Strigoi vampire of Romanian mythology. Earliest documented vampires
Strigoi in Romanian mythology are troubled spirits that are said to have risen from the grave.[1] They are attributed with the abilities to transform into an animal, become invisible, and to gain vitality from the blood of their victims. Bram Stoker's Dracula has become the modern interpretation of the Strigoi
through their historic links with vampirism.
One of the earliest mentions of a historical strigoi was
Jure Grando Alilović (1579–1656) from the region of Istria. The villager is
believed to have been the first real person described as a vampire because he
was referred to as a strigoi, štrigon or štrigun in contemporary local
records.[7] Grando is supposed to have terrorized his former village sixteen
years after his death. Eventually he was decapitated by the local priest and
villagers. The Carniolan scientist Johann Weikhard von Valvasor wrote about
Jure Grando Alilović's life and afterlife in his extensive work The Glory of
the Duchy of Carniola when he visited Kringa during his travels.[8][9] This was
the first written document on vampires.
Grando was also mentioned in writings by Erasmus Francisci
and Johann Joseph von Goerres (La mystique divine, naturelle, et diabolique,
Paris 1855), whose story was much more elaborate, full of fantastic details to
make the story more interesting and sensational. In modern times, Croatian
writer Boris Perić has researched the legend and written a book (The Vampire)
on the story.[9]
The strigoi can be a living man, born under certain conditions:
Be the seventh child of the same sex in a family
Lead a life of sin
Die without being married
Die by execution for perjury
Die by suicide
Die from a witch's curse
The strigoi are said to be bald on top of the head, does not
eat garlic and onions, avoids incense, and towards the feast of Saint Andrew he
sleeps outside. Its spine is elongated in the form of a tail, covered with
hair.
If there is a drought in a village, it means that there is a
strigoi that prevents the rains. If it rains with stones (hail), God punishes
the strigoi who does not let "clean rain fall", and if it rains with
sun, it is believed that one of the strigoi has been killed.
The strigoi take the milk from the cows, take the manna of
the wheat, the strength of the people, stop the rains, bring hail and bring
death among men and cattle. On Saint George's day (April 23), the boys water
the girls so that they don't suffer from strigoi, but also so that they don't
turn into these creatures.
To kill them, the grave of the supposed strigoi is searched
and the order is read to him by the priests and an oak, yew or ash branch is
struck in his heart, it is pierced with a nail or a knife, to remain bound of
the coffin and not being able to go out to do mischief.
