How Vampires Rose Out of A Murderous Medical Mystery

Science Behind the Myth: Vampire Folklore

In the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains, a peculiar scene unfolded in January 1732. In a small Serbian village called Medveda, 40 graves were exhumed, of which 13 were identified as vampires. This event, seemingly ripped from the pages of gothic horror, was in fact a serious medical investigation led by Dr. Johannes Flückinger, a regiment medical officer dispatched to a remote village at the edge of the Habsburg Empire.

Dr. Flückinger's report on this incident would become the most thoroughly documented and circulated vampire narrative in the world, sparking a wave of vampire hysteria across Europe. But what the good doctor encountered in Medveda was not the work of supernatural forces, but rather a complex brew of misunderstood science and deeply rooted cultural fears.

Johannes Fluckinger’s Report

The Birth of a Myth

The concept of vampires, as we understand them today, didn't exist in European minds prior to 1730. The Medveda incident, along with similar reports from the region, laid the groundwork for what would eventually become one of the most enduring mythologies in Western culture to this day.

Paul Barber, a historian at UCLA, suggests that these vampire stories offer a unique window into how society grappled with the mysteries of death and disease.

Indeed, the "evidence" of vampirism found in Medveda - fresh blood seeping from mouths and noses, undecayed bodies even after two months, and wounds that refused to heal - can all be explained by modern forensic science.

(Bonus: read to the end to see my vampire costume from last year inspired by the show What We Do In The Shadows!)