The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-08


yielding 20 impUlsveness wrote that he would
wake the tceiktri then presently, laughing at him
self, be confessed total ignorance as to what tho
Weikin wen exactly might be- A vampire, then, is
well, what shall VIC say Not ghost, certainly
except We alter most Of our existing notions Of a
ghost. The best definition | can give of YAM
pyre Is, living mischieyous, aud murderous
Oead body. A living dead hOdyl We'll, the
WORDS are wild enough, contradictory, incompre.
hensible-but so are vampires.
assuming as true the records about dead peO-
pie moving about In th ir tombs, eating therein,
coming theTCirom, with or without murderous
Intentions, the learned Calmct devoos ontire
pages 70 a reasoned debate upon the case. lie
touches upon the mysteries OF life and death, and
sets forth the extreme difficulty Of aCcOu nung for
the phenomena of a corpse rising from the tomb
without disturbing the earth, and of returning
thereto without disturbing the earth; OF the
utter unmeaningness of ghOul suck as this
taking pleasure In the molcstatiOn, even murder
OF its once dearest friends. Lastly, be asks how
IL can be that dead body, out Of which the soul
the lte-hath hdd, can yet retain second life
All this he asks, and more he throws doubt on
the case, but nowhere expressly denies the exist
anCe OF vampyies, l think he tries TO make tt
seem. infercntisly, that vampyredom is wholly
AN illusion, q fiction Of the Greek Church but
he almost cuts the ground from under him by
presenting certain records OF living dead people,
whi come very nearly up 70 the mark Of vam-
pyredom lie quotes the German authors, Raudt
and kehrins Concerning whom mention has al
ready been madel, seemingly disposed to believe
much they have related concerning the gluttOny
tho swinish munching-pTactised BY certain
evil d. pc cd Corpses.
Rauft takes it for a certain conclusion, writes
CaTdhn, that certain Corpsos have been known 70
deyour the graye-clothes and other things within
their reach; nay, even their own flesh. He re-
marks that In certain parts Of Germany In order
to prevent this horrible habit Of underground
teasting, grayediggers are accustomed 70 put
good hard packing of earth under a suspected
corpses chin; that moreover, TO make security
doubly sure, some grave-diggers place in the
mouths of suspected COrpses q little bit Of silver
OF else stone taking the further precautiou to
tie handkerchief tight about the throat.
Certain of the mider, the least mysterious tales
concerning dead-aliye people, admit of sort Of
half explanation, by adopting the hypothesis Of
trnnce; as, foT- example, the following cases mar
rated Dy Calmet -
The Count de Salm, having been thought dead, ,
was buried alive. As night approached, great
cries we're heard in the church of the Abbey of
Haute Seillei and the following morning his
grave having been opened, the corpse was found
lying face downwards. Once upon time, at Bar
la Due, q man having been inferred, sound was
presently heard to come from the grave being
oisinterred on the day following, he was found TO
have eaten the flesh of his arms. This man had
drunk brandy to excess, and had been buried as
dead. RauiGt bears evidence concerning a woman
of Bohemia who, In 1916, had eaten, whilst in
the grave, about one-half Of her shroud.
More extraordinary, and trenching more nearly
on the domains of pure vampyrdom is the fol-
lowing, narrated by William OF Newbridge an
English author, who lived in the middle of the
twelfth century, and quoted by Calmet He
states that in his time was seen, in the county of
buckingham, man who appeared bodily, as
when alive, three successive nights to his wife,
and after that to his nearest relatives. They
could only defend themselves by watching and
making great noise when they perceived him
approaching The creature even dared to show
himself occasionally in the daytime; whereupon
the Bishop of Lincoln assembled his council, who
told him that similar things had often happened
in England, and that the only known remedy
against the evil was to catch the wandering body
and burn 1t. The Bishop could not at once fall
in wi h this he thought the remedy cruel. He
adopted another plan, and 1t was this Having
written schedule Of absOlution, he placed it on
the body OF the corpse; and from that time no
more OF him was seen or heard. This sort of
apParition would appear incredible, wrote the
author, if several instances had not occurred In
his own lifetime, and If he did not know several
persons who believed in them.
The latter argument is humby think IRE.
sIstible. The same author-Neworidg dge-stites
that man who had been inferred at Berwick
came out Of his grave every night, and made a
great disturbance in the neighborhood. He even
b, asted that he should not cease TO disturb the
living until they had reduced him tO ashes.
TheTeupOn the neighOors selected two bold and
courageous young men, who took him up out Of
the ground, cut his body to pieces, and burned II
TO a.hes. But some one among the crowd having
said that he could not burn until they had torn
out bis heart, his side was pierced with a stake.
1HIOuBu ING OpbuluB luuS Iuhu6 Luty 6ALTdCLbu
the heart, whereupon the body was consumed,
and appeared no MORE
1t is a remarkable fact, and therefore worthy to
be not, here, that amongst the Pagan Romans
the notion prevailed that dead bodies of certain
persons were subject TO be incited from their
graves by sOrceTeTs, except incTemation bad been
performed, or decomposition had actually taken
place. On this point study the following allusOn
of Lucan the words are represented by him to
have been spoken by an enchantress to an evoked
spirit
''Tau 'ua membra sepulchro
Taibus eNuram StygO cum oAmine Sylvis
Ut nulos caBtatA Magos exaudiat umbra"
All this may have been, says Calmet but that
those who are really dead move their jaws, and
smuse themselves by chewing whatever may be
near them, is, again says he, childish fancy
like what the ancient Romans said of their man
ducus, which was a grotesque figure Of a man
with an enormous mouth, full of big teeth, the
jaws being moved by springs. The Romans
frightened children with these manduci hence
the following allusion of Juvenal:- -
"Tsndem que redlt ad pulplta notum
ENodum, cum persona paltnts hiatum
In gTemlo matrls i0rmidat rustlcus in ans. -.
Some remains of the ancient custom may be
seen in certain PROFESSIONS wherein the figure of
a serpent is carried, which ever and anons opens
and shuts its jaws, between which cakes are
thrown by lockers on.
Authors have reasoned good deal on these
events, writes my authority. a. Some have be-
HeNCu lnem 10 DC MIRACULOUS. vi OtueTS nave
loo ked upon them as simply the effect OF heated
imagination, or a sort Of prepossessiOn. (30
Others, again, have believed that there was
nothing in them but what was very simple aud
natural these persons not being dead, but acting
naturally upon other bodies. a Others have
asserted that it was the work of the devil him
self Amongst these, some had advanced the
opinion that there were certain benign demons,
differing from those who are maloyOlent aud
hostile TO mankind.
But what greater evils can one have to fear
from veTitabie demons and the most malignant
spirits, than these which the ghouls of Hungary
inflict on persons whose blood they suck, aud
thus cause 10 die (5.) Others say that il is not
the dead who eat their own flesh or clothes, but
serpents, rats, moles, ferrets, or other yoracous
animals, OF even striges-birds that deYour ami
mails and men, and suck their blood. IL
is added, that these vampires are known only to
certain countries, as Hungary, MoraYia, and Sile'
siA, where plague, pestlence, hydrophoba, drunk
enness are most common; where tue people,
being badly fed, arc subject 20 certain disorders,
| ocCasioned by climate and food. AS 70 what
| some have asserted, that the dead men have been
heard to eat and chew like pigs la their graves, t
| is Inanfestly fabulous, writes my author. Such
| an idea can have It's foundation only in Tidicu-
| lous prppossessions.
From these remarks it would seem that Calmet
| is altogether skeptical about the narraLions OF
| dead-aliYe men and women, but do not know
| why he should be, since he does not venture to
| m fOlloUinp still more extraordinary