WWW.SHROUDEATER.COM - Vampire of Amarasesti

The Sources:

Montague Summers :
"The Vampire in Europe" [1929]
reprinted by University Books, New York, USA, 1968

Adrien Cremene:
"Mythologie du Vampire en Roumanie"
Editions du Rocher, Monaco, 1981.

The Case:

Both authors present us with their own translation of this story, which they have found in Tudor Pamfile's "Mitologie romaneasca - Dusmani si prieteni ai omului", which in its turn appears to have been published in "Din viata poporului roman", Bucharest 1916.

Fifteen years ago, in the village of Amarasesti, a very old woman, the mother of Dinu Gheorghita and his brother, died. After some time, the children of both her sons started to die, one after another. The sons were convinced that their mother had become a vampire. So one night, they opened her grave, cut her in two, and buried her again. But the deaths continued. So they dug her up a second time. They were shocked to find that the two halves had grown together again. They took the corpse to a forest where they removed her heart, from which fresh blood was flowing. They cut the heart in four pieces and burnt it. Then they also cremated the corpse. The ashes were gathered. The ashes of the corpse were reburied in the grave. And the ashes of the heart were taken home and mixed with water, so that they could be drunk by the victims. From that moment the deaths ended.

The Date:

"Fifteen years ago", which places the events some time around 1900.

The Place:

As Adrien Cremene places this case in Oltenia, it does not seem unlikely that our "Amarasesti" may in fact be the same place that we are looking for under the heading "Armasesti".

Possible Follow-Up:

The obvious... The usual... Go find and check all mentioned sources and see if any further information can be found in there.

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