Vampire Books Online / Living Vampyres - Lynchburg Virginian 1851

A portion of a MSS. work on Premature Interments, by George Watterson, was published in Sartain's Magazine, a month or two ago, in which a number of curious and well authenticated cases of premature burial are given. The following conjecture as to the origin of vampires, may be considered as a sequel.

It is not at all unlikely that the popular superstition which prevailed so frightfully in the east of Europe, about a century ago—namely, a belief in the existence of Vampires, owed its origin to the circumstance of interring human bodies before life was extinct. A writer in Blackwood's Magazine thus accounts for it:—

"In those days the belief in ghosts was absolute and a vampire was a sort of ghost. When any one in those days became the subject of a sensorial illusion, representing a human being, to a certainty he identified the creation of his fancy as somebody he had seen or heard of; then he would tell his acquaintances that the ghost of such a person haunted him. If the fright brought on a fit, or seemed to cause his death, the neighbors would remember how he had before been haunted. Then in any case, what more natural than to disinter the body of a supposed visitant, to know why he is unquiet in the grave? Then, if once a body so disinterred were found in the fresh and undecomposed state, the whole delusion would start into existence. The violence used would force blood from the corpse, and that would be construed into the blood of a victim. Supposing again, that at any time, chance had brought to light a body interred alive and lying still in this fit, the whole yarn of superstition might again have been spun from that clue."

And what, it may be asked, is a Vampire? It has been defined to be "a dead body, which continues to live in the grave, which it leaves, however, at night, for the purpose of sucking the blood of the living, whereby it is nourished and preserved in good condition, instead of becoming decomposed like other dead bodies." In illustrating the writer's position, he quotes, among a number of others, a case mentioned by Erasmus Francisci in his remarks upon the description of the Archdukedom of Krain, by Valvasor. This was the case of a man named Grundo, who died, was buried, and afterwards exhumed, in the belief that he was a Vampire. "When they opened this grave," says Francisci, "after he had been long buried, his face was found with a color, and his features made natural sorts of movements, as if the dead man smiled. He even opened his mouth as if he would inhale fresh air. They held the crucifix before him and called in a loud voice, 'See! This is Jesus Christ, who redeemed your soul from hell, and died for you!' After the sound had acted on his organs of hearing, and he had connected perhaps some ideas with it, tears began to flow from the dead man's eyes. Finally, when after a short prayer for his poor soul, they proceeded to hack off his head, the corpse uttered a screech, and turned and rolled just as if it had been alive and the grave was full of blood." This superstition prevailed to an alarming extent through Servia and Wallachia, about 110 years ago, and innumerable deaths were the consequence of it. So rife had it become, that it was thought necessary to appoint a commission of three Regimental Surgeons to investigate the causes of these deaths in Meduegna, near Belgrade. They proceeded to disinter several of the bodies which had been buried at different times, and a number of them were found in the vampire condition—namely, undecomposed, and with blood in the chest. The skin in some cases separating together with the nails, and a new skin and nails formed beneath. Fescher declares that the bite of a Vampire generally leaves no mark upon the person, but the bite is nevertheless speedily fatal; unless the bitten person protects himself by eating some of the earth from the grave of the Vampire, and smearing himself with the blood. "If through these precautions," he adds, "the life of the victim be prolonged for a period, sooner or later, however, he ends with becoming a Vampire himself—that is to say, he dies and is buried, but continues to lead a Vampire life in the grave, nourishing himself by infecting others, and promiscuously propagating Vampirism." Apparent death being sometimes produced by fright, occasioned by this superstition, the body, when disinterred, has been found to exhibit signs of life, and hence has originated the belief in Vampirism. The following incident is given in illustration of this superstition, on what is believed to be good authority:

A good Paole returned from the Levant to the village of Meduegna, in the spring of 1727. He was in the prime of manhood, and was allowed to be a youth of good disposition and honest principles, open, frank and obliging. There was nevertheless, something occasionally remarkable in his conduct, and a degree of inquietude manifested. He seemed to shun the society of his friends, and especially to avoid meeting with a pretty young woman named Nina whose father occupied the cottage next to his. She is described as having been very handsome. She was young, had some property, and had formed, it was said, no attachments in other lands. Why then did he avoid the fascination of the pretty Nina who seemed a being made to chase from any brow, the clouds of gathering care? But he did so, yet less and less resolutely, for he felt the charm of her presence—who could have done otherwise and how could he at last resist? He did not—the impulse of his fondness for the innocent girl, who often sought to cheer his fits of depression. They were engaged, but as the time of their nuptials approached, he became more and more gloomy. Nina spoke to him on the subject. He said at last, "Nina, I fear I have done a great wrong in trying to gain your affections. I have a fixed impression that I shall not live." "How strangely you talk, dear Arnod. Who in the village is stronger and healthier than you? You feared no danger when you were a soldier—what danger do you fear as a villager of Meduegna?" "It haunts me Nina." "But you were sad before you thought of leaving me. Did you then fear to die?" "Ah, Nina, it is something more than death," and his vigorous frame shook with agony. "Arnod, I conjure you tell me." "It was," he said, "in Cossova this fate befell me. There they died and the dead turned the living. I experienced a first frightful visitation and fled but not till I had sought his grave and exacted the dread expiation from the vampire." Nina uttered a piercing cry and fell senseless. The long interval however, which had elapsed since Arnod had left Cossova, gave them hope and encouragement. But one day, about a week after this conversation, Arnod fell from the top of a loaded hay wagon, and was killed. Twenty or thirty days after his decease, several made complaints that they had been haunted by the deceased, Arnod, and four of the number died. The heyduke, to stop the evil, advised the villagers to disinter the body of Arnod, which was done forty days after his burial. "The body," says the report made on the occasion, "was found in a perfectly fresh state with no signs of decomposition. Fresh blood had recently escaped from the mouth, with which his shirt was wet. The skin had separated together with the nails, and there were new skin and nails underneath." As it was perfectly clear from these signs that he was a Vampire, they drove a stake through his heart. Whereupon he gave an audible groan and a quantity of blood flowed from him. The same day his body was burned to ashes, which were returned to the grave, and the villagers were never again visited by him.