France (1310)
Following the Council of Troyes in May, King Phillippe ordered that the corpse of a certain Jehan de Turo be exhumed and destroyed by fire 'on suspicion that he was a Vampyre'. Jehan was said to have been foreman of the Tower and an initiate of the Temple who had died a century earlier.

Bohemia (1337)
Reports indicate that several Vampires manifested themselves at this time from the cloisters of the church at Opatowicze, but the disturbances ceased after the area was exorcised with holy water and a silver cross hung on the wall. Also in Bohemia, at the town of Lewin, a woman called Brodka, who was believed to dabble in sorcery and had died by her own hand, was buried at the local crossroads in 1345. Suicides of evil repute who were not interred in this manner were believed to become Vampires after death.

Upper Styria (1451)
At Gratz in the mountainous regions of upper Styria, now a Province of Austria, lived Barbara de Cilly, a beautiful woman much loved by Sigismund of Hungary. When close to death, she was apparently saved by the use of a secret ritual devised by Abramerlin the Mage, but as a result was condemned forever after to be a Vampire. This woman was the inspiration for Camilla, the masterpiece about a female vampire by the Irish writer, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

Turkey (1523)
A Vampire which had been terrorising the people of Sjonica was finally driven away by a courageous man named Ibro who attacked the creature one night with a knife upon which was engraved a lucky symbol to ward off evil spirits. Although the creature fled, never to be seen again, a spot of its blood left behind on the ground proved impossible to remove.

ERZSÉBET (ELIZABETH) BÁTHORY

Countess of Transylvania, vampire: Born 1560/61; died, August 21, 1614.

In order to improve her complexion and also to maintain her failing grasp on her youth and vitality, she slaughtered six hundred innocent young women from her tiny mountain principality...

The noble Báthory family stemmed from the Hun Gutkeled clan which held power in broad areas of east central Europe (in those places now known as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), and had emerged to assume a role of relative eminence by the first half of the 13th century. Abandoning their tribal roots, they assumed the name of one of their estates (Bátor meaning 'valiant') as a family name. Their power rose to reach a zenith by the mid 16th century, but declined and faded to die out completely by 1658. Great kings, princes, members of the judiciary, as well as holders of ecclesiastical and civil posts were among the ranks of the Báthorys.

Adopting an exalted name did not alter some basic familial preferences among lesser lights however, and in order to consolidate more tenuous clingings to influence there was considerable intermarriage amongst the Báthory family, with some of the usual problems of this practice produced as a result. Unfortunately, beyond the 'usual problems' some extraordinary difficulties arose (namely hideous psychoses) and several "evil geniuses" appeared, the notorious and sadistic Erzsébet the most prominent of them.

Truly, she was evil enough to be recognized as one of the original "vampires" who later inspired Bram Stoker to write the legend of Dracula -- but unlike Stoker's story, she was real.

Unusual for one of her social status, she was a fit and active child. Raised as Magyar royalty, as a young maid she was quite beautiful; delicate in her features, slender of build, tall for the time, but her personality did not attain the same measure of fortuitous development. In her own opinion her most outstanding feature was her often commented upon gloriously creamy complexion. Although others were not really so equally impressed with the quality of her rather ordinary skin, they offered copious praise if they knew what was good for them, as Erzsébet did not accept unenthusiastic half-measures of adulation; and she was vindictive.

She was only 15 when she was 'married off' for political gain and position to a rough soldier of (nevertheless) aristocratic stock and manner. By reason of the marriage, she became the lady of the Castle of Csejthe, his home, situated deep in the Carpathian mountains of what is now central Romania, but which then was known only as Transylvania. Located near no exciting urban center, the castle was surrounded by a village of simple peasants and rolling agricultural lands, interspersed with the jagged outcroppings of the frozen Carpathians.

While the picturesque setting embraced a bucolic tapestry of ideal small fields, meandering stone walls, quaint cottages, a few satisfied brown cows, and goats with tinkling bells about their necks scampering amongst the chickens, life here was uneventful. The castle was typical for its day and place: cold, dun, gloomy, damp, dark; unlike the cozy thatched houses of the peasants below.

While her husband was pursuing his passion, the soldier business, and off on various campaigns, for Elizabeth -- who did not wish to amuse herself in the out-of-doors where those loutish peons were grubbing in the mud -- life became poundingly boring in very short order. Being an energetic teenager, although one with a view and experience of life which was 'special,' she set about finding novel amusements to occupy her days.

Her tastes were of a certain slant, and consequently she began to gather about herself (as her ample financial resources readily accommodated) persons of peculiar and sinister arts. These she welcomed into her presence, affording them commodious lodging and lavish attention to each of their most singular needs and interests. Among them were those who claimed to be witches, sorcerers, seers, wizards, alchemists, and others who practiced the most depraved deeds in league with the Devil and too painful to mention even in a story such as this. They taught her their crafts in intimate detail and she was enthralled. But learning such unspeakable things was not enough.

War in the 16th century was a brutal affair. While fashionably fighting the Turks and attempting to gain information from prisoners captured, her husband employed a horrid device of torture: clever articulated claw-like pincers, fashioned of hardened silver; which, when fastened to a stout whip would tear and rip the flesh to such an obscene degree that even he, a cruel man, abandoned the apparatus in disgust and left it at the castle as he departed on yet another heroic foray.

Elizabeth was not alone in her 'unusual' interests. Aware of Elizabeth's complex preoccupations, and amused by them, her aunt had introduced her also to the pleasures of flagellation (enacted upon desolate others of course), a taste Elizabeth quickly acquired. Equipped with her husband's heinous silver claws, she generously indulged herself, whiling away many lonely hours at the expense of forlorn Slav debtors from her own dungeons. The more shrill their screams and the more copious the blood, the more exquisite and orgasmic her amusement. She preferred to whip her 'subjects' on the front of their nude bodies rather than their backs, not only for the increased damage potential, but so that she could gleefully watch their faces contort in horror at their most grim and burning fate.

Her husband died in 1604 (some say 1602) of stab wounds imposed on him by a harlot in Bucharest whom he had not paid, and Elizabeth immediately dreamed of a lover to replace him, since she never cared for him in the first place -- so much for her mourning. However, the mirror showed her that her prurient indulgences, as well as time, had taken their toll on her appearance. Her 'angelic' complexion had long since faded to something less than perfection; she had reached 43. Her desire for a lover did not fade; she raged deep within, cursing time.

Such a simple interest as a new husband was not to rule the day, it was merely a detail. With the demise of her husband, prowling highly placed men began to smell a ripe opportunity to seize the power and influence encapsulated in the Báthory name; likely by acquiring her and then eliminating her. As well, she was next in line to become King of Poland, and she wanted the job. This seeming anomaly was possible within the governing constructs of the time, and the office of queen held no political weight. At the same time, she was educated beyond all those around her, reading and writing four languages while the prince of Transylvania was an illiterate boor (who bathed regularly -- every year on his birthday).

Maintaining her youth and vitality became central to this developing plot; the absolute divine right to power she understood was hers to keep and protect would be essential to the attainment of all that she sought. Vanity, sexual desire, drive for political power all were seamlessly blended into a central primordial passion. If she lost her youth, she could forfeit all.

Her mood deteriorated markedly and one day, as she viciously struck a servant girl for a minor oversight, she drew blood when her pointed nails raked the girl's cheek. The wound was serious enough that some of the blood got onto Elizabeth's skin. Later, Elizabeth was quite sure that that part of her own body - where the girl's blood had dropped - looked fresher somehow; younger, brighter and more pliant.

Immediately she consulted her alchemists for their opinion on the phenomenon. They, of course, were enjoying her hospitality and did not wish to disappoint, so, fortunately, they did recall a case many many years before and in a distant place where the blood of a young virgin had caused a similar effect on an aged (but generous) personage of nobility and good grace.

With such clear evidence at hand, Elizabeth was convinced that here was a brilliant discovery; a method to restore and preserve her youthful glow forever, or at least until she got what she wanted. The advice of her 'beauty consultant,' a woman named Katarina, concurred that her clever realization was most surely sound.

Elizabeth reasoned that if a little was good, then a lot would be better: she firmly believed that if she bathed in the blood of young virgins -- and in the case of especially pretty ones, drank it -- she would be gloriously beautiful and strong once again.

For years, Elizabeth's trusted helper in her various secret pleasures had been Dorotta Szentes. Now with her, and other 'witches' to help carry the load, Elizabeth roamed the countryside by night, hunting for suitable virginal girls as raw material for her difficult quest.

When back in the castle, each batch of young girls would be hung, alive and naked, upside-down by chains wrapped around their ankles. Their throats would be slit and all of their blood drained for Elizabeth's bath, to be taken while the heat of their young bodies still remained in the thickening and sticky crimson pool.

And every now and then, a really lovely young girl would be obtained. As a special treat, Elizabeth would drink the child's blood: at first from a golden flask, but later, as her taste for it increased, directly from the stream, as the writhing and whimpering body hung from the rafters, turning pale.

Although she had held off her political foes, after five years of this enterprise Elizabeth at last began to realize that the blood of peasant girls was having little effect on the quality of her skin. Obviously such blood was defective and better blood was required.

In early 17th century Transylvania, parents of substantial position wished their daughters to be educated in the appropriate social graces and etiquettes, so that they might gain the 'right' connections when ripe. Here was an opportunity.

In 1609, Elizabeth established an academy in the castle, offering to take 25 girls at a time from proper families, and to correctly finish their educations. Indeed, their educations were finished.

Assisted by Dorotta Szentes (known also by the graceful diminutive "Dorka") these poor students were consumed in exactly the same beastly fashion as the anguished peasant girls who preceded them. This was too easy, and Elizabeth became careless in her actions for the first time in her dreadful career. During a frenzy of lust, four drained bodies were thrown off the walls of the castle.

The error was realized too late, for villagers had already seen, collected, and begun to identify the girls. The disappearance of all those young women began to be solved; the secret was finished.

Word of this horror spread rapidly and soon reached the Hungarian Emperor, Matthias II, who immediately ordered that the Countess be placed on public trial. But, her aristocratic status did not allow that she be arrested. Parliament at once passed a new Act to reverse this privilege of station (lest she slip from their hands) and Elizabeth was brought before a formal hearing in 1610. Interestingly, no authority seemed inclined to offer any form of attention to these matters when merely peasant girls had been the subject of Elizabeth's blood-letting for five years previous.

By the final count, 600 girls had vanished; Elizabeth admitted nothing. Dorka and her witches were burned alive, but the Countess, by reason of her noble birth, could not be executed. Katarina was somehow seen as another victim, and was set free.

So, Elizabeth was damned to a death while alive. Sealed into a tiny closet of her castle -- and never let out -- she died four years later.

Elizabeth did not ever utter even a single word of regret, or remorse.

A note of interest: When Elizabeth was 25 years old, Stephan Báthory (a prince of Transylvania and her uncle) was elected King of Poland.

The last regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic passenger ocean liner ship in operation was named the "Stephan Batory" (a typical spelling variation.) It ceased operation in 1991, and its ports of call were Gdansk, Poland, and Montréal.

Moravia (1617)
A beautiful and allegedly very beguiling female Vampire seduced and then drank the blood of a number of men in the town of Craiova during this year. She was last seen near the River Jiu and, as water is said to be fatal to Vampires, is presumed to have drowned.

Hungary (c. 1690 - 1725)
For some years, Arnold Paul, the High Duke of Medreiga, was said to have been regularly attacked by a Vampire at Cassova - but then claimed to have put a stop to these attacks by eating earth taken from the dead man's grave and also smearing himself with the dead creatures blood which he found in the tomb. However, soon afterwards, the High Duke died in an accident. and within weeks cases of vampirism were being reported throughout the region. Though the Duke's body was exhumed and destroyed, the phenomena continued and records claim that Arnold Paul turned a total of 17 others into Vampires.

Serbia (1725)
A vivid account of a plague of Vampires which troubled districts of Serbia for almost a decade has been described by John Heinrich Zopfius in a dissertation published in 1734: "The vampyres, which came out of the grave in the night-time, rushed upon people sleeping in their beds, sucked out all their blood, and destroyed them. They attacked men, women and children; sparing neither age nor sex. The people attacked by them complained of suffocation, and a great interception of spirits; after which, they soon expired. When these Vampyres were dug out of the graves, they appeared in all parts, such as the nostrils, cheeks, breasts, mouth, etc, turgid and full of blood. Their countenances were fresh and ruddy; and their nails, as well as their hair, very much grown. And, though they had been much longer dead than many other bodies, which were perfectly putrified, not the least mark of corruption was visible upon them. Those who were destroyed by them, after their death, became Vampyres; so that, to prevent so spreading an evil, it was found requisite to drive a stake through the dead body from whence, on this occasion, the blood flowed as if the person was alive. Sometimes the body was dug out of the grave, and burnt to ashes; upon which, all the disturbances ceased."

Miravia (1731)
Two women, an old crone named Miliza and a young beauty, Stanno, both of whom had died in 1729, were to be the cause of an outbreak of vampirism at Metwett. Thirteen deaths occured in a two-week period in this area, which were attributed to the couple, Miliza was said to have become a vampire as a result of having sexual intercourse with a male member of the undead in Turkey before she moved to Moravia, and it was there that she infected her young confederate.

Yugaslavia (1816)
While the famous French author, Prosper Merimee, was dining with some friend at Varbeska, a vampire appeared at an upstairs window in the house and bit the neck of a young girl named Khava who was sleeping. According to Merimee, the girl awoke just as the creature was raising himself up from her bed and, despite her fear, she recognised him as a man named Vieczany who had died a year defore. At this, the family and some friends lit torches and went to the village cemetery where the man was buried. Vieczany's coffin was opened and his body was found to be untouched. Although the Vampire was destroyed, his victim passed away 18 days later.

America (1845)
According to a report in the Norwich Courier in Connecticut, after the death of a certain Horace Ray in Jewett City in the winter of 1845, the members of his family all fell ill of a wasting desease. When just one son remained alive, the body of the father was exhumed and found to be as fresh as the day it had been laid to rest. After the corpse had been burned, the health of the last members of the Ray family reapidly inproved and he lived to a ripe old age convinced that his parent had been a Vampire.

Great Britain (1889)
A grisly-looking Vampire plagued the Cranswell family living in isolated Croglin Grange in Cumberland. The creature repeatedly tried to break into the manor house and attack the beautiful young daughter, Anne. When finally tracked to its lair in a nearby churchyard by the girl's two brothers, the Vampire's coffin was set on fire and its body consumed n the flames.

Rumania (1889)
One of the worst outbreaks of vampirism on record occurred in the district of Crassova when several dozen mwn, women and children were discovered to be slowly dying from blood loss and bite marks on their necks. In a concerted effort by the local people, a total of 30 corpes were interred in local graveyards and all pierced by stakes, before the attacks ceased. In Rumania, also, a few years later, the youngest-ever Vampire was reported - a 13-year-old child who had recently died and was reportedly attacking other infants while they slept. The villagers of Prejam, in the Vilcea district, provided their own solution by staking the child in its coffin and then removing the head.

Transylvania (1905)
When an old gypsy in Capatineni, near Arges, where Vlad Dracula had once lived, it was noticed that no signs of rigor mortis developed while the body was on view to relatives and friends. When the corpes still remained supple after several days, it was decided the man had become a Vampire and his heart was pierced by a stake before the burial.

Great Britian (1921)
A skeleton believed to be that of a woman, which was found in St Osyth in Essex, may have been that of a Vampire - because the remains had been bound wirh rope and nails driven through the thigh bones to prevent it from rising from the grave.

France (1926)
A Vampire was reported to be on the loose at Nuport near Gisors hen a body completely drained of blood was discovered. The corpes was also covered in small teeth marks. This outrage matched reports of similar occurences dating back at least a century, but despite extensive searches, no trace of the culprit has yet been found. In 1974, several tombs were discovered to have been rifled in this same locality.

Peter Kurten

"Vampire of Dusseldorf"

Born in Cologne-Mulheim on the 26 May 1883, third of thirteen children of a brutal, alcholic, incestuous father. Peter's father was in the habit of beating his wife and children mercilessly when drunk, and young Peter's childhood was punctuated by these violent outbursts. Later, his father was imprisoned for attempting incest with one of Peter's sisters. At the age of five, Peter tried to drown one of his playmates, and not long afterwards became an unofficial assistant to the local dog-catcher, rounding up and destroying strays. Seduced, around age nine, to cruelty by the sadistic dog-catcher, he grew powerfully bonded to a sexuality fused with blood and suffereing.

Yugoslavia (1936)
When several Vampire attacks were reported in the vicinity of the castle of Herdody in Varazdin, an investigation led searchers to the grave of a yound woman who had died in the thirteenth century. Although nothing was found in the tomb, when it was wxorcised with holy water and prayers the attacks ceased.

West Germany (1973)
A man described only as 'Mr Lorca' was confined to an institution for the criminally insane in Hamburg following a series of vampiric attacks. He was said to have spent his days lying in a coffin, ate only raw meat, and at night attacked sleeping victims, biting them in the throat. It was also reported that he believed he was possessed by the spirit of Vlad Dracula.

America (1974)
The Weird Museum in Hollywood, California, claimed to have purchased the missing skeleton of Vlad Dracula, last seen in his tomb at the monastery in Snagov. The remains have been studied by two experts, Carl C. Francis, a professor of anatomy, and medical examiner George Gerber, who believe them to be the genuine remains of a Wallachian prince - although there are those who think the depression in the rib cage where a stake might once have been, and long canine teeth of the skeleton, are just too good to be true.
 

The remains of a suspected Vampire

America (1996)
Richard Wendorf and his wife Ruth of Eustis, Florida, were murdered on November 25, 1996, victims of what was termed a Vampire cult murder in the press. Three days after the murder, 16-year-old Roderick Ferrell of Murrey, Kentuckey, and four other teenagers were arrested. As the story of the case unfolded, it tied the group to the popular role-playing game: Vampire: The Masquerade. A large group in Murrey played the game in which they assumed the role of Vampire characters and developed their parts in what was an ongoing Vampire drama.
Reportedly, Ferrell became caught up in the imaginary world of the game and became the leader of a small group within the larger membership of friends. His more serious approach to the fantasy world led to the disruption of the group, and Ferrell's own break with a close friend who had introduced him to the game.
Ferrell, it seems began to live out his Vampire character. He dressed in black and dyed his hair to match. He began using his Vampire name, Vessago, all the time. After being suspended from school in September 1996, he started a nocturnal life, and the group that hung out with him took on some religous-like trappings of a cult-like nature. They took very seriously the embrace, a term used in the game to describe the transformation of someone into a Vampire. In Ferrell's group, the embrace was not merely symbolic, but actually involved the sharing of blood between group members.
On several occasions during 1996, Ferrell, who previously had lived in Florida, returned there to visit his former girlfriend, Heather Wendorf. Heather joined Ferrell in some blood drinking and later reported that she believed herself to have comuned with spirits during the blood drinking rituals. Then in November 1996, Ferrell and three members of his Murray group headed for Florida, where, after meeting Heather on the afternoon of November 25, they performed a blood-sharing ritual to embrace Heather into her new Vampire life. It was a short time after that ritual that Ferrell led in the blugeoning to death of her parents. A V sign surrounded by circular marks was burned into her fathers body. The group, including Heather, fled to Louisiana where they where arrested on Thanksgiving Day.
Following Ferrell's arrest, the press briefly questioned the role of Vampire: The Masquerade in the crime, but soon concluded, as in the case of several suicides among players of Dungeons and Dragons, that the game did not act as a causative factor in the teenagers' actions. The game may have supplied Ferrell with content for his imaginary world, but had it not been present, some other fantasy would have been created as a vehicle for his sociopathology.
Ferrell's trial occured in February 1998. He was charged with murder and the three who came to from Kentucky with him with lesser charges. Heather Wendorf was not charged and served as a major witness. Ferrell pleased guilty, he was sentenced to the electric chair.
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