| Debates on vampires in the 18th century:
A serious panic concerning vampires existed in the18th century in Eastern Europe. Even government officials were involved to hunt vampires.
The whole thing started with an outburst of complaints regarding vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in Habsburg Monarch during the period 1725 - 1734. Two well-known (for the first time fully documented by the authorities) cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole from Serbia. According to reports, Plogojowitz died at the age of 62 but returned to life a couple of times after his death begging food from his son. The son refused and was found murdered the next day. Soon, Plogojowitz returned and attacked some of the neighbors, who died due to loss of blood.
In another popular case, Arnold Paole, a former soldier, who became a farmer, who was supposedly attacked by a vampire several years ago, died during haymowing. After his death, people started dying and everybody was of opinion that Arnold Paole hunted his neighbors.
These two incidents were very well documented. The government personnel studied the cases and corpses, described them in their reports and books were published only after the Arnold Paole's case and circulated around Europe. An entire generation was involved in debates over the incidents. The issue was aggravated by rural epidemics about so called vampire attacks and local residents started digging the graves. Many scientists stated that vampires do not exist and cited on rabies and premature burials. Nevertheless, Antoine Augustine Calmet, respected French theologian and scholar, collected all the information and in 1746, he published the information in his treatise, in which, he did not confirm the existence of vampires, but at least admitted in the existence of something. He collected information on vampire incidents and numerous readers, including the Voltaire, who was against the existence, and demonologists, supporting Voltaire, received the treatise as affirmation that vampires exist. According to some modern studies and judging by the second edition of the work in 1751, Kalme was somewhat skeptical on the vampires issue. He admitted that some parts of the reports, for instance, preserving the corpses, could be true. Whatever be the personal convictions of Kalme, his clear support for the belief in vampires had considerable influence on other scientists.
In the end, Austrian Empress Maria Theresa sent her personal doctor, Gerhard van Swieten, to investigate the matter. He concluded that vampires do not exist and the Empress passed a rule, prohibiting opening graves and the desecration of bodies. This was the end of the vampire epidemics. Although, by this time, many knew about vampires and soon the authors borrowed and adapted the idea of vampires, making it popular amongst the majority of the population.
New England:
In the 18th and 19th centuries, rumors about vampires not only reached the ears of the king of England, but also spread to New England, particularly Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. In these areas, many documented cases were found, where the family dug up the graves of beloved family members and removed the hearts from corpses, believing that the deceased was a vampire, who was responsible for the illness and death in the family (although the word "vampire" was never used to describe it). It was believed that night visits of people, who died of TB (or "consumption" as it was called during those days) to his family members became the reason for the illness with this disease. The most famous (and latest recorded) case was of 19 yr old Mercy Brown, who died in Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892. Her father, assisted by a family doctor, took her corpse from the grave two months after her death. Her heart was cut out and burned to ashes. Mention of this case was found among the papers of Bram Stoker and the story has a close resemblance to the events in his classic novel "Dracula". |
The new "vampire flying frog" species has been discovered in southern Vietnamese cloud forests.
The frog lives on trees and can't really fly - rather it jumps from tree to tree. Neither does it suck blood, but it didn't stop scientists from calling it vampire flying frog (Latin - Rhacophorus vampyrus). The frog owns its bloodsucking moniker to its tadpole which sports the black fangs. Scientists are yet unsure what these fangs are used for, some suggest that they are useful in hunting and fighting with the frog's natural predators.
