The Source:
Michael Ranft :
"De la Mastication des Morts dans leur Tombeaux" [1728]
Jérôme Millon, Grenoble, France, 1995
The Case:
About six months ago, in the village Kisilova in the Rahm
district, a guy called Peter Plogojovitz died. Then the following happened.
In Kisilova, nine people, old ones as well as young ones, died from some sort
of disease, very quickly within 24 hours after getting ill. And while they
were still alive, they declared that Plogojovitz (who had been dead for six
months) had visited them during their sleep and had strangled them so hard
that they were now going to die. The anxious villagers were strengthened in
their fears by Plogojovitz's widow who declared that her husband had come
home after his death to collect his shoes.
Then follows a short passage that seems interesting enough to translate more
or less verbatim:
"It so happens that with these persons, who are also called "vampyri", there
are several ways in which the corpse refuses to decompose. So it is possible
to find that their skin, their hair, their beard and their nails, continue to
grow."
So all the villagers agreed that the only thing to do was open up
Plogojovitz's grave to see if any of the above mentioned signs of vampirism
would be visible. And, to make sure that they would not get themselves into
trouble with the authorities, they requested "the Imperial Officer" to be
present at the opening of the grave. This august person - to whom we owe this
story - insisted on first getting permission from a higher authority. The
villagers, scared that if they waited that long, no one would be left alive,
decided to continue with their investigation without an official blessing.
The Imperial Officer, who could not manage to make them change their minds,
came to watch the proceedings, accompanied by the village pope. They found
the following:
The corpse of Peter Plogojovitz looked remarkably fresh. Admittedly, his nose
did not look quite the way it used to, but otherwise his hair, beard and even
his nails had fallen away and had been replaced by newly grown ones. His skin
had peeled off and had been replaced by new skin. His face, his hands and
feet and all the rest of his body could not have looked better when he was
still alive. To his amazement, the Imperial Officer even noticed some fresh
blood at the mouth of the vampire, proof no doubt of his bloodsucking
practices. The villagers continued to hammer a stake through the heart of the
vampire. According to the Imperial Officer much fresh blood came out of the
mouth and ears of the vampire. There were also other things, that he finds
"too savage to mention". After staking the corpse, it was cremated.
The declaration is signed by the Imperial Officer of Gradiska.
The Date:
The official report by the Imperial Officer is said to be dated 31 July, 1725.
The Place:
So far, I did find a place called Kisljevo, to the East of Beograd, almost on the Romanian border. It is very close to a larger place called Gradishte. So it does sound as if it may be the right place. Nevertheless, we should not take anything for granted so obviously we will have to take a look at older maps and make sure that this is indeed the correct location.
Personal Comments:
There seems little doubt that this story is based on a genuine official report.
Possible Follow-Up:
The usual. Find as many versions of this story as we can. And try to trace them back to their original sources. Ultimately, try to find the original report by "the Imperial Officer".
© 1989, 2007 by Rob Brautigam - NL - Last changed 03 October 2007
