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The Alp: Night Terrors of German Folklore

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Sitting on your chest, crushing you in your sleep, The Alp of Germanic Folklore was said to be a vampiric entity after people’s life force. But where did this creature come from?

In the dark hours between dusk and dawn, when restless dreams twist and turn through the minds of sleepers, a sinister being from old German folklore is said to descend upon its victims. Known as the Alp, this malevolent supernatural creature doesn’t haunt abandoned castles or misty graveyards — instead, it invades the fragile realm of sleep itself, leaving terror and suffocation in its wake.

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A figure of nightmares dating back to medieval Europe, the Alp exists in the shadowy intersection between spirit, demon, and vampire. Sometimes a seductive human, a butterfly, a pig in a magical hat, it has long served as a terrifying explanation for the most intimate of fears: what comes for us when we are most vulnerable, in our beds, under the cover of night.

The Alp And Mare: An Alp is typically male, while the mara and mart appear to be more feminine versions of the same creature. The Alp, in many cases, is considered a demon, but there have been some instances in which the Alp is created from the spirits of recently dead relatives, more akin to a spirit or ghost.

A Creature of the Night

But what was an Alp? There are so many variations of this legend, but mostly it’s a male entity, often the spirit of a recently deceased man. It is also seen in connection to the Germanic Elf, or the otherworldly or underworld creatures. 

It could also be the spirit of a woman who died as a sinner and pregnant. It was also believed that she could create the Alp if she ate something unclean or something that had dwarf spit on it. She could also create an Alp if she did inappropriate gestures during pregnancy or frightened a dog or horse during it. 

Unlike the towering monsters of other myths, the Alp is an insidious tormentor, striking unseen and unfelt until its victim is gripped by an unnatural terror in the midst of sleep. It’s traditionally described as a malevolent spirit or goblin-like being, often invisible, though sometimes appearing in grotesque, human-like forms or even taking on the shape of a cat, dog, snake, or butterfly.

Shapeshifter: The Alp may change into a cat, pig, dog, snake or a small white butterfly and can fly like a bird and ride a horse. The Alp always wears a hat, known as a Tarnkappe which is simply a hat or veil that gives the Alp magic powers and the ability to turn invisible while worn. The hat is visible no matter what shape the Alp takes. An Alp who has lost this hat will offer a great reward for its safe return. The Alp also possesses an “evil eye” whose gaze will inflict illness and misfortune. Removing or damaging this eye also removes the Alp’s malicious intentions.

The Alp’s most feared ability, however, is its power to induce terrifying sleep paralysis — what folklore once called a “nightmare” (the term originally referring not to a bad dream, but to the demon itself).

Victims would wake to find themselves unable to move or cry out, an invisible weight pressing down on their chest as a suffocating dread filled the room. They might hear the Alp’s breath, feel its claw-like fingers at their throat, or see shadowy shapes moving just beyond the edge of reason.

An Appetite for Blood and Breath

The Alp was believed to feed on both the life essence and the blood of its victims, not unlike a vampire. It was said to drink the milk of nursing women and, disturbingly, sometimes the blood from their nipples. Livestock were not safe either — cows found mysteriously drained of milk were often blamed on the Alp’s nocturnal visits.

Another chilling feature of the Alp legend is its association with dreams themselves. The creature was thought to control a sleeper’s dreams, turning them dark and violent, manipulating the victim’s mind as it fed upon their fear.

Nightmare: A haunting depiction of the Alp, a malevolent creature from German folklore, tormenting a sleeping woman in her bed. the German word Alpdruck (literally ‘elf-oppression’) means ‘nightmare’. There is also evidence associating elves with illness, specifically epilepsy. In the early modern period, elves are described in Northern Germany as doing the evil bidding of witches; Martin Luther believed his mother to have been afflicted in this way.

Its favorite targets were said to be those in states of emotional turmoil, the ill, and the vulnerable. It would even sometimes fixate on specific individuals, tormenting them night after night, sometimes also sexually, like a Succubus and Incubus.

Defending Against the Alp

German folklore offered a variety of protective measures against the Alp’s predations. One common method involved placing a broomstick under the pillow, a shoe at the side of the bed with the toes pointing towards the door, or an iron horseshoe hung nearby — symbols meant to confuse or repel the spirit.

It was also believed that calling the Alp by its name could banish it, though given its invisibility and secretive nature, discovering the true identity of an Alp was often impossible.

From Dwarf to Demon: In Teutonic myth and folklore, Alp were considered friendly elf-like beings which lived in the mountains, but eventually turned more negative and malevolent. They were likened more to the moss people or mountain dwelling dwarfs until becoming closer to demonic.

Another curious belief held that binding one’s hair before sleep or keeping the bedroom door slightly ajar would prevent the creature from entering, as the Alp was a creature of rules and compulsions, easily deterred by simple tricks or obstacles.

Echoes in the Modern World

Many modern scholars and folklorists view tales of the Alp as early cultural interpretations of sleep paralysis, a phenomenon still experienced worldwide today. The suffocating weight, inability to move, hallucinated figures, and overwhelming terror described in Alp encounters mirror accounts of sleep paralysis episodes in astonishing detail.

Yet even with the benefit of modern science, the age-old fear persists. There’s something uniquely unsettling about the idea of being helpless within your own home, your own bed — and perhaps that’s why the legend of the Alp continues to cast a long, dark shadow in the collective memory of Europe.

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The Ghosts Haunting the Ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle

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Around the ruins of the once grand Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland, England, the ghost stories are covered by a thick veil of sea mist. From legends of a gallant knight to the Queen from the War of Roses, the abandoned fortress is not quite empty.

High upon the storm-battered cliffs of Northumberland, along the bleak, windswept edge of the North Sea, the desolate ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle loom against the sea misty horizon. It used to once be the largest castle in Northumberland and a garrison against Scotland, but only fragments remain of its grand past. 

Today, the 14th century castle’s skeletal remains offer a hauntingly beautiful backdrop for coastal walks — but for those who linger too long after dusk, this crumbling fortress whispers tales of bloodshed, betrayal, and restless spirits.

The Grim Legacy of Thomas Plantagenet

Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster: (c. 1278 – 22 March 1322) was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition to his first cousin, King Edward II. Soon after Thomas’s death, miracles were reported at his tomb at Pontefract, and he became venerated as a martyr and saint.

Dunstanburgh Castle was born of ambition and rebellion. Built in 1313 by Thomas Plantagenet, the Second Earl of Lancaster, it was intended as both a symbol of defiance and a personal refuge against his increasingly hostile cousin, King Edward II.

But Plantagenet’s rebellion would ultimately prove fatal. Captured and tried for treason, his fate was sealed on a cold March day in 1322. Because of their kinship and Lancaster’s royal blood, the king commuted the sentence to beheading, as opposed to being hanged, drawn and beheaded,[5] and Lancaster was executed on 22 March near Pontefract Castle.

Read More: Check out the story of The Haunting of the Scarborough Castle Ruins and the Foggy South Bay Beach were the ghost of Piers Gavenston is said to haunt, one of his enemies at court and who Plantagenet was one of the judges to have Gavenston executed. 

Yet even death offered no dignity. Legend holds that it took an inept executioner a gruesome eleven strokes to sever Thomas’s head and that eleven strokes were needed for his decapitation. Locals say the Earl’s anguished spirit has never left Dunstanburgh.

Visitors have reported seeing a headless figure wandering the Dunstanburgh Castle grounds, his severed, mangled head cradled beneath one arm. Witnesses claim his face still bears the contorted agony of those final, harrowing moments before death.

The Wars of the Roses and the Queen’s Ghost on the Beach

Dunstanburgh didn’t die with Thomas Plantagenet. In the bloody turmoil of the Wars of the Roses, Dunstanburgh Castle changed hands from the fighting Lancastrian and Yorkists factions no fewer than five times, each siege leaving it further battered from cannon fire. Amidst the wreckage of those violent decades, another spirit lingers.

Right below the castle there is Queen Margaret’s Cove. It is said that Margaret of Anjou escaped to France here, lowered over the side of the cliff in a basket to a boat waiting below in 1460. 

Margaret of Anjou: (23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Through marriage, she was also nominally Queen of France from 1445 to 1453. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine into the House of Valois-Anjou, Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René of Anjou King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, is said to roam the crumbling battlements and desolate beaches below. Desperate to defend her son’s claim to the throne, Margaret’s final days in the north were marked by betrayal and defeat. Her specter, clad in royal robes now faded by centuries, is often glimpsed at twilight, gazing mournfully out to sea.

Although the keepers of Dunstanburgh Castle tended to favour the Lancastrians and Queen Margaret, it has led to the castle being associated with her, most of them historically improbable and we don’t really know if she ever went there. She is also said to be haunting Owlpen Manor in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

Locals claim that during stormy nights, her sorrowful figure walks the shoreline, her ghostly form sometimes accompanied by the distant echo of battle cries and the ghostly glow of lanterns flickering within the empty towers.

The Ghost of Sir Guy the Seeker

One of the more obscure ghost stories said to haunt Dunstanburgh Castle comes the gallant knight, Sir Guy the Seeker from the 16th century. He was riding along the coast  and was caught in a terrible storm. He found the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and went there for shelter beneath the shattered turrets of the gatehouse. He stayed the night, and the storm raged and the wind howled. 

Suddenly, a terrible figure appeared in white, urging him to follow as he would be rewarded with beauty bright.The night fearing nothing, followed the figure up a staircase to a room of hundred sleeping knights and their horses slept. There was also a beautiful woman sleeping in a crystal casket in the center of the chamber. Images and carvings of serpents were guarding each side of the casket. On one side was a sword, on the other a horn. The figure said the knight could save her by using either the sword or the horn, but could only choose once. He took the horn and blew it. The sleeping knight got up and attacked him. The figure in white kept taunting him as Sir Guy fainted. 

When he woke up, he was back at the gatehouse. He became obsessed with the sleeping maiden he tried to find again. He searched every stone in the ruins, but found nothing. He died a lonely and broken man. But on stormy days it is said you can still hear his ghost with the thundering waves against the walls, wandering the ruins seeking the beauty bright. 

Local Haunted Legends

Where did the story come from? Although there are slight variations of the legend, it has been told at least as early as the 19th century. Similar stories, possibly inspired by Arthurian legends, have existed as well close to Hexham and Eildon Hills. 

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There have also been said that there are tunnels under Dunstanburgh Castle, stretching and winding from Craston Tower, over to Embleton and nearby Proctor Steads. 

Even in daylight, Dunstanburgh Castle carries an eerie quiet. The ruined gatehouse, shattered walls, and isolated cliffs exude a sense of melancholy, as though the land itself remembers every act of bloodshed committed upon it.

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The Vampire of Rachel Burton: Vermont’s Gruesome 18th Century Exhumation

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A cold day in February, the village people in Manchester, Vermont gathered in the square to stop a vampire thought to suck the life out of a young woman. By burying her up and burning her remains, they thought they could fight back the curse of the undead. 

New England, with its brooding forests, craggy hills, and centuries-old graveyards, has long been fertile ground for ghost stories, witch trials, and spectral folklore. But perhaps one of its grimmest and most unsettling chapters comes from a sleepy little village in southern Vermont — Manchester, 1793 — where townsfolk turned on one of their own dead in a desperate bid to halt a creeping, invisible killer: tuberculosis.

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This is the eerie tale of Rachel Burton (née Harris), a woman whose body was unearthed, mutilated, and burned in front of a crowd of hundreds, believed to be a vampire draining the life of her husband’s new wife from beyond the grave. 

The Death of Rachel Harris

In the late 18th century, Captain Isaac Burton, a respected deacon in the local Congregational church, buried his first wife, Rachel Harris, after she succumbed to consumption (the old term for tuberculosis). Consumption was a slow, wasting disease — it could pick off entire families one by one in a cruel, unrelenting sweep. To early New Englanders, it made sense to suspect some supernatural culprit.

We have the story of her, told by Judge John S. Pettibone (1786-1872). Already from this source, a lot of time had passed. She was a young woman, around 20 and was buried around 1792 and described by the judge as “a fine, healthy, beautiful girl”  before her death. The ritual was described in his History of Manchester manuscript from around 1860 under a section titled Tale of the Demon Vampire.

Within a year of Rachel’s passing, Captain Burton remarried, taking Hulda Powell as his second wife. But it wasn’t long before Hulda, too, began to wither away. She suffered the tell-tale signs: a persistent cough, fatigue, night sweats, and alarming weight loss. The similarity of her symptoms to those of Rachel raised superstitious suspicions. In an era without germ theory, people didn’t understand how tuberculosis spread — but they did know when a deathly pattern felt unnatural.

And in New England folklore, there was a chilling explanation for such tragedies: the dead could feed on the living.

The Vampire Cure for Consumption

According to local belief, if a deceased family member was suspected of preying on their kin, there was only one way to stop them. You had to exhume the corpse and destroy the offending organ — typically the heart or liver — sometimes feeding the ashes to the afflicted, or simply burning them in the hopes of severing the connection between dead and living.

Sources vary about when the exhumation took place. Some say it was around three years after Rachel died. Some say that it was In February of 1793, after Hulda’s health worsened, the townsfolk and Burton’s family settled on this morbid course of action. Rachel Harris’s body would be exhumed, and whatever malevolent hold she had over Hulda would be broken in a public ritual.

Accounts suggest that between 500 and 1,000 people gathered at the graveyard in Manchester to witness the ritual — an astonishing turnout for a remote colonial village, but a testament to the grip of fear and superstition on the community. 

It seems like many places like Manchester, Vermont where Rachel Burton was exhumed and burned on the town square was founded by educated and not really the most superstitious and religious men. This seems to have changed after the Revolutionary War when it was then described as a place of drinking gambling, and superstitions like vampirism. 

Leading the ritual was Timothy Mead, while his relative, Jacob Mead, fired up his blacksmith’s forge nearby. The chilling operation was carried out in broad daylight, with Deacon Burton, a religious leader, presiding over the spectacle.

Rachel’s heart, liver, and lungs were removed, though contemporary accounts do not detail whether there was anything particularly ‘unusual’ about the condition of her remains — though it hardly mattered. The ritual was the important part.

The organs were then placed onto Jacob Mead’s blacksmith’s forge and burned to ash in front of the assembled crowd. As the account from 1860 says: “It was the month of February and good sleighing”. The belief was that by burning the vital organs, they would destroy the vampire’s connection to the living and halt the spread of the disease.

Often in these rituals, the sick would ingest the ashes of the burnt parts, often mixed into a tonic for them to drink. It’s not explicitly said, but it’s likely this also happened here. But for what purpose? Hulda Burton died in September of 1793, just months after the gruesome exhumation. The disease had already claimed her, and no amount of superstitious ceremony could stop it.

But the ritual’s failure did little to dissuade similar practices throughout New England. The vampire panic would continue for decades, culminating in famous cases like Mercy Brown’s exhumation in 1892 — a remarkably similar incident a century later, in the same region.

An Eerie Reminder

Today, there’s little to mark the site where Rachel Harris Burton’s grave was disturbed in Factory Point Cemetery in Manchester. Time and weather have worn away many of the old headstones, and the blacksmith’s forge long since cooled. 

In the cemetery, the Vermont Folklife Center put a sign and marker in 2022, commemorating the story of Rachel Harris Burton. Her grave is noticeable because of the distinctive stone that was carved by Zerubbabel Collins, which was a very famous family of carvers.

But if you find yourself in Manchester, Vermont, wandering one of its ancient cemeteries on a fog-laden evening, spare a thought for poor Rachel — accused in death, desecrated in superstition, and forever part of America’s eerie legacy of vampire panics.

After all, history’s most unsettling tales aren’t always buried as deep as we think.

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MANCHESTER VAMPIRE | William G. Pomeroy Foundation 

Manchester commemorates resident ‘vampire’

Manchester Vampire

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The Tatzelwurm of the Aare Gorge: Switzerland’s Elusive Alpine Monster

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Can the Aare Gorge in Switzerland be the home of an ancient creature? The Tatzelwurm is an old legend in the alps and even in modern times, people have claimed to have seen this elusive and mysterious serpent-like creature. 

In 1935, a Russian and Berlin-born photographer called Balkin walked into the restaurant at Hotel Baer in Meiringen. On a hike to the Aare Gorge nearby he had encountered something strange as he was visiting. A narrow, towering chasm carved by millennia of rushing glacial water, where mist lingers between sheer limestone walls and the roar of the river drowns out the outside world. 

After a few schnapps he told his story. He had seen a strange animal, perhaps 80 cm long and 25 cm broad. It looked like a scaly big snake, but had legs.

The innkeeper knew very well what he was talking about when mentioning the row of sharp teeth and a sharp whistling sound. It had to be the Tatzelwurm, or Stollenwurm as they called it in the Swiss. A well known legend, but not much hard evidence for it. Until now it was according to Balkin who had taken a photo of the creature. 

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The disturbing and mysterious image was published in the German newspaper: Berlin Illustrierte Zeitung in April that year together with a cash price for those managing to bring them a physical version.  

Switzerland’s landscapes are famous for serene lakes, quaint villages, and the snow-draped majesty of the Alps. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the waters of the Aare Gorge, or Aareschlucht Gorge, could only be crossed by boat and was sometimes associated with Acheron, the underground river of death where Charon rows across.

One of the most chilling of these is the tale of the Tatzelwurm, a fearsome creature said to haunt the dense forests and deep ravines of the Bernese Oberland.

The picture of the Tatzelwurm published in Berlin Illustrierte Zeitung

A Monstrous Alpine Mystery

Descriptions of the Tatzelwurm vary by region, but the creature is typically depicted as a stubby, serpentine beast between 2 and 6 feet long, with a scaled body, short clawed legs — usually two front limbs, sometimes four — and a grotesque, feline-like or reptilian face. Some accounts claim it has poisonous breath or can emit a shrill, unsettling hiss.

They live in tunnels and caves that they dig themselves into the rock. Although generally described as relatively shy, Tatzelwurms are also considered dangerous and aggressive and have reportedly attacked humans and animals. It is said that when a Tatzelwurm crawls through sand, the sand turns to glass, which suggests that this mythical creature is said to generate intense heat.

Tatzelwurms supposedly do not reproduce biologically, but develop in a similar way to a basilisk : A rooster lays a black egg in a lake, where it is incubated by the sun’s warmth. From the egg hatches a Tatzelwurm, which may eventually grow into a lindworm.

It’s certainly not only one place it is said to be and stories of it are found in the Austrian, Bavarian, French and Italian alps as well. It goes under the name of both Tatzelwurm, Bergstutz, Arassas, Praatzelwurm and Stollenwurm, the most commonly used name in Switzerland. As this story first became famous in a German newspaper, it is by the German name it is known by in this case. 

For centuries, Alpine farmers, shepherds, and travelers have spoken in hushed tones about the creature. Particularly in remote areas like the Aare Gorge, stories persist of strange sightings: a shadowy, writhing figure slithering through the mist, disembodied hisses in the darkness, and livestock found with inexplicable wounds.

The Aare Gorge Encounters

The Aare Gorge itself has always felt like a place caught between worlds. Hemmed in by 50-meter-high cliffs, the gorge narrows in places to a mere meter wide, and walking the narrow pathways above the rushing water feels unnervingly claustrophobic. This eerie atmosphere has made it the perfect setting for stories of strange creatures — none more famous than the Tatzelwurm.

The sighting of the creature was far from the first time someone claimed to have encountered something strange in the Aaron Gorge. 

One of the earliest recorded encounters dates back to the 18th century and also the year 1814 has been mentioned. Other sightings followed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, often by woodcutters or herdsmen, who swore to see the beast in the heavy mist rising from the water or basking on rocks deep in the gorge where no man could easily reach.

Modern Legends and Mysterious Evidence

After the publication in the papers, the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung offered a reward of 1000 Reichsmarks for a captured worm. Some have claimed that the photo was developed in the offices in Berlin, not by the photographer himself and that should give credit to the story. 

Though no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced, tantalizing pieces of supposed remains and blurry photographs occasionally make their way into local folklore. 

The Alpine Monster Endures

Today, while the Aare Gorge remains a popular tourist destination, its atmospheric depths retain a reputation for eerie happenings. Visitors report feeling watched, hearing unexplained rustling sounds in the undergrowth, or catching glimpses of something large slipping between the rocks just out of sight.

While skeptics dismiss the Tatzelwurm as folklore born of isolation, fear, and overactive imaginations, the legend continues to cast its shadow over the Bernese Oberland and the Aare Gorge. In an age where ancient glaciers recede and secrets buried in ice begin to surface, one might wonder what else lies hidden in those deep, water-carved canyons — watching from the mist, waiting for nightfall.

In modern times there are over 80 eyewitness reports about the Tatzelwurm across the alpine landscape and to this day, the Tatzelwurm is the official mascot of Aare Gorge to this day. . 

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References:

Tatzelwurm > Aareschlucht | Aare Gorge, Meiringen, Haslital

The Loch Ness wonder in Haslital.

Aareschlucht – Wikipedia

Tatzelwurm (Fabeltier) – Wikipedia

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The Berwick Vampire: A Blood-Soaked Legend from Berwick-upon-Tweed

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In the midst of border disputes between the English and the Scottish as well as the looming threat of the plague, a new monster started lurking in the dark street. The Berwick Vampire is one of the oldest vampire stories from the UK. 

Berwick was besieged on more occasions than any other town in the world with the exception of Jerusalem, changing hands between England and Scotland 13 times and as a cultural identity not in unison about who they are between the two. It also has more than one vampire story, one of them from a time before the vampire term was even a thing.

In the shadow of ancient battlements and along the fog-laden streets of Berwick-upon-Tweed, lingers the sinister tale of the Berwick Vampire. Though far less famous than its Eastern European counterparts, this chilling account has earned its place in folklore as one of Britain’s earliest recorded vampiric encounters.

A Town Haunted by Blood and Death

The story takes us back to the medieval period, when Berwick was a frequent casualty of border wars between England and Scotland in the 12th century. Life was brutal and death was a constant companion. Among the many tales of plague, battle, and witchcraft that circulated during these turbulent centuries, the legend of a bloodthirsty revenant rose to prominence.

As the story goes, a local man of ill-repute — sometimes described as a wealthy landowner or merchant, died suddenly, his life claimed by an unspecified illness or misdeed. Sometimes it’s said that everyone believed he was an upstanding citizen, and that his misdeed and corruption was only found out after he had died. 

This is why they denied him to be buried on consecrated land after he died of the plague. Death did not lay him to rest. Within days of his burial, villagers began whispering of a pale figure stalking the streets after nightfall. Livestock were found drained of blood, and children complained of night terrors and unexplained bruises upon waking.

The Vampire’s Reign of Terror

It wasn’t long before these sightings took a darker turn. Townsfolk claimed to encounter the man’s corpse-like figure lurking in graveyards and near the town walls. Those who crossed his path reported feeling an intense, unnatural cold and being overcome by a sense of impending doom. It is also said that two children went missing, and they all believed it had to be him. 

Revenant: The term vampire or the undead was not used in medieval time, but several of the stories about the Revenant, Sanguisa or the bloodsuckers of folklore bear resemblance to what the modern world would classify as a vampire legend. In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living and was in medieval times used interchangeably with ghosts. They come from various cultures like the Celtic and Norse, some reminding more about a classic ghost story, some more of a vampire legend. Although today a mixed version of the western and eastern European mythologies of the undead.

As he was running down the street, a pack of howling dogs followed him, keeping all the villagers awake. He shouted out: “Until my body is burnt, you folk of Berwick shall have no peace!”

The Vampire Hunt

The villagers gathered and decided to fight the vampire after several days had forced them inside after dark. Ten young farmers were selected to dig up his body, hack it up to pieces and burn it. 

They did so, but it wasn’t the end of their misery. After burning him to ash, the plague returned and took half the population of Berwick. When they buried the dead, the villagers insisted that they could hear the sound of the vampire followed by his pack of hounds.

Howling Hounds: Often in William Newburghs tales of the undead, there is a pack of dogs following as the dog motif has been connected with death for ages in European mythology. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death.

The Legacy of the Berwick Vampire

The Berwick legend also highlights how vampire hysteria in the medieval and early modern periods often paralleled outbreaks of disease and unexplained deaths, as communities struggled to explain misfortune with supernatural causes as well as border disputes. Something that many of the vampire legends we have from William Newburgh, like the story of the Berwick Vampire, shares.

William of Newburgh: Many of the tales about the British vampires comes from the 12th century historian, William of Newburgh. William’s major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis (“History of English Affairs”), a history of England from 1066 to 1198, written in Latin. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses into 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of medieval revenants, animated corpses that returned from their graves, with close parallels to vampire beliefs.

Today, Berwick-upon-Tweed is a picturesque town known for its Elizabethan walls and coastal charm. Yet for those who listen closely, especially when mist rolls in from the North Sea, old stories persist. Locals still recount the ancient tale of the Berwick Vampire — a reminder of a time when the veil between life and death felt perilously thin, and the dead were not always content to stay buried.

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Vampires of Scotland and England Borders | MJ Wayland

Vampires of Berwick and Melrose

Berwick upon Tweed Vampire

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The Teufelsbrücke of Andermatt and the Schöllenen Gorge Made by the Devil

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Thought to be made by the Devil himself, the Teufelsbrücke Bridge stretching across the Scllenen Gorge in the Swiss Alps continues to be a marvel and a mystery. So much so that a legend telling it was so hard to build they had to make a deal with the devil to make it happen. 

Hidden deep in the heart of the Swiss Alps lies a horrid legend of desperation, dark deals, and restless spirits. At first glance, the Teufelsbrücke, or Devil’s Bridge, near the village of Andermatt appears like a scenic marvel, gracefully arching over the roaring Schöllenen Gorge. 

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It was here the French fought the Russians in 1799, and the Suvorov Monument is built to remember the Russian soldiers fallen in battle. 

Yet beneath its weathered stones and the mist rising from the tumultuous Reuss River, centuries-old whispers speak of a sinister pact forged with the Devil himself — and of strange, eerie occurrences that continue to haunt this stretch of mountain pass.

A Bridge Built in Desperation

In medieval times, the treacherous Schöllenen Gorge posed a deadly obstacle for travelers and merchants navigating the Gotthard Pass, one of the most crucial alpine routes linking northern and southern Europe. The gorge’s jagged cliffs and raging waters made crossing perilous, and many lives were claimed by the unforgiving terrain.

The Uri People: The Gotthard Pass was opened in 1230, and Uri was granted imperial immediacy by Henry VII in the following year. Trade across the Gotthard brought ever increasing wealth to Uri, and the towns and villages along the Gotthard route became increasing independent.

Desperate for a solution, the local villagers attempted to build a bridge, but every effort failed. Stone and timber constructions were swept away by floods or crumbled under the sheer force of nature. The Uri people wanted to build a mule track through the Gorge. 

The legend goes that they got help from something sinister some 800 years ago. In their despair, the townsfolk uttered a reckless challenge — they wished the Devil himself would build the bridge for them.

To their horror, the Devil accepted.

The Sinister Bargain

According to legend, the Devil promised to complete a sturdy bridge by the next three days, on one chilling condition: he would claim the soul of the first being to cross it. The villagers, caught between superstition and necessity, agreed to the deal, believing they could outwit the infernal builder.

Devil Bridges: Devil’s Bridge is a term applied to dozens of ancient bridges, found primarily in Europe. The bridges that fall into the Devil’s Bridge category are so numerous that the legends about them form a special category.

True to his word, the Devil built a magnificent stone bridge, its dark, moss-covered stones arching over the abyss. But the villagers had devised a cunning plan. Instead of sending a man or woman across, they drove a goat onto the bridge at dawn.

Enraged by the trickery when he realized the deceit, the Devil seized a massive boulder, intending to smash the bridge and doom the villagers. But before he could hurl it, a clever old woman confronted him, carving a Christian cross into the rock and reciting a holy prayer. The sacred symbol drained the Devil of his power, forcing him to abandon the stone and flee back into the shadows of the mountains.

The Devil’s Stone by the Gorge

That boulder, known as the Teufelsstein or “Devil’s Stone,” still stands near Göschenen as a silent reminder of the villagers’ narrow escape. But though the bridge remained, dark tales persisted. For centuries afterward, travelers spoke of ghostly figures on the bridge at night — a lone goat, eyes glowing in the darkness, or a shadowy figure believed to be the furious Devil returning to claim a soul.

When the legend became told however is uncertain, but it has been told as far back as the 16th century and retold by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer who heard it from the Uri people. There are some variations to the legend as some say it was a dog that was sent over the bridge, some say it was an old woman who held the devil back. 

Source

A Place Where Legend and Landscape Collide

Even in more modern times, the area has held an uncanny reputation. The Schöllenen Gorge itself remains a place of ominous atmosphere. Its steep, enclosing cliffs blot out the sky in places, while the roar of the Reuss River below drowns out even your own heartbeat. Mist curls in ghostly tendrils along the bridge’s ancient stones, making it easy to believe that spirits of old still linger there.

Source

Today, a newer bridge stands alongside the original, yet the legend endures in Swiss folklore. The first wood bridge was replaced by stones in 1595 that collapsed in 1888. The stone bridge has been replaced and extended several times over the years. The newest bridge dates back to 1956. 

Visitors to Andermatt can still walk the path of ancient travelers, crossing the restored stone bridge and standing beside the Teufelsstein, imagining the echo of distant hooves and the furious howl of a betrayed Devil.

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The Schöllenen gorge and the Teufelsbrücke (the Devil’s Bridge) | Switzerland Tourism

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The Jewett City Vampires and the Ray Family in Connecticut

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In the midst of a consumption epidemic ravaging whole families on the coast of New England, the Ray family took drastic measures to save the eldest son from illness. The Jewett City Vampires were believed to be behind the consumption running in the family’s veins. Could burying up the bodies and burning them keep them from feeding on the living?

Buried in the annals of Connecticut history is a lesser-known, chilling chapter of American vampire panic — the unsettling case of the Jewett City Vampires.

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This grim and fascinating story unfolded in the mid-19th century in Jewett City, a quiet mill town in Griswold, Connecticut. And like many such tales, it was rooted not in mythic monsters, but in the all-too-real terror of tuberculosis, known back then by a far more ominous name: consumption.

The Ray Family: A Family Struck by Death

The story centers around the Ray family, whose seemingly cursed lineage became the focus of the town’s fear and superstition. The Rays were a large farming family that were greatly affected by the tuberculosis epidemic ravaging the coast of New England. Between 1845 and 1854, several members of the Ray family died in rapid succession from tuberculosis. In an age before germ theory, the illness seemed almost supernatural — wasting away the victim’s body, leaving them pale, weak, and sunken-eyed, sometimes for years before death.

And in those uncertain days, when science faltered, folklore eagerly filled the void.

The neighbors of Jewett City began to murmur. Surely this wasn’t natural. The idea took hold that perhaps the dead of the Ray family were not resting peacefully in their graves, but rather rising at night to drain the life from their surviving kin.

The Exhumation of The Jewett City Vampires

The first in the family to die of consumption was 24 year old Lemuel Ray in 1845. Then his father, Henry B. Ray followed in 1851 and his brother, 26 year old Elisha Ray in 1853. 

The eldest son in the family, Henry Ray got the disease the year after and panic started to set into the community. Surely there was something supernatural at play? 

In 1854, driven by grief and superstition, the surviving members of the Ray family took a drastic step. According to contemporary accounts, they exhumed the bodies of Lemuel and Elisha from the Jewett City Cemetery on the 8th of May. The remaining and extended Ray family together with their friends and neighbors, gathered in the cemetery to perform the ritual.

At the time, it was believed that if a body was too well-preserved — particularly the heart or vital organs — it meant the deceased was still spiritually active and preying upon the living. In such cases, the suspected vampire’s heart would be cut out and ritually burned to sever the unnatural bond.

Records from the era confirm that at least one body was exhumed and burned on a nearby hill. The hope was that this morbid ritual would stop the deaths within the family and finally lay the restless spirit to peace.

They burned the heart of the corpses in the graveyard and most likely mixed the ashes of it into a mixture for Henry to drink or ingest in some way. This was believed to protect and cure him from the vampiric feeding they believed his brother did. Or was it enough to burn their bodies to keep them rising from their graves at night to feed on their remaining family? The sources of this detail remain inconclusive.

But what happened to Henry? Some say that they don’t know and that Henry most likely lived on and that the ritual cured him. Perhaps this is because his tombstone is not right next to his brothers in the cemetery that people believe it. Other sources claim that he died the same year, only 34 years old. In addition to his demise, his own children and wife also followed shortly. Because, a little further behind his brothers and family, his grave can be seen.

Echoes of a Broader Vampire Panic

What makes the Jewett City Vampire Panic especially significant is that it wasn’t a lone case of morbid superstition — it was part of a broader phenomenon that plagued New England throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Between 1790 and 1890, multiple cases of so-called vampire exhumations were documented in Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. All were responses to consumption outbreaks that ravaged families and small towns, where fear was a tangible, everyday companion.

The famous Mercy Brown case in 1892 was the last well-documented vampire exhumation in America, but the events in Jewett City nearly forty years earlier reflect just how widespread and desperate these beliefs were.

Modern Discovery and Legacy of Vampire Graves in Connecticut

The graves of the Ray family remained largely undisturbed until 1990, when nearby, another unsettling discovery was made — the now-famous Griswold “J.B.” vampire grave, with remains arranged in a classic anti-vampire configuration: skull and thigh bones crossed beneath it.

Read More: The Griswold Vampire Case and the True Identity of J.B. in the Coffin

Though unconnected officially to the Ray family, the proximity of these two cases in Griswold illustrates just how deep the vampire panic had gripped rural New England communities. Had the Rays heard about the rituals the Walton family had done decades before? Was the contagious disease actually fear?

Today, the Jewett City Cemetery still stands, an unassuming plot of land in a quiet town. Although the original graves from the cemetery were moved in recent years because of a building project. The graves of the Ray family look like they are still buried, six feet under.

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References:

The Jewett City Vampires, Griswold – Damned Connecticut

Jewett City vampires – Wikipedia

Jewett City Vampires – Atlas Obscura

Vampire Case: The Ray Brothers of Jewett City – Locations of Lore

March 8: Death of a Vampire

1854-05-24-Jewett City Vampires – Newspapers.com™ 

Cemetery Holds Tales of Vampires – The New York Times

Ukategorisert

The Buckinghamshire Vampire: England’s Forgotten Blood-Drinker

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Coming day after day to torment his wife, the Buckinghamshire Vampire terrorized an entire town for days. And he wasn’t stopped until the Bishop intervened. 

Hidden among the villages and misty woodlands of Buckinghamshire in south east England, a county better known for its pastoral landscapes and historic estates, lies a strange and unsettling tale of a vampire said to have once terrorized the area. 

Unlike the famous aristocratic bloodsuckers of Gothic fiction, this legend, whispered among locals for generations, speaks of a malevolent revenant risen from its grave to prey upon the living.

A Folkloric Fragment from Rural England

This story is also one of the vampiric tales we have from the historian William of Newburgh who wrote down many of the monsters and ghost stories from medieval England and Scotland. Allegedly he got the story from Stephen de Swafeld, the archdeacon of the diocese of Buckinghamshire from 1194-1202. 

William of Newburgh: Many of the tales about the British vampires comes from the 12th century historian, William of Newburgh. William’s major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis (“History of English Affairs”), a history of England from 1066 to 1198, written in Latin. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses into 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of medieval revenants, animated corpses that returned from their graves, with close parallels to vampire beliefs.

A well respected man of Buckinghamshire died unexpectedly in 1192 and was buried by his family and his grieving widow on the eve of Ascension Day. He must have been a rich man, as he was buried in a tomb. Buckinghamshire had acquired a lot of wealth during the Anglo-Saxons, soon to be taken by William the Conqueror.  

The next night the widow was awakened at night when something laid next to her in her bed. When she opened her eyes, she saw it was her dead husband laying next to her, staring at her with dead eyes. It was said he got on top of her, pressing her down into the bed.

It is unsure and not specified what this actually means. Did he paralyze her like a night terror thing, did he force himself on her?

When the sun rose, the man went back into his tomb. But he would return the next night. Some say he did the same for a second time. But for the third, the widow was prepared. She had invited her friends and family to watch over her, in case her dead husband came back. 

He crept through her window, but when he was heading for her bed, the walking dead was attacked by her protectors who chased him off with loud noises and into the fields where the animals were grassing. Some say that he went to attack his brothers instead who were living in the same town.

Revenant: The term vampire or the undead was not used in medieval time, but several of the stories about the Revenant, Sanguisa or the bloodsuckers of folklore bear resemblance to what the modern world would classify as a vampire legend. In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living and was in medieval times used interchangeably with ghosts. They come from various cultures like the Celtic and Norse, some reminding more about a classic ghost story, some more of a vampire legend. Although today a mixed version of the western and eastern European mythologies of the undead.

For a long time, the vampire kept appearing in the town, attacking sleeping people as well as resting animals. Soon, every household was up all night, guarding to defend themselves from the vampire stalking them. 

It got so bad he started appearing in broad daylight, seen by big groups of people in the streets and in the fields. Often he was seen with a pack of hounds following him, something the undead in William’s writing did, as well as other British ghost and vampire stories. 

Howling Hounds: Often in William Newburghs tales of the undead, there is a pack of dogs following as the dog motif has been connected with death for ages in European mythology. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death.

Blessings from the Bishop

The story of the undead reached the Bishop and they decided to do an investigation. This has also been said to be the Archdeacon Stephen. He had written to St. Hugh, the bishop of Lincoln, asking for advice. It was said that they had to open his tomb and burn him to ashes, but the archdeacon didn’t want to and asked if there was another way. 

They decided to open his tomb and exhumed his body. When the tomb was opened the body was found to have not decomposed. The bishop had written an absolution that they placed on the man’s chest before the tomb was sealed up again. 

It is said that this helped and the blessing  from the bishop made so the revenant remained in his grave and he never bothered anyone ever again. . 

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References:

Buckinghamshire Vampire – OCCULT WORLD

William of Newburgh: Medieval Vampire Hunter? | Our Ancient History

Ukategorisert

The Haunted Sanatorium of the Gotthard Abandoned in the Swizz Mountains

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Now long abandoned and left to decay in the Swizz forests, The Sanatorium of the Gotthard is said to still have some patients that never checked out. Is it really someone haunting the old hospital in the mountains?

In the shadow of Switzerland’s Gotthard Massif, with mountains looming over the misty dense pine forests, stands a decaying relic of the nation’s darker past. The Sanatorium of the Gotthard, near the village of Piotta, also called The Sanatorio Popolare Cantonale di Piotta, is more than a run, a place where history, death, and whispered legends have blurred into one lingering, malevolent presence.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

Today, its broken windows gape like hollow eyes, and ivy-strangled walls crumble beneath the weight of decades of silence. But those who have braved its abandoned corridors claim the building is anything but empty. According to legend, there is said to be a mountain of corpses in the basement of the sanatorium, and some of them are said to still be haunting the place. 

Sanatorio Popolare Cantonale di Piotta (1919)

A Sanatorium Built for the Afflicted

Constructed in the early 20th century, the sanatorium was originally designed to house tuberculosis patients, a common affliction in the Alpine regions due to the damp mountain air and close living conditions and opened in 1905. It was initiated by Fabrizio Maffi, who later became an Italian senator and fled to Switzerland. Just a year after its opening, the sanatorium went bankrupt for the first time.

Sanatorium of the Gotthards remote location, isolated in the hills, made it an ideal quarantine facility, but also the perfect setting for stories to ferment.

During World War I, the sanatorium’s role expanded. It began treating wounded and shell-shocked soldiers, men maimed not only in body but broken in spirit. It was here, according to local folklore, that the line between medicine and malevolence began to blur.

Among the most enduring and unsettling rumors is the tale of a nameless doctor who allegedly conducted experimental procedures on both TB sufferers and injured soldiers alike. Surgeries without anesthetic, grotesque experiments with electricity and cold therapy, and cruel psychological trials are said to have taken place within those bleak rooms. Though no official records confirm these claims, the sanatorium’s very architecture hints at secrets, a discreetly hidden morgue, unmarked underground tunnels, and sealed wings where sunlight no longer dares to enter.

Decades of Decay and Unease at the Gotthard Sanatorium

The Sanatorium of the Gotthard was quietly shuttered in 1961 as modern medicine outpaced its usefulness and the place faced economic hardships they would not overcome. Over the following 60 years, the building fell into disrepair, succumbing to the encroaching forest and harsh mountain winters. Yet even in its decay, it never quite fell silent.

Urban explorers and thrill-seekers drawn to its crumbling halls speak of disembodied voices, the sound of shuffling footsteps in empty rooms, and a lingering, oppressive chill that clings to the air like mist. Some claim to have seen pale figures watching from broken windows or glimpsed fleeting shadows in the peripheral dark. The sensation of being followed is nearly constant, and many leave with an inexplicable sense of dread.

Urban Explorers: The abandoned building has become a popular place for urban exploring and ghost hunters. // Source: Wendelin Jacober/Wiki

One widely retold account describes a man attempting to drive up the narrow road to the Sanatorium of the Gotthard, only to feel his car begin to roll backward on its own, as if some unseen force was physically repelling him from the site. Despite firming his grip on the steering wheel and applying the brakes, the car continued its slow, deliberate retreat down the road, stopping only when he gave up the attempt.

The Haunting Legacy of the Morgue

Perhaps the sanatorium’s most notorious feature is its basement morgue, where rows of rusting gurneys and shattered cabinets still linger, untouched for decades. Visitors report a sudden drop in temperature upon entering, and the unmistakable, sour scent of old antiseptic and decay — though the building has been abandoned for generations.

Read More: Check out Ghostly Encounters at the Sanatorium of Santo Angel de la Guarda, The Ghosts of the White Plague Haunting the Alfaguara Sanatorium and The Haunted Preventorio de Aigües in Alicante also.

Some locals insist that the spirits of those who perished in agony within these walls — from soldiers torn apart by war to TB patients abandoned by hope, remain trapped, their suffering bound to the place of their torment. There are also said that a doctor carried out demonic experiments on patients, said to be associated with the fictional character, Dr. Mabuse. Lights flicker in its hollow shell, and faint, mournful cries sometimes rise above the wind that rattles its ancient eaves.

A Warning Carried by the Wind

Even today, few locals will approach the sanatorium after nightfall. Hikers claim to hear whispers in the trees, and it’s said that animals avoid the path leading up to the ruined building. Storms seem to gather with unsettling speed over its roof, and the once-healing Alpine air turns cold and heavy as one nears its gates.

The Sanatorium of the Gotthard was sold from Canton Ticino to a Kazakh group of investors in 2016, wanting to turn it into a winter sports training center, although nothing has happened. 

In 2021, the “Corriere del Ticino” reported a strange ritual filmed in the ruins. The video shows a man who claims to be Swiss, dressed in black with a hood featuring a skull. He waves a (likely fake) skull in one hand and holds a notebook in the other, with a fire in front and small candles around it. What is happening in the old sanatorium today?

The Sanatorium of the Gotthard endures as one of Switzerland’s most chilling forgotten places, a decaying testament to human suffering, medical ambition, and the spirits that refuse to be forgotten. To wander its halls is to court the past — and perhaps meet whatever lingers in the shadows.

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References:

Sanatorio Popolare Cantonale di Piotta – Wikipedia

https://www.satyrography.com/panoramas/sanatorium-gotthard/Sanatorium-Gotthard.html

Piotta TI: Verlassenes Sanatorium zieht Geisterjäger und Neugierige an

Dr. Mabuse – Wikipedia

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The Griswold Vampire Case and the True Identity of J.B. in the Coffin

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Dug up after his first burial, the mysterious grave of J.B haunted New England as one of its vampire graves from the New England vampire panic. Who was this man, and what happened to make his friends and family dig him up and rearrange his bones, actually turning him in his grave?

When people think of America’s vampire folklore, names like Mercy Brown often rise to the top. But lurking deeper in the shadowy annals of New England’s vampire panic is the strange and unsettling case of a man identified only by his initials: J.B. His grave, discovered in 1990 in Griswold, Connecticut, became the centerpiece of a chilling historical mystery that hints at the desperate and fearful superstitions of rural 19th-century America.

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But who was J.B? And what happened back then that was so horrifying, they had to dig his corpse up to make sure that he would stay dead?

A Grim Discovery in the Griswold Woods

In 1990, three young boys playing near a gravel pit in Griswold stumbled upon something macabre — a collection of human bones near a sand and gravel mine. When they told their mothers what happened, they didn’t believe it, but when they returned with a skull.

The police first thought it had something to do with the serial killer, Michael Ross, but they soon realized that the bones were from something much older. What was initially believed to be the remains of a modern crime victim quickly turned into an archaeological investigation when it was determined that the bones belonged to an early 19th-century graveyard known as the Walton Family Cemetery.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Bellantoni

Connecticut State Archaeologist, Nick Bellantoni, was excavating the cemetery and found something no one could have expected. Among the graves, one burial in particular captured attention: a coffin marked only with brass tacks, spelling the initials “J.B. 55”. The remains inside had been subject to a post-mortem ritual that hinted unmistakably at vampire panic practices. The skeleton had been exhumed and carefully reburied with its head decapitated and put on the chest. Its thigh bones were placed in a cross beneath the skull — a classic “skull and crossbones” arrangement used in old folklore to prevent the dead from rising.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Bellantoni

This was no accident. This was a deliberate act meant to keep something sinister at bay.

The New England Vampire Panic: Death’s Superstitious Grip

The grave of J.B can easily be seen together with a string of exhumations in the New England area during the 19th century as a part of the vampire panic that grew forth after a tuberculosis epidemic broke out, that made even the most logical man hunting for the undead.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, tuberculosis (then called “consumption”) was an incurable and terrifying disease. It slowly wasted away its victims, hollowing them out until death. In the face of its horrors, rural communities often turned to folklore for explanations.

One deeply held belief was that when several family members fell ill in succession, it might be the work of a vampire among the dead — a family member or neighbor who, from beyond the grave, was spiritually draining the living. 

To stop them, they thought they had to dig them up and perform a ritual on the undead. Signs of vampirism were blood left in their organs, unnatural lack of decomposition, their hair and nails growing and bloated bellies, looking like they had recently fed. If some of these signs were present in the grave, they believed that they were a part of the undead and vampires. The grim solution? Exhume the suspect’s body and perform a ritual to stop them.

This often involved cutting out and burning the heart, decapitating the body, or rearranging the skeleton to prevent it from rising. The Griswold case suggests this very ritual was carried out on poor J.B who had been exhumed around five years after his death and where they removed his heart in an attempt to stop the undead from rising and feeding on the living. 

Who Was J.B. and What Happened to his Grave?

Despite modern forensic analysis, the identity of J.B. remain a mystery for decades. Archaeologists and historians placed the burial in the 1830s to 1840s, based on coffin construction and burial artifacts. Forensic examination of the bones revealed that J.B. was a middle-aged man who had indeed suffered from tuberculosis. His bones bore signs of the disease’s toll — lesions on the ribs characteristic of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Bellantoni

The practice of marking coffins with initials was common in the period, but unfortunately, no surviving burial records from Griswold matched those initials, and no contemporary accounts of a local vampire panic in the area have yet surfaced. Yet the condition of the grave makes it clear: someone believed J.B. was a threat from beyond the grave.

When scientists revisited the case, they turned to a farmer named John Barber. Next to him, where a grave marked IB45 containing a female around 45-55 years old. Could it be a family laid to rest next to each other? There was also a grave marked NB 13, suggesting a father son relationship. Something an obituary from 1826 supports. This was for the 12 year old Nicholas Barber where they also mentioned his father, John Barber. This was also confirmed through DNA testing. 

Face of the Vampire: Using DNA extracted from a skull, a forensic artist created a facial reconstruction of a man believed to be a vampire from the 18th century. Using 3D facial reconstruction software, a forensic artist determined that JB55 likely had fair skin, brown or hazel eyes, brown or black hair and some freckles, according to a statement. (Image credit: Parabon Nanolabs, Virginia Commonwealth University)

Most often, the organs to those accused of vampirism were cut out and burned. Most often it was the heart, or perhaps the kidneys. Often, it wasn’t years before they dug them up, so what happened if there were no organs left?

When the townspeople opened his grave, his body was probably a skeleton already. To get to his decomposing heart, they most likely broke open his ribs to remove it, removed his head and put it back together. His heart and organs were most likely burnt. Most often the undead showed these signs of something being wrong, but what if there were nothing to take?

If there were no organs to take, the separation of the skull from the body was a part of the ritual instead, many that have looked into the case have hypothesized. The rituals craved for people to ingest the ashes of what they cremated, but we simply don’t know what really happened when they exhumed J.Bs body.

It is also said that there were no signs of tuberculosis in the other bodies found near J.B in the cemetery. So for what reason did they dig him up?

Fear Beyond the Grave of John Barber

The story of J.B. of Griswold is a chilling reminder of the power of fear, folklore, and superstition that seems so foreign and barbaric to people not believing in them. In a time before germ theory and antibiotics, death crept so relentlessly through small communities that people were willing to embrace the macabre to protect the living.

Today, the remains of J.B. are studied and preserved as part of Connecticut’s archaeological history, but his story — or rather, the silence of it — still haunts the annals of New England folklore. His grave stands not just as a testament to a forgotten life, but to the uneasy marriage of death and superstition that once gripped early America.

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References:

New England ‘Vampire’ Was Likely a Farmer Named John 

DNA Testing Reveals the Putative Identity of JB55, a 19th Century Vampire Buried in Griswold, Connecticut

Bioarcheological and biocultural evidence for the New England vampire folk belief

An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.

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