Buzz
While Dracula and Vlad the Impaler often come to mind when discussing vampires, modern audiences might also reference True Blood, The Lost Boys, or the glittering vampires of Twilight. However, many chilling vampire stories are rooted in actual historical events or figures, such as . . .
10. Peter Plogojowitz
Peter Plogojowitz, an 18th-century Serbian man, met his end like everyone does—or so it seemed. Shortly after his death, nine villagers succumbed to a strange illness, each claiming Peter had attacked them in their dreams. His son even reported seeing him alive in their kitchen, demanding food, before mysteriously passing away. Fearing for her life, Peter’s wife fled after he allegedly returned one night to ask for his shoes.
The military was summoned, and Peter’s corpse was dug up. Witnesses claimed he was still breathing, his eyes wide open and shifting. A stake was driven through his heart, causing a dramatic, Tarantino-like spray of blood, and his remains were set ablaze. Immediately after, the mysterious deaths and haunting dreams stopped.
9. The Alnwick Castle Vampire
The Alnwick Castle vampire story predates the term 'vampire' itself. An English chronicler, William of Newburgh, documented the tale of a man who came back to life after dying while spying on his unfaithful wife—he fell from the roof. He returned as a revenant, a decaying corpse that spread disease wherever it went.
A priest eventually led a group of villagers to the vampire’s grave. They opened it and pierced the corpse with a shovel. Fresh, warm blood flowed from the body, confirming their belief that it had been feeding on the living (this occurred nearly 800 years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula). They burned the body, and the attacks ended.
8. Highgate Vampire
In 1969, bloodless animal carcasses—bearing neck wounds—were discovered in London’s Highgate Cemetery. Witnesses then described encountering a towering, shadowy figure radiating malevolence with a piercing, hypnotic gaze. One individual recounted becoming disoriented while attempting to exit the cemetery, only to come face-to-face with the Highgate Vampire, which paralyzed him with its stare before vanishing.
Media coverage attracted hordes of amateur vampire hunters, who ransacked graves and prompted conservationists to push for nighttime cemetery closures. Over time, sightings of the vampire dwindled.
7. Sava Savanovic
Ghosts are terrifying, but a ghost vampire? That’s even worse. Enter Sava Savanovic, a Serbian vampire who haunted an ancient mill, preying on unsuspecting travelers and millers who ventured near after sunset.
Unlike other vampires, Savanovic wasn’t destroyed or driven away. Locals say he simply ceased his attacks. The mill he inhabited was inherited through generations, but no one dared repair it, fearing his wrath. Eventually, it crumbled. Now, rumors suggest he’s awakened from his long dormancy and is wandering the Serbian countryside, seeking a new dwelling. Even the local council has issued warnings, though it’s likely a tourist board ploy—or so we hope.
6. The Vampire Of Croglin Grange
In the 1800s, the Cranwell Family moved into Croglin Grange in Cumbria. Lady Cranwell observed eerie lights in the garden but dismissed them—until she awoke to find glowing eyes staring through her window.
Paralyzed with fear, Lady Cranwell watched as the creature outside removed the window panes, reached in with a decayed hand, and unlatched the window. Her brothers rushed to her aid upon hearing her screams, only to find her bleeding heavily from the neck as a shadowy, feline figure vanished into the night.
Determined to end the threat, the brothers devised a plan. They returned to the estate and set a trap. Lady Cranwell feigned sleep in the same room where the attack occurred. When the vampire attempted to enter again, the brothers ambushed it with pistols, wounding it as it fled. The next day, they led a mob to the graveyard, discovering an open crypt filled with gnawed bones and a bullet-riddled, decaying corpse. They promptly burned it.
5. Jure Grando
Jure Grando, a peasant from Istria, Croatia, died in 1656 but reportedly haunted the local villagers for 16 years posthumously. Historical records label him as a 'strigon,' the regional term for a vampire.
Jure Grando holds a significant place in vampire lore as the first individual officially referred to as a 'vampire.' Villagers claimed he roamed at night, knocking on doors—those who answered met their demise. He also harassed his widow for intimacy. Fed up with his reign of terror, a priest confronted him with a cross, overpowering him. The priest and villagers pursued him to his grave, exhumed his body, and beheaded it.
4. The Hunderprest Of Melrose Abbey
The 'Hunderprest' was an 11th-century priest from Melrose Abbey in Scotland, known for his love of hunting with dogs on horseback. His nickname, meaning 'dog priest,' reflected this unusual hobby.
The tale of the Melrose Abbey vampire dates back to around 1138. The Hunderprest, a morally questionable man in life, returned as a revenant after death, compelled to drink the blood of the innocent and transform into a bat. The abbey’s monks initially tolerated his undead antics—until he began harassing his former mistress for intimacy.
Fearing for their safety, the monks and priests united to stop him. They kept vigil at his grave, where he rose each night. In an uncharacteristically aggressive move, the monks struck him with an axe, ending his undead existence. They burned his body and scattered his ashes, but some believe his spirit still lingers in the area.
3. Elizabeth Bathory: The Blood Countess
Elizabeth Bathory is one of history’s most infamous figures, second only to Vlad the Impaler in vampire lore. Unlike Vlad, who inspired vampire legends, Bathory allegedly drank and bathed in blood. A 16th-century Romanian countess, she delighted in torturing peasants, using methods ranging from beatings and stabbings to freezing victims to death in icy water.
Whispers of Elizabeth Bathory’s vampirism began when stories surfaced of her bathing in the blood of young girls. Some claim she did this to retain her youth, though historians debate whether this detail was added later. Eventually, she was imprisoned within her castle, left in a confined space with only air and food until her death years later.
2. The Gorbals Vampire
This story began with rumors of an iron-toothed vampire lurking in Gorbals graveyard in Glasgow, Scotland, allegedly abducting two children. Soon, the graveyard was swarmed with children armed with sticks and knives, determined to hunt the creature.
Officials dismissed the incident as mass hysteria fueled by American comics like Tales From The Crypt. However, no comics from that era featured iron-toothed vampires. Was the vampire real, a figment of imagination, or simply frightened away by the mob of armed Glaswegian children?
1. The Vampires Of New England
Vampire lore was rare in America until a chilling discovery in 1990 in Griswold, Connecticut. A grave from the 1700s contained farmers’ remains, one of which was decapitated and arranged into a skull-and-crossbones formation.
This wasn’t mere grave robbery, as the desecration occurred a decade after death, and no valuables were taken. It echoed a similar case in Jewett City, where 29 bodies were exhumed and burned, suggesting a vampire panic. The most notorious incident involved Mercy Brown, who died of tuberculosis. After her family began dying mysteriously, her body was exhumed, found unusually preserved, and burned to halt the curse.
