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Stephen Hubner

Posted by ForSaKeN on April 2, 2016
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The most famous version of events for this case is that of Montague Summers in his “The Vampire in Europe” but sadly that story – tho` generally accepted, is wrong in terms of date.
Summers places his story in 1730 or 1732. Judging by the details there is little doubt that case is actually much older. Stephen Hubner, the vampire of Treautenau, was a wealthy but generally disliked figure in the community in the year 1567.
The passage on this vampire is so brief that I will quote it entirely:

“About the years 1730-32 occurred the case of Stephen Hubner of Treautenau, who after his death returned and not only attacked individuals but also killed cattle. From the official report it would seam that this vampire strangled them. This case was very shortly taken in hand and by order of the supreme court of the district the body was disinterred. Although five months had passed since the time of burial it was found with all the marks of vampirism. Being taken to the public gallows it was there decapitated by the common executioner. The remains were burned to ashes and scattered to the wind. For precautions sake the bodies of those near Hubner were exhumed and reverently cremated and then once again interred in their original resting place.”

In modern day Czech Republic you can easily find the town of Trutnov – just East of Prague.
As for our vampire, he was a successful and wealthy member of the townsfolk so many claimed that he had made a deal with the devil to get rich and be able to maintain his wealth.
Maybe that is why they were so quick to point the finger at him once the strange phenomena began. There was never any bloodsucking involved, just the strangling.

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends

The vampire of Vaguilesti

Posted by ForSaKeN on March 20, 2016
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In Vaguilesti [again in Mehedinti, modern day Romania] there was a peasant named Dimitriu Vaideanu, of Transylvanian origin, who had married and settled there.
His children died one after the other; seven died within a few months of birth, and some of the older children died as well.
People began to wonder what the cause of all this could be so they convened a council and decided to take a white horse to the cemetery one night, and see if it would pass over all the graves.
Upon doing so they noticed that the horse jumped over all the graves, until it came to the grave of the mother-in-law, Ioana Marta, who had been a witch, renowned far and wide.
Then the horse stood still, beating the earth with its feet, neighing, and snorting, unable to step over the grave as if there was something unholy there.
At night, Dimitriu and his son took candles and went to dig up the grave. They supposedly found the woman sitting like a Turk, with long hair falling over her face, with all her skin red, and with finger nails frightfully long.
They got together brushwood, shavings, and bits of old crosses, they poured wine on her, they put in straw, and set fire to the whole.
Then they shoveled the earth back and went home.

It is not recorded if the deaths stopped after these measures were taken but we sure have a lot of interesting things in this case!
First of all we don`t have any symptoms of the mysterious disease that took all the young ones to the grave. Also we have the gathering of the council and the decision to literally scout the cemetery using one of the superstitions specific to the region – the white horse as a detector!
§ Signs to recognize vampires
Last but not least we have a rather unusual way of dispatching the vampire since there is no piercing/removing of the heart and the two simply torch the corpse… no mention of them taking ashes to mix with [holy] water.

You will find this case mentioned in books such as Montague Summers`s “The Vampire in Europe” and Adrien Cremene`s “Mythology of the vampire in Romania”. If was originally presented by Tudor Pamfile.

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends

The vampire of Cujmir

Posted by ForSaKeN on March 19, 2016
Posted in: Documented Reports. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The story was originally published in N.I. Dumitrascu‘s “Strigoi – din credintele, datinile si povestirile poporului roman, cap. XXXVIII” [The undead – from the beliefs, customs and tales of the Romanian people, chapter 38], published in Bucharest in 1927.

We aren`t given an exact date so the only thing we can be sure of is the fact that it happened before 1927 and based on the events I can guarantee that we are not talking about the ~cripple of Cujmir~ – in fact there is nothing that links the two stories, other than the fact that both happened in Cujmir [in the modern day region of Mehedinti, Romania].

In Cujmir, another family began to show very frequent deaths, and suspicion fell on a certain old man, dead long ago.
When they dug him up, they found him sitting up like a Turk, and as red as red, just like fire; for had he eaten up nearly the whole of a family of strong, young men.
When they tried to get him out he resisted, unclean and horrible.
They gave him some blows with an axe, they got him out, but they could not cut him with a knife. They took a scythe and an axe, cut out his heart and liver, burnt them, and gave them to the sick folk to drink.
They drank, and regained their health.
The old man was reburied, and the deaths ceased.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this case is the fact that the vampire isn`t immobile during the vanquishing ritual. Rather than that he seams to be putting up quite a fight since the villagers need to bring in axes and even a scythe to open him up.
Also, the state that he is in [“red as red, just like fire”] is different than the usual found with no signs of decay.

You will find this case mentioned in books such as Montague Summers`s “The Vampire in Europe” and Adrien Cremene`s “Mythology of the vampire in Romania”

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends

The cripple of Cujmir

Posted by ForSaKeN on March 18, 2016
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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