Peter Plogojowitz, Another Real-Life Vampire From Serbia
Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock PhotoVillagers in Plogojowitz’s village claimed on their deathbeds that he had come to them in their sleep and strangled them.
Like Arnold Paole, the next real vampire on our list died in Serbia in the 18th century. And like Paole, Peter Plogojowitz was exhumed by his fellow villagers out of fear that he was an undead bloodsucker.
In the weeks after Plogojowitz died, a number of his fellow villagers also perished after suffering from a mysterious 24-hour illness. The dead were both young and old, and many made a terrifying claim on their deathbeds. They said that Plogojowitz had come to them in their sleep and strangled them. Even Plogojowitz’s wife claimed that her husband had visited her in her sleep (though she said that he’d just wanted a pair of shoes).
The villagers decided to exhume Plogojowitz’s body and search him for telltale signs of vampirism. According to Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber, they asked a parish priest and an imperial provisor to be present during the exhumation. Reluctantly, the provisor agreed — and recorded what he witnessed.
imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG/Alamy Stock PhotoPeter Plogojowitz’s body was exhumed to check for signs of vampirism — which the townspeople allegedly found.
“First of all I did not detect the slightest odor that is otherwise characteristic of the dead,” the provisor wrote. “[T]he body, except for the nose, which was somewhat fallen away, was completely fresh… Not without astonishment, I saw some fresh blood in his mouth, which, according to the common observation, he had sucked from the people killed by him.”
As in Paole’s exhumation, the townspeople quickly sharpened a stake, which they plunged into Plogojowitz’s chest. To the provisor’s shock, fresh blood flowed from his ears and mouth. Other “wild” things also happened which the provisor declined to detail, writing: “I pass [them] by out of high respect.”
Plogojowitz’s body was then burned to ashes. Unlike in the case of Mercy Brown, however, it doesn’t seem that anyone consumed them.