“He caused a third to be burned who had been buried more than sixteen years and had sucked the blood and caused the death of two of his sons. The commissary having made his report to the general officers, was deputed to the Emperor, who commanded that some officers both of war and of justice, some physicians and surgeons and some learned men should be sent to examine the causes of these extraordinary events. The person who related these particulars to us had heard them from the Count de Cabreras at Fribourg in 1730.”
Raufft tells the story of a man named “Peter Plogojowitz, an inhabitant of a village in Hungary called Kisolova, who, after he had been buried more than ten years, appeared by night to several persons in the village, while they were asleep, and squeezed their throats in such a manner that they expired within twenty-four hours. There died in this way no less than nine persons in eight days; and the widow of this Plogojowitz deposed that she herself had been visited by him since his death, and that his errand was to demand his shoes; which frightened her so much that she at once left Kisolova and went to live somewhere else.
“These circumstances determined the inhabitants of the village to dig up the body of Plogojowitz and burn it, in order to put a stop to such troublesome visits. Accordingly they applied to the commanding officer of the Emperor’s troops in the district of Gradisca, in the kingdom of Hungary, and to the incumbent of the place, for leave to dig up the corpse. They both made a great many scruples about granting it; but the peasants declared plainly that if they were not permitted to dig up this accursed carcase, which they were fully convinced was a vampire, they would be forced to leave the village and settle where they could.
“The officer who gave this account, seeing that there was no hindering them either by fair means or foul, came in person, accompanied by the minister of Gradisca, to Kisolova, and they were both present at the digging up of the corpse, which they found to be free from any bad smell, and perfectly sound, as if it had been alive, except that the tip of the nose was a little dry and withered. The beard and hair were grown fresh and a new set of nails had sprung up in the room of the old ones that had fallen off. Under the former skin, which looked pale and dead, there appeared a new one, of a natural fresh colour; and the hands and feet were as entire as if they belonged to a person in perfect health. They observed also that the mouth of the vampire was full of fresh blood, which the people were persuaded had been sucked by him from the persons he had killed.
“The officer and the divine having diligently examined into all the circumstances, the people, being fired with fresh indignation, and growing more fully persuaded that this carcase was the real cause of the death of their countrymen, ran immediately to fetch a sharp stake, which being driven into his breast, there issued from the wound, and also from his nose and mouth, a great quantity of fresh, ruddy blood; and something which indicated a sort of life, was observed to come from him. The peasants then laid the body upon a pile of wood, and burnt it to ashes.”
Calmet says he was told by M. de Vassimont, who was sent to Moravia by Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, that he was informed by public report that it was common enough in that country to see men who had died some time before present themselves in a party and sit down to the table with persons of their acquaintance without saying anything, but that nodding to one of the party he would infallibly die some days afterwards. M. de Vassimont received confirmation of this story from several persons, amongst others an old curé who said he had seen more than one instance of it. The priest added that the inhabitants had been delivered from these troublesome spectres owing to the fact that their corpses had been taken up and burned or destroyed in some way or other.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century several vampire investigations were held at the instigation of the Bishop of Olmutz. The village of Liebava was particularly infested, and a Hungarian placed himself on the top of the church tower and just before midnight saw a well-known vampire issue from his tomb, and, leaving his winding-sheet behind him, proceed on his rounds. The Hungarian descended from the tower and took away the sheet and ascended the tower again. When the vampire returned he flew into a great fury because of the absence of the sheet. The Hungarian called to him to come up to the tower and fetch it. The vampire mounted the ladder, but just before he reached the top the Hungarian gave him a blow on the head which threw him down to the churchyard. His assailant then descended, cut off the vampire’s head with a hatchet, and from that time the vampire was no more heard of.
In 1672 there dwelt in the market town of Kring, in the Archduchy of Krain, a man named George Grando, who died, and was buried by Father George, a monk of St Paul, who, on returning to the widow’s house, saw Grando sitting behind the door. The monk and the neighbours fled. Soon stories began to circulate of a dark figure being seen to go about the streets by night, stopping now and then to tap at the door of a house, but never to wait for an answer. In a little while people began to die mysteriously in Kring, and it was noticed that the deaths occurred in the houses at which the spectred figure had tapped its signal. The widow Grando also complained that she was tormented by the spirit of her husband, who night after night threw her into a deep sleep with the object of sucking her blood. The Supan, or chief magistrate, of Kring decided to take the usual steps to ascertain whether Grando was a vampire. He called together some of the neighbours, fortified them with a plentiful supply of spirituous liquor, and they sallied off with torches and a crucifix.
Grando’s grave was opened, and the body was found to be perfectly sound and not decomposed, the mouth being opened with a pleasant smile, and there was a rosy flush on the cheeks. The whole party were seized with terror and hurried back to Kring, with the exception of the Supan. The second visit was made in company with a priest, and the party also took a heavy stick of hawthorn sharpened to a point. The grave and body were found to be exactly as they had been left. The priest kneeled down solemnly and held the crucifix aloft: “O vampire, look at this,” he said; “here is Jesus Christ who loosed us from the pains of hell and died for us upon the tree!”