A new historical study is shedding light on the terrifying and gruesome reality behind our enduring fascination with vampires, revealing a global belief in 'the unquiet dead' that long predates Bram Stoker's Dracula.
The Birth of a Modern Myth
The word 'vampire' first entered the English language in the early 18th century, sparked by sensational reports of a revenant panic in Serbia. One infamous case from 1725 involved a peasant named Peter Blagojević, who was said to have risen from his grave, demanded his shoes from his wife, and then murdered nine neighbours. When authorities exhumed his body, they allegedly found his mouth filled with fresh blood, leading villagers to stake and burn the corpse. By 1745, a pamphlet titled The Travels of Three English Gentlemen formally described these 'Vampyres' as corpses animated by evil spirits that sucked the blood of the living.
A Global Phenomenon of 'Dangerous Corpses'
In his book Killing the Dead, historian and archaeologist John Blair argues that the belief in restless, persecuting spirits is neither modern nor exclusively European. He presents a compelling survey showing such fears have existed across many cultures and eras. Where written records are absent, Blair turns to archaeology, citing burials where bodies were decapitated, nailed down, or otherwise restrained. For instance, in 16th-century Poland, a woman was buried with a sickle across her throat and a padlock on her big toe—clear attempts to prevent her from rising.
Blair categorises these entities not as separate monsters but as variations on the ancient theme of 'dangerous corpses'. They appear as 'shroud-chewers', 'lip-smackers', 'suckers', 'bloaters', and 'night-stranglers'. A peculiarly domestic example comes from 15th-century Brittany, where a dead baker was said to rise at night to help his family knead dough, but also threw stones at other villagers.
Epidemics of Fear and Corpse-Killing as Therapy
These beliefs often lay dormant for centuries before erupting into full-blown 'epidemics'. Blair contends that such panics arise when endemic superstitions are fuelled by specific social 'stresses and anxieties'. In early medieval England, vampire scares coincided with waves of the Black Death. Later, in Saxony, the Lutheran Reformation's abolition of purgatory created a spiritual vacuum, leaving families desperate for 'new answers' about the fate of the dead.
The largest documented 'corpse-killing panic' occurred in 18th-century Moravia, involving hundreds of bodies. Blair links this to a 'sense of unfinished business' following decades of witch trials. Interestingly, he posits that the ritualistic act of killing a corpse a second time could be 'therapeutic' for communities, providing closure despite the initial distress.
This practice is not confined to history. As recently as 2019, a Serbian priest was suspended for participating in the exhumation and staking of a woman believed to be a vampire, showing these fears persist in rural parts of Greece and the Baltics.
While Bram Stoker's Dracula is dismissed by Blair as 'very unlike the dangerous corpses in which people have actually believed' and even 'misleading', the author credits the Irish novelist with coining the perfect term: 'undead'. The book concludes that our modern vampire is a sanitised version of a far more ancient and visceral global terror.
