Petar Blagojevich

Petar Blagojevich (Serbian form: Petar Blagojevi/ ; died 1725) was a Serbian peasant
who was believed to have become a vampire after his
death and to have killed nine of his fellow villagers. The
case was one of the earliest, most sensational and most
well documented cases of vampire hysteria. It was described in the report of Imperial Provisor Frombald, an
ocial of the Austrian administration, who witnessed the
staking of Blagojevich.

the characteristics associated with vampires in local belief were indeed present. The body was undecomposed,
the hair and beard were grown, there were new skin and
nails (while the old ones had peeled away), and blood
could be seen in the mouth. After that, the people, who
grew more outraged than distressed, proceeded to stake
the body through the heart, which caused a great amount
of completely fresh blood to ow through the ears and
mouth of the corpse. Finally, the body was burned.
Frombald concludes his report on the case with the request that, in case these actions were found to be wrong,
he should not be blamed for them, as the villagers were
beside themselves with fear. The authorities apparently
did not consider it necessary to take any measures regarding the incident.

The case

Petar Blagojevich lived in a village named Kisilova (possibly the modern Kisiljevo), in the part of Serbia that temporarily passed from Ottoman into Austrian hands after
the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718) and was ceded back to
the Ottomans with the Treaty of Belgrade (1739) (see
Arnold Paole - Background for more details on the historical context). Blagojevich died in 1725, and his death
was followed by a spate of other sudden deaths (after
very short maladies, reportedly of about 24 hours each).
Within eight days, nine persons perished. On their deathbeds, the victims allegedly claimed to have been throttled by Blagojevich at night. Furthermore, Blagojevichs
wife stated that he had visited her and asked her for his
opanci (shoes); she then moved to another village. In
other legends, it is said that Blagojevich came back to his
house demanding food from his son and, when the son refused, Blagojevich brutally murdered him. The villagers
decided to disinter the body and examine it for signs of
vampirism, such as growing hair, beard and nails, and the
absence of decomposition.

The report on this event was among the rst documented

testimonies about vampire beliefs in Eastern Europe.
It was published by Wienerisches Diarium, a Viennese
newspaper, today known as Die Wiener Zeitung. Along
with the report of the very similar Arnold Paole case of
1726-1732, it was widely translated West and North, contributing to the vampire craze of the eighteenth century
in Germany, France and England. The strange phenomena or appearances that the Austrian ocials witnessed
are now known to accompany the natural process of the
decomposition of the body.[1]

1.1 Commentary
In De masticatione mortuorum in tumulis (1725), Michal
Ranft attempted to explain folk beliefs in vampires.[2] He
writes that, in the event of the death of every villager,
some other person or peoplemost likely a person related to the rst deadwho saw or touched the corpse,
would eventually die either of some disease related to exposure to the corpse or of a frenetic delirium caused by
the panic of merely seeing the corpse. These dying people would say that the dead man had appeared to them
and tortured them in many ways. The other people in the
village would exhume the corpse to see what it had been
doing. He gives the following explanation when talking
about the case of Petar Blagojevich:

The inhabitants of Kisilova demanded that Kameralprovisor Frombald, along with the local priest, should be
present at the procedure as a representative of the administration. Frombald tried to convince them that permission from the Austrian authorities in Belgrade should
be sought rst. The locals declined because they feared
that by the time the permission came, the whole community could be exterminated by the vampire, which they
claimed had already happened in Turkish times (i.e.
when the village was still in the Ottoman-controlled part
of Serbia). They demanded that Frombald himself should
immediately permit the procedure or else they would
abandon the village to save their lives. Frombald was
forced to consent.

This brave man perished by a sudden or

violent death. This death, whatever it is, can
provoke in the survivors the visions they had
after his death. Sudden death gives rise to inquietude in the familiar circle. Inquietude has
sorrow as a companion. Sorrow brings melan-

Together with the Veliko Gradite priest, he viewed the

already exhumed body and was astonished to nd that
1

5
choly. Melancholy engenders restless nights
and tormenting dreams. These dreams enfeeble body and spirit until illness overcomes and,
eventually, death.

REFERENCES

5 References
[1] Ruickbie, Leo, 'Vampire Autopsies, Fortean Times, 288
(Special Issue, 2012), 44-8.
[2] Bunson, Vampire Encyclopedia, p. 63.

Kisiljevo revisited

Recently, the story has sparked some interest in the village of Kisiljevo among some Serbian journalists. According to Belgrade newspaper Glas javnosti, which cites
local ocial Bogii, the villagers are unable to identify Blagojevichs grave and don't know whether the local family that bears that surname is related to him. One
person recalled stories of a certain female vampire by the
name of Rua Vlajna, who was believed to haunt the village in more recent times, in the lifetime of her grandfather. She would make her presence felt by hitting pots
hanging from roofs and was seen walking on the surface
of the Danube, but it is unknown whether she was ever
staked.[3]

See also
Arnold Paole
Mercy Brown vampire incident

Sources
Bunson, Matthew (1993). The Vampire Encyclopedia. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-50027748-6.
Frombald (1725). Copia eines Schreibens aus dem
Gradisker District in Ungarn. (the original report
in German), Kayserliche Hof-Buchdruckerey (a private english translation of the report)
Nowosadtko, Jutta (2004). Der Vampyrus Serviensis und sein Habitat: Impressionen von der sterreichischen Militrgrnze. In: Militr und Gesellschaft
in der Frhen Neuzeit. 8 (2004). Heft 2. Universittsverlag Potsdam.
Ranft, Michael (1728). De masticatione mortuorum
in tumulis (aka De la mastication des morts dans leurs
tombeaux or Tractat von dem Kauen und Schmatzen
der Todten in Grbern), Leipzig: Teubners Buchladen
Ruickbie, Leo, 'Vampire Autopsies, Fortean Times,
288 (Special Issue, 2012), 44-8
Summers, Montague (2003). The Vampire in Europe 1929. Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 07661-3576-4

[3] Pera svrgnuo Savu Savanovia. By Duanka Novkovi

Glas javnosti 26-04-2006.

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