The town of Devnya, 30km west of Varna, is now known only for its highly noxious chemical industry, but during the last century its reputation was widespread as Bulgaria’s vampire capital.
As most Eastern Europe countries belief in vampires was widespread among the Bulgarian peasantry of the time and they had means of dealing with the night creatures.
Local wise men [known as vampirdzhiya or dzhadzhiya] were paid handsomely by villagers to drive the fiends away and vampire hunters of Devnya were considered the best in eastern Bulgaria.
To chase the vampires away, a dzhadzhiya would be summoned to walk among the flocks, holding an icon aloft. The icon also came in handy when trying to identify the resting place of the vampire. If it began to tremble when held above a particular grave, it meant that the culprit had been found. If the vampire was in spirit form, it could be driven into a bottle which was then thrown onto a fire.
We do have an example for such a ritual, presented in “Bulgarian Mythology” by Ivanichka Georgieva.
Acording to the author the incident takes place in 1882 somewhere in the Varna district. An epidemic broke out in two villages and the locals declared that they were caused by vampires so they called in the help of a couple of dzhadzhiya.
The dzhadzhiya marched around the village streets holding up a holy icon. When they came to a place where the icon started shaking in their hands, they knew that the vampire must have touched it.
They chased the vampire until they came to its grave and after opening it, they found a blooded corpse that was lying on its belly. The vampire hunters stuck a thorn into the heart of the corpse after which the vampire was cremated on a fire of hawthorn branches.
The vampire is said to have screamed when it was burned.
Two weeks later, the epidemics had come to an end.
As you can see the superstitions greatly differ from one region to another, but one thing remained the same… sometimes the dead came back to feed on the living so they had to be put down again!
๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends
