Outbreaks of the Balkan Village Vampire in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

In the cultural memory of the Western world, vampires are inextricably linked to Transylvania through the Dracula novel (1897) by the Anglo-Irish author Bram Stoker. In fact, however, this region is considered to play only a minor role in the actual genesis of the cultural “phantasma,”  whose true – and perhaps accidental – historical epicenter lies in Serbia, as this chapter shows. In general, it can be said that vampire folklore emerged mostly in the border lands and contact zones of the great empires of Europe. After some spectacular occurences in Serbia in 1725 and 1731–32, the undead blooksuckers as we know them were “born” to inspire the imagination of the living worldwide: a case of cultural transfer and potential misinterpretation under almost colonial circumstances, as will be claimed. Furthermore, links with other old European revenants and the concept of liminalty will be established.