Visum et
Repertum
Seen and Discovered
1732
After it
had been reported that in the village of Medvegia the so-called vampires had
killed some people by sucking their blood, I was, by high degree of a local
Honorable Supreme Command, sent there to investigate the matter thoroughly
along with officers detailed for that purpose and two subordinate medical
officers, and therefore carried out and heard the present inquiry in the company
of the captain of the Stallath Company of haiduks (a type of soldier), Gorschiz
Hadnack, the standard-bearer and the oldest haiduk of the village, as follows:
who unanimously recount that about five years ago a local haiduk by the name
of Arnold Paole broke his neck in a fall from a haywagon. This man had during
his lifetime often revealed that, near Gossowa in Turkish Serbia, he had been
troubled by a vampire, wherefore he had eaten from the earth of the vampire's
grave and had smeared himself with the vampire's blood, in order to be free
from the veIation he had suffered.
In 20 or
30 days after his death some people complained that they were being bothered
by this same Arnod Paole; and in fact four people were killed by him. In order
to end this evil, they dug up this Arnold Paole 40 days after his death -
this on the advice of a soldier, who had been present at such events before;
and they found that he was quite complete and undecayed, and that fresh blood
had flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears; that the shirt, the covering,
and the coffin were completely bloody; that the old nails on his hands and
feet, along with the skin, had fallen off, and that new ones had grown; and
since they saw from this that he was a true vampire, they drove a stake through
his heart, according to their custom, whereby he gave an audible groan and
bled copiously, Thereupon they burned the body the same day to ashes and threw
these into the grave. These people say further that all those who were tormented
and killed by the vampire must themselves become vampires.
Therefore
they disinterred the above-mentioned four people in the same way. Then they
also add that this Arnod Paole attacked not only the people but also the cattle,
and sucked out their blood. And since the people used the flesh of such cattle,
it appears that some vampires are again present here, inasmuch as, in a period
of three months, 17 young and old people died, among them some who, with no
previous illness, died in two or at the most three days. In addition, the
haiduk Jowiza reports that his step-daughter, by name of Stanacka, lay down
to sleep 15 days ago, fresh and healthy, but at midnight she started up out
of her sleep with a terrible cry, fearful and trembling, and complained that
she had been throttled by the son of a haiduk by the name of Milloe, who had
died nine weeks earlier, whereupon she had experienced a great pain in the
chest and became worse hour by hour, until finally she died on the third day.
At this we went the same afternoon to the graveyard, along with the often-mentioned
oldest haiduks of the village, in order to cause the suspicious graves to
be opened and to examine the bodies in them, whereby, after all of them had
been dissected, there was found:
1. A woman
by the name of Stana, 20 years old, who had died in childbirth two months
ago, after a three-day illness, and who had herself said, before her death,
that she had painted herself with the blood of a vampire, wherefore both she
and her child - which had died right after birth and because of a careless
burial had been half eaten by the dogs- must also become vampires. She was
quite complete and undecayed. After the opening of the body there was found
in the cavitate pectoris a quantity of fresh extravascular blood. The vessels
of the arteries and veins, like the ventriculis ortis, were not, as is usual,
filled with coagulated blood, and the whole viscera, that is, the lung, liver,
stomach, spleen, and intestines were quite fresh as they would be in a healthy
person.
The uterus
was however quite enlarged and very inflamed externally, for the placenta
and lochia had remained in place, wherefore the same was in complete putredine.
The skin on her hands and feet, along with the old nails, fell away on their
own, but on the other hand completely new nails were evident, along with a
fresh and vivid skin.
2. There
was a woman by the name of Miliza (60 years old), who had died after a three-month
sickness and had been buried 90-some days earlier. In the chest much liquid
blood was found; and the other viscera were, like those mentioned before,
in a good condition. During her dissection, all the haiduks who were standing
around marveled greatly at her plumpness and perfect body, uniformly stating
that they had known the woman well, from her youth, and that she had; throughout
her life, looked and been very lean and dried up, and they emphasized that
she had come to this surprising plumpness in the grave. They also said that
it was she who started the vampires this time, because she had eaten of the
flesh of those sheep that had been killed by the previous vampires.
3. There
was an eight-day-old child which had lain in the grave for 90 days and was
similarly in a condition of vampirism.
4. The son
of a haiduk, 16 years old, was dug up, having lain in the earth for nine weeks,
after he had died from a three-day illness, and was found like the other vampires.
5. Joachim,
also the son of a haiduk, 17 years old; had died after a three-day illness.
He had been buried eight weeks and four days and, on being dissected; was
found in similar condition.
6. A woman
by the name of Ruscha who had died after a ten-day illness and had been buried
six weeks previous, in whom there was much fresh blood not only in the chest
but also in fundo ventriculi. The same showed itself in her child, which was
18 days old and had died five weeks previously.
7. No less
did a girl ten years of age, who had died two months previously, find herself
in the above-mentioned condition, quite complete and undecayed; and had much
fresh blood in her chest.
8. They
caused the wife of the Hadnack to be dug up, along with her child. She had
died seven weeks previously, her child - who was eight weeks old- 21 days
previously, and it was found that both mother and child were completely decomposed,
although earth and grave were like those of the vampires lying nearby.
9. A servant
of the local corporal of the haiduks, by the name of Rhade, 21 years old,
died after a three-month-long illness, and after a five week burial was found
completely decomposed.
10. The
wife of the local bariactar, along with her child, having died five weeks
previously, were also completely decomposed.
11. With
Stanche, a local haiduk, 60 years old; who had died six weeks previously,
I noticed a profuse liquid blood, like the others, in the chest and stomach.
The entire body was in the oft-named condition of vampirism.
12. Milloe,
a haiduk, 25 years old; who had lain for six weeks in the earth, also was
found in the condition of vampirism mentioned.
13. Stanoika,
the wife of a haiduk, 20 years old, died after a three-day illness and had
been buried 18 days previously. In the dissection I found that she was in
her countenance quite red and of a vivid color, and, as was mentioned above,
she had been throttled, at midnight, by Milloe, the son of the haiduk, and
there was also to be seen, on the right side under the ear, a bloodshot blue
mark, the length of a finger. As she was being taken out of the grave, a quantity
of fresh blood flowed from her nose. With the dissection I found; as mentioned
often already, a regular fragrant fresh bleeding, not only in the chest cavity,
but also in ventriculo cordis.
All the
viscera found themselves in a completely good and healthy condition. The hypodermis
of the entire body, along with the fresh nails of hands and feet, was as though
completely fresh. After the examination had taken place, the heads of the
vampires were cut off by the local gypsies and burned along with the bodies,
and then the ashes were thrown into the river Morava. The decomposed bodies,
however, were laid back into their own graves.
Visum et
Repertum
Seen and Discovered
1732
Regimental
Field Surgeon Johannes Fluckinger
To the Emperor