The REAL History of Vampires || Ghosteas || Paranormal Podcast

Hi Ghosties, I'm Macy, and I'm Natalie, and the belief in vampires has been around for centuries, long before we had the term even. The fear of the dead rising up from their graves and wreaking havoc on our communities has been something that societies put quite a bit of thought into, probably since the beginning of humankind. We have evidence dating back thousands of years that the undead terrorized our population in one way or another. Though the term has changed, as have the descriptions and ways of dealing with them, vampires still exist today. They're in our literature and film. They're a part of most cultures and some even believe that the supernatural beings still walk among us. So today I wanted to take some time and discuss what the vampire is, what it means and has meant to the people around the world for thousands of years, and tell some of the most famous stories of real life vampires. Oh, I'm, I'm set. I'm set for this one because you know, I'm typically more, I get more excited for a really scary episode or like a like a woo woo like spiritual episode like that type of thing. I'm really excited for this one because this is vampires and dragons. I'm kind of sold. I don't know. I know because of the amount of like different stories and from different places and just it has to have the truth, right? Like, you know what I mean? I will tell you up front. First of all, thank you Patreon because our Patreon to pick this. And second, I went in with my own thoughts and ideas and you can tell my thoughts and ideas throughout. I'll just say that. So I, okay. So we had a story-- You're a non-believer. Shun the non-believer. Yes. We had a story on one of our Patreon, like Appalachian Roads on Patreon, I think, and there was a story of a vampire, like a legend of the vampire. And that was cool. But I didn't-- I didn't go into this really with legends of vampires. It's more history of vampires. Okay. So I will say that. It's not like a lot of-- and he's still out there today kind of things. Yeah. Okay. But I want to know the origins. I do. And I want to know what makes people think that it's real. Yeah. What makes me think that it's real. This is-- I'm excited. History of vampires. History of vampires. Okay. Our tea today is a Hawaii-grown, wild hibiscus tea. I want to say, it's a Hobbes tea company. Did this come from Hawaii? Did this come from Kai, maybe? I believe so. Shout out Kai. I believe so. Kai of the-- Kai comes from my shopped. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm excited to try the tea. I'm excited to hear the story. So let's go. Okay. So it had a smell that I was like, I don't think I'm going to like it. And then I tasted it and the taste was actually good. And it like shocked my brain. It's good. Did you like it? No, I liked it a lot. Yeah, it was really good. I didn't get the smell. My nose is still a little bit messed up. So I didn't get the smell. But it tasted fabulous. Yeah, actually. I actually really like it. I'm shocked. I'm trying to be more open and it's working in my favor. Good. Really happy. I think that's how everyone should be. Probably. So we've talked briefly about vampires a few times. The stories of vampires in New Orleans were super interesting. And we've even covered, like I said, an Appalachian vampire legend on Patreon a couple months ago. Truthfully, I've never been a fan of the vampire legend. I've read Dracula and the Twilight books. But the idea never appealed to me, I guess. But that's more the reason to dive headfirst into the legend, like we just said. It's origins and the interest humans have had in them for centuries at this point. There are a variety of different vampire like legends all over the world. It's another one of those stories that's been told over and over across time and cultures unconnected, which does, like we've said before, kind of give credence to the idea that maybe there's something to it. Yes. Creatures like the Mananangal in the Philippines, the Sukuyant in the Caribbean, and the Chiang Chi in China. And I'm serious when I say countless others, there are so many. And they're not all the same. Like the three I just listed vastly different, vastly different beings. But they all kind of have that same premise. They're like this almost undead human eating thing, you know, creature being half part human thing. Yeah. It's creepy. We don't have definitive answers when it comes to the first iteration of the vampire. They haven't always gone by this name and they haven't always resembled the vampire. We think when we hear the word today, there's not always this sparkly skinned jump on spider monkey of the sparkly skin. I thought you were about to like describe like the the widows peak, the black hair, and you go straight for Edward. I'm just going to kill her. I was going to say it. Oh God. Okay. That came with years of stories told novels written, but one element has remained. People have always been afraid of the undead. The fear that those we believe to have died will rise from the grave, killing, destroying, and spreading disease has been something that even the earliest societies seem to have had. It also often has been coupled with the idea of evil demons or witchcraft of some kind, which that really came about with the spread of Christianity, though, but it's been a long time. I was always kind of curious about where the idea that when we bury someone after they've died, like they could come back. Why did that start? I'll kind of touch a little tiny bit on it, but I mean, I don't know for sure. I don't know for sure. I would never think, oh, my loved one has passed. Let's put their body in a casket. It goes in the ground. What if they come back? You know what? That would never just pop into my mind. Yeah. Let's have this conversation, and it will be repeated later because I read a script that I write anyway. I think there are several reasons. One, grief, dreams, visitations spiritually, even, can be confusing in times like that. Yeah. So if you're having dreams that they're coming back to you, then maybe you're like, maybe they truly are coming back to you. Okay. To me. Two, great robbers. Enough said. Three, we will get into it today, but there are things that have happened and occurred that lead people to believe that. Okay. Or at least some of these people that we will talk about. Okay. That makes sense. The grave robber thing. That's sad, but okay. That all makes a little bit more sense because I'm always like, why would you think they would come like what? Yeah. We will get into it a little bit. Obviously, no definitive answers. I can't get into minds of people. Yeah. We weren't there. No. We weren't there. Some of the earliest known legends of vampiric beings come from ancient Mesopotamia, so like all the way back to the beginning, with stories of female demons like Lillitou and Lamash too, who were believed to prey on children and pregnant women, drinking their life force, the blood of their innocent victims. Then by the seventh century BC, during the Neo Assyrian period, there are writings on what to do if corpses start walking around. So it's been a thing for quite some time. It's thought that a lot of talk of remnants in early pagan traditions are precursors to the modern vampire lore. Ancient Greeks have the impusay, who would disguise themselves as beautiful young women that led young men away so that they could devour their blood and flesh. There are Hellenistic texts that contain spells to ward off the returning of the dead. Early Christian theologians warned that improper burials could lead to disturbances in the grave. And it was with the spread of Christianity, like I said, that the legend began to take on a more demonic role. There were always demons, there were always negative spirits, negative entities. But the spread of Christianity around the world really coupled some of these unpleasant beings with the demonic. Really though, a lot of our understanding as to what a Western vampire is today, because like I said, there's vastly different interpretations around the world. We know Western vampires because they are from the West. Yes, but it seems to come from early Eastern European legend, like the Strigoy of Romania, but it all began to take shape around the Middle Ages. The early vampire was more like a bloated corpse rising from the grave to destroy their once beloved communities, or not so beloved. The earliest reference of vampires comes from an old Russian text written in 1047 CE with the word "upir". So that's kind of like the start of the turn into vampire. Though it was still not given the title of vampire, it seems that the monsters were out and about through Europe around this time too. As an account written by the Chronicle Err William of Newberg made it into Historia, Re-Rum, and Gelacarum, writing a series of histories of England from 1066 to 1198, a story about a man who lived, died, and rose again near Onwik Castle made it to the final cut. So you can go read it in this account. This account predates some of the stories I'll tell you by hundreds of years and is eerily similar to what would go on to be described as a vampire. In the year 1196 William of Newberg wrote of this creature, and it wasn't the only one rising from his grave when he should have been resting peacefully. It was translated from the original Latin, and he starts this chapter as follows. "It would not be easy to believe that the corpses of the dead should sally. I know not by what agency, from their graves, and should wander about to the terror or destruction of the living, and again return to the tomb, which of its own accord spontaneously open to receive them. Did not frequent examples occurring in our own times suffice to establish this fact to the truth of which there is abundant testimony. He ends the chapter, so he goes on, he tells a story about a undead priest I think coming back to torture, or something, you can go read it yourself, it was interesting. But he ends the chapter with this story, and all its strange and spooky detail. Another event, also not unlike this, but more pernicious in its effects happened at the castle, which is called anontis, as I have heard from an aged monk who lived in honor and authority in those parts, and who related this event as having occurred in his own presence. A certain man of evil conduct flying through fear of his enemies or the law, out of the province of York, to the lord of the before named castle, took up his abode there, and having cast upon a service befitting his humor, labored hard to increase rather than correct his own evil propensities. He married a wife to his own ruin, indeed, as it afterwards appeared, for hearing certain rumors respecting her, he was vexed with the spirit of jealousy. Anxious to ascertain the truth of these reports, he pretended to be going on a journey from which he would not return for some days, but coming back in the evening, he was privily introduced into his bedroom by a maid servant who was in the secret, and lay hidden on a beam over hanging his wife's chamber, that he might prove with his own eyes if anything were done to dishonor of his marriage bed. Thereupon beholding his wife in the act of fornication with the young man of the neighborhood, and in his indignation, forgetful of his purpose, he fell, and was dashed heavily to the ground near where they were lying. The adulterer himself leaped up and escaped, but the wife cunningly dissembling the fact busyed herself, and gently raising her fallen husband from the earth. As soon as he had partially recovered, he abraided her with her adultery and threatened punishment, but she answering, "Explain yourself, my lord," she said, "You are speaking unbecomingly, which must be imputed not to you, but to the sickness with which you are troubled." Just gaslighting. Oh my god, okay. She gasped. She's like, "I don't know what you're talking about. You mean? None of that happened." Whoa. Being much shaken by the fall and his whole body stupified, he was attacked with a disease. And so much the man whom I have mentioned, as having related these facts to me visiting him in the pies discharge of his duties, admonished him to make confession of his sins and receive the Christian Eucharist in proper form. But as he was occupied in thinking about what had happened to him and what his wife had said, put off the wholesome advice until the morrow, that morrow which in this world he was fated never to behold. For the next night, destitute of Christian grace and a prey to his well-earned misfortunes, he shared the deep slumber of death. A Christian burial indeed, he received, though unworthy of it. But it did not much benefit him, for issuing by the handiwork of Satan from his grave at nighttime, and pursued by a pack of dogs with horrible markings, he wandered through the courts and around the house, while all men made fast their doors, and did not dare to go abroad, or on any errand, whatever, from the beginning of the night until the sunrise, for fear of meeting and being beaten black and blue by this vagrant monster. But those precautions were of no avail, or the atmosphere poisoned by the vagaries of this falcarchist, filled every house with disease and death by its pestiferous breath. Already did the town, which but a short time ago was populists, appear almost deserted, while those of its inhabitants had who had escaped the destruction migrated to other parts of the country, lest they too should die. So he's just around. Caused in trouble. My gosh. Even from whose mouth I heard these things sorrowing over this desolation of his parish, applied himself to summon a meeting of wise and religious men on that sacred day, which is called Palm Sunday, in order that they might impart healthful counsel and so great a dilemma, and refresh the spirits of the miserable, remnant of the people with consolation, however imperfect. Having delivered a discourse to the inhabitants after the solemn ceremonies of the holy day had been properly performed, he invited his clerical guests together with the other persons of honor who were present to his table. While they were thus bankwitting, two young men, brothers, who had lost their father by this plague, mutually encouraging one another, said, quote, "This monster has already destroyed our father and will speedily destroy us also, unless we take steps to prevent it. Let us therefore do some bold action, which will at once ensure our own safety and revenge our father's death. There is no one to hinder us, for in the priest's house a feast is in progress, and the whole town is as silent as if deserted. Let us dig up this baneful pest and burn it with fire." "Oh my God!" They were upon snatching up a spade of butt in different sharpness of edge, and hastening to the cemetery, they began to dig, and whilst they were thinking that they would have to dig to a greater depth, they suddenly, before much of the earth had been removed, laid bare the corpse, swall into an enormous, corpulence, with its countenance beyond measure, turgid, and suffused with blood, while the napkin in which it had been wrapped appeared nearly torn to pieces. The young man, however, spurred on by wrath, feared not, and inflicted a wound upon the senseless carcass out of which, incontentantly, flowed such a stream of blood that it might have been taken for a leech filled with the blood of many persons. "Oh my god, ew, the visual!" "I'm sorry, I probably should have gave it warning." Then dragging it beyond the village, they speedily constructed a funeral pile, and upon one of them saying that the pestilential body would not burn unless its heart were torn out, the other laid open its side by repeated blows of the blunted spade, and thrusting in his hand, dragged out the accursed heart. This being torn piecemeal, and the body now consigned to the flames, it was announced to the guests what was going on. Who, running through there, enabled themselves to testify henceforth to the circumstances? When that infernal hellhound had thus been destroyed, the pestilence, which was rife among the people ceased, as if the air, which had been corrupted by the contagious motions of the dreadful corpse, were already purified by the fire which had consumed it. These facts, having been thus expounded, let us return to the regular threat of history. So first of all, I really enjoyed, I love a good legend rumour thrown in, some guy told me this, that was interesting. Second, roast though, very gross. A lot of this is going to be gross, honestly, but I just found the whole account interesting. What did you think? I know what's going to happen, but what did you think of the whole ordeal? I mean, minus the, he was so enraged, he fell from the beam, and died, but that was insane. That was a lot. But his rising from the grave, walking around, this is like early form vampire. This isn't like handsome immortal seduces young lady. This is like undead zombie, traips his through town and leaves plague in its wake. I don't know, I thought it was weird that they were like, "Oh, this thing that's been plaguing us after he was burned, like we're all cured instantly, yeah, I don't know, that's a little, like y'all believe that? I don't know, that was weird." Okay, like give me your thought, I really don't know what I think. I'm just kind of like taking it all in. Well, this wouldn't be the first or the last, something like this happening. And they did believe that, or at least some people did believe, that the death of somebody who died via murder, being in bad circumstances, like enraged like he was, someone who was a criminal in life, particularly someone who wasn't saved, baptized, didn't confess their sins in the end, didn't take the Holy Eucharist, I guess, but they were trying to get dead. Some people would say that could end up turning somebody into a vampire after death. And they did believe, or some of them to anyway, that you to get rid of the vampire, there are many things that you could do to get rid of the vampire, but it almost always involve digging up their body. This sounds like a mass hysteria and psychosis. Okay, well, it's like for centuries, yeah. By different groups of people over time, and I always thought in life, like, "Ah, there's no way, like people would, nobody would believe that crazy thing, but we're in these times now." Where I'm like, "Oh, people will believe that crazy thing, yeah." There are big groups of people that will believe crazy stuff, so it's like, and maybe yeah, I did it in a time before science, as we know it today too, like we, like they didn't know what we know today about. And so believing that kind of stuff now is even crazier, but I digress. Yeah, it's, I could see it, I could see it happening, you know. So sad. What did you think about him? They went to, like, dig up his body, but he was like really close to the surface, and like, his shroud torn and brave robbers. You think so? Maybe. Okay. Do you think he was up walking around? No. Okay. I don't believe in vampires. Okay, okay, okay. Sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. It's like one of the few things that I just don't. I can't believe in everything else except for vampires and bigfoot. Hey, I'm on two big ones. I'm on the fence about bigfoot, and if you didn't believe in aliens, that's like the big three. I don't believe in the big three. You believe in aliens. And I'm on the fence about bigfoot. Okay. Hmm. I feel like this is going to make me sad. I know when you were at the beginning, like, ooh, I'm ready. I was like, I could have gone in a different way. I could have gone in a different way. I could have gone just wholly legend, but I chose history. Okay. And maybe that's my, because of my own bias. Okay. Well, I'm, I'm listening. in. In 1645, we got the first methodological description of the Balkan belief in vampires by Vatican Liberian Leo Allatius. By the late 16 and early 1700s, tales of vampire encounters were spreading more rapidly from village to village and led to a vampire panic in southeastern Europe. One of the earliest recorded tales is of a man named Yuri Grande, who passed in 1672 in modern-day Croatia. He was believed that after his burial, his neighbors began to see him wandering the streets of their village. He would knock on the doors of people he once knew, and after receiving your visit from the man, those neighbors would end up dead. Bearing for their own lives, a group of villagers gathered at Yuri's grave, exhuming his body to drive a stake through his heart and cut off his head so that he could no longer rise up. It's rumored that as they did a scream reing out through the cemetery, and afterwards, the vampire was never seen again. Ooh! So, a classic vampire-y thing though, yeah, with the stake through the heart, yeah. There are a lot of stories like that where, and it could be, just people are starting to get sick. It could be that it was an epidemic of some kind, and people didn't understand germs and had the spread of disease, yeah. And so they, after the fact, were like, "Oh no, I saw Yuri, he came to my house, and then that's when I got sick." Or it could be the spirit of Yuri, I don't know. For those all around the world, hysteria brought on by the fear of the supernatural was ramping up. It was in the 1700s that vampires were making their way through all of Europe, and in 1725, we get our first written record of the actual term vampire and the Habsburg Empire. The military was actually sent out to investigate claims of vampires in the Borderlands. They had recently annexed from the Ottoman Empire. So, with these next couple of cases and several others, there is written record of vampire investigation. This is actual facts. They were really happy. They were really looking into it. That's cool. In 1725, a Serbian man named Pitar, Goyevich, so sorry, was buried in his home village of Kisalova, but just like with Yuri, following his death, more people began to die from mysterious illnesses. Nine people in the following eight days died after they claimed to have had visions of Pitar strangling them in the night. There was another version of the story that claimed that Pitar actually returned to his home where his widow and son lived, asking his wife for shoes. It said that she fled, moving away to another village, but when he came back to visit his son and asked for food, the son denied him, and this story says that he was then murdered by his father. Oh my gosh. It was at this point that the villagers decided to exhume the body and search for the telltale signs of vampirism. There were many ways throughout history and societies that society's claimed people could be a vampire, like I said, I listed a few of these already, but I'll go ahead if the person died of violent death from a natural disaster, particularly if they were the first to die in a natural disaster, the first to die of an epidemic or during a significant time in their lives, so like wedding day, during childbirth, things like that, if they were a foreigner or a criminal or had mental illness, a lot of times people would say, oh, well, they were weird. So they had to have been a vampire, you know, if they looked weird, if they just anything about them was strange, if people had bad dreams about them after their death, or if people became ill following, then they could be suspected of becoming a vampire and would be in there that would give them grounds to dig their body back up. There were also many signs that could point to affirming those claims once the body was back above ground. If there was any blood leaking from any of their orifices, if their belly was bloated or their body in a state of pliability, or sometimes even non-pliability, if the hair teeth or nails looked as though they had grown, if the body looked like it had moved, or if it seemed just a little too fresh, then they would be considered a vampire. Like if you buried the body two weeks ago, it's like, he looks like he was buried yesterday. They'd be like, yeah, because he's a vampire. Wow. I love science and I love that we have science now. I know. But they didn't understand the decomposition process fully, especially in smaller villages like this, because this was a very small place. That makes sense and I get it, but that's just like, my god. But at the time, if you don't know, and something's looking a little weird, I could see how you could be your first reaction is fear. See, I understand that I understand being a mom or a dad or whatever in a village and you see all of these people start dying around you and you have no clue how this could happen. You don't know about germs. You don't know about the spread of illness. You don't know how to keep yourself and your family protected from it. There are no masks. There is no soap to wash your hands or like there's no hand washing protocols. I understand you're like, okay, well, it has to be something spiritual. If that's all you know, that would make sense to me in that time. Yeah. This is what they were looking for when they exhumed Petar's run mains, Peter Petar, Petar. Sure. PETAR. So, along with his fellow villagers, a local priest and an imperial administrator, his last name is from Bald. I'm not even going to try to say his first name. We're present for the exclamation. They were so worried that the deaths would continue through their village that they were against from Bald's recommendation that approvals should be given prior by authorities. So he was kind of like, guys, it's probably not vampirism, but let's just get like, you know, let's talk to my boss and see what they have to say first. And the villagers were like, no, if we wait, we could all be dead. They were very scared. By the time they dug up Petar's body, they were all shocked to find that he was indeed a vampire, so they believed. His body is said to have looked like it hadn't decomposed at all. His hair and beard were longer. The skin and nails were described as, quote, "new" and there was fresh blood in his mouth. So not like coagulated blood, it was like, fresh. This was the proof they were looking for. The villagers were outraged and distressed by this and drove a stake through the heart of their former neighbor, quote, "completely fresh blood seemed to flow from his mouth and ears afterwards, and this was further proof that they had finally killed their tormentor. They took his body and burned it to ash, and after this, all of the killings stopped. From bold, wrote up an official report of all that he had witnessed while on assignment in the village, and this document became one of the first to officially document a case of vampirism in Eastern Europe and was even published in a V&E's newspaper. So it was kind of, it was talked about. This case along with several others, one I'll touch on next, were widely reported on throughout Europe and seems to have led to the vampire craze of the 18th century. So it was spread around, people all the way through Germany, France, England, all of the countries on the west were starting to get these news. But they, I mean, those countries also already kind of had their own history with things like this. But it became really big in places like Slavic countries like Serbia and Romania. The next one, Arnold Peioli was another suspect vampire after his death in 1726 and was officially reported on by the Austrian authorities and some military doctors. So several people, several higher-up authorities, officials saw and reported on the events that unfolded after his death. According to locals, Arnold was a hajjuk who had moved into their village years prior. It's claimed that he told stories of being plagued by a vampire in a place he lived prior, but he had apparently cured himself by eating the soil from the suspected vampire's grave. Oh, around the same time that Petar died, Arnold broke his neck, falling from a hay wagon, and passed away in a small village in Tristanik, Serbia. In about a month's time, four people reported being visited by Arnold and all of them died afterwards. Ten days later, the people of the village opened his grave to find Arnold's body looking as though he was just buried. His veins were said to have been full of, again, fresh blood. And quote, "That fresh blood had flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, that the shirt, the covering and the coffin were completely bloody, and that the old nails on his hands and feet, along with the skin, had fallen off, and that new ones had grown. His body was red, his hair, nails, and beard had all grown again." This was the proof that they needed, that Arnold was indeed the problem they had been dealing with, and just like with Petar, they drove a stake through his heart. He is said to have cried out and grown, after being stabbed, and his body bled just like with the others. They burned his body and proceeded to dig up all four of Arnold's supposed victims and did the same to theirs. But this wasn't the end for this particular village. Five years later, many more people died in just a few months, and two women who started the second round of killings were thought to be the culprits. All of their victims had fallen ill after the two had passed, some going to bed completely healthy before waking in the middle of the night in terrible fear, frying out that they had been visited by the dead. It's believed that one of the women had eaten the meat from one of the animals killed by the earlier vampire, Arnold, and the other woman had smeared the blood of a vampire on herself as protection before. "Oh!" So this is what villagers believe, like they heard the women say this, and they're like, "Oh, well, that's definitely how they became a vampire." Doctors were sent by the Austrian military to the area, and locals continued to dig up the bodies of suspected vampires. Doctors were sent there because dozens of people were dying. I think maybe I read in one document that by the end it was like 40 people in this small village. That's so sad. Many of those who died seem to have died from this mysterious illness, and it was found that they fit the criteria of this vampirism. All of them were, once again, not decomposed and swollen with blood in their mouths. So they thought that they were swollen because they'd been eating so much blood. Yeah. Well, some of the victims who had died more recently were much further along in the decomposition process. So they dug up a few bodies who had died maybe a month before and they looked new. And then they dug up ones that like died in the past week and they looked like they were had died. Oh, weird. According to official reports, more than a dozen of the bodies were, quote, "quite complete and undecayed." The surgeons performing the examinations concluded that the bodies were in, quote, "vampiric condition," unquote. The suspected vampires were given the vampire burial and several reports were written and signed off on by a number of Austrian officials. These two cases were far from the only ones in the area too. The hysteria spread far and wide. Reports of vampires causing a string of deaths were not uncommon and the stories were printed and retold further west after this. At least 16 treatises, um, discussed the theological and philosophical implications of the vampire epidemic that some believed were making claims that vampirism was very real. So many people began like sitting down contemplating vampirism and what it means for the society. Great. Okay. Because it was such a big part, it became such a big widespread part of many villages and societies. I do not know this. I'm actually really shocked right now. It's very weird, right? Yeah. Eventually the Empress Maria Teresa from the same Austria sent her personal physician to investigate the claims and put it into the craze, declaring that vampires did not exist and passing a law that prohibited the desecration of bodies and exhuming bodies after they've been buried. Okay, good. Which is probably for their own good, honestly. Because one, that's a lot. That's a lot. Yeah. Two, if there is a plague, if there is an epidemic of some kind, if there's an illness being spread, and they're digging up the body of the person who died first, and that body smearing still have the illness. It's just, you know, making it worse. So even if they didn't know that's what they were doing, it's good that they did that. Yeah. There are several more recent instances of suspected vampirism that I wanted to touch on. But before I do, I did want to mention that evidence of these vampire burials have been discovered over the years that indicate people were trying to make sure that they're dead state in their graves for much longer than we have written record, even if the word vampire isn't attached to it. So this was even before these instances that I've talked about already. Like a body found by German construction workers beneath a massive 110 pound stone that's believed to have been placed there about 4,200 years ago. So they placed the stone over his grave so that he couldn't get up stone. Yes. That's crazy. Or that's the implication. That's what we believe what they believe. There's also the vampire of Lugano that was discovered by an archeological dig team in 2018. They were conducting an excavation in the Aubrey region of Italy in a child cemetery dating back to the fifth century. It seemed that a massive malaria outbreak had struck in the village killing at least 50 children under the age of three. So like one of the oldest children was three years old. Very, very awful. But while digging, they came across a burial unlike all of the others. It was another child who had been buried in what seemed to be an improvised tomb made from roof tiles of a collapse villa. So this cemetery was built on top of an old Roman village that was like several hundred years older than this cemetery. They are thought to have been about 10 years old, but we don't know if it was a boy or a girl when they passed and lodged inside their mouth was a stone that had come from the same ruins of the roof tile placed there on purpose. The stone had been placed intentionally and believed that the people who buried these children may have thought that this child was the vampire or whatever version of vampire they had at that time that started the outbreak and was continuing to take their children to the grave with them. That's really horrible. Very, very sad. But interesting from an archeological point like an interesting find. Yes, but just horrible. Very upsetting to think about what the people of that village were going through at that time. Many graves across the world have bodies with stones or even coins in their mouths or on their throats, keeping them from biting more victims. There are also many suspected vampire burials with sickles placed over their throats, abdomens or legs that were thought to decapitate or cut the body in half as the vampire decided to rise up after they had been buried. Yeah, my thing is it's like if you were afraid of that, why not just respectfully and medically remove the head and then bury them? You know what I mean? Yes, but I'd rather the vampire move its head on its own. True, but I wouldn't want to cut up my loved one. Well, I guess if you're burying them on your own, that makes sense. Yeah, it's not like the they didn't. I don't think they're like in any room. Yeah, okay, yeah. Makes sense. There are instances of heads being buried face down so the vampires wouldn't know which way was up. So they would bury them face down or sometimes even remove their heads and put the head face down or like between their knees face down or something. So that when the vampire went to get up, they'd be like going down further into the earth instead. Another way to keep the vampire in the grave was to put a padlock on their limbs, shackle them together after death or even pin them to the ground with iron so that they wouldn't be able to escape and walk freely. I can't imagine having that fear like that intense of a fear like I love your brother, but let's let's keep you there. You know, wild. The vampire hysteria did make it across the ocean over to the Americas. And one of the most famous of these cases happened in 1892. So not the long ago. It in comparison to like 5th century. This is not how long ago. Yeah. In Exeter Rhode Island, the family of George Brown, his wife Mary Eliza and their children lived in the small town since the year 1800. But in December of 1883, Mary Eliza succumbed to an illness known at the time as consumption, but we know it as tuberculosis today. A few months later, their daughter Mary Olive became sick, complaining of fearful dreams and a crushing weight that drew the life out of her while she slept. She passed from the same illness at June. Years later their son Edwin began to develop symptoms of the same disease. He too had terrible dreams of suffocation and drowning. By the morning, he would be so tired from the lack of sleep that he felt as though the very blood from his body was being drained. Fearing for his son's life, George sent him off to Colorado for fresh air at a higher altitude. We've talked about that they had. What was the hotel in Estes Park that we talked about the Stanley Hotel? Was built at first as like a getaway for people to come get the fresh mountain air. It seemed to help a little bit as his disease didn't progress as quickly. But before he could return home, his younger sister, Mercy, Lena Brown had fallen very ill and passed quickly from consumption at only 19 years old. After returning from the mountains, Edwin's condition began to worsen. He was said to cry out in his fever stream state that "she was here. She wants me to come with her. She hunts me." Oh my gosh. And rumors began to spread about the small rural town that maybe Mercy, Lena, wasn't completely gone after all. The townspeople began to panic and fear for the health of their own families. Not wanting the vampire to attack themselves, they begged him pleaded with George to exume his child's body to stop her from attacking anyone else. After much pressure, George Brown finally consented and they removed Mercy from her grave. A March 19, 1892 Providence Journal article read, quote, "exhumed the bodies testing a horrible superstition in the town of Exeter. Bodies of dead relatives taken from their graves. They had all died of consumption and the belief was that the live flesh and blood would be found at a bed upon the bodies of the living." It was, um, documenting the events as they unfolded. And I read another little snippet of an article that was kind of like these, you know, at least country people don't know what they're doing. Kind of thing. So it wasn't like this was a widespread thing in America. Wow. What's going on over here, guys? It's kind of like, hey, these guys believe there might be a vampire and I don't know what's happening right now. Dang. Mary Eliza and Mary all of were first and it was found that they were decomposing as they should. Their bodies were devoid of blood. I mean, it would, it had been years by now. But when they got to mercy, Lena's grave, though she had been dead for a bit, they found her in a state they felt was not as it should be. She still had blood in her heart, so they removed it, along with the liver and burned it to ash, hoping that this would impede her from returning. As one more precaution and in an attempt to save Edwin's life, they fed him, the burned remains of his sister's organs. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Edwin died two months later. Though mercy is known as the Last Vampire, the deaths did not end here, actually, for the Brown family. Three more daughters of George and Mary Eliza died between the ages of 1825 and the years following. And the story remains, we had another example of vampire superstitions all across the world. That was horrible. Yes. No excuses. No excuses. But again, I understand if you, you don't have the knowledge, you don't know what's going on. No exactly what's going on. You're like, yeah, I mean, I know this disease is kind of getting everyone, but what if? What if? You know? Yeah. And if you have no other explanation, you don't have science, you don't have anything. It's just like, well, let's see, I guess, because I don't know. It's all awful. And I mean, people around this time did kind of know, but when your news didn't travel like he does now, and you said you're like, oh, and they it was like a very rural area, very rural. Yeah. And there are so many stories like this all across the world. But I do want to end it with just one more from the Americas again. Sarah Ellen Roberts was born in Burnley in 1872 in England. She married John Price Roberts in Black Burn in 1892 and the couple had two children by 1893. The couple were weavers. And when John's little brother Thomas returned to England from a job in Lima, Peru, the couple decided that they too would travel across the ocean for the same opportunity. So I think John left once and came back. And then the second time Sarah decided to go with him this time. It's believed that they left their children in England with Sarah's aunt and temporarily moved to South America for work in 1913. Sadly Sarah died on June 9th 1913 shortly after arriving to Peru for reasons unknown at only 42 years old. She was buried in Pisco with her headstone reading in memory of Sarah Ellen the beloved wife of Jay Roberts of Blackburn England born March 6th 1872 and died June 9th 1913 at rest. After her death John returned to England where he lived until his death in 1925. I don't think he was a weaver anymore. I think he opened a grocery store. He just kind of changed his life. But this is not where Sarah's story ends. For some reason after her death many rumors began to swirl around Sarah's grave. It was claimed that Sarah was sentenced to death in England after accusations of being a witch, vampire and murderer were levied against her. They say that she was chained up, nailed to the inside of a lead blind coffin and left there to die. And because of this she vowed to return to get her revenge one day. The legend continues on that she was not allowed a burial in all of England. Everywhere they went they were like no we're not allowing this evil vampire to be buried in our our soil. So John wandered the world looking for a place to bury his wife. It was then that John encountered a sailor who told him to take her to Peru as quote everyone knows Peru is the land of witches. She was finally laid to rest. Some say because the Peruvian people didn't know that she was actually this evil vampire. Another legend claims that she was actually the bride of Dracula and died six days after giving birth to another child in Peru. Some say that a pale faced foreigner walked the town at night following her death, feeding on the blood of children. She was known as the vampira de Inglaterra. 80 years after her death in June of 1993, locals feared that the bride of Dracula was going to finally return to take her vengeance in 1993 in 1993. Okay. It said that hundreds of people purchased anti vampire kits containing steaks and garlic. Okay. Pregnant women left town to save themselves in their unborn children and many visited her grave to throw holy water on her tombstone. A spectacle was made out of the superstition with street vendor selling t-shirts as well as small bags of garlic and a crucifix to where to protect themselves. The 80th anniversary of her death came and went, but Sarah Roberts remained in her grave. Okay. But the legend returned in August of 2007 when a massive earthquake hit Peru killing hundreds and destroying many structures. It was very devastating, very, very devastating. The cemetery was among those hit by the earthquake, but Sarah's grave remained untouched and fed into the lore behind her life and death. The vampire grave with the bride of Dracula remains a location visited by tourists and a legend still remains that occasionally people will see a ghostly pale woman wandering the streets at night. I'd like to see it. Her grave? Yeah. There are pictures you can go look at. I mean in person. Oh yeah. I'd like to go. Because I think she's misunderstood. This is all legend. Like what we know about her is she was just a weaver in England. She came for a job in Peru died just some lady buried in her husband was like I can't take her back on a ship with me for months to go home. But after she died and there was just this the lone Sarah Roberts left in Peru with no family or friends. People were like actually I saw her ghost wandering night. Her ghost may actually be there. I mean she could have been. I don't mean it is unexpected death like that and it'll at such a young age. I this is sad she was just misunderstood and it's possible. People need to leave her alone. Now what's more likely to be the cause of all of these vampire sightings and symptoms is actually science later explained by the discovery of germs that caused several different diseases tuberculosis is very contagious. And before the discovery of the cure and vaccine, it took many lives. It still actually still does today. Over a million people died every year of tuberculosis. Something that we easily cure. That's so sad. Very very upsetting. And with a decline of TB outbreaks, so came the decline of vampire reports wouldn't wouldn't you know. There are other diseases that are thought to be the source of some of the symptoms we attribute to the myth of vampirism today. Diseases like pelagra can cause extreme sensitivity to sunlight and bad breath, which some of these stories claim that the vampire has bad breath. Rabies can cause insomnia, aggression and aversion to light and water and is spread by the bite of animals like bats. Imagine you just have bad breath and they're like vampire. I know. Oh my god. The immense pain it causes and the hydrophobia can cause those affected to not eat or drink too. So there's that when you think of a vampire, you think they don't eat and drink because they drink blood. They vampire. They bite. That's how you get rabies. They are aggressive. They don't sleep at night. They're awake at night. Insomnia. They're aversion to light. The advancements in science and learning about the processes of death can also be attributed to the decrease in vampire reports. Many of the pieces of evidence provided as proof there is a vampire in that grave can actually just be normal decomposition. When we die gas and pressure build in our bodies, which can make people look bloated and full and can also send blood up into the mouth and other areas of the body. The human body loses its skin while it decomposes, which some believe meant that they were getting a new skin and nails, but really they were just it was going away. It was disappearing. Yeah. Decomposition can also be the reason it looked like their hair was still growing and their teeth were getting longer as the skin shrinks back when your body loses water. Yeah. The movement of the body in their graves can also be a natural part of decomposition as gases are released. Sometimes bodies move. There are actually stories of like grave robbers, robbers going opening up a grave and the body sitting up because gas releases and the body's just like been pinned up against the coffin. My gosh. Imagine you're out there breaking the law, doing something so horrendous and scandalous and all of a sudden this body sits up and looks at you. I love that for the body. I because you would need a coffin of my own. You deserve to be scared if you're doing something like that. I have heard stories from people that work and sorry this is so morbid, but I've heard stories of people that work and work and stuff and the bodies will like grow sound. Yeah. Oh God. That would simply destroy me. And like people that have done it for a long time, they're just like, oh yeah, it happens. I don't think I could ever get used to that. Never literally ever. No. We know some people were buried alive too. Thought to have died when their heart is actually still beating and so maybe the body moving in the grave is actually the body moving in the grave and missing bodies. Well, as I said, we all know what a body snatcher is. Yeah. Oh God. The supernatural element in the vampire legend is ripe pickings for authors and artists and many works have been made over the years about these menacing creatures like John Poladoris, the vampire, Joseph, Sheridan, LaFanou's Carmilla and Brahms Stoker Stokers and Brahms Stokers Dracula, turning the myth from that of bloated corpses murdering their friends and neighbors to wealthy and attractive immortals who lived their lives in regular society, always searching for the next victim. So my computer died, so now we're on Nanley's phone. A popularity has persisted, giving us more media like interview with a vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, true blood, true blood, vampire diaries and of course, Twilight. And a lot could be said about what the vampire has represented through its centuries of representation in various forms of media, but there are people today who truly do claim to be vampires. While some are obviously grifting or just trying to make money, get attention for their claims, or maybe even simply playing a character. I know that there are videos on TikTok of people who dress up like a vampire and have their skits. I love a person that, you know, I love a skit, just does something fun. There are though communities of people who call themselves vampires and live their lives accordingly. They're not always necessarily, it's not like, oh, I'm a vampire and I dress like a Victorian, yeah, like aristocracy, you know, it's not like that. It's like usually, like, they're like, no, I am a vampire. And then some of that style and things kind of come with just like the group of people that find themselves in. But from John Edgar Browning's real life vampires exist and researchers are studying them. Quote, their self-described nature begins to manifest around or just after puberty. It derives according to them from the lack of subtle energies for their body produced. Energies, other people take for granted. That's the general consensus anyway. It's a condition they claim to be unable to change, so they embrace it, unquote. Some drink real blood, human and animal and call themselves sanguinarians. Many criminals and killers have been dubbed a vampire after drinking their victims blood. But I don't think they actually fall into the category of a vampire that like the communities of vampires would, you know, consider themselves a part of. Then there are the psychic vampires who feed off their of other's energies, consented and non-consented, depending on the person. They claim to not have enough energy on their own. And some attribute this to a deformity or an error of some kind to their key energy centers or their like chakras. But either way, they must feed off of the psychic energy of those around them. Then there are hybrids who do both. From what I can tell, most of these people don't necessarily claim to have all of those attributes we give to the supernatural beings that come to mind when we hear the word vampire, though I'm sure some do come out there. But I guess this is just something we may never truly know, not all of us anyways. So like I said, this was just kind of brief history and overview of vampires in Culture. Yeah. How did we how did we come to believe that they are real and how did they become yes? What they are today Interesting now there are plenty of legends out there like Sarah Roberts where there are like stories of we saw her in the night and Not that we dug up her grave and bear and burned her body, but you know like she's a vampire. She's out there. Yeah, there's like One of something German and New Orleans that we talked about in New Orleans episode There is that like vampire legend in Appalachia I don't remember what city or or town it is So there are legends out there and we can do another episode where I just talk about legends I would like to stories. I would like to but because you kind of You took my fun. I'm sorry. You took my whimsy. I felt like we needed a baseline I agree, you know, I do agree and I don't know when it comes to like Cryptids like Bigfoot that type of thing. That's just like the example I can always use. Yeah, why not why not let it be real Yeah, but then when we talk about things that humans have done and So stuff that they've done to like other humans and all that stuff and like Dang it. Is it just all makes me kind of sad see if something like a vampire Like Dracula like Edward colon exists out there somewhere I don't think we'll ever know. No, I don't think so either especially if they are these immortal ever savvy, you know beings. Yeah, but we're not ever gonna know anyway. I guess you're right. I guess you're right But that's just my opinion Just one girl's opinion and who are we random girl in the internet? Yep, so but I'd like to know yours I'd like to know what y'all think do you believe in vampires? Do you think that they're out there? Do you think maybe they're not as we Describe them as we think of them now. They're not these swive rich. I bet someone has some good ideas and and things that they're gonna say I'm really interested to see the comments on this one. Do we have any vampires? Anybody out there say self-describe or Live in your life. Yeah as a as a vampire. I'd be interested to know that too What it's like, but that is what we have for you today like this video if you liked it share it with your friends If you feel compelled to do so subscribe for more. We've got a listener stories coming Friday if you'd like to join our patreon and help us pick topics For upcoming episodes you can do that it's patreon.com/ghosties. It's also written down in the description If you have a story that you want to send to us that's also in our description. You can email us. It's at ghosties It's ghosties [email protected] written in the description. You can copy and paste send us an email please send us your story We'd love to hear it, but that's all we've got for you today and we'll see you on Friday. Good bye. You