Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-06-22
VAMPIRES AND GHoUrs.

twelfth century. uarrates that in Buckinr.
hamshire man appeared several ,imea 10
: his wife after be had been buried. TIE
archdescou and clergy. on being applied
tes thought il right to ask the adsics oI
the bishop Of the diocese a. to the proper
course to be pursued. He advised ,ha,
the body should be burned-the only cure
for vampires. On opening the grave,
the corpse was found to be in the same
state As when interrcd---a property, we
are told. Generally possessed by vampires.
Calmet in his curious work relating to
the marvels Of the phantom world. quotes
letter which was written in 1888. and
which added one to the long list Of VAN.
pire stories belonging TO the Danubisn pro-
vince,. 1--WE have Just had in this par.
Of Hungary scene Of vampirisn, duly
attested by two officials Of the tribunal OF
Belgrade. who went down to the places
specified and BY an officer Of the cmpe.
ror $ troops at Graditz. who was an ocular
witness of the proceedings At the be-
ginning of September there died an the
village of kisiiOny. three leagues from
Gradlt.. man sixty-,hrse years Of age.
Three days after h;s burial he appeared in
The nigh. TO his son, and asked for sor,c-
thing to eat. The son having giecn him
something, he ate and disappeared. The
next day the son recnun;ci to his neigh
bors what had occurred That night the
father did not appear but on the follow
ing night he showed himself. and asked
again for food They do not know whe,h-
er the son gave him any on that occasion
or not; but on the following day the son
was found dead in his bed On that same
day FIVE or six persons in the village fell
suddenly i'll. and died one after another
in few days The villagers resolved to
open the grave Of the old mar, -ri c,am-
inc the body they did so. and declared
that the symptoms presented were such as
usually pertain to vampirism--eyes open,
fresh color. etc. The executioner drove
4 stake into the heart. and reduced the
body to ashes. All the other persons re-
Gently dead were similarly exhumed but
as they did not exhibit the suspicious
symptoms. they were quietly rcinterrcd.
Mr.. Pashley. in his Travels in Crete.
states that when he was at the town of
Ask Tlo he asked ab u the vampires or
katakhanadhes, as the Cretans call them
of whose existence and doingc he had
heard so much, stoutiy corroborated by
the peasantry. Many Of the stories con-
versed towarfonc central fact, which Mr..
Pashley believed had given origin to them
all. On one occasion 4 man Of some note
was buried at St. Georges Church at Kn-
likra,i, in the island of Crete. An arch
or canopy was built over his grave. Bu,
he soon afterward made his appearance as
vampire. haunting the village and de-
stroying men and children. A shepherd
was Que day tending his sheep and goats
near the church and on being caught in
a shower went under the arch to seek shell
ter from the rain. He determined to pass
the nj sht. laid aside his arms, aud stretch
ed himself on a stone to sleep. In placing
his firearms down (gcntle shepherds of
pastorals poems do not want firearms ::
but the Cretans are not gentle shepherds)
he happened 70 cross them. Now this
crossing was always believed to have the
effect Of preventing vampire from emer-
giLg from the spot where the emblem WIS
found. Thereupon occurred q singular
debate. The vampire rose in the right
and requested the shepherd to remove the
firearms in order that he might pass, as
he hal some important business to trans
act. The shepherd. inferring from this
request that the corpse was the identical
vampire which had been doiug so much
mischief, at first refused his assent but
on obtaining from the vampire a promise
on oath that he would not hurt him, the
shepherd moved the crossed arms The
vampire, thus enabled to rise, went 10 \
distance Of about two miles, and killed
two persons. man and woman. On
his return, the shepherd -.,u sCme indica-
ton of what had occurred, which caused
the vampire to threaten him with simi-
lar fate If he diyulged what he had seen.
He courareously told all, however. The
priests and Other persons came 10 the spot
next morning, took up the corpse (Which
in daytime was as iifelcss as any oiher)
and burnt it. While burning, 4 little spot
of blood spurted on the shepherds foot,
which instantly withered away: bu: 9TH
erwise no evil resulted, and the vampire
was efcctually destroyed. This was Ger
tainly very peculiar vampire story for
the coolre.. with which the corpse and
the shepherd carried on their conversation
under the arch was unique enough Nev-
erthcless the persons who related the af.
fair to Mr.. Pashley firmly believed in its
truth. although slightly differing in their
versions Of il.
| Tn 1854 an American newspaper, the
Norwich Courier, said:
Horace Pay cf Griswold died of con-
sumption in 1876; two Of his children AZ
terward died Of the same complaint; eight
yeae afterward. 1854. third died The
neighbors. evidently having the vampire
theory III their thoughts, determined to
exhume the bodies Of the two first children,
and burn them. under the surposition that
the dead had been feeding on the living.
II the dead body remained in a fresh or
semi-fresh state. all the vampire mischief
y, wonid be produced. In what state the
bodies were really found We are not told !:
but they we're disinterrcd and burned on
the Sth OF June. in the above named year.
Barring Gould narrstes the history Of
Marshal de Betx. = noble. brave and veal
thy man Of the time Of Charles the Sew
enih in France. lie vas sane and rea-
eonable in all matters save one but in
that one be was terrible being He de-
li-htcd IN rutsin |, vorn- and delicate ~h;l