had said that
Peter had visited them in their sleep, laid upon them and throttled
them. After he had visited his wife, she left the village.
They exhumed the body of Peter, and found no odor like that
of someone who had been dead and is decomposing. They did
find however that there was fresh blood in his mouth, and his
nails had grown. Also, his hair and beard had grown, and his
skin had not fallen away, but had been replaced by a fresher,
newer looking skin. They used the traditional methods to
distinguish the vampire, and as the stake passed through his
heart, blood spurted forth from it. His body was then burned
to ashes.
**Account II**
Arnold Paole (Paul)
Visum Et Repertum - Seen and Discovered
In the village of Medvegia there were rumors that a
vampire had killed and sucked the blood out of some people.
Arnold Paole had fallen and broken his neck about 5 years
ago in a fall from a haywagon. During his lifetime, Arnold
had revealed that he had been troubled by a vampire, but he
had eaten earth from the vampires grave and smeared himself
with its blood. About a month after he died, some people
were complaining that he was bothering them at night, and in
fact 4 people were killed by him. They dug up Arnold's body
40 days after he died to see if in fact he was a vampire.
They found his body undecomposed and quite complete. Fresh
blood flowed from his eyes and nostrils, new nails had
replaced the old ones, and so since they were the signs of a
true vampire they stuck a stake through his heart. It is written
that when the stake passed through his heart, he gave a groan,
and bled a lot. They burned his body the same day down to
ashes and threw those in the grave as well. These people
also said that anyone who was tormented by Arnold would also
become vampires, so they also unearthed those bodies and
disposed of them in the same manner. Also, since Arnold
Paole also sucked and drained the blood from cattle and since
the people used the flesh of these cattle, some more vampires
were present in that town again. In a period of 3 months, 17 more
people died, some of them who had an illness which only lasted
2 or 3 days. After the daughter of the haiduk, lay down to
sleep and complained of chest pains after a visit from one
of the recently dead. They went the next day to the graves
of those dead and found them in the same manner they found
Arnold Paole. There was found 13 fresh corpses which should
have been decomposed.
These accounts seem like the kind which should be found in
horror novels, but the fact that they were witnessed and
signed by prominent city officials says that it is no work
of fiction. These events, well-hidden in the history books,
are the basis for the belief in vampirism.
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