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The Source:

Dom Augustin Calmet [1672-1757] :
"Dissertation sur les Revenants en Corps, les Excommuniés, Les Oupirs ou Vampires, Brucolaques, etc." [1751]
Debure l'Aîné, Paris, 1751 - Volume II

The Case:

I will give you a rough translation of Dom Calmet's story:

"The intendant of Count Simon Labienski, Staroste of Posnan, had died. The Countess Dowager Labienski decided that in recognition of his services the dead man would be buried in the family crypt. And thus the man's coffin was put in there. Some time later, the verger who was in charge of the crypt, noticed that the position of the coffin had changed. He warned the Countess and she ordered - as is the custom in Poland - that the dead man should be decapitated. This was done in the presence of several people, among others Jouvinski, a polish officer who was the guardian of the young Count Simon Labienski. When the verger lifted the corpse out of the coffin, the young Count saw how the dead man grinned. When his head was cut off, the blood looked as fresh as if the dead man had been alive. Some of the blood was collected on a white handkerchief and everyone in the house had to drink some of it to make sure that they would no longer be haunted."

The Date:

Sadly, no date is given. But we do know for certain that things must have taken place before the publication of Dom Calmet's book in 1751.

The Place:

The residence of the Labienski family. At least this gives us something we can use for further investigation.

Possible Follow-Up:

We have been given the name of young Labienski's guardian. We have also been given the name of the young Count himself. We also know that his father was the Staroste of Posnan. It should be possible to find out more about the Labienski family. It might lead us to the place where they have lived. And it may also help us to find a more exact date.

Reactions :

And then we received a message from Daniel J. Wood who sent us a copy of the manuscript of his forthcoming book on vampires. Apart from writing a most fascinating book, Mr. Wood (who appears to know everything there is to know about Polish vampires) has managed to find the real name of the Labienski family. And what is more, it seems as good as certain that he has also found the location of the Labienski family crypt. Now obviously, we are not going to publish this new information here. You will simply have to wait until Mr. Wood's book will come out.

Once again we find that not much information is necessary to start researching a case and discover new facts and further material.

© 2009 by Rob Brautigam - NL - Last changed 19 November 2009
"Statue of Dom Calmet" - very old postcard from my collection

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