Vampire Origins: How 18th-Century Horror Shaped a Timeless Monster

by Will DeFour, age 15

Whether you play Dungeons & Dragons, go trick-or-treating, or watch Twilight, you've probably heard stories of pale figures who drink blood and hate garlic. These undead are called vampires and are a classic example of Gothic horror. Yet their history remains mostly unheard and is well worth learning.

The first known mention of a vampire figure dates back nearly 1,000 years to Eastern Europe, where it was called an “Upir.” The origins of this term are unclear, but it may have referred to an “evil spirit” or “witch,” appearing in the folklore of Slavic and Baltic regions. Due to the term’s murky origins and variations, historians have struggled to pinpoint the beginning of vampiric belief.

Though the concept of the vampire is ancient, the term “vampire” itself first appeared in 1725. At that time, Austro-Hungarian authorities heard strange stories from lands taken from the Ottoman Empire. They sent military investigators, who reported a case involving Petar Blagojević, a peasant from Kisiljevo, Serbia, whose exhumed body was staked and burned after villagers claimed he attacked them after death.

Blagojević is one of the first recorded “vampires” and may be the basis for tales we hear today. In July of 1725, villagers claimed that Blagojević, who had died ten weeks prior, attacked and killed nine people in nine days. According to the military report, villagers awoke claiming Blagojević had “laid himself upon them, and throttled them.” Each person suffered from a strange illness for one day before passing away. When his body was exhumed, it appeared lifelike and fresh, even with blood on the lips. A health inspector noted that the corpse seemed “as though recently deceased” rather than decayed.

As tales like this spread across Europe, parties of philosophers, priests, and military officials became the first vampire hunters, investigating reports of vampiric activity. Their ways of dealing with suspected vampires inspired many modern beliefs about vampire weaknesses. During “vampire burials,” bodies were often staked through the heart, sprinkled with holy water, or doused in garlic to prevent reanimation.

Though these stories baffled earlier generations, modern science may offer an explanation: rabies. A rabies outbreak in the 18th century coincided with the rise of vampire stories, and the symptoms of rabies share uncanny similarities with vampire traits. Rabies victims often suffer from insomnia, hydrophobia, and sensitivity to sunlight—associations that mirror classic vampire characteristics.

The vampire myth emerged during times of disease, political turmoil, and religious change, a reflection of society’s fears. From these unsettling times, the vampire legend was born, and to this day, the story of the vampire just won’t die.

[Sources: Smithsonian Magazine; PBS; The Conversation]