The Source:
F.S. Knipscheer:
"Bijgeloof uit alle Tijden"
Hollandia Drukkerij, Baarn, Netherlands, no date.
The Case:
In Volume IV, on p.43, of Knipscheer's book about Superstition, we can
find the following bit:
"Dat dit bijgeloof nog niet uit de wereld is verdwenen leert een bericht uit
het "Dagblad van Bukarest" van 17 Mei 1905 :
- In de gemeente Prejam in het
district Vilcea hebben onbekende daders het lijk van een voor korten tijd
gestorven dertienjarigen knaap opgegraven en het lichaam in een aangrenzend
bosch verbrand. De halfverbrande beenderen en enige flarden van het lijkgewaad
werden later door gerechtsdienaars gevonden, waardoor de daad ontdekt werd. Men
meent dat deze daad is verricht door bloedverwanten van den overleden knaap,
om den vampier te beletten dat hij de oorzaak zou zijn van den dood van andere
leden van het gezin, die spoedig na zijne begrafenis door eene zware ziekte
bezocht waren - ".
Knipscheer informs us that he is quoting from a daily newspaper from Bucharest
dated 17 May 1905. For your convenience, and in view of the sad fact that there
still seem to be one or two people in this world who pretend not to understand
my native language, I will translate his story:
"In the community of Prejam, in the district of Vilcea, unknown perpetrators have
disinterred the corpse of a thirteen year old boy that has recently died,
and have cremated the body in an adjoining forest. Later, the half burnt bones and
some pieces of the shroud were found by the police so the deed was discovered.
It is thought that it has been the work of relatives of the deceased boy,
to prevent the vampire of causing the dead of other members of the family,
who had become seriously ill soon after his burial."
The Date:
For what it is worth, we have been given the date of the newspaper article: 17 May 1905.
The Place:
Prejam is said to be in the Vilcea district. So spending a couple of hours examining Romanian maps would seem to be a pretty good start for this investigation.
Personal Comments:
This certainly does sound like an authentical case. It is said to have happened about a century ago, which makes it a fairly recent case. I have given you the Dutch source because that is where I first found the story. It is not impossible that you will find it mentioned elsewhere. Summers ? Wright ? Perhaps. Possibly not. Even if I knew, I don't think I would tell you. I want you to do your own research. Having said that, I do remember that I have seen a very short mention about this case in one of Jean Paul Bourre's books. And I can tell you this much: if it is in one of Jean Paul's books, then it is likely to be in other books as well.
Possible Follow-Up:
Why don't you start by trying to find the original newspaper item. It is a pity that
Knipscheer has translated the name of the newspaper into Dutch.
"Dagblad van Bukarest" means something like "Bucharest Daily (Newspaper)".
So we would have to find a newspaper from Bucharest, from that period,
with a name like that. In Romanian, "Daily" would be something like "Ziarul".
But who says that the newspaper was published in the Romanian language ?
It does seem to be a bit of a challenge. A good start would be to find out
which newspapers were published in Bucharest in 1905.
We can also try a different approach. It seems rather unlikely that Knipscheer
has actually read the original newspaper item. So - way back in 1905 - it has
probably been reprinted in non-Romanian newspapers as well. If we can find a reprint
like that, we may also find further details and - hopefully - a more exact reference
to the original source.
The police are mentioned. So it seems more than likely that there may have been
official reports about the case. Do they still exist ? Can we find them ?
I am not going to tell you. For you, there is only one way of finding it out:
go out yourself and find them !
© 2007 by Rob Brautigam - NL - Last changed 03 October 2007
