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Revenants

Vampires and strigoi

Long before Bram Stoker's Dracula, Europe lived through a real vampire panic. In the 18th century imperial officials described exhumations in Serbian villages where 'undecayed' bodies with blood on their lips were found; the reports were read at courts across the continent. In Poland people believed in strzygi and upiory, and archaeologists still find graves with a sickle across the neck, a padlock on the foot or a stone in the mouth. In 19th-century New England the bodies of tuberculosis victims were exhumed to 'save' their living relatives.

cases
16
years
1591–2022

Disputed: 2 Legend: 3 Explained: 11

  1. 16th century

    1. 1591–1592 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The Revenant Shoemaker of Breslau Wrocław (formerly Breslau), Silesia, Poland A shoemaker who took his own life was said to torment the people of Breslau at night – the city council had him exhumed and finally burned.

  2. 17th century

    1. 1610–1614 Vampires and strigoi · Disputed Elizabeth Báthory – the “Blood Countess” of Čachtice Čachtice Castle, western Slovakia, Slovakia A Hungarian aristocrat accused of murdering dozens of girls – the legend of her bathing in virgins' blood arose more than a century after her death.
    2. 1672 Vampires and strigoi · Legend Jure Grando – the Štrigon of Kringa Kringa near Tinjan, Istria, Croatia A stonemason who died in 1656 was said to return to his village by night for 16 years – in 1672 the villagers dug him up and cut off his head.

  3. 18th century

    1. 1725 Vampires and strigoi · Explained Petar Blagojević – the Vampire of Kisiljevo Kisiljevo near Veliko Gradište, Serbia After a peasant died, nine people followed him within eight days – an Austrian official described the exhumation, staking and burning of the body.
    2. c. 1726–1732 Vampires and strigoi · Explained Arnold Paole and the Vampire Epidemic of Medveđa Medveđa on the West Morava, Serbia A hajduk who broke his neck falling from a hay wagon was blamed for a wave of “vampire” deaths – investigated by a commission of imperial surgeons.

  4. 19th century

    1. c. 1874 Vampires and strigoi · Legend The Vampire of Croglin Grange Croglin, Cumbria, United Kingdom A creature with flaming eyes picked out a window pane and bit a sleeping tenant on the throat – one of England's most famous vampire tales.
    2. 1892 Vampires and strigoi · Explained Mercy Brown – New England's Last “Vampire” Chestnut Hill Cemetery by the Baptist Church, Exeter, Rhode Island, United States To save her brother dying of tuberculosis, people in Exeter exhumed 19-year-old Mercy Brown, burned her heart and made him drink the ashes.

  5. 1960–1969

    1. c. 1960 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The Tlahuelpuchi – Bloodsucking Witches of Tlaxcala Rural communities of Tlaxcala at the foot of La Malinche volcano, Mexico In Tlaxcala's villages, the sudden deaths of infants were blamed on the tlahuelpuchi, a bloodsucking witch. The anthropologist Hugo Nutini studied dozens of such cases.

  6. 1970–1979

    1. 1970 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The Highgate Vampire Highgate Cemetery, London, United Kingdom After a TV report about a “king vampire,” a crowd of hunters with stakes and crosses scaled the walls of locked Highgate Cemetery on Friday 13 March 1970.

  7. 1990–1999

    1. 1990 Vampires and strigoi · Explained JB55 – the “Vampire” of Griswold, Connecticut Former Walton family cemetery near Jewett City, Griswold, Connecticut, United States Children playing in a gravel pit found skulls, and archaeologists found a grave in which the bones had been rearranged into a skull and crossbones.

  8. 2000–2009

    1. 2006 Vampires and strigoi · Disputed The “Vampire of Venice” with a Brick in Her Mouth Lazzaretto Nuovo island, Venetian Lagoon, Italy In a mass grave of 1576 plague victims, a woman's skull was found with a brick jammed in its mouth – a researcher read it as a measure against a “vampire.”
    2. 2008–2014 Vampires and strigoi · Explained Anti-Vampire Graves at Drawsko Drawsko 1 cemetery, Czarnków-Trzcianka County, Greater Poland, Poland In a 17th–18th-century cemetery by the Noteć river six people were buried with sickles across their necks and stones under their chins – so they would not rise.

  9. 2010–2019

    1. 2012 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The Iron-Staked Skeletons of Sozopol Old Town of Sozopol, Black Sea coast, Bulgaria Archaeologists in the Black Sea town of Sozopol found medieval skeletons of men whose chests had been pierced with iron rods.
    2. 2012 Vampires and strigoi · Legend Sava Savanović and the Mill of Zarožje Watermill on the Rogačica in Zarožje, Bajina Bašta municipality, Serbia Serbian folklore's most famous vampire was said to live in an old watermill – when it collapsed in 2012, the local council warned residents.
    3. 2013 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The Beheaded Skeletons of Gliwice Drogowa Trasa Średnicowa road construction at Dworcowa and Jagiellońska streets, Gliwice, Poland Road builders in central Gliwice uncovered a cemetery where the dead had their heads cut off and placed between their legs.

  10. 2020–2029

    1. 2022 Vampires and strigoi · Explained The “Vampire” of Pień – a Grave with a Sickle and Padlock Cemetery on the hillfort at Pień, Dąbrowa Chełmińska commune, Poland Archaeologists from Toruń uncovered the 17th-century grave of a young woman with a sickle across her neck and a padlock fastened to her toe.