Serbian village stakes claim to the first vampire
Pushing through thick scrub, local historian Nenad Mihajlovic pulls back branches to reveal the gravesite. According to locals, it is the long-lost burial site of Petar Blagojevic, known as the father of vampires.
Backed by historical record, Mihajlovic and his fellow villagers hope Kisiljevo, about 100 kilometres east of the capital, Belgrade, can stake its claim as the cradle of vampires and suck in tourists.
It was here, in the summer of 1725, well before Irish writer Bram Stoker made Transylvania Dracula's infamous home, that villagers exhumed Blagojevic's body, suspecting him of rising from the grave at night to kill locals.
"Petar Blagojevic was found completely intact," recalled Mirko Bogicevic, a former village mayor whose family has lived there for 11 generations.
"When they drove a hawthorn stake through him, fresh red blood flowed from his mouth and ears," said Bogicevic, Blagojevic's unofficial biographer.
"He was probably just an ordinary man who had the fortune – or misfortune – to become a vampire.
All we know is that he came from Kisiljevo, and his name appears in records from around 1700," he added, holding a copy of the Wienerisches Diarium, the imperial Viennese gazette dated July 21, 1725.
The article marks the beginning of the Kisiljevo vampire.
Based on accounts from Austrian doctors and military officials, it was likely a mistranslation that gave rise to the myth, said Clemens Ruthner, head of the Centre for European Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
"There's an old Bulgarian word, Upior, meaning 'bad person'. I believe the villagers mumbled it, and the doctors misunderstood, writing down 'vampire' in their report," Ruthner said.
The Austrians, who were dispatched to the border region of the Habsburg Empire to investigate a series of unexplained deaths, then saw blood coming from the body.
"They assumed blood drinking. But that's wrong – it's not what the villagers said."
Instead, people described victims dying from suffocation, detailing symptoms that closely match with a high fever caused by a serious infection, according to Ruthner.
He suggested an anthrax outbreak may explain the strange deaths.
"Vampirism, like witchcraft, is, in anthropological terms, a common model for explaining things people don't understand – especially collective events like epidemics."
Three centuries later, few have visited Kisiljevo, a sleepy village nestled between cornfields and a lake, but some locals are determined to change that.
Lost through time and superstition, Blagojevic's grave was rediscovered using a suitably arcane method, hunting for "energy nodes" with a dowsing rod.
"This tomb, whose gravestone has weathered over the centuries, showed signs of something very unusual," Mihajlovic added, gesturing to the stone believed to mark the alleged burial plot.
"Right next to where we are standing, something truly strange happened – the dowsing rods literally plunged into the soil. The dowser had never seen anything like it."
But the alleged bloodsucker is no longer there – once dug up, his body was burned, and his ashes scattered in a nearby lake.
Beyond the demonic undead, promoting other folklore has a "huge potential" to lure tourists and investors to the region, Dajana Stojanovic, head of the local tourism office, said.
"Our region is rich in myths and legends – not just the story of Petar Blagojevic, but also Vlach magic and unique local customs," she added, referring to the semi-nomadic traders and shepherds who once roamed the Balkans. "Every village has its traditions."
However, for Mihajlovic, it is about presenting an accurate history of his town – one he firmly believes in.
"We have a fully documented account of an extremely unusual event - one officially identified as a case of vampirism," the 68-year-old history professor said.
"I personally believe in the authenticity of that report."
He isn't alone. Bottles of rakija – Serbian brandy – infused with garlic and chilli are still kept in a few homes around the village. Just in case.
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