Many of us don't believe in the existence of vampires. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that a deceased person could come to life at night, somehow get out of the grave through the thickness of the earth, drink someone's blood, and in addition make a vampire like himself out of his victim. However, oddly enough, in the past there have been a kind of epidemic of vampirism, when entire villages, according to their inhabitants, suffered from blood-sucking monsters
It was believed that killing a vampire could only be done with an aspen stake, piercing his heart with it. One would assume that such a radical method of dealing with vampires is more typical for novels and movies than for real life. However, historical chronicles and archaeological excavations testify to the opposite. Especially typical in this respect is the terrible find of archaeologists near the city of Chelyakovitsy (Czech Republic). Here, during excavations in 1994, the burials of the late X - early XI century. the remains of 13 men were discovered, who at one time were clearly considered vampires. These people were buried with leather belts bound in 11 pits, each with an aspen stake driven into their hearts. Even this did not seem to be enough for some of the unfortunate "vampire hunters": some of the bodies additionally had their heads and arms cut off. Unfortunately,no written records of this massacre of vampires have survived. What happened then in the Czech village - mass insanity or a mysterious epidemic? Most likely, we will never know about this.
Where Dracula roams
Imagine twilight on the seashore. Sunset paints bizarre, windy clouds in red tones. On the hill, against the background of sunset, the old abbey building rises, near which there is a cemetery with lopsided gravestones and grassed gravestones. Suddenly, an ominous figure in a long black hooded cape appears among these graves, leaning on a fanciful cane with a knob. This person is approaching, you see an unnaturally pale face, eyes burning with unearthly malice, long bloody fangs protruding from an open mouth … This cannot be, but this is Dracula himself!
Residents of the small English port town of Whitby love to regale tourists with similar stories about a bloodthirsty vampire. It was here that the writer Bram Stoker worked on the first three chapters of the world famous novel "Dracula". It is possible that it was the abandoned cemetery near the abbey that became the catalyst for the writer's exuberant imagination.
Although the theme of vampirism became popular all over the world thanks to Stoker's novel and its numerous adaptations, the existence of vampires was believed even in ancient times. Especially many legends about vampires capable of transforming into a wolf or a bat were common in the rural areas of Romania. It was with these legends that Stoker met during his research in the British Museum. The prototype of the famous vampire was the ruler of the principality of Wallachia, Vlad V, who was actually nicknamed Dracula, because his coat of arms was depicted "dracul", that is how the dragon was called in Romanian. Vlad ruled Wallachia in the 15th century and became famous for his cruelty. He not only impaled all the captured Turks, but also annihilated thousands of his subjects. Vlad inspired such horror that for a long time in Romania children were frightened by Dracula. Curious,that when Vlad's alleged grave was opened, it turned out to be empty. Maybe the legendary Dracula still wanders at nights in Transylvania on the slopes of the wooded Carpathian mountains?..
A terrible find of archaeologists
It was believed that killing a vampire could only be done with an aspen stake, piercing his heart with it. One would assume that such a radical method of dealing with vampires is more typical for novels and movies than for real life. However, historical chronicles and archaeological excavations testify to the opposite. Especially typical in this respect is the terrible find of archaeologists near the city of Chelyakovitsy (Czech Republic). Here, during excavations in 1994, the burials of the late X - early XI century. the remains of 13 men were discovered, who at one time were clearly considered vampires. These people were buried with leather belts bound in 11 pits, each with an aspen stake driven into their hearts. Even this did not seem to be enough for some of the unfortunate "vampire hunters": some of the bodies additionally had their heads and arms cut off. Unfortunately,no written records of this massacre of vampires have survived. What happened then in the Czech village - mass insanity or a mysterious epidemic? Most likely, we will never know about this.
Epidemics of vampirism
Amazingly, stories like the massacre of vampires in Chelyakovitsy took place at a much later time. Especially widespread mass insanity on the basis of the fight against vampires in the first half of the 18th century. We can say that a kind of epidemic of vampirism swept through Europe at this time. It began in 1730 in Greece and from this country spread to all of Central Europe. Crowds of excited people gathered in cemeteries and dug out from the graves of the dead, who were considered vampires. Their bodies were burned or pierced with stakes. In some areas, unrest on the basis of vampirism reached such proportions that it was necessary to involve an army to pacify them. The story of Paul Arnold is very characteristic of this time.
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Bitten by a vampire
Paul was born in 1700 in Serbia, an area that eventually became part of the Austrian Empire. As a young man, he entered the army and returned home only in 1727. Paul bought land and began to engage in agriculture, soon he had a bride. He told her that while serving in the army in Turkish Serbia, a vampire attacked him … Although Paul killed the vampire right at his grave, he still managed to bite him. The soldier washed his wounds with the blood of the monster, this should have saved him from possible infection. Despite the measures taken by Paul, he was still afraid that he was infected with a vampire, and decided to honestly confess to his bride. It is not known how the girl took this unusual confession, but it so happened that Paul died a week later in an accident. He was buried, but after three weeks some people began to report,that they saw Paul … The worst thing is that four of the eyewitnesses to his appearances died. Of course, his story to the bride about the vampire bite became known. The town was seized by panic, at the request of its population, it was decided to open Paul's grave on the 40th day. It is curious that at the opening of the grave two military surgeons were present, very educated people for that time. It was they who testified that the body has practically no signs of decomposition. It was impossible to stop people who immediately decided that Paul was a vampire. His body was pierced with a stake, while blood gushed out of him, and the dead man gave a long groan. In the end, Paul's body was beheaded and then burned. The same was done with the four deceased eyewitnesses of his appearances.his story to the bride about a vampire bite became famous. The town was seized by panic, at the request of its population, it was decided to open Paul's grave on the 40th day. It is curious that at the opening of the grave two military surgeons were present, very educated people for that time. It was they who testified that the body has practically no signs of decomposition. It was impossible to stop people who immediately decided that Paul was a vampire. His body was pierced with a stake, while blood gushed out of him, and the dead man gave a long groan. In the end, Paul's body was beheaded and then burned. The same was done with the four deceased eyewitnesses of his appearances.his story to the bride about a vampire bite became famous. The town was seized by panic, at the request of its population, it was decided to open Paul's grave on the 40th day. It is curious that at the opening of the grave two military surgeons were present, very educated people for that time. It was they who testified that the body has practically no signs of decomposition. It was impossible to stop people who immediately decided that Paul was a vampire. His body was pierced with a stake, while blood gushed out of him, and the dead man gave a long groan. In the end, Paul's body was beheaded and then burned. The same was done with the four deceased eyewitnesses of his appearances.very educated people for that time. It was they who testified that the body has practically no signs of decomposition. It was impossible to stop people who immediately decided that Paul was a vampire. His body was pierced with a stake, while blood gushed out of him, and the dead man gave a long groan. In the end, Paul's body was beheaded and then burned. The same was done with the four deceased eyewitnesses of his appearances.very educated people for that time. It was they who testified that the body has practically no signs of decomposition. It was impossible to stop people who immediately decided that Paul was a vampire. His body was pierced with a stake, while blood gushed out of him, and the dead man gave a long groan. In the end, Paul's body was beheaded and then burned. The same was done with the four deceased eyewitnesses of his appearances.
It would seem that this reprisal against the dead in Paul's story could have been put to an end, but it was continued. In 1731, the strange death of 17 more people followed in the town. Everyone was still going through the execution with Paul and his alleged victims, so no one was in a hurry to tear up the graves. The impetus for action was the admission of a little girl that a recently deceased man named Milo came to her at night. People began to demand the opening of his grave. News of the riots reached the Austrian emperor and he ordered an investigation. The regimental surgeon Johannes Flackinger left for the scene. With him, Milo's body was dug out of the grave, it, like Paul's body, was without signs of decomposition. The body was pierced with a stake and burned. The inhabitants decided that Paul had infected several cows, so the epidemic of vampirism did not end in 1727,when it was burned. It was decided to dig up all the dead in recent months. As Flackinger wrote in his report, among them it was possible to identify 17 bodies without signs of decomposition, they, of course, were pierced with stakes and burned. This was the end of the mysterious deaths in the town.
Psychosis or illness?
Flackinger's report to the Austrian emperor became a kind of bestseller of the time. A heated debate erupted among scientists and the educated part of society about the possibility of the real existence of vampires. The facts were obvious, it was necessary to somehow explain them. Some actually believed in the existence of vampires, others talked about an epidemic of a mysterious, previously unseen disease, while others blamed too superstitious residents for everything
Even now it is difficult to explain the whole story with Paul. Maybe there was just massive psychosis in the town? If immediately after Paul's death his fiancée told that he was bitten by a vampire, then surely many began to expect Paul to appear in a similar role. Particularly impressionable of the townspeople, Paul could dream or dream somewhere. This turned out to be enough for the most suspicious to decide that after that they would die and actually died … Characteristically, not everyone who saw Paul died, but only four. Paul, on the other hand, could well have suffered from catalepsy, and after the accident he did not die, but was buried alive. Further, this whole story shocked the inhabitants so much that the psychosis continued and resulted in an outbreak of 1731. This time the corpses were dug up in December, it is not surprising that among them there were some with almost no signs of decomposition. It is worth noting,that they dug up the dead only in recent months, and not in several years. If Paul was really to blame, then the vampires would have remained intact in the burials of the period from 1727 to 1731, and the story would not have ended so easily.
It is also possible that another assumption is that an epidemic of some unknown disease, which had unusual symptoms, spread from Greece to Central Europe in those years.
In the 80s, modern scientists reported on an extremely rare disease of porphyria, journalists nicknamed it "Dracula's disease." With one of the varieties of porphyria, patients have sharpened teeth, body hairiness increases, photophobia sets in, and even there is a need for someone else's blood. Maybe it was because of this disease that the legends about vampires arose?