Yes, vampires once posed an existential threat to the Habsburg empire.
The problem started in Serbia. In 1725, locals said a man from Kisiljevo named Petar Blagojević had risen from the dead and, over a span of eight days, murdered nine fellow villagers.
But he didn’t murder them in broad daylight.
After illnesses of less than 24 hours, the victims died claiming Petar had come to them in their sleep and suffocated them until they were near death.
The villagers persuaded their local priest and a magistrate, Imperial Provisor Frombald, to dig up Petar’s body. When they did, they noticed Petar didn’t look dead — his body had growing hair and nails, and rosy, supple skin.
“Not cool,” they said. So they staked his heart and burned his body.
Frombald’s report, still in the Viennese archives, contains one of the earliest uses of the word “vampyri” in an official context. ¹
Vampires Go Viral
In 1732, another vampire case in Medvedja, Serbia made headlines. Thirteen villagers had died in late 1731, and the…
