Historical Vampires - Part 1

Peter Plogojowitz Peter Plogojowitz was a man from 1700s Serbia who died (don’t we all?). Except—according to some—he didn’t really stay dead. Within 10 weeks of his death, nine people died suddenly from a mystery illness, and prior to their deaths they all accused Peter Plogojowitz of throttling them in their dreams. Peter’s own son reported seeing him in the kitchen three days after his death, demanding food—before he also died mysteriously. Peter’s wife fled town after she alleged he’d shown up late one night to demand a pair of shoes. The army was called in, and Peter’s body was exhumed. It was reported that he was breathing and that his open eyes were moving. A stake was put through his heart, resulting in a Tarantino-esque gushing of blood, and his body burned. The deaths and dreams all ended abruptly.

The Alnwick Castle Vampire The Alnwick Castle vampire actually predates the term “vampire.” The events were recorded by an English chronicler named William of Newburgh. He reported the story of a man who returned from the dead after he died while spying on his cheating wife—he was crouched on the roof and fell. He then returned as a revenant—a walking, rotting corpse—spreading plague in his wake. Eventually, a priest gathered some of his parishioners and found the vampire’s grave. They opened it and stabbed the corpse with a shovel. Warm blood ran from the body and confirmed their suspicions that it had been drinking the blood of the living (remember this was almost 800 years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula). They burned the body, and the attacks ceased.

Sava Savanovic The only thing scarier than vampires is ghosts. But imagine something scarier still: a ghost vampire. Say hello to Sava Savanovic. Sava was a Serbian vampire who lived in an old mill and fed on unwary travelers and millers who approached the mill after dark.

Savanovic wasn’t killed or driven off like most of the other bloodsuckers on this list. According to locals, he simply stopped attacking villagers. Meanwhile, the mill where he lived was passed down generation after generation, each new owner too scared to repair the building until it eventually collapsed. Now locals report that he’s awoken from his long slumber and roams the Serbian countryside—looking for a new home. And it’s not just superstitious locals making these claims. The actual council themselves are the ones who put out the warning. Of course it’s probably a publicity stunt by the area’s tourist board—we hope.

The Vampire Of Croglin Grange

This event began in the 1800s when the Cranwell Family took up residence in Groglin Range in Cumbria. Lady Cranwell noticed strange lights in the garden below, but thought nothing of it until she woke to find the lights at her window—but they weren’t lights. They were eyes. Lady Cranwell was frozen in terror as she saw the thing outside her window remove the panes one by one before reaching a rotten hand through and opening the latch. Her brothers heard her screaming and ran in to help her, arriving just in time to see her bleeding profusely from the neck as a catlike figure darted out into the darkness. The brothers decided to slay the vampire. Some time later, they returned to the estate and set a trap. Lady Cranwell pretended to sleep in the same room the original attack happened in. When the vampire tried to come through the window again, the brothers jumped out with pistols and shot at it. It screamed and ran off into the night. The next day, the brothers gathered an angry mob and searched the graveyard until they found an open crypt. Inside were gnawed bones and an open coffin containing a rotten corpse with a recent bullet wound. Needless to say, they burned it.