 |
 |
|
|
"This is not she!" the Old Man exclaim'd;
"A Fiend; a manifest Fiend!"
And to the youth he held his lance;
"Strike and deliver thyself!"
"Strike HER!" cried Thalaba,
And, palsied of all power,
Gazed fixedly upon the dreadful form.
"Yea, strike her!" cried a voice, whose tones
Flow'd with such sudden healing through his soul,
As when the desert shower
From death deliver'd him;
But, unobedient to that well-known voice,
His eye was seeking it,
When Moath, firm of heart,
Perform'd the bidding: through the vampire corpse*
He thrust his lance; it fell,
And, howling with the wound,
Its fiendish tenant fled.
A sapphire light fell on them,
And garmented with glory, in their sight
Oneiza's Spirit stood.
We have had in this country a new scene of Vampirism, which is duly attested by two officers of the Tribunal of Belgrade, who took cognizance of the affair on the spot, and by an officer in his Imperial Majesty's troops at Gradisch, (in Sclavonia,) who was an eye-witness of the proceedings.
In the beginning of September, there died at the village of Kisilova, three leagues from Gradisch, an old man of above threescore and two: three days after he was buried, he appeared in the night to his son, and desired he would give him some what to eat, and then disappeared. The next day the son told his neighbors these particulars. That night the father did not come, but the next evening he made him another visit, and desired something to eat. It is not known whether his son gave him any thing or not, but the next morning the young man was found dead in his bed. The magistrate or bailiff of the place had notice of this; as also that the same day five or six persons fell sick in the village, and died one after the other. He sent an exact account of this to the tribunal of Belgrade, and thereupon two commissioners were despatched to the village, attended by an executioner, with instructions to examine closely into the affair. An officer in the Imperial service, from whom we have this relation, went from Gradisch, in order to examine personally an affair of which he had heard so much. They opened, in the first place, the graves of all who had been buried in six weeks. When they came to that of the old man, they found his eyes open, his color fresh, his respiration quick and strong; yet he appeared to be stiff and insensible. From these signs, they concluded him to be a notorious Vampire. The executioner thereupon, by the command of the commissioners, struck a stake through his heart; and when he had so done, they made a bonfire, and therein consumed the carcass to ashes. There were no marks of Vampirism found on his son, or on the bodies of the other persons who died so suddenly.
Thanks be to God, we are as far as any people can be from giving into credulity; we acknowledge that all the lights of physic do not enable us to give any account of this fact, nor do we pretend to enter into its causes. However, we cannot avoid giving credit to a matter of fact juridically attested by competent and unsuspected witnesses, especially since it is far from being the only one of the kind. We shall here annex an instance of the same sort in 1732, already inserted in the Geaner, No. 18.
In a certain town of Hungary, which is called, in Latin, Oppida Heidonum, on the other side Tibiscus, vulgarly called the Teysse, that is to say, the river which washes the celebrated territory of Tokay, as also a part of Transylvania, the people known by the name of Heydukes believe that certain dead persons, whom they call Vampires, suck the blood of the living, insomuch that these people appear like skeletons, while the dead bodies of the suckers are so full of blood, that it runs out at all the passages of their bodies, and even at their very pores. This old opinion of theirs they support by a multitude of facts, attested in such a manner, that they leave no room for doubt. We shall here mention some of the most considerable.
It is now about five years ago, that a certain Heyduke, an inhabitant of the village of Medreiga, whose name was Arnold Paul, was bruised to death by a hay-cart, which ran over him. Thirty days after his death, no less than four persons died suddenly in that manner, wherein, according to the tradition of the country, those people generally die who are sucked by Vampires. Upon this, a story was called to mind that this Arnold Paul had told in his lifetime, viz. that at Cossova, on the frontiers of the Turkish Servia, he had been tormented by a Vampire; (now the established opinion is, that a person sucked by a Vampire becomes a Vampire himself, and sucks in his turn;) but that he had found a way to rid himself of this evil by eating some of the earth out of the Vampire's grave, and rubbing himself with his blood. This precaution, however, did not hinder his becoming a Vampire; insomuch, that his body being taken up forty days after his death, all the marks of a notorious Vampire were found thereon. His complexion was fresh, his hair, nails, and beard were grown; he was full of fluid blood, which ran from all parts of his body upon his shroud. The Hadnagy or Bailiff of the place, who was a person well acquainted with Vampirism, caused a sharp stake to be thrust, as the custom is, through the heart of Arnold Paul, and also quite through his body; whereupon he cried out dreadfully, as if he had been alive. This done, they cut off his head, burnt his body, and threw the ashes thereof into the Saave. They took the same measures with the bodies of those person who had died of Vampirism, for fear that they should fall to sucking in their turns.
All these prudent steps did not hinder the same mischief from breaking out
again about five years afterwards, when several people in the same village
died in a very odd manner. In the space of three months, seventeen persons
of all ages and sexes died of Vampirism, some suddenly, and some after two
or three days' suffering. Amongst others, there was one Stanoska,
the daughter of a Heyduke, whose name was Jovitzo, who,
going to bed in perfect health, waked in the middle of the night, and
making a terrible outcry affirmed, that the son of a certain
Heyduke, whose name was Millo, and who had been dead about
three weeks, had attempted to strangle her in her sleep. She continued
from that time in a languishing condition, and in the space of three days
died. What this girl had said, discovered the son of Millo to be a
Vampire. They took up the body, and found him so in effect. The principal
persons of the place, particularly the physician and surgeons, began to
examine very narrowly, how, in spite of all their precautions, Vampirism
had again broke out in so terrible a manner. After a strict inquisition,
they found that the deceased Arnold Paul had not only sucked the
four persons before mentioned, but likewise several beasts, of whom the
new Vampires had eaten, particularly the son of Millo. Induced by
these circumstances, they took a resolution of digging up the bodies of
all persons who had died within a certain time. They did so, and amongst
forty bodies, there were found seventeen evidently Vampires. Through the
hearts of these they drove stakes, cut off their heads, burnt their
bodies, and threw the ashes into the river. All the informations we have
been speaking of were taken in a legal way, and all the executions were so
performed, as appears by certificates drawn up in full form, attested by
several officers in the neighboring garrisons, by the surgeons of several
regiments, and the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process
was sent towards the latter end of last January, to the council of war at
Vienna, who thereupon established a special commission to examine
into these facts. Those just now mentioned were attested by the Hadnagi
Barriarer, the principal
This superstition extends to Greece.
The man, whose story we are going to relate, was a peasant of Mycone,
naturally ill- natured and quarrelsome; this is a circumstance to be taken
notice of in such cases. He was murdered in the fields, nobody knew how,
or by whom. Two days after his being buried in a chapel in the town, it
was noised about that he was seen to walk in the night with great haste,
that he tumbled about people's goods, put out their lamps, griped them
behind, and a thousand other monkey tricks. At first the story was
received with laughter; but the thing was looked upon to be serious when
the better sort of people began to complain of it; the Papas themselves
gave credit to the fact, and no doubt had their reasons for so doing;
masses must be said, to be sure: but for all this, the peasant drove his
old trade and heeded nothing they could do. After divers meetings of the
chief people of the city, of priests, and monks, it was gravely concluded,
that it was necessary, in consequence of some musty ceremonial, to wait
till nine days after the interment should be expired.
On the tenth day, they said one mass in the chapel where the body was
laid, in order to drive out the Demon which they imagined was got into it.
After mass, they took up the body, and got every thing ready for pulling
out its heart. The butcher of the town, an old clumsy fellow, first opens
the belly instead of the breast; he groped a long while among the
entrails, but could not find what he looked for; at last, somebody told
him he should cut up the diaphragm. The heart was then pulled out, to the
admiration of all the spectators. In the mean time, the corpse stunk so
abominably, that they were obliged to burn frankincense; but the smoke
mixing with the exhalations from the carcass, increased the stink, and
began to muddle the poor people's pericranies. Their imagination, struck
with the spectacle before them, grew full of visions. It came into their
noddles that a thick smoke came out of the body; we durst not say it was
the smoke of the incense. They were incessantly bawling out Vroucolacas,
in the chapel, and place before it; this is the name they give to these
pretended Redivivi. The noise bellowed through the streets, and it seemed
to be a name invented on purpose to rend the roof of the chapel. Several
there present averred, that the wretch's blood was extremely red; the
butcher swore the body was still warm; whence they concluded that the
deceased was a very ill man for not being thoroughly dead, or, in plain
terms, for suffering himself to be reanimated by Old Nick; which is the
notion they have of Vroucolacas. They then roared out that name in a
stupendous manner. Just at this time came in a flock of people, loudly
protesting, they plainly perceived the body was not grown stiff, when it
was carried from the fields to church to be buried, and that consequently
it was a true Vroucolacas; which word was still the burden of the song.
I don't doubt they would have sworn it did not stink, had not we been
there; so mazed were the poor people with this disaster, and so infatuated
with their notion of the dead being reanimated. As for us, who were got as
close to the corpse as we could, that we might be more exact in our
observations, we were almost poisoned with the intolerable stink that
issued from it. When they asked us what we thought of this body, we told
them we believed it to be very thoroughly dead. But as we were willing to
cure, or at least not to exasperate their prejudiced imaginations, we
represented to them, that it was no wonder the butcher should feel a
little warmth when he groped among entrails that were then rotting, that
it was no extraordinary thing for it to emit fumes, since dung turned up
will do the same; that as for the pretended redness of the blood, it still
appeared by the butcher's hands to be nothing but a very stinking, nasty
smear.
After all our reasons, they were of opinion it would be their wisest
course to burn the dead man's heart on the sea shore, but this execution
did not make him a bit more tractable; he went on with his racket more
furiously than ever; he was accused of beating folks in the night,
breaking down doors and even roofs of houses, clattering windows, tearing
clothes, emptying bottles and vessels. It was the most thirsty devil! I
believe he did not spare any body but the Consul, in whose house we
lodged. Nothing could be more miserable than the condition of this island;
all the inhabitants seemed frighted out of their senses; the wisest among
them were stricken like the rest; it was an epidemical disease of the
brain, as dangerous and infectious as the madness of dogs. Whole families
quitted their houses, and brought their tent beds from the farthest parts
of the town into the public place, there to spend the night. They were
every instant complaining of some new insult; nothing was to be heard but
sighs and groans at the approach of night; the better sort of people
retired into the country.
When the prepossession was so general, we thought it our best way to hold
our tongues. Had we opposed it, we had not only been accounted ridiculous
blockheads, but Atheists and Infidels; how was it possible to stand
against the madness of a whole people? Those that believed we doubted the
truth of the fact, came and upbraided us with our incredulity, and strove
to prove that there were such things as Vroucolacasses, by citations out
of the Buckler of Faith, written by F. Richard, a Jesuit Missionary. He
was a Latin, say they, and consequently you ought to give him credit. We
should have got nothing by denying the justness of the consequence: it was
as good as a comedy to us every morning to hear the new follies committed
by this night bird; they charged him with being guilty of the most
abominable sins.
Some citizens, that were most zealous for the good of the public, fancied
they had been deficient in the most material part of the ceremony. They
were of opinion that they had been wrong in saying mass before they had
pulled out the wretch's heart: had we taken this precaution, quoth they,
we had bit the devil as sure as a gun: he would have been hanged before he
would ever have come there again; whereas, saying mass first, the cunning
dog fled for it awhile, and came back again when the danger was over.
Notwithstanding these wise reflections, they remained in as much
perplexity as they were the first day: they meet night and morning, they
debate, they make processions three days and three nights; they oblige the
Papas to fast; you might see them running from house to house,
holy-water-brush in hand, sprinkling it all about, and washing the doors
with it; nay, they poured it into the mouth of the poor Vroucolacas.
We so often repeated it to the magistrates of the town, that in
Christendom we should keep the strictest watch a-nights upon such an
occasion, to observe what was done, that at last they caught a few
vagabonds, who undoubtedly had a hand in these disorders; but either they
were not the chief ringleaders, or else they were released too soon. For
two days afterwards, to make themselves amends for the Lent they had kept
in prison, they fell foul again upon the wine-tubs of those who were such
fools as to leave their houses empty in the night: so that the people were
forced to betake themselves again to their prayers.
One day, as they were hard at this work, after having stuck I know not how
many naked swords over the grave of this corpse, which they took up three
or four times a-day, for any man's whim, an Albaneze that happened to be
at Mycone took upon him to say, with a voice of authority, that it was in
the last degree ridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in a
case like this. Can you not conceive, blind as ye are, says he, that the
handles of these swords, being made like a cross, hinders the devil from
coming out of the body? Why do you not rather take the Turkish sabres? The
advice of this learned man had no effect: the Vroucolacas was
incorrigible, and all the inhabitants were in a strange consternation;
they knew not now what saint to call upon, when, of a sudden, with one
voice, as if they had given each other the hint, they fell to bawling out
all through the city, that it was intolerable to wait any longer; that the
only way left was to burn the Vroucolacas entire; but after so doing, let
the devil lurk in it if he could; that it was better to have recourse to
this extremity than to have the island totally deserted; and, indeed,
whole families began to pack up, in order to retire to Syre or Tinos. The
magistrates therefore ordered the Vroucolacas to be carried to the point
of the island St. George, where they prepared a great pile with pitch and
tar, for fear the wood, as dry as it was, should not burn fast enough of
itself. What they had before left of this miserable carcass was thrown
into this fire and consumed presently. -- It was on the 1st of January
1701. We saw the flame as we returned from Delos; it might justly be
called a bonfire of joy, since after this no more complaints were heard
against the Vroucolacas; they said that the devil had now met with his
match, and some ballads were made to turn him into ridicule. --
Tournefort.
In Dalmatia, the Morlachians, before a funeral, cut the hamstrings of the
corpse, and mark certain characters upon the body with a hot iron; they
then drive nails or pins into the different parts of it, and the sorcerers
finish the ceremony by repeating certain mysterious words; after which
they rest confident that the deceased cannot return to the earth to shed
the blood of the living. --Cassas.
The Turks have an opinion, that men that are buried have a sort of life in
their graves. If any man makes affidavit before a judge, that he heard a
noise in a man's grave, he is, by order, dug up, and chopped all to
pieces. The merchants, at Constantinople, once airing on horseback, had,
as usual, for protection, a Janizary with them. Passing by the burying
place of the Jews, it happened that an old Jew sat by a sepulchre. The
Janizary rode up to him, and rated him for stinking the world a second
time, and commanded him to get into his grave again. -- Roger North's
Life of Sir Dudley North.