non-fiction vampire books [as in proposed as scientific books at the time]

I’ve got quite a few e-mails asking me for reading recommendations, readings that actually treat the subject in a scientific way, not Twilight. So… this post is intended for those people.

A lot of people are apparently doing research on vampires from fiction books, which is… ironic. No, I’m not using the word ironic wrong, it really is ironic, but you can’t see the irony if you don’t know the story below.

Anyway, apart from the short stories posted in the documents section of the website, I am proposing in this post right here, a series of books, which are really old and I seriously doubt you can find them, however, if you do have the time, you might find microfilms or copies on the books. Forget about finding them online.

The first scientific book on vampires, as it is widely accepted, is named “Magia Posthuma” and you will not find the term vampire in it because at the time the term didn’t even exist yet. It is a book written in 1706 by Karl Ferdinand von Schertz.

I could only find a copy of this book by going straight to the National Museum in the Czech Republic, in Prague. I didn’t go all the way there but I did manage to snatch a microfilm of it from someone.

This is a really old and really scientific book written on the phenomenon of vampirism – people who went dead and then returned to reign terror. I would take the “dead” lightly, with a grain of salt.

There is a blog, named after the book, who deals with this book and others of its stature in great detail. I highly encourage you to pay that blog a visit. You can find it here http://magiaposthuma.blogspot.com

What I can offer you is a chronicle of detailed events or reported cases, a chronicle even older than the previous book, a chronicle that is actually debated and presented in the book itself.

However, there is a catch: because the chronicle is so old, it’s written in Latin. So, if you can read Latin, then you’re in luck. It’s called Iohannis Neplachonis Chronican, just in case you might find it translated someplace. But if not, here is the Latin one.

Here you can find a full bibliography with books that treat the issue seriously, in a non-fiction way. Old books, many of them hard to obtain, but books that exist nonetheless.

And now, my favorite one, is a book called “Diss. de hominibvs post mortem sangvisvgis, vulgo sic dictis Vampyren” – again, this book is in Latin. However, it is easier to find. I believe you can also buy it online, by some miracle, although not printed, but photocopied. In any case, here is the preview available on Google Books. The title loosely translated to “Dissertation on men who suck blood (are bloodsuckers) after death, commonly called Vampyren””

There are many, many more books which treat the subject more seriously that what you find today, but these three books are pretty old and very interesting to read. So, if you have the time and interest, go for it.

Related articles

• Real vampires are not pure fiction… (demonizerdoom.wordpress.com)
• The Effect Of Fiction On Perception Of Vampire Reality (housevalur.wordpress.com)

guest article: vampire accounts in mass-media – a methodological approach to the study of vampirism.

On my quest for more research about the subject, because of some readers accusing me (well, not accusing, but condemning the fact that I’ve only posted two or three stories like the ones below and then saying there are hundreds) that I’m exaggerating, I have come while scanning for sources across a very good blog which focuses less on the “imaginative” side of the myths like I’ve been pointed to be, and more on the “research” side.

I have started talking with the author of this blog who is more interested in just historical accounts, facts, books, manuscripts, sources that can be confirmed.

I invited the author of the blog ( http://thevampiresrealm.com/ ) to be a guest author for one article on my blog. The author accepted and below you have the result, a list compiled by the author.

This is a list of the most well-known vampire accounts, with a focus on the ones that can be actually verified through mass-media (they have been present in newspapers and magazines).

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The Alnwick Vampire was a man with a score to settle.
The Melrose Abbey Vampire kept trying to return to his village and enter his former church.
The shoemaker of Silesia was the first vampire case reported in Europe and was the “result” of a suicide.
Johannes Cuntius was believed to have made a pact with the devil and suspected of being the undead after death.
Peter Plogojwitz had a lot of people claim that he was visiting them during the night even after his death.
Arnold Paole stood at the very core of the vampire hysteria that swept across the continent in the 18th century and that was based on a very poor understanding of the decay process.
Visum et Repertum [english version of the document that tells the story of A. Paole]
The Eywanschitz Vampire account is based on a text by Erasmus Franci.
The Varna Vampires are known as a “pack” and even vampire hunters are involved.
Michael Caspareck may seam more of a rumor to some.
The Wollschläger vampire remained an enigma for those that covered his story…
The vampire of Ivanovka was considered a vampire after rumors of his suicide started to surface.
The Radojevo Vampire was also inspected by authorities and dealt with accordingly.
The Sarbanovac vampire was accused by a priest and the locals proceeded to the “extermination” of the undead.
Sarah Tillinghast was the first of the Rhode Island Vampires.
Mercy Brown – the sad story of a supposed vampire.
Nancy Young was the eldest daughter of Capt Levi Young.
Abigail Staples was exhumed “in order to try an experiment” to save the life of another daughter, Livina Chase.
Lemuel and Elisha Ray – truly a strange story indeed; read and try to understand.
J.B. – the only corpse that presents signs of rearrangement in the New England area.
Ruth Ellen Rose [or Phebe Rose] – Records on this matter are not very clear.
Rachel Harris was  a healthy, beautiful girl when she married but after less than a year she weathered away. Her husband remarried. and she was suspected of coming back to torment the new bride.
Petre Toma was for a time the most recent “vampire” of Romania but he remains the most famous to this day.
The vampire of Afumati was covered in mystery until the locals started to give a couple of hints to a Romanian interviewer.
The vampire of Amarasesti was supposed to have survived an anti-vampire ritual so more drastic measures were taken.
The cripple of Cujmir is one of the few cases where the judgement was based on a distinct sign from during the lifetime of the suspect.
The vampire of Cujmir Perhaps the most interesting thing about this case is the fact that the vampire isn`t immobile during the vanquishing ritual.
The vampire of Vaguilesti – “They got together brushwood, shavings, and bits of old crosses, they poured wine on her, they put in straw, and set fire to the whole.”

Below I list a couple of cases that happened recently and were considered a media sensations… (later debunked or solved).

The Highgate Vampire [A media sensation in London from the late 1960s, if focused around a famous Victorian cemetery].
The Cesky Krumlow incident drew a lot of attention and a lot of speculations were made about the identity of the skeletons uncovered.
Eleonore von Schwarzenberg as presented in many documentary-type movies.
Irina Ciorobea – assumed vampire from modern-day Romania; she was actually exhumed 3 times and the family was never tried for it.
Ghiulten Memedali – the supposed vampire of Medgidia turned out to be an innocent since it was later discovered that the manifestations were invented by  her family members.

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Now keep in mind: I, under no circumstance, adhere to any of the articles above. I do not condemn or agree with them. It is simply reading that you might want to do. I have no connection with them, I do not have an opinion on any of them.

They are not related to my blog or my story. It is a list because I’ve been asked for one, and I’m now delivering.

If you want to know more and read more in this direction, including lists of nearly all vampire movies made, books written and poetry plus literature about vampires, and many more such documents pertaining to the research, science approach to the matter, the please visit the author’s of this blog website, http://www.thevampiresrealm.com/ where you can do just that.

I’d like to thank the author of the blog for taking the time in compiling this list and being a guest on this blog.