Peter Plogojowitz

Peter Plogojowitz is a vampire of legend.

The business

Plogojowitz was a peasant Serbe who died in 1725 at the 62 years age in his native village of Kisilova, dictrict of Rham (officially built-in Hungary). At that time, this part of the Serbia was under Austrian domination, which explains why the Austrian authorities wrote the official report (published on July 21st, 1725 in the Das Wienerishe Diarium). It is probably from there that date the first appearance of the word vampire which followed.

Several stories circulate:

Three days after its death, Plogojowitz returned to its house and required food of his/her son. He ate it and left. Two evenings later, it reappeared and asked again food. His/her son refused and was found died the day following. A little later several villagers died of exhaustion following an excessive heavy bleeding. On their deathbeds, they announced that, in a dream, Plogojowitz had visited them, had bitten them and blood had sucked to them.
According to an alternative, that would have occurred ten weeks after its death, and to the place that Plogojowitz requires food of his/her son, it would have come to ask its shoes his wife, which flees the village shortly after.

The idea that a Vampire prevailed among the alive ones crossed the spirit of the inhabitants of Kislova ; to be ensured some, official (Frombald, that which wrote the report/ratio) was mandé and had to come accompanied by a Pope, to regulate this business, when well even he did not want it. The villagers, who already said to be decimated time of the Turks by a malfaisant spirit, decided to open fall it to see what it was.

The body of Plogojowitz had not broken up (contrary to the Catholic religion, where such a safeguarding is divine sign, the orthodoxe religion regards the not-putrefaction as diabolic). Its body was almost intact, it had a new skin and new nails (old skin and old nails being apparently visible on the ground of the tomb). It had blood which overflowed of its mouth. The villagers had early made manufacture a pile that they inserted in the heart of supposed vampire (which overflowed then of the blood of the mouth and the ears and have an erection), after which they incinerated its skin.

Deaths ceased.

Anecdotes

the village of Kisilova is not very distant from Medvegia, the village where returned Arnold Paole, another famous vampire.
This event marked the first occurrence of the word " Vampire ". (“dergleichen personen, so sic vanpiri nennen”)

Sources

the history was mentioned by the Marquis d' Argens in his Jewish Lettres , in 1729.

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