Showing posts with label Arnold Paole (Arnold Paul). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arnold Paole (Arnold Paul). Show all posts
Political Vampires
Taken from The London Magazine, May 1732, courtesy of University of Michigan and Google
Vampires in Myth and History
Vampire myths go back thousands of years and occur in almost every culture around the world. Their variety is almost endless; from red eyed monsters with green or pink hair in China to the Greek Lamia which has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged serpent; from vampire foxes in Japan to a head with trailing entrails known as the Penanggalang in Malaysia.
However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.
However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.
Count Dracula and the Folkloric Vampire: Thirteen Comparisons
“There are such beings as vampires ...The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once.” -- Van Helsing (Dracula 286-87)
Western European words such as vampire (English and French) and vampiros (Spanish) derive from vampir which occurs in the Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian languages. The term entered the mainstream press of Western Europe during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century along with sensational reports of “vampire plagues” from Eastern Europe. The original vampir of Slavic folklore was indeed a revenant who left his grave in corporeal form (at least in appearance -- there are cases where the revenant was considered to be the spirit of the dead person), brought death to the living, and returned to his grave periodically. There were other Slavic names for such revenants such as vorkudlak (Serbo-Croatian), obour (Bulgarian), upir (Russian, Ukranian, and Polish). But the name vampire became so fixated in western Europe that it has come to be applied to all the corporeal revenants bringing death to the living which occur in the folk beliefs of Eastern Europe.
Western European words such as vampire (English and French) and vampiros (Spanish) derive from vampir which occurs in the Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian languages. The term entered the mainstream press of Western Europe during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century along with sensational reports of “vampire plagues” from Eastern Europe. The original vampir of Slavic folklore was indeed a revenant who left his grave in corporeal form (at least in appearance -- there are cases where the revenant was considered to be the spirit of the dead person), brought death to the living, and returned to his grave periodically. There were other Slavic names for such revenants such as vorkudlak (Serbo-Croatian), obour (Bulgarian), upir (Russian, Ukranian, and Polish). But the name vampire became so fixated in western Europe that it has come to be applied to all the corporeal revenants bringing death to the living which occur in the folk beliefs of Eastern Europe.
Werewolf and Vampire!
FRIGHTENING!
If you haven’t been clawed, drained, ripped, bitten or sucked yet, don’t go off guard. I interviewed vampire buffs, visited graveyards, consulted skeptics, and searched the literature.
The truth that I dug up is as frightening as the fiction. Savage attacks by putrid vampires and howling werewolves still occur.
If you haven’t been clawed, drained, ripped, bitten or sucked yet, don’t go off guard. I interviewed vampire buffs, visited graveyards, consulted skeptics, and searched the literature.
The truth that I dug up is as frightening as the fiction. Savage attacks by putrid vampires and howling werewolves still occur.
Vampires in Myth and History
Vampire myths go back thousands of years and occur in almost every culture around the world. Their variety is almost endless; from red eyed monsters with green or pink hair in China to the Greek Lamia which has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged serpent; from vampire foxes in Japan to a head with trailing entrails known as the Penanggalang in Malaysia.
However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.
However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.
Arnold Paole and His Successors
This is one of the instances in folklore where a person is turned into a vampire by another such creature. Arnold Paole was a Serbian soldier who lived in the early 1700s. While alive, he admitted that he witnessed and was part of some ghastly occurrences. Paole said that while he was in Gossowa (in Turkish Serbia), he was attacked by a vampire. The people of that are and era believed that the only way to rid oneself of a troublesome vampire was to eat some of the earth from its grave and smear oneself with the creature's blood. Paole claimed to have done just that, although it is unclear how he obtained some of the vampire's blood.
The Story of Arnold Paole
The story of Arnod Paole is one of the few vampire histories that has been sufficiently documented over the years to lend it historical validity. In the spring of 1727, Arnod Paole returned from service in the military to settle in his home town of Meduegna, near Belgrade. He bought some land, built a home and established himself in the community. After a short time, he was betrothed to a local girl whose father's land bordered his, and the two were wed.
Visum et Repertum
Foreword:
"Visum et Repertum - (Seen and Discovered) Written by Johann Flückinger (1732). This writing was based on perhaps, one of the most famous vampires in history, Arnold Paole(Paul). The case of Arnold Paole took place in the Serbian village of Meduegna in 1727-1728, following a second epidemic near Belgrade in 1732. When reports of this epidemic reached Vienna, the Austrian Emperor ordered a inquiry to be conducted by Regimental Field Surgeon Johannes Flückinger. Flückinger wrote a full report on his investigation and presented it to the Emperor. Shortly thereafeter, Flückinger's report was published and became a best seller. By March of 1732, the accounts of the vampire activities reached the periodicals of England and France. Due to it's in depth documentation, this writing became the future center of studies and molded many views on vampire beliefs. It also had much influence with two catholic scholars, Dom Augustin Calmet and Giuseppe Davanzati, who prepared books on vampirism in the middle of the century..
"Visum et Repertum - (Seen and Discovered) Written by Johann Flückinger (1732). This writing was based on perhaps, one of the most famous vampires in history, Arnold Paole(Paul). The case of Arnold Paole took place in the Serbian village of Meduegna in 1727-1728, following a second epidemic near Belgrade in 1732. When reports of this epidemic reached Vienna, the Austrian Emperor ordered a inquiry to be conducted by Regimental Field Surgeon Johannes Flückinger. Flückinger wrote a full report on his investigation and presented it to the Emperor. Shortly thereafeter, Flückinger's report was published and became a best seller. By March of 1732, the accounts of the vampire activities reached the periodicals of England and France. Due to it's in depth documentation, this writing became the future center of studies and molded many views on vampire beliefs. It also had much influence with two catholic scholars, Dom Augustin Calmet and Giuseppe Davanzati, who prepared books on vampirism in the middle of the century..
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