Stories of "Vampires" - Washington grit - 1884

Washington grit | 1884 | Maryland

AN OLD SUPERSTITION THAT 13 NOT YET DEAD.

The literature of Vampirism and its influence on European people—Alleged Doings of Vampires.

The Chicago Inter-Ocean says: A physician of local fame in an Eastern city said to the writer, recently: “This is an age of queer mental and bodily delusions, despite its enlightenment. One of the oddest cases that I ever saw I was called on to treat the other day. A man came into complain that his ankles were wounded. I found that the wounds were scratches, and expressed my surprise that he should have consulted a physician about a trifle. He said he often found the skin of his ankles broken in the same way on rising from bed. I suggested that he smooth the foot-board, and not kick it so much. Then the real object of his visit came out. What do you think it was? With bated breath he whispered that he was the victim of a vampire—not a vampire bat, but a human vampire. Actually, here was a sound, healthy, intelligent man cowering from the effects of that old superstition. He hinted to me that he knew who the vampire was—a former enemy now deceased. He had come to me for a charm, or something else, to exercise his terrible visitor. I tried to laugh and chaff him out of the idea. Whether I succeeded I don’t know. The man went away much depressed, and hasn’t returned since. I ought to have mentioned that he was a native of Hungary, and had imbibed vampirism in his childhood's home.”

This is one of the several instances that have come under the writer’s notice to prove that the ancient and horrible vampire belief is yet lingering upon earth. Certainly no more extraordinary or appalling belief ever troubled men’s wits. The very idea is startling. That the dead returned from their graves to prey on the flesh and blood of the living should have ever been believed by thousands of people sounds incredible. But it is a fact nevertheless.

The history of the vampire superstition ranges over 2,000 years. It begins with the Lamia of the Greeks, a beautiful woman who enticed youths to her in order to drink their blood. And it may be said to end with the dawn of general education about seventy-five years ago. At certain periods its believers have numbered hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people, not of the unlettered entirely, but included educated and scientific men of France, Germany, and Italy. Fifty years ago the vampire was a well-known figure in literature and in the drama. The foremost poet in England was credited with the authorship of a popular play called the “Vampire,” and did not wholly deny it. A hundred years before this time vampires and ghouls were the topic of interest in the salons of Paris, that ranked with Law and his schemes. At this period, indeed, the superstition obtained the greatest currency among educated people, and its literature is the richest. We learn from the memoirs of a court lady at the time that vampirism was talked at every soiree, and that its ardent believers were nearly as many as those who scoffed at it. Among the former were members of the army, the law, several members of the academy, and numerous scientific men. Physicians were divided. They agreed there must be some foundation for the vampire belief, and for the werewolf belief, which was closely allied to it. Finally they gave the monomania which lay at the bottom of all the vampire belief the name of lycanthropy. Elaborate treatises were written for and against, and a host of minor writers flung out books on the subject. The principal of these were Raufft and Calmet. The latter’s work is especially rich in cases of vampires, many of which are described by actual witnesses.

One of the best attested vampire stories in Calmet’s work is that of Marshal de Retz. This was a noble, brave and worthy man who lived in France in the reign of Charles VII. He was a soldier, and after distinguishing himself in the wars retired to his country seat. Shortly after he took up his residence, the neighborhood became alarmed at the disappearance of many young children. Only children under the age of seven disappeared, and soon the number of distracted parents mourning their lost ones was very great. No amount of vigilance could discover the mysterious agency which, as it were, swallowed the children up. Accident, however, directed suspicion to the noble de Retz. His castle was watched by desperate parents who had lost their little ones, and circumstances multiplied to give the people courage to accuse him of being at the bottom of the mystery. He was arrested and placed on trial, charged with having kidnapped over 100 children. He was convicted and executed. Before he was led to the block, the monster confessed that in three years he had killed 800 children. He was led to do it, he said, by an insatiable desire to taste their blood. Calmet relates this story circumstantially, adding though it is largely exaggerated that he believes it is not a myth. He cites de Retz’s confession that he was led to commit the horrible atrocities by an irresistible impulse as evidence that there must be a trait in humanity which leads to vampirism, and which awakens from its dormant state in individuals from time to time.

A case rather different from the above was that of Jean Grenier, a herdboy. In 1603 he was placed on trial for attacking girls in the form of a wolf. The girls themselves and their fathers gravely and positively identified him, and what was more singular, Grenier himself admitted that their charge was true. He declared that he had eaten several of them. He produced what his judges accepted as good evidence of his assertions. It is presumed that he suffered the penalty of being a vampire, though Calmet omits to state what his punishment was.

The most celebrated vampire case, perhaps, and the latest, happened in 1849. In that year the cemeteries of Paris were entered, graves broken open, and corpses rudely tossed upon the ground. The greatest alarm was felt as the horrible depredations continued. The strictest watch failed to detect their author. Physicians who were called to examine the wounds and mutilations inflicted on the corpses declared the depredators could not be, as was first supposed, resurrectionists. A man-trap was set in Père la Chaise, and a heavy bomb concealed beneath it. One night the sentinels posted about the cemetery heard the bomb explode. They entered, but beyond a few drops of blood and some fragments of military clothing found no trace of the vampire.

Next day it became known that Sergeant Bertrand, a soldier, was dangerously wounded. He was arrested. On his court-martial, of which Colonel Mansolon was president, Bertrand confessed to having committed all the horrible violations of graves, but could not explain why he did it. He was controlled by a great power, he said. Like de Retz, this man was frank, gay and gentle. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and a counsel of physicians appointed to examine his mind.