Secrets of the Vampire by Julie Légère

Author:Julie Légère
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

“IN ONE HUNGARIAN TOWNSHIP [. . .] THE PEOPLE [. . .] BELIEVED THAT SOME OF THE DEAD, WHOM THEY CALLED ‘VAMPIRES,’ WERE SUCKING THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING SUCH THAT THEY (THE LIVING) WERE VISIBLY EXHAUSTED, WHILE THE CORPSES MEANWHILE WERE FILLED WITH SO MUCH BLOOD THAT IT LEAKED FROM THEIR VERY PORES.”

Extract from Le Glaneur (1732)

The case of Arnold Paole

“Having heard from several sources that in the village of Medwegya in Serbia, so-called ‘vampires’ were killing a large number of people and sucking their blood, I have been commissioned by Her Majesty to throw some light on this question.” So begins the report of military surgeon Johann Flückinger on the alleged vampire epidemic of 1727 to 1732, which began with four suspicious deaths that took place shortly after the death of one Arnold Paole. The decision was taken to dig up this man, and what the villagers found left them horrified, and more convinced than ever that he was indeed a vampire. He was found “perfectly preserved. His flesh had not decomposed, his eyes were filled with fresh blood, which also flowed from his ears and nose, soiling his shirt and funeral shroud.” The vampire was burned, but not before the villagers drove a stake through his heart and chopped off his head. The same treatment was given to the remains of Paole’s victims. Nevertheless, despite these measures, death continued to rain down, and many of the people whose bodies were exhumed were found to have the same vampire-like characteristics. These people were also declared vampires by Flückinger’s military commission. Far from offering rational explanations for these disturbing events, the surgeon and other authorities were siding with popular opinion. It was established that Paole, vampire zero, had also sucked the blood of some animals, which were then eaten by the villagers, meaning that they became vampires too. To try and stem the epidemic, the dead were dug up en masse.

Their remains were then burned to ashes and scattered in the river.

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