This story was published in 1916 so based on the approximate timeframe we are given at the beginning we can place the events around 1895-1885.
“Some twenty or thirty years ago”, a cripple that lived in Cujmir, in the south of Mehedinti, died.
[The region is in modern day Romania.]
A little time after, his family members began to die, or to fall ill. But this extended and happened in several places as well.
They complained that a leg was drying up and [strangely enough] the villagers concluded that the cripple was to blame.
They dug him up and found him as red as red, and all drawn up into a corner of the grave.
They cut him open and took the customary measures: took out the heart and liver, burnt them on red-hot cinders, and gave the ashes to his sister and others who were ill.
They drank them with [holy] water and regained their health.
Interesting about this case is the fact that the victims weren`t all members of the same family [to be more specific, members of the vampire`s family].
The events seam to describe an exponential growth of the strange illness and apparently the members of the community didn`t take actions from the very beginning but when they didn`t have a choice because the “disease” was spreading.
You will find this case mentioned in various books, like: Tudor Pamfile`s “Dusmani si Prieteni ai Omului” [Friends and Foes of the Man], Montague Summers`s “The Vampire in Europe”, Adrien Cremene`s “Mythology of the vampire in Romania”
๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends