THE VAMPYRE. ________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION. __________
THE superstition upon which this tale is founded is very general inthe East. Among the Arabians it appears to be common: it did not,however, extend itself to the Greeks until after the establishment ofChristianity; and it has only assumed its present form since thedivision of the Latin and Greek churches; at which time, the ideabecoming prevalent, that a Latin body could not corrupt if buried intheir territory, it gradually increased, and formed the subject ofmany wonderful stories, still extant, of the dead rising from theirgraves, and feeding upon the blood of the young and beautiful. In theWest it spread, with some slight variation, all over Hungary, Poland,Austria, and Lorraine, where the belief existed, that vampyres nightlyimbibed a certain portion of the blood of their victims, who becameemaciated, lost their strength, and speedily died of consumptions;whilst these human blood-suckers fattened--and their veins becamedistended to such a state of repletion, as to cause the blood to flowfrom all the passages of their bodies, and even from the very pores oftheir skins.
In the London Journal, of March, 1732, is a curious, and, of course,credible account of a particular case of vampyrism, which is stated tohave occurred at Madreyga, in Hungary. It appears, that upon anexamination of the commander-in-chief and magistrates of the place,they positively and unanimously affirmed, that, about five yearsbefore, a certain Heyduke, named Arnold Paul, had been heard to say,that, at Cassovia, on the frontiers of the Turkish Servia, he had beentormented by a vampyre, but had found a way to rid himself of theevil, by eating some of the earth out of the vampyre's grave, andrubbing himself with his blood. This precaution, however, did notprevent him from becoming a vampyre[2] himself; for, about twenty orthirty days after his death and burial, many persons complained ofhaving been tormented by him, and a deposition was made, that fourpersons had been deprived of life by his attacks. To prevent furthermischief, the inhabitants having consulted their Hadagni,[3] took upthe body, and found it (as is supposed to be usual in cases ofvampyrism) fresh, and entirely free from corruption, and emitting atthe mouth, nose, and ears, pure and florid blood. Proof having beenthus obtained, they resorted to the accustomed remedy. A stake wasdriven entirely through the heart and body of Arnold Paul, at which heis reported to have cried out as dreadfully as if he had been alive.This done, they cut off his head, burned his body, and threw the ashesinto his grave. The same measures were adopted with the corses ofthose persons who had previously died from vampyrism, lest theyshould, in their turn, become agents upon others who survived them.
[2] The universal belief is, that a person sucked by a vampyre becomes avampyre himself, and sucks in his turn.
[3] Chief bailiff.
The Vampyre; a Tale Page 3
