Everyone knows the legends about vampires. But these monsters are unlikely to be only folklore heroes. Historical documents that have survived to our time directly point to real characters obsessed with the desire to drink the blood of people and animals - in the hope of improving their health or even gaining immortality.
Science and psychology
Only in the middle of the 20th century did the phenomenon of vampirism receive a scientific explanation. In 1963, the English scientist Lee Illis published a scientific work, where he described a rare unusual disease called "porphyria." With this disease, the content of porphyrins in the blood and tissues increases, which destroy hemoglobin and corrode subcutaneous tissues. Porphyrins act under the influence of sunlight, so patients try to avoid it. Their skin becomes thinner over time and takes on a brown tint. Further, in patients with porphyria, tendon deformation occurs, leading to lengthening and twisting of the fingers. Their gums are bleeding and the roots of their teeth are exposed. And the teeth themselves from porphyrin acquire a reddish-brown color.
The disease is hereditary and is often the result of closely related marriages. A frightening appearance and a negative reaction to sunlight determine the pattern of behavior of patients: they shun other people, lead a secluded lifestyle, and commit illogical and inexplicable acts. It is not for nothing that legends say that vampires do not eat garlic: the sulfonic acid contained in it increases pain in the subcutaneous tissues.
Since ancient times, it was believed that to get rid of a terrible disease, you need to drink someone else's blood - that is why patients with porphyria became vampires.
However, modern research has proven that foreign blood does not contribute to treatment and does not affect the quantitative content of porphyrins in the body. This means that the origins of vampirism should be sought primarily in the psychology of such people.
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The weirdness of the visiting doctor
One of the most mysterious stories associated with vampires happened at the beginning of the 19th century in the small German city of Würzburg, located in Bavaria.
In 1818 a certain doctor Heinrich Spatz settled here. He said about himself that before the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars he graduated from the University of Prague, and then served as a military doctor in the Austrian army. After the victory over the French troops, he retired, got married, and together with his young wife he came to Germany for permanent residence.
The couple seemed really happy. The doctor's skill and refined demeanor quickly made him the city's most popular physician. In addition, Heinrich Spatz and his wife were generous and involved in charity: they regularly attended relevant events and donated funds for the sick and disadvantaged.
The doctor was always ready to lend money to any of his many friends, which also spoke in his favor. And of course, his written works on military-field surgery and infectious diseases, which were regularly published in scientific journals, made Spatz just a star of medicine in the eyes of provincial townsfolk.
True, there were some oddities in the behavior of the doctor and his wife. For example, they never left guests to sleep. For a town famous for its winemaking and where family revels often dragged on well past midnight, this was unusual. Nevertheless, even late at night, the doctor and his wife hired cabs to take guests to their homes. In the house of Spatz, the only servant never slept - in the evening she was always released until morning.
The doctor himself explained this behavior by the fact that he loves his young wife very much and wants to stay alone with her longer, and the guests and the servant can interfere.
Disguised as help
Outwardly calm and measured life of Dr. Spatz continued until 1831, when he suddenly sold all his property and left Würzburg. The doctor explained to his friends and acquaintances that he was moving to the Czech Republic, where he was offered a job at the University of Prague. Residents of Würzburg honored the former countryman, but literally a few days later, the opinion about him changed dramatically.
Two former doctor's assistants contacted the police station and said that, in their opinion, Schlatz and his wife are real cruel vampires who regularly drink other people's blood.
According to them, the doctor and his wife often offered shelter and wrote to the homeless and the poor, while none of their wealthier acquaintances were left in the house for the night. But the people whom they invited to their place, after a few days, disappeared without a trace. The doctor told his assistants that he arranged for them to live in neighboring towns or villages, or that the homeless, having received help, left his home themselves.
The assistants believed the doctor - but only until the time when the famous invalid in the city, Joachim Faber, suddenly disappeared. He was a retired soldier, had no arm and served as a gatekeeper at Dr. Spatz's hospital. The doctor put him in his house - and after a while the invalid disappeared, like many other people who had the misfortune to accept the doctor's help. Joachim definitely could not leave the city - simply because he could not find a better job anywhere.
Alarmed police officers conducted a thorough search of the house where Dr. Spatz lived. The remains of 18 people were found in the basement. One of the skeletons did not have an arm, and an examination established that his bones belonged to Joachim Faber. All the remains had traces of surgical operations and blood sampling, but the identity of the victims, except Faber, could not be established - after all, most likely, they were vagabonds, about whom the police did not have information.
The city authorities of Würzburg sent an urgent dispatch to Prague and received an answer: Dr. Heinrich Spatz had never studied at the local university, and no one had sent this person an invitation to work in this institution.
The killer doctor disappeared without a trace, leaving behind terrible memories of the provincial residents.
The fate of the informers
The story of the vampire from Würzburg did not end there. In any case, the townsfolk had something to discuss, savoring the new details.
About six months later, one of the assistants who reported the doctor to the police committed suicide. Before that, he left his home, leaving his wife and young son without a livelihood, and moved to another Bavarian city - Nuremberg. There, a former assistant rented a small apartment. Later, neighbors talked about the strangeness of his life. He was very afraid of sunlight, lived with constantly closed shutters and ate only pig's blood, which he acquired from butchers. Such food led to stomach problems, but this man did not want to be treated - and, in the end, hanged himself from the ceiling beam in his new apartment. Shortly before his death, his abandoned wife found and visited him, who said that the man looked very pale and withered, completely unlike the one he had been a few months ago.
What drove his actions? Maybe he still helped Heinrich Spatz not only in official work, but also in his terrible experiments on people? And fate itself punished the former assistant, sending him a craving for vampirism, which eventually led to suicide?
Six months later, the second informant lost his life. His death looked incredibly wild. He came to visit his sister, met there with his little nephew and, taking the baby to a secluded place, tried to drink his blood. The boy screamed, his nanny ran to the noise, grabbed a poker standing near the fireplace and took the life of the former assistant.
A secret organization of blood drinkers?
Thanks to the money of the child's father, the investigation of the murder did not go to court, but, of course, this case gave me a chance to write new conversations about Dr. Spatz and his activities. Most of the locals considered him a vampire. But there were those who believed that he was the leader of a satanic sect, which included his assistants. It was also believed that the doctor conducted his sinister experiments for the sake of science: in those days, the dissection of corpses was cruelly persecuted and any pathological and anatomical actions were illegal.
Modern researchers believe that Dr. Heinrich Spatz and, possibly, his wife were sick with porphyria. And the doctor's assistants knew about this and, most likely, took part in his inhuman experiments. Their further actions were primarily due to mental problems: both assistants believed that for their continued existence they needed to drink blood, pig or human. And it was mental disorders that led the lives of both to a tragic ending.
Many residents of Würzburg still try not to talk about the missing Heinrich Spatz, fearing that the vampire has become immortal, and the mention of his name could bring misfortune - the person talking about him will incur the wrath of the killer doctor and from his response will become a vampire himself … It is believed that the doctor still remains in the city and that under his leadership there is a secret organization of vampires.
On the other hand, the story of Heinrich Spatz and his assistants has become a legend that attracts numerous tourists to Würzburg and contributes to the prosperity of the city and its inhabitants.
Victor Svetlanin