Vampires of the Balkans

All the information provided in this tread is from a book "Vampirite vo makedonskite veruvanja i predanija",in translation the vampires in the Macedonian believes and legends.The book is ethnological study published in 1988,in only 1000 copies by the institute for folklore "Marko Cepenkov",the authors are eminent ethnologists who collected the folk tales in villages mostly in south-western Macedonia(where i live).I can provide a link to the book,it is free for download,but it is in Macedonian.

Contrary to the western portrayal of the vampire in the popular fiction,the original folk tales of the Balkans paint a different,darker picture of what the vampire is.Another word that is used in Macedonia for vampire is grobnik,grob meaning grave,so the rough translation is man from the grave.Believe in vampires in Macedonia and Serbia is recorded in texts as early as the eleventh century.According to the tales and legends anybody can become a vampire,willingly or unwillingly.They can have physical body,and still be invisible.When one becomes vampire he/she is a blob,mass of blood enveloped in skin.The most certain way to kill a vampire is to pierce it with a sharp object.If this is done right the vampire will simply spill out.According to the stories what remains of the vampire is very little blood and some kind of tissue,and needs to be burned.Dogs and wolves often kill and eat vampires according to the legends.When vampires live long enough they begin growing bones inside their body,and after sometime can return to normal life in a place where nobody knows them.They do all the things that humans do,have a job,family.but they still feed on blood and only rare trained persons can recognize them(later about that).They also drink blood of livestock,and often work as butchers,so they can feed undisturbed.Here in my country,mostly in the rural regions it is a tradition when a person dies to be kept at his home one night and looked after by his family,so no animal or object crosses above his body,if that happens the deceased will become a vampire.Although rarely anyone except the older people is aware of the origin of that practice.One of the most interesting things in this book is that one old man when asked about what he knows said that he believes that there are no more vampires because of vaccines,when his father was young there were vampires,but not now.The vampire killer or vampirdzija was called when a village had vampire problem.He would put certain plant under his tong and could than see who the vampire was,the knowledge of this plant was passed from generation to generation and it wasn't for the faint of heart,because unprepared person could die of fear or go mad at the sight of the vampire.This folk tales are orally passed through the generations,and told from grandparents to grandchildren.My grandmother lived in a rural village,with no phone or power till her thirties,she had told me similar stories.For people like her it is not some unreal fairytale but a part of every day life people lived there,you would be surprised how many people here know about this things.
So that is in short about the characteristics of a vampire from the epicenter,from where the legend spread.There is lot more to be said i hope this tread picks up,and sorry if it is little incoherent I rarely post and of course English is not my mother language.Personally i stand in the middle,i don't really believe in the existence of vampires but I keep an open mind.

This is really interesting, thank you. I enjoy learning about local stories regarding what people generally think of as folklore. There is a grain of truth somewhere in them, or a matter of changing one's perception and how we define truth and reality. Stories that are passed from one generation to the next are what tie us all together.

[edit on 8/15/2010 by Tadarida]

reply to post by adnachiel21


Very interesting info. I enjoy hearing about local legends/folklore. Thank you for posting this.

It's funny how much Hollywood has thrashed the vampire legends. Once upon a time vampires were considered vermin to be exterminated. Now a days we get that emo BS. I have seen references in books about animals walking over a grave will cause the deceased to return as a vampire. One old myth said that planting a rosebush over the grave would keep it in the grave. My favorite was leaving rice on your doorstep, the vampire would have to stop and count each grain! adnachiel21 thank you for giving us this little glance at one of the old myths.

You have to ask yourself if there is little bit of truth in that,roses have thorns so the vampire will pierce itself,i came to the conclusion and this is only my personal believe that somehow to become a vampire,and continue existing as one,the skin of the being should be absolutely undamaged,so thats way vampires are rare,other thing is the mentioned ossification of the vampire so it can completely integrate in the human society,and according to the folk tales that happens after years,and years of being a vampire,which makes them even rarer.

reply to post by adnachiel21


That's really interesting. Thanks for posting it.

It's cool to see the folklore straight from the source/area. I won't look at my neighborhood butcher any differently, but there is a lot of stuff you posted I was unaware of.

reply to post by adnachiel21


I have always been fascinated by how similar the various myths are. Lots of common threads in the old tales. Similar experiences perhaps?

One of the most interesting things in this book is that one old man when asked about what he knows said that he believes that there are no more vampires because of vaccines,when his father was young there were vampires,but not now.

That statement stood out to me. Very interesting food for thought.

reply to post by hangedman13


Yes,of the vast information offered in this book it stood out for me to.Also the plant that the vampire killer puts under his tong intrigues me a lot.Is it some hallucinogenic plant???In the common language there is one plant called vampir it's Latin name is Oenothera biennis,the other is vampirska treva or vampire grass and the Latin name is dipsacus sylvestris,from what i skimmed on wikipedia one is cure for Lyme disease,and the other releaves pms symptoms and helps heal wounds.By the way here is the link to the book in case anyone is doubting my source for all this. www.mling.ru...

Interesting. I would like to know more about that plant.

Since we are on the subject of vampires has anyone seen this site? www.sanguinarius.org...

Very interesting. Though I think its more along the lines of an excuse to why teenagers and young adults are lonley and socially awkward at times.

It seems very plausible. At one time in the US, as many as 20% of graves were found to have claw marks on the inside of the coffins. Probably a combination of burying people that weren't completely dead, or had certain ailments that ran them so far down. It was also common to drain blood from the sick people to help them heal. Shallow graves in areas with hard ground or high water tables, could have accounted for people digging themselves back out of the graves!

Imagine digging yourself out of a grave? You might go mad from the experience, and even if you were physically healthy again, you may be crazy enough that our own friends and family would kill you and bury you again! If you found yourself in that situation, maybe you would wander into another town where nobody knew you and start a new life.

Maybe there is some evidence of escaping from a grave that can be seen under a blacklight or with just the right condition?

Personally I believe all of these old myths are based in fact, even if they are just misunderstandings.

We "sit up with the dead" here in the South as well. Ray Stevens explains it pretty well!!

reply to post by adnachiel21


Hello neighbour

I'm from Greece and recently i created a thread about Vampires in Greece.

I'm interested in the folk tales about the different type of creatures of the night and i strongly believe that there is more truth in them,than people would like to accept.

The vampire killer or vampirdzija was called when a village had vampire problem.He would put certain plant under his tong and could than see who the vampire was,the knowledge of this plant was passed from generation to generation

I read in a book called "haunted Balkans" ,that a child born of a vampire and a human has the ability to recognise vampires,they call these people Vampirovich or Vampirche(i hope i spelled it correct), and they are the ones that usually become vampire killers or used by the hunters to track the vampires.
There weren't many information on the book about them.Do you happen to know more about the offsprings of the vampires?I would appreciate if you could give me more information.

reply to post by getreadyalready

At one time in the US, as many as 20% of graves were found to have claw marks on the inside of the coffins.

This used to happen a lot in Greece,if i'm not mistaken until the early 60s.I have heard stories of people found in different positions,scratches in the coffins and in one case that the family had put a bottle of raki(a local Cretan drink) in the coffin,the "dead" man had drunk it.

Because the cases were too many,a law was created that the body must remain in the morgue for at least 48 hours after the time of death,to make sure that he won't come back to life.

Part of the rising dead legend must originate from cases like those.

Imagine digging yourself out of a grave?

Imagine waking up and realise that you are in a coffin.The thought alone scares me.A person that lives an experience like this will definetely go crazy.Even if managed to escape i don't believe would ever be able to live a normal life.