reports

All posts tagged reports

Samuel Salladay

Posted by ForSaKeN on March 14, 2021
Posted in: Documented Reports. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The great part about having town records is that you can always consult them and find incredible facts about the people that used to live in your neighbourhood.
In this particular case the documents allowed us to as far back as the time when Scioto County [Ohio] was settled, back in the 1800s.

We are treated with the following article:

The family of Philip Salladay came from Switzerland, bought and settled on a lot in the French Grant soon after the opening of the country for settlement. Hereditary consumption developed itself in the family sometime after their location in Scioto county. The head of the family and the oldest son had died of it and others began to manifest symptoms, when an attempt was made to arrest the progress of the disease by a process which has been practised in numerous instances, but without success. They resolved to disinter one of the victims, take his entrails and burn them in a fire prepared for the purpose, in the presence of the surviving members of the family. This was accordingly done in the winter of 1816–17, in the presence of a large concourse of spectators who lived in the surrounding neighborhood, and by Major Amos Wheeler, of Wheelersburg. Samuel Salladay was the one they disinterred and offered up as a sacrifice, to stop if possible the further spread of the disease. But like other superstitious notions with regard to curing diseases it proved of no avail. The other members of the family continued to die off until the last one was gone except George.


Based off the way the text is worded I got the feeling that they were trying to make a distinction as to the family being foreigners that had settled recently and the sidenote that they had a predisposition for consumption [aka tuberculosis].
We also get details about what happened after the ritual was performed on Samuel – his family sadly continued to suffer from the diseara and apparently died off.

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

The Vlasenica vampire

Posted by ForSaKeN on October 23, 2017
Posted in: Documented Reports. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

The Vlasenica vampire incident is mentioned in a couple of local records and was thus picked up in the feverish decades of “vampire craze” that followed the publishing of “Dracula”. Vlasenica is a town in the Serbian part of Bosnia Herzegovina, situated somewhere between Sarajevo and Zvornik.
A young man died in 1906.
Shortly after, his wife got ill as well. She insisted that her dead husband had visited her during the night to drink her blood.
He had become a Lampir (obv. it is the regional word for Vampire) so the terrified neighbors asked permission to dig up the dead man in order to decapitate and cremate him.
Their request was turned down by the authorities and the panic continued in the village. The vampire of Vlasenica made a total of 15 victims before he was eventually dug up and dispensed with in the usual / ritualistic way.

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

The vampire of Birmingham

Posted by ForSaKeN on September 3, 2017
Posted in: Media Sensations. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

For those of your that might think the “vampire hysteria” was over in the UK after things went quiet back in the 1970s [referring ofc to the Highgate Vampire incident] I beg to differ and redirect you to an urban legend from back in 2005 that was reported in “The Guardian” as follows;

“A vampire is on the loose in Birmingham. And an inept one at that, if reports are to be believed. Which they aren’t. Last month, this “vampire” went on a “rampage” in Glen Park Road, Ward End. The attacker reportedly bit a male pedestrian and then bit neighbors who came to the man’s aid. One woman had “chunks” bitten out of her hand, according to reports, which feature lots of one-word “quotes” and very little in the way of named sources.
No matter. The Birmingham Evening Mail has been flooded with calls from “terrified” families, community leaders and schools. Oliver Luft of the Birmingham news agency Newsteam reported: “As the sun dips below the rooftops of sleepy terraced streets, residents rush home, quickly gathering up playing children, because after night falls a vampire hungry for blood stalks. Reports of a Dracula-style attacker on the loose biting innocent people has spread terror throughout neighborhoods in Birmingham, causing many to fear the darkness of the night.”
Such reports themselves spread fear. Thus, a spokeswoman for City Road primary school in Ladywood said: “We have had many parents coming in concerned because they had heard somebody has been going around biting people.”
But police in Birmingham have not investigated this “case”. Nor have any hospitals in the city reported treating more than the usual number of hard-bitten Brummies. A police spokesman said: “To date we have not received any reports from people stating they have been bitten and this appears to be an urban myth which is being fuelled by rumors.”

He was generally described as a Somalian man in his mid-20s and as the news hit the national papers, more supposed incidents were reported in Ilford, Newham and Poplar.
As you can expect, the police did try to locate the elusive fiend, especially since worried parents were contacting the schools frantically and people were beginning to watch their step / back. As the medics were not treating anyone for suspicious-looking bites and the man appeared to have the ability to elude capture, the police had nothing to go on and the fever broke in a matter of months.
Thankfully no minister came forward to propose exorcisms and trips to the local cemetery – this time!

§۞§ Related: §۞§
† Superstitions
† Legends
† Vampire Accounts

Ghiulten Memedali – the supposed vampire of Medgidia

Posted by ForSaKeN on December 6, 2016
Posted in: Legends, Media Sensations. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

This case came into the spotlight in 2009 when the police discovered that the grave of Ghiulten Memedali had been tampered with and the corpse mutilated. But it begins in 2008 when, on the 27th of March, the 39 year old woman from Medgidia [south-est region of Romania] died of a heart attack.
On the 14th of May her grave was assaulted by her relatives and others that lived in the neighborhood of Ali Baba. They claimed that the woman had turned into a vampire and that she was making her presence known to her family by moving objects around, making strange apparitions in the house she once inhabited and having strange conversations with friends of the family [she would demand certain things].
At night they said she wouldn`t let them sleep and repeatedly pinch and slap them.
In May of 2008 the mob [counting 200 people] couldn`t take the necessary actions because the police had been notified of their intentions and squads were dispatched to the cemetery to ensure that nothing illegal would be conducted.
To calm down the public opinion the corpse was exhumed and rituals according to their religion were performed [they were Muslims].
Of course they made their observations on the spot and came to the conclusion that they were right. It seams the cross was bent and there were some strange holes in the ground – presumably used by the undead to escape her grave at night.
Then she was reburied and the mob was dispersed.

At a later date, unknown to the authorities, it seams that the family got it`s way because when Ghiulten was exhumed in September 2009 for [what they believed] the second time she had several strange objects in her coffin and the heart was missing. The chest had a large hole and the ribs were smashed as if something sharp was used on the body to puncture.
At her side they observed: masks, a stake, some clothing and cotton.

What I find interesting about this case is the fact that they chose to practice the “elimination ritual” specific to a vampire on what seams to be more of a poltergeist phenomenon. There were no night attacks reported that could fall into the category of the undead and even more confusing, the newspapers claimed that the woman had appeared in daylight to speak with relatives.
Now I cannot say that this is all true because it is in fact reported by media and we all know how some reporters treat this kind of subjects… but taking into consideration the “symptoms” haunting seams more likely than vampiric activity.

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

Vampires in ancient Europe

Posted by ForSaKeN on September 3, 2016
Posted in: Ancient Cultures. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

In the Adriatic Sea region we find Vrykolakas, a vampire that would walk the streets at night and knock on the doors of certain houses. If someone would answer from within, that person would fie soon. This creature became stronger as the years passed.

Later, in Rome, Strix would hunt for small children so that she could feed on their intestines. [In current times the term “strix” can be found in Greek and is attributed to vampires and witches. The term “strigoi” – Romanian name for a vampire – is derived from it].

vampire-lamia

Lamia

In ancient Greece there lived Lamia, a demonic entity that sucked the blood of newborn.
In mythology, Lamia was Zeus`s lover, but Hera – his wife, a very jealous and possessive goddess – opposed the relationship when Lamia gave birth to a child. Hera took her revenge by driving her crazy and making her kill her own baby.
Lamia was then cursed by Hera with eternal life and as time and madness took their toil she started to walk around only at night looking for “human cubs” to eat.

Greek mythology provides us with reports of another vampire: Empusas [names in some regions Mormo]. The faithful servant of the goddess Hecate, he would sometimes take on human form to do her bidding. He would fulfill her vengeful plans and in the process he would feed on the flesh and blood of her enemies.

The German tribes had Krampus – “claw” in the old northern dialects – a furred monster who, as even the name suggests, would claw down his victims before he would consume them.
Once Christianity appeared in northern Europe, the feared Krampus became nothing but the help of Saint Nicholas, an ugly gnome meant to frighten the naughty children.

In the Scandinavian countries, the old pagan believes mentioned the Valkyrii, beautiful young women who would ride winged horses over the battle fields and would pick some of the spirits of those who were about to die to accompany them to Walhalla, the warrior heaven that Odin ruled over.
Few know the fact that these beautiful semi-goddesses would eat the rotting corpses and drink the blood of the warriors they chose.

***

In Italy we even find records of an interesting faction of vampires – Stregoni benefici – that were supposed to be on the good side and were sworn enemies of all evil vampires.

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampires in Ancient Cultures
† Vampire Accounts