Year: 1876

the living. The signs by which the vampire
Is known are the preservation of the body
for a long time after it should have decayed
the Auiditv of the blood and the suppleness
of the limbs Prosper. Merimee, in the COURSE
of his travels, was the witness of case of al
legged vampirism, which he describes as fol
lows


In lSl6 | was travelling on foot in Var.
garaz and CHANGED to stop at the little village
of Narboska. My host was one Nuck
| POglOnovich, well-tO-do or the region, q
| good fellow and sufficiently drunken. Hi,
wife was yet young and fair, and his daugh-
ter, a girl OF sixteen, charming. | would
fam have remained with him several DAYS
in order to study the ruins in the neighbor.
hood, but he would not rent me a room, in
sisting that should be his guest, and as this
involved holding my own with him at the
wine after dinner. the relation was not par
ticularly pleasant.


| One evening the woman had left US about
an hour and, to avoid being compelled to
drink, | was singing to my host, when we
were startled by the most fearful cries from
| the sleeping apartment, which, as Is the GUS
Of the country, was occupied by the whole
| household in common Arming ourselves,
We hurried thither, and beheld frightful
sight-the mother, pale and haggard, hold
ing her still more pallid daughter, who was
stretched on her straw bed as if dead. The
woman was shrieking, without pause, A
vampire a vampire My poor child is
| dead '


With great difficulty we restord khaya to
consciousneSs; she had, she said seen the
window opened and man, pale as ashes
and wrapped in a windlng-Sheet had flung
himself upon her, bitten her and striyen to
strangle. She was only able to shrek aloud
when the spectre He'd, and she swooned away,
but she tancied that she had recognized in
itS features those Of a villager named
| Niecznany, dead about fortnight There
was small red spot on her throat, but did
not known whether it might not be natural
mark or the result of the bite of an insect
during the girl's nightmare. When, how
ever, hazarded this conjecture the father
rejected it >ullenly the glrl wept piteously,
and wringing her hands and rocking to-and
fro, kept repeating Alas To die 80 Young
and before ones wedding-day :" while the
mother loaded me with reproaches, declar-
ing that she had herself seen the vampire
and known it to be Wiecznany. | consider
ed ii, therefore, the part OF prudence to be
silent. All the amulets in the village were
soon hung round the sufferer neck and her
father took an oath that next day he would
di>inter the corpse Of Wiecznany and burn
1t. Thus the night passed in an excitement
that nothing could allay.


At daybreak next morning the ~h0le vii
lage was out, the men armed with muskets
or hangers, the women bearing heated irons.
and the children sticks and stones With
cries OF rage against the dead man they all
thr3nged 10 the graveyard it was with
difficulty that | could obtain and retain a
position whence | could witness the ce1e-
mouy of exhumation. twas slow, for aS all
str0ye 10 take part in it each interiercd with
the other, and not few serious wounds
would have been inflicted by pick or shovel
had not the Elders ordered two men only u
complete the work. At the moment that
the >hroud was unrolled a horrible cry fair
" raised my hair on end. 1t proceeded from
a woman by my side. 1T Is vampire "
she shTlcked the worms have not eaten
it, and her words were taken up by hun
drod mouths. Twenty musket-shots shat
tered the head of the corpse to fragments,
while the father and relatives of khaTa
hacked the body sayagely with their long
knives, and the women dipped linen cloths
in the red liquid that oozed from the wounds
to apply to the sufferer throat The body
was dragged from the grave and firmly tied
to the trunk OF a small tree that had been
cut down and prepared, then drawn to the
house Of Poglonoyich, where pile OF fagotS
and straw had been erected Fire was set
to it, and the body tossed into the flames.
while the people yelling madly danced round
the Vyrc. The ab0minable stencil from the
burning flesh soon compelled me to take
refuge IN the house.


The house was crowded with visitors, the
men all putting at their pipes. the women
all speaking at once and Overwhelming with
questions the sick girl, who sat pale and
stuVeted. the blood-soaked bandagcS round
her neck forming ghaStly contrast with
her white, hali-uakei shoulders. Little by
little the crowd diminished Till We were lett
alone khaya grew more and more uneasy
as night came On, and insisted that some one
should watch by her bedside constantly. As
her parent, were worn out with fatigue and
excitement offered my services as nurse, and
they were ace epted gratefully.


shall never forget the nights spent by
the bedside Of this unfortunate girl. The
creaking Of board, the very murmur Of the
wind made her start and shudder. She could
not fall into d0ze without seeing visions
Of horror. and from time 10 time would
waken vita a fearful start and a cry OF an
guish. She had had one horrible dream e,
and the village g0ssips had succeeded IN
completing the ruin OF her mind by narrating
to her all the irightful stories about vam-
pires that they could remember or invent.
Often as she felt her eyes closing she would
say to me, For GOd's sake do not sleep
Take my rosary in one hand and your sabre
in the other and watch over ne :" Nor would
she sleep save with her two hands locked
about my arm, locked 50 tightly that the
conyuSie grip Of her fingers would leave
liyid marks IN my flesh. Nothing could dis
tract her mind she was abiectly afraid OF
death, and believed that she must certainly
perish. In few days she became shocking
" thin her lips were colorless and liyid !;
her great black ewes seemed larger and more
brilliant She was a pitiable thing to see.


tried to impress her Imagination by
feigning to believe as she did, but, unhap-
PLY, as had at first derided her credulity
| could not easily gain her confidence. |
told her, however, that | was possessed of a
patent charm against evil spirits and that, If
She desired it, | would pronounce it. At
first her natural unselishness and gentleness
would not permit her to allow me to draw
the wrath OF heaven on myself, but, finally
the fear Of death Oyercame her scruples and
she implored me to Try my spell. pro
bounced loudly and solemnly some lines Of
Racine as invocation lthen, after rubbing her
neck pretended TO draw therefrom small
red agate had concealed between my fin
gers, and assured her gravely that | had re-
moved the source of her illness and that she
was saved. But, with sad smile, she said :
"YOu have deceived me you had that stone
in a little casket; | had seen it before. You
are not a magician Thus my ruse did her
more harm than good. From that moment
she grew worse rapidly.


On the night before her death she said to
me- If die it is my own fault. My
lover land she named one of the young men
of the yilage) wished me to elope with him
but | would not and asked him to bring me
silver chain. lie went to Marcaska to bay
Inc one, and it was then that the vamIi ire
came. After all. if had not been at the
house, it might have killed my mother, so
perhaps it is all for the best" Next day
She made her father promise himself to cut
her throat and open her veins after her death,
that she might not also become a vampire :;
she would have no other hand but his to
commit upon her corpse these needless
atrocities. Then embracing her mother she
desired her 10 take rosary to the tomb OF a
local hermit or saint, there to sanctify it :;
then to bring it back to her. | could not
fail to admit this PEASANTS thoughttulness
in finding such pretext to keep her mother
from Witnessing her dying agonies.


She took an amulet from her neck and
gave it to me. keep it," she said land
may it do you more good than it has done to
me-" She then received the sacrament de-
yoctly. Shortly thereafter her breathing
became more difficult and her eyes glazed.
Suddenly she seized her fathers arm and
made an effort as if to cast herself upon his