The Sun.
London, England, 1824-10-06 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

VAMPIRISM.
MR. EDITOR—Among the many strange ob-
servations of the human mind, few appear more
absurd than the belief in the existence of Vam-
pires. Although this belief had its origin in the
East, it nevertheless gained a footing in Europe,
though under a somewhat different form. Nor
was it only in the dark ages of ignorance that
this opinion prevailed, but we find it, us it were,
legally substantiated in Hungary about the middle
of the sixteenth century. As this singular fact
may not be known to some of your readers, I
beg leave to send you the following translation
from the Lettres Juines of the Marquis D'A
rt-
GENS, who had himself extracted it from the
Mercure Historique et Politique of 0ct.1736 :
We have just had in this country a new scene
of Vampirism, which has been duly attested by
two Officers of the Tribunal of Belgrade, who
took cognizance of the affair upon the spot, and
by an officer of the Imperial troops at Gradiska,
in Sclavonia, who was himself an eye-witness of
the proceedings.
At the beginning of September, in the village
of Kisilova, three leagues from Gradiska, died
an old man sixty years of age, who, three days
after he was interred, appeared to his son, desir-
ing him to give him something to eat. The son
having complied, the apparition eat and disap-
peared. On the following day, the son related
the circumstance to his neighbours. Nothing oc-
curred that night, but on that of the day follow-
ing the father again appeared, and the son was
the next day found dead in his bed. On this
same day five or six persons were taken sud-
denly ill in the village, and died one after the
other in the course of only a few days. The
Magistrate, or Bailiff, of the place being Morin-
ed of what had happened, sent an account of it
to the Tribunal at Belgrade, by which two Com-
missioners and an executioner were dispatched
to inquire into this affair. The imperial officer
who has communicated what we now relate, re-
paired along with them from Gradiska, in order
to witness a fact of which he had often heard
spoken. The graves of all the persons that had
died within the last six weeks were opened.
When they chime to that of the old man, he was
found with his eyes open, with a fresh colour,
his respiration natural, though he was motionless,
and evidently dead ; from this it was concluded
that he must be a Vampire. The executioner
ran a stake through his heart, and a fire being
kindled, the corpse was reduced to ashes. No
signs of Vampirism were discovered either in the
corpse of the son, nor In any of those of the per-
sons that had recently died.
Thank Heaven we are far from being too cre-
dulous. We confess, that all the lights of phy-
sics can give us no clue to account for the fact,
nor enable 113 to discover its cause. Yet we can
scarcely pretend to deny a fact judicially at-
tested by competent and honourable witnesses,
the more especially as it does not stand alone.
We shall here insert a narrative of what occurred
in 1732, such as we then stated it in our Gleaner,
No. X VI ff.

In a certain canton of Hungary, called in La-
tin Oppida Theidorum, beyond the Tibiscus,
now vulgarly calle&the Theiss, that is to say,
between this river, which waters the rich canton
of Tokay and Transilvania, the people kit) ii
by the name of Ileidukes, believe that certain
dead persons, which they call Vampires, suck all
the blood of the living, so that the latter become
thinner and more emaciated, whilst the dead
bodies, like leeches, fill with blood in such abun-
dance, that it runs out at every issue of the body.
This opinion has just been confirmed by several
facts, the authenticity of which can scarcely be
denied, when we consider the number and the
respectability of the witnesses that have been
examined. We shall relate here some of the
most considerable. _

ArAnoirdu t
pfiavue years
ll:a go,a
inhabitant
was
crushed to death in consequence of the fall of a
hay cart. Thirty days after his demise, no less
than four persons died suddenly, and in the
manner that, according to . the traditions of
the country, those die who are molested by
Vampires. It was then remembered that this
Arnold Paul,had been frequently heard to relate,
that in the neighbourhood of Cassova, on the
frontiers of Turkey, he had been tormented by a
Vampire : the established opinions being that
those who were passive Vampires whilst alive,
become active after death, or that those who have
been sucked by a Vampire, suck in their turn
when they are dead. The man had, however,
declared that he cured himself by eating some of
the earth out of the Vampire's grave, and rub-
bing himself with his blood. It appeared, how-
ever, that these precautions did not produce the
desired effect,since he became himself a Vampire
after his death ; for his body being taken out of
the grave forty days after it had been
,buried,
bore all the marks of an arch-Vampire. His
body appeared fresh, his hair, his nails, and his,
beard were grown ; he was quite filled with
fluid blood, which flowed. from all parts of his
body upon the shrouds in which he was wrap-
ped. The liathiag,g, or the Bailiff of the place,
who was present at the exhumation, and was
well acquainted with Vampirism, ordered a sharp
stake to be thrust, according-to custom, into the
heart of the Vampire,and quite through his body,
which caused him to utter a horrible shriek, as
though he were alive ; his head having been next
cut off, the whole was burnt, and his ashes were
cast into the Save. The same meaNures were
adopted in regard to the corpse of these four per-
sons that had died of Vampirism, lest they should
occasion the death of others in their turn.

All these precautions did not, however, hinder
he same misfortune from breaking out afresh at

the end of last year, or five years after the above-
mentioned operation, when several persons in the
same village came to an untimely end. In the
short space of three months, not less than seven-
teen persons of different sexes, and different ages,
have fallen victims to Vampirism : some without
any apparent illness, others often remaining in a
languid state during two or three days, Amongst
others is mentioned a girl named Stanoska, daugh-
ter of the lleiduke Jovitzo, who having gone to

bed in perfect health, awaked trembling in the
middle of the night, shrieking dreadfully, and
protesting that the son of the Heiduke Millo,
who had died nine weeks before, had nearly
strangled her during her sleep. From that day
she continued in a languishing state during three
days, when she breathed her last. What this
girl had said concerning the son of Millo proved
him to be a Vampire. Ile was disinterred, and
found to be one. The chief men of the place,
the physicians and surgeons, examined how the
Vampirism had again shewn itself in spite of all
the precautions they had taken some years before.
After much investigation, it was at length do*
covered that (the deceased Arnold Paul had
not only sucked the four persons above men-
tioned, but also several beasts, of which the new
Vampires had eaten, more especially
the son o
Millo. Having ascertained this circumstance i
~ t
was resolved to disinter all persons that had died
within a certain time, and amongst forty that
were so disinterred, there were found seventeen
having signs of complete Vampirism.
In cotise-
(pence of this discovery, stakes were driven
through the hearts of these bodies, which were
afterwards burnt, and their ashes cast into the
f

river.
All the above informations, as well as the esee
cations here mentioned, Nvere performed in a legal
way, and were witnessed and attested by several
officers quartered in these parts,
by the surgeons
of several regiments, and by the principalamong
the inhabitants of the place. The verbal process
was sent about the end of January last to the
Imperial Council of War sitting at Vienna,which had appointed a military commission to in-
quire into the truth of these facts. They hay'
been attested by the Iladnagy Barriarar, and
the elder among the Ileidukes, and signed by
Battuer, First Lieutenant in the regilnet.it of
Alexander of Wirtemberg, by Flicksteinger,
tiq,
Surgeon Major of the regiment of F
unstelp aptain
by three other surgeons, and by Guoschitt, c
at Stallath.
I have not been able to find any further ac:
count of this Vampirism, yet have an idea that I
once saw, somewhere or other, that other inquiries
had been made under the reign
of the Empress
and a
of account
Maria Theresa. Perhaps some of your readers
will be able to add what may be wanted here,
completeto,
credulity
popular
of
ibis
superstition. singular instance of

A, P.

PaonEwr passed through this town 00 Spturi.
day evening, on his way to London.—(shejiel
Mercury.)
The whole of Portland-place is now nearly
11%.ridamized ; and part of the Quadrant has been enclosed ft),
the same purpose.
Fit ED EttlcK NORTH, some years ago, olrl~is
return from the Opera, found the house or
his
next neighbour but one on fire, and hastened t 0
volunteer his exertions to extinguish it. In (11.1
e
der to do this more efficiently, he got on !'t
roof of his own house, and crossed over to tau
of the house in danger. here he ntisteeltii
window in the roof for leads, and, unluckilia
stept on it : of course he broke through, io.
came down through the entire house, tufabt„
down the welled staircase. ne received s°";
fractures, and was taken up senseless. It was
,1
long time before he recovered. %Viten he A
he had totally forgotten every thing
with the accident. Ile remembered gein4 to till
Opera, and returning from it, but the fire alt
bias
the fall, had totally been obliterated from, ed
brain. Those about him informed hint of all
things, and added, among the rest, that the gro.
tleman in whose house he was hurt had bee" u
bout hiffir;
remitting in his visits to inquire a
" Ay," said North, 64 he was returning my cg
ther
for, you know, I dropped in on him the o
night."
connect.%