Vampire tourism

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If you are considering where to go on holiday this summer, why not go to Kringa in Croatia?

In recent years this village has embraced the legacy of its local 'vampire', Jure Grando (often spelled: Giure Grando), made famous by Johann Weichard von Valvasor. You can visit a museum dedicated to him, Muzej Jure Grando, have a 'vampire menu' at the Tavern Danijeli before going to the Vampire Café for 'vampire cocktails'. And you can even stay at the Villa Jure Grando, which claims to be 'well stocked with garlic and holy water'!

Jure Grando supposedly haunted the village from his death in 1656 and until his corpse was decapitated in 1672. Valvasor writes:

'Im 1672ten Jahr hat man gleichfalls / zu Krhing in Isterreich / dem begrabenen Leichnam deß Giure Grando einen Pfahl durch den Leib zu treiben / sich bemühet; weil aber der Pfahl in den Leib nicht hineindringen wollen / ihm den Kopff abgeschnitten. Solches verwegenen Stückleins haben sich Ihrer Etliche unterfangen: nemlich der Micolo Nyena, der Stipan Milasich, der Miho Raderich, Mattio Chericatin, Nicolo Macina, Jure Macina, Juira Sorsich, Martino Udereicich, und Micula Crairær. Dem ersten aber ist da Hertz entfallen / also / daß er / den todten Körper anzugreiffen / allzu verzagt worden. Worauf sich der Andre drüber hergemacht / und den Kopff herabgescnitten ; und der Dritte das Krucifix dabey gehalten. Wie dann diese alle drey noch am Leben seynd. Wovon wir unten / in dem Buch / darinn von den Crainerischen Städten / gehandelt wird / einen umständlichern Bericht / bey Beschreibung deß Marckts Kreinck / thun wollen: weil sich unterschiedliche sehr merckwürdige Sachen dabey ereignet haben / die wir allhie auslassen / und an diesem Ort nur den Handel bloß berühren.'

'Vampire epidemic'

As shown in an old post on the Visum et Repertum, a copy was sent from Vienna to the Danish government early in 1732. This document and others documenting supernatural beliefs in the archives in Copenhagen are briefly described in this 'web exhibition'. The exhibition is, unfortunately, only in Danish.

Reading von Schertz

Most of you probably have not had the chance to read a book by Carl Ferdinand von Schertz, but now it is possible on Google Books. OK, you may not be particularly interested in the subject of the book, but here is a chance to get a feel for the man and his interests besides the subject of the book that he is best known for, Magia Posthuma.

Mährisches Landes-Wappen published in Nuremberg in 1699, i.e. prior to Magia Posthuma, is a book on Moravian coats of arms with considerations on e.g. the etymology and spelling of the name of Moravia (which takes it name from the Morava River).

Heraldry may not be your subject, but you may wonder if that little portrait on the title page could bear any semblance to that of the author? Looking at other books from the same publisher or printer might answer that question.

An anti-vampire

In a recent book, Necrophilia: Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects by Anil Aggrawal (CRC Press), one can find this 'point to ponder':

'A necrophile may be called the very opposite of the legendary vampire. While the term vampire generally refers to a dead person (usually referred to as the "undead") disturbing the living, the necrophile is a living person disturbing the dead! In this sense, a necrophile may be referred to as an anti-vampire.' (p. 4)

I am not sure what the purpose of this observation is, but obviously anyone who 'disturbs the dead', even for various non-sexual reasons, must qualify as an 'anti-vampire'. And logically, I must conclude that I like everyone else who, as far as I am aware of, are not involved in disturbing the dead, can now say: I am not an anti-vampire...

Out in March

I have still to post a few reviews of recent books which I hope to have ready soon. In the meantime I can mention that Norbert Borrman's Vampirismus is published in a new edition this March. I have actually never had a copy of the book in my hands, but apparently it is widely read.

What looks somewhat more interesting is a new book by photographer Gerald Axelrod tracing the life and myth of Elizabeth Bathory. Like his earlier book on Dracula, this one is likely to contain numerous photos, this time from places in Slovakia, Austria and Hungary:

'Sie ist zwar nicht so berühmt wie Dracula, hat es aber immerhin zu Titeln wie „Gräfin Dracula“ und „The World Champion Lady Vampyr of All Time“ gebracht. Die höchste Ehre wurde ihr aber zweifellos durch den Eintrag im Guinness-Buch der Rekorde von 1988 zuteil: Mit 650 Opfern gilt sie als die größte Serienmörderin aller Zeiten! Die Rede ist von Elisabeth Báthory (1560–1614), auch bekannt als Blutgräfin.

Ihre Bekanntheit verdankt sie allerdings nicht den Morden, die sie tatsächlich verübt hat, sondern einer Legende: Sie habe im Blut der Jungfrauen gebadet, um ewige Jugend und Schönheit zu erlangen! Aber handelt es sich dabei wirklich nur um eine Legende oder steckt ein Körnchen Wahrheit in den Blutbädern? Anhand der neuesten historischen Forschungen wollen wir das Leben der Blutgräfin rekonstruieren und die vielen Mythen, die sich um die grausame „Lady Dracula“ ranken, einer kritischen Prüfung unterziehen.

Dieses Buch begibt sich auf Spurensuche nach den Quellen und Originaldokumenten, die den Jesuitenpater László Turóczi und zahlreiche weitere Autoren zu ihren Werken über die Blutgräfin inspiriert haben. Es zeichnet das Leben der Elisabeth Báthory nach und zeigt in beeindruckenden Aufnahmen die Orte ihres Wirkens in der Slowakei, Österreich und Ungarn. Und jenseits der Legendenbildung werden die Versuche, die Abgründe ihrer Psyche mittels der modernen Psychologie zu beleuchten, dargestellt.'

Medvedja anno 1738

Changes in my personal life may allow me to spend a bit more time on this blog. Well, I better not make any promises, but there is a chance that I can devote more time to the subject of 'magia posthuma'. So, let me kick off this new year with a part of a map from 1738 of Serbia that shows the site of the most famous vampire case, Medvedja, near the Zapadna Morava river in central Serbia. Unfortunately, this scan of the map is not in high resolution, but in the figure below you can see the village at the top. The map below it shows the surrounding area of the Jagodiner District.



The same map also shows the Ramm District, the site of the first attested vampire case in Kisiljevo in 1725. Maybe I will return to that in a future post.

Swieten's Vampyrismus as paperback

'Wo sind die Gesetze, welchen einen solchen Auspruch rechftertigen? Man bekennet, es seyen keine Gesetze vorhanden, hingegen zieht man zur Rechfertigung ganz kaltsinnig an: es sey also der Gebrauch.'

I recall having to wait some time and pay a lot of money to get a microfilm copy of the Abhandlung des Daseyns der Gespenster (Augsburg, 1768) some years ago, because I wanted to read the Gerard van Swieten's appended remarks on vampires. I later found them included on the Vampir Prinzessin DVD and reprinted in the 100 Jahre Dracula issue of Maske und Kothurn (41. Jahrgang Heft 1-2) edited by Rainer M. Köppl and published in 1998.
Now, a paperback of the text has been published by Europaïscher Hochschulverlag. 40 pages for € 16.90, it is certainly much cheaper to obtain than the prints I made from a microfilm. But cheaper still is the Wikisource edition of the whole book that I link to in the right hand panel.

Of particular interest is the Italian edition of Swieten's text reprinted by S. F. Flaccovio Editore in 1988. It contains an essay on I Vampiri di Maria Teresa by Pietro Violante, as well as of Italian translations of some of her decrees on superstitious acts. It is actually still available at the price of € 9.30.

You can take a look inside the new book on German Amazon.