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The Baobhan Sith: Scotland’s Legendary Bloodthirsty Woman

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In the Scottish Highlands, there have been tales of a bloodthirsty creature, in disguise of a beautiful and seductive woman. The Baobhan Sith, a much older version of the vampire lore as we know of it today, still remains in between the lore and stories we tell ourselves.

In the misty glens and ancient forests of the Scottish Highlands, where the wind carries whispers of forgotten tales and the land itself feels alive with ancient magic, lingers the legend of the Baobhan Sith — a deadly, seductive vampire spirit of Gaelic folklore. 

Sometimes pronounced baa-van shee, her name translates roughly to “fairy woman”, but there is nothing benign about this creature. Beautiful yet malevolent, the Baobhan Sith was said to lure unwary travelers to grisly deaths, draining their blood beneath the cover of night.

Origins in Highland Lore

The Baobhan Sith legend belongs to Scotland’s rich tapestry of fairy and supernatural beliefs, although she might remind us more about a succubus or even a vampire-like creature. Like many creatures of Celtic folklore, she occupies a space between fairy and vampire — both a spirit of nature and a bloodthirsty predator.

The Green Clad: In addition to the Irish Banshee or the Succubus, the Baobhan Sith can also remind about the Scandinavian Huldra or Hylje. Often described as a beautiful green clad woman with animalistic features she hides before seducing men. Although the Huldra is more about luring the men into the mountains. Here from the play Peer Gynt where she is a character.

Folklore suggests the Baobhan Sith would typically appear as an enchanting, green-clad woman with long, flowing hair. But beneath her alluring appearance lay clawed hands and fangs, hidden until she chose to strike. Traditionally, she was said to emerge at night, often in the lonely Highland wilderness, where travelers, hunters, and wanderers might become her prey.

The Lure of Beauty and Dance

According to legend, groups of men traveling or hunting would sometimes wish aloud for the company of women. Their innocent desires would be answered by the sudden appearance of beautiful, ethereal women who seemed to emerge from the mists themselves. The Baobhan Sith would dance with the men — a popular motif in Celtic folklore where the act of dance carries supernatural consequences — and, at the height of merriment, reveal their true nature.

Once the men were entranced, the Baobhan Sith would use their sharp talons to slash at their victims and drink their blood, often leaving lifeless, pale bodies behind by morning. Some versions of the tale describe them feeding in groups, often appearing in fours.

In a similar tale one of the men noticed that the women had deer hooves instead of feet and fled from them. He returned the next morning to find that the other hunters had their “throats cut and chests laid open”.

In a third story the hunters took refuge in a cave. Each of the men said he wished his own sweetheart were there that night, but one of them, named Macphee, who was accompanied by his black dog, said he preferred his wife to remain at home. At that moment a group of young women entered the cave, and the men who had wished for their sweethearts were killed. Macphee was protected by his dog who drove the women from the cave.

The Story of the Men Meeting The Baobhan Sith

The story of the creatures normally goes something like this:

Four hunters, weary from a day in the hills, stumbled upon an old bothy as night fell. Inside, a fire waited, as though expecting them. As flames licked the hearth, one of the men joked, “All we need now are four beautiful women.” The wind answered with a knock.

At the door stood four stunning women in green, their eyes cold and unnatural. The men, smitten and careless, welcomed them in. Laughter turned to song, and song to dancing. One by one, the hunters twirled in the arms of their enchanting guests — all except the eldest, who grew uneasy. The fire flickered, and he caught a glimpse of something crimson.

His blood chilled. One of the women had slit the youngest hunter’s throat, her lips dark with blood. The others fell swiftly, caught in the women’s gaze as sharp nails tore them open.

He bolted into the night, the women following, their voices sweet and terrible. He dove among the iron-shod horses — the one thing they feared. The Baobhan Sith circled, hissing and begging, then cursing him with promises of death.

But dawn came. And with the first pale light, they vanished.

At sunrise, he returned to the bothy. His friends were cold and bloodless. Weeping, he vowed to tell the tale — to warn others of the green-clad death that dances in the Highlands.

The Weakness of Iron and the Protection of Cattle

Much like other fae and vampiric beings of the Celtic world, the Baobhan Sith was believed to have certain weaknesses. Iron was said to repel her, as it does with many fairy creatures in Gaelic folklore. Travelers would carry small iron charms or weapons for protection.

Another tradition claimed that taking refuge among livestock, particularly cattle, could offer safety. The Baobhan Sith was said to be reluctant to approach herds of animals, perhaps owing to their association with fertility and the natural order — realms where spirits of death had no dominion.

The Baobhan Sith in Modern Culture

Though tales of the Baobhan Sith have their roots in oral Highland tradition, the creature has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, appearing in novels, films, and fantasy games exploring vampire and Celtic mythos. Modern interpretations often emphasize her duality — both tragic and monstrous — reflecting themes of isolation, forbidden desire, and the dangers lurking in the untamed wild.

Ultimately, the Baobhan Sith stands as a chilling reminder of the Highlands’ wild, untamed heart, where the line between beauty and terror is perilously thin. She embodies the folkloric warning against succumbing to temptation, the perils of the night, and the ancient belief that not all is as it seems beneath Scotland’s mist-clad hills.

In the modern world, her legend endures as one of Scotland’s darkest and most alluring vampire myths, a spectral woman in green forever waiting in the shadows for an unwary soul.

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Baobhan sith – Wikipedia

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The Case of Frederick Ransom: The Woodstock Vampire

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How did a Darthmount student from a prominent family in Woodstock, Vermont end up as a vampire? The story of Frederick Ransom shows that the belief in vampirism or the fear of the undead was not just for the simple and uneducated country folks. 

When you hear the term “vampire panic”, your mind might conjure up foggy rural graveyards, torch-wielding villagers, and folksy farmers digging up their loved ones by lamplight. But history, as it often does, has a way of proving us wrong. This was the case with Frederick Ransom — a well-educated young man from a respected New England family whose story reminds us that fear, especially of death and disease, respects neither class nor education.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from USA

The American writer, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal of 26 September 1859: “The savage in man is never quite eradicated. I have just read of a family in Vermont—who, several of its members having died of consumption, just burned the lungs & heart & liver of the last deceased, in order to prevent any more from having it,”

Most likely he was referring to the vampire case of Frederick Ransom. In the early 19th century, in the cold hills of Vermont, the so-called “vampire panic” wasn’t just superstition; it was desperation along the New England coast. And not even a Dartmouth College education could save Frederick from becoming a posthumous scapegoat for a disease no one yet understood.

A Life Cut Short by Consumption

Frederick Ransom was born into a prominent family as the second son and had seemingly his whole life ahead of him. He grew up in South Woodstock, Vermont with his father Richard Ransom and Elizabeth Mather with loads of siblings. By the standards of his day, he was part of New England’s educated elite — a college student at Dartmouth. But tuberculosis, known ominously as consumption, didn’t care about family names or academic ambitions.

In 1817, at the age of 20, Frederick succumbed to the wasting disease. It wasn’t uncommon — tuberculosis was the grim reaper of its time, claiming more lives in the 18th and 19th centuries than just about any other illness. Entire families were ravaged by it, and lacking the scientific knowledge we have today, people turned to folklore and desperate measures.

Grave of Frederick Ransom

The family doctor, local physician Dr. Frost tried his best, but there was no cure for the disease yet, and as a result, desperate attempts and alternative cures based on the supernatural grew forth. 

His little brother, Daniel Ransom, wrote this about him: My remembrance of him is quite limited as I was only three years at the time of his death… It has been related to me that there was a tendency in our family to consumption…

Vampirism by Another Name

Vampire panics were a tragically real response to tuberculosis outbreaks, especially in rural New England. The belief was that a deceased family member could, from beyond the grave, drain the life from surviving relatives. The “solution” was grim: exhume the suspected corpse, check for signs of unnatural preservation, and burn the heart or organs to stop the so-called vampire’s deadly influence.

Frederick’s family was no exception. Despite their standing and education, fear trumped reason. After Frederick’s death, his father, desperate to protect the remaining family from the slow death of tuberculosis, had his son’s body exhumed. He was worried that his son would rise from the grave and attack the rest of the family. 

In accordance with folk belief, they removed his heart and burned it in a blacksmith’s forge. It was in Woodstock Village Green and a public place where all could see. It was common that the ashes of the remains would either be inhaled or mixed into a medicine. It isn’t confirmed that this happened to Frederick, although some sources said that his remains were given to his family. He was buried in Ransom-Kendall Cemetery.

Daniel wrote about his father: It seems that Father shared somewhat in the idea of hereditary diseases and withal had some superstition for it was said that if the heart of one of the family who died of consumption was taken out and burned, others would be free from it. And Father, having some faith in the remedy, had the heart of Frederick taken out after he had been buried, and in was burned in Captain Pearson’s blacksmith forge. 

A Futile, Tragic Attempt

Unsurprisingly, the ritual didn’t work. Tuberculosis isn’t a vampire’s curse; it’s a contagious bacterial disease. As Frederick’s surviving brother, Daniel Ransom, would later write:

“However, it did not prove a remedy, for mother, sister, and two brothers died afterward.”

In a touch of dark irony, Daniel would go on to note that it had been said the family was predisposed to consumption, and that he, too, would likely die young. But in a final, satisfying twist to this grim tale — Daniel Ransom lived to be over 80 years old. But although he was young, he would never forget the fear and desperation that had his family and community in a tight grip. 

The Legend of Corwin in Woodstock

Another vampire story often seen in connection of the Ransom incident is that of Corwin in Woodstock. The story was retold in 1890 in The Vermont Standard, many years later, and some now believe that this story was actually a retelling and much changed version of Ransom. An old woman told about the case that had happened fifty years earlier and that she had witnessed the burning of his heart herself.

According to the story, a young man with the surname Corwin died of “consumption“, “ and was buried in the Cushing Cemetery in June of 1830 corner of Cloudland Road and River Road. Six month later, the young man’s brother became ill. The newspaper claimed that local physicians, including the respected Dr. Joseph Gallup and Dr. John Powers from the Vermont Medical College, was the ones claiming this had to be the work of a vampire.

The first brother’s body was dug up and examined. His heart, which was found filled with blood, was removed, boiled in a pot, and buried in a hole with a seven-ton block of granite on top. To complete the grisly ritual, the site was then sprinkled with the blood of a young bullock.

Although not verified, it looks eerily similar to the case of Frederick. There was no boy named Corwin in the records who died, but the names of the physicians did actually exist.

Frederick Ransom’s Legacy

Two years later, The Vampyre by John Polidori was published and is considered to have kickstarted the undead and vampires in modern literature. His death and exhumation was not the first, and it would not be the last during the Vampiric Panic that threw New England back to the dark ages. 

His grave lies quietly now in South Woodstock, a reminder of the fragile line between reason and superstition, and how grief can drive even the most educated people to light the funeral pyres of old legends.

So next time you hear a ghost story about New England’s vampire past, remember Frederick Ransom — the Dartmouth scholar whose heart was fed to fire by those who loved him most. Not because they were ignorant, but because they were human.

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References:

Woodstock’s Vampire

Valley News – Among the Undead in Woodstock

Fredrick Ransom (1797-1817) – Find a Grave Memorial

Hunting Vampires in Vermont

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Petar Blagojević: The Death That Sparked Europe’s Vampire Panic

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The staking of Petar Blagojević was one of the first well documented vampire cases in modern Europe. The attention to this vampire plaguing the Serbian village caused the vampire panic that would last way into the next century, perhaps even to this day. 

Next to the Danube River and Silver Lake, the Serbian villagers in Kisiljevo are gathering around a particular grave. As they lift the coffin lid, panic erupts around them. It was like they feared, their once good neighbour and friend had turned into a vampire, an undead. With their wooden stakes held high, they pierced his heart and watched as the blood he had taken from his victim flooded out of his months-old corpse.

In the shadowy heart of 18th-century Serbia, nestled in the village of Kisiljevo, a terrifying legend took root — one that would ignite a vampire hysteria across Europe and shape the foundations of modern vampire folklore as we know it. At the center of this unnerving tale was Petar Blagojević, a simple villager whose death in 1725 was only the beginning of the true horror.

A Quiet Death… Followed by Unsettling Whispers

Petar Blagojević’s life, by all accounts, was unremarkable in comparison to the more famous vampires like Dracula’s Vlad Tepes or Madame Bathory. He was an ordinary man in a rural Serbian village, during a time when superstition clung to the edges of everyday life. But it was his death — and what followed — that would make him infamous.

He was born in Kisilova village, then on the far outskirts of the Hapsburg Empire, in 1662 and grew up to be a farmer like the rest of the villagers. Kisilova (Kisiljevo), a hamlet in the Serbia region that was returned to the Ottomans after the Treaty of Belgrade (1795) and briefly transferred from Ottoman into Austrian hands after the Treaty of Passarowitz. It was like many other post-war places, food shortage, epidemic diseases and an identity crisis between the Catholics and the Orthodox Serbs. 

But for the farmer, life went on, Ottoman or Austrian. He married, had children and lived a life without huge ripples until his death in 1725 of unknown causes. It is said he was buried with the usual Roman Catholic ceremonies.

Shortly after Blagojević’s burial, villagers began dying under mysterious and alarming circumstances after a mysterious illness took hold of them just the day before their death. In the span of eight days, nine people perished, each claiming on their deathbeds to have been throttled in the night by Blagojević himself, risen from the grave. Some say that it happened over two days. 

To make matters more terrifying, it was said that Blagojević visited his widow after the funeral, asking for his opanci shoes. She is said to have fled the village and moved away right after. 

It was also said that he returned home to his son and demanded food. The first day he came, he gave him what he asked for, but he came again and the son didn’t want anything to do with him. When his son refused, his father brutally murdered him by biting him and drinking his blood. 

The Vampire Hysteria Takes Hold

In the early 18th century, the concept of the vampire in Eastern European folklore was already entrenched, and people believed that entire villages had been taken by vampires during the Ottoman rule. But Blagojević’s case brought it into sharp, horrifying focus. Terrified, the villagers demanded action and petitioned the local Austrian authorities for permission to exhume Blagojević’s corpse.

Austrian official and Kameral Provisor, Ernst Frombald, stationed in Kisiljevo, reluctantly agreed, documenting the entire event in a chilling report now considered one of the earliest recorded vampire incidents in European history. In his written record, he used for the first time the Serbian word, Vampire that would take hold in most European languages unchanged going forward. 

The case of Blagojević was brought to his attention, ten weeks after his death. Some say he was only dead a few days before the exhumation. Some sources place the exhumation to April. Frombald is said to have wanted to wait for orders from Belgrad, but feared there would be an uproar if he didn’t act fast. 

The Unearthed Horror of Vampires

When Blagojević’s grave was opened, the villagers, the Veliko Gradiste priest who tagged along and Frombald alike recoiled at what they saw. 

The body was unnaturally well-preserved. The hair and beard had continued to grow. Fresh blood stained the mouth and lips and the skin appeared ruddy and flush, as if alive. He said: “First of all, I did not smell the faintest odor normally characteristic of the dead. With the exception of the nose, which is about to fall off, is completely fresh… Not without wonder I saw fresh blood in his mouth, which according to common observation he had sucked from the people he had killed.”

These ghastly signs, interpreted through the lens of superstition, confirmed to the villagers that Blagojević had become a vampire. Even an erection was present as the account says: “and there were other wild signs, which I omit here out of great respect.”

Without hesitation, they drove a wooden hawthorn stake through his heart. According to witnesses, fresh blood spurted from the wound, and an audible groan escaped the corpse’s lips. The villagers then burned the body to ash — a time-honored method of purging a vampire from the earth.

His victims were also reburied with garlic and whitethorn placed with each corpse in their grave so they wouldn’t come back as vampires. 

A Panic Spreads Across Europe

What might have remained a grim village legend took on a life of its own when Frombald’s detailed report reached Austrian authorities in Belgrade, and from there, Vienna. Authorities didn’t really care about what happened, but the mass media certainly did. The account was printed first in Wienerisches Diarium before several newspapers across Europe wrote about it as well, sparking a wave of vampire hysteria in the early 18th century.

Similar exhumations and suspected vampire cases soon surfaced in Serbia, Romania, and Hungary. These incidents — notably the cases of Arnold Paole and Jure Grando — fueled the burgeoning obsession with the undead, leading to widespread vampire panics and numerous official investigations sanctioned by the Habsburg monarchy.

The First “Modern” Vampire

Petar Blagojević’s case holds a particularly important place in vampire lore. His story, meticulously documented and widely circulated, became one of the foundational tales contributing to Europe’s fascination with vampires.

The details of his death and supposed return share eerie similarities with characteristics later popularized in literature and pop culture. But what really happened during his death? Some have tried to attribute his death to a disease, perhaps he was patient zero of the illness that took away his so called victims lives. 

What happened with his family is uncertain though. Did his wife run away, and was his son murdered by biting him to death, or was he as well taken by the mysterious illness?

What Really Happened to Blagojević and the Vampire Panic

If it wasn’t vampires, what happened then? After centuries of urbanization, space for the dead started to become more limited ever since the 11th century really. Corpses were buried closer to the living and higher up, not really decomposing in peace as they should. The stench of decomposing flesh from overfilled tombs was warned about in the bigger cities in Europe and with it came horrible diseases like the plague, smallpox and dysentery. 

All it needed was a heavy rainstorm or dog burying in the shallow graves for them to rise from their graves, someone looking not nearly decomposed as the living wanted them to look. 

After the reformation, the notions of saints weren’t a thing anymore, and those corpses that would have been seen as holy centuries back perhaps, were now something demonic and evil. 

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References:

Decomposing Bodies in the 1720s Gave Birth to the First Vampire Panic

Kisiljevo Cemetery – Atlas Obscura

Priča o Petru Blagojeviću ili kako je srpska riječ “vampir” ušla u evropske jezike – Moja Hercegovina

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The Legend of Ireland’s Vampire King Abhartach and the Haunted Giant’s Grave

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In the rural areas of Derry, Northern Ireland, there is a small dolmen grave under a hawthorn tree. It is said to be the grave of the vampire king, Abhartach who is said to still be lusting after blood. 

Ireland’s ancient hills and mossy graveyards are no strangers to ghost stories and restless spirits. Yet among these tales of banshees and fairies lies one of the island’s oldest, darkest legends — the story of Abhartach, a tyrant chieftain whose insatiable thirst for blood refused to end, even in death. 

Thought by some folklorists to be Ireland’s original vampire myth, Abhartach’s grim story predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and may well have been its inspiration.

The Tyrant of Slaghtaverty

According to legend, Abhartach was a cruel and malevolent chieftain who ruled in what is now Slaghtaverty in the parish of Errigal in Derry, Northern Ireland. Although he is remembered as a vampire, the name and description of him is much closer to a dwarf. As the name suggests, he might have been remembered for his height. 

Irish Hero: In some accounts Abhartach is combined with the similarly named Abartach, a figure associated with Fionn mac Cumhaill and pre-christian irish mythology. Fionn mac Cumhaill,[a] often anglicised Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet. He is said to have a magic thumb that bestows him with great wisdom. He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang, and fighting with his spear and sword. In modern retellings it is said the hero was called Cathán or O’Kane.

He is said to have lived in the 5th or 6th century, at a time when the Glenullin area of Ireland was a patchwork of small kingdoms of tribal warlords were the mysterious druids still lived and practiced their magic and when the catholic saints started settling on the emerald island. 

Feared by his own people, he was said to possess dark powers and a fascination with the occult. Through his practice of dark magic, he killed his subjects for fun. His tyrannical ways became so unbearable that local warriors, desperate for relief, conspired to kill him.

In one version of the tale, a neighboring chieftain named Cathán rose up against Abhartach and struck him down, burying him in a standing grave, marked by a solitary stone. Burying in a standing position was a custom at the time for high-ranking chieftains. But peace would not come so easily.

In other versions his first death was through no fault but his own and he died when he was stalking his wife. He was a jealous man and trusted no one. He thought she was having an affair and crept on the ledge outside of the castle to the window outside her bedroom. He slipped and fell to his death and they quickly buried him for the first time. But it would not be his last. 

The Undying Menace

The day after his burial, Abhartach returned — clawing his way out of the earth, demanding blood from his terrified subjects to collect in a bowl for him to consume. In some versions of the legend, his subjects were so afraid of him and submitted to him, making blood sacrifices to him, waiting for someone to save them.

Again, Cathán slew him, and again, Abhartach returned. It was then the people sought counsel from a druid or wise elder who revealed the grim truth: Abhartach was no ordinary man, but one of the neamh-mairbh, the undead. In more modern retellings of the story it was a Christian Saint giving the solution to the undead. 

Druid Forest: There are several hermitages in the area. According to tradition, these were the dwellings of particularly holy men. The most notable is in Gortnamoyagh Forest on the very edge of Glenullin, where local people will still point out the saint’s track, a series of stations near a holy well.

To stop his monstrous resurrection, he could not be buried in consecrated ground. Instead, he must be killed with a sword made of yew wood, buried upside down, and his grave encircled with thorns and heavy stones to prevent his escape.

Cathán followed the instructions, and Abhartach was finally trapped — but local legend holds that his restless spirit still lingers beneath the earth.

The Cursed Grave of Slaghtaverty

According to a lecturer in Celtic history at the University of UIster, Bob Curran, the real castle he lived in an be found between the towns of Garvagh and Dungiven, where a small hill now stands. He says that it was here that the fortress of a 5th or 6th-century chieftain with magical powers called the Abhartach once resided. 

The Slaghtaverty Dolmen: By locals called the Gian’ts grave, associated with the legend of Abhartach, under a solitary hawthorn tree in rural Derry, Northern Ireland. Strange things are said to happen around this grave.

Today, the place believed to be Abhartach’s grave is a modest site known as Slaghtaverty Dolmen or The Giant’s Grave. Nestled in a field near the village of Slaughtaverty in Londonderry in Northern Ireland, it’s marked by an ancient stone surrounded by a ring of Hawthorn trees and undergrowth. It used to be more stones as remnants of an old monument, but these have been removed over time by local farmers for building purposes.

Locals claim the spot is cursed; farmers avoid working the land around it, and strange misfortunes are said to befall those who disturb the grave. Some say on misty nights, you can hear faint whispers, or catch the flicker of a shadow moving between the trees — as though Abhartach himself still walks, searching for blood.

In 1997, attempts were made to clear the land, but, if local tradition is to be believed, workmen who tried to fell the tree found that their brand-new chainsaw stopped for no reason on three occasions. When attempting to lift the great stone, a steel chain suddenly snapped, cutting the hand of one of the labourers and, significantly, allowing blood to soak into the ground.

The Dracula Connection

We first have the legend written down in Patrick Weston Joyce’s The Origin and History of Irish Names and Places from 1870. In modern versions of the lore, the story is said to be solved by an earlier Christian, and not a druid. 

Intriguingly, scholars have speculated that Abhartach’s legend may have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker, an Irishman born in Dublin, would have likely been familiar with the story of the blood-drinking undead chieftain. While Dracula is commonly associated with Vlad the Impaler and Eastern European folklore, it’s possible that the sinister figure of Abhartach left its own mark on Gothic horror’s most famous vampire.

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References:

Abhartach – Wikipedia 

The Abhartach / Irish Vampire: Terrifying Tale For 2025

Does Abhartach, the vampiric chieftain, still stalk the Derry hills?

Abhartach the Dwarf King | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends

Abhartach – Ireland’s Vampire King – by Siobhán Rodgers 

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The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident in Rhode Island

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When the whole Brown family succumbed to tuberculosis, the townsfolk in New England started to become suspicious. They believed that one of the dead, 19 year old Mercy Brown was behind it all as an undead in the middle of the vampire mass hysteria that seemed to plague the East Coast. 

After a tuberculosis breakout in New England in the late 1800s, there was a mass hysteria growing among the people living there. The cause for tuberculosis was unknown at the time, and in some cases, people thought it was because of supernatural causes. Although the term vampire was not widely used then, this would spread and later be known as the New England Vampire Panic.

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One of the most famous “real-life” vampires from this period was Mercy Brown, a young woman from 1800s Rhode Island who had died of tuberculosis and was believed to be preying on other members of her family as a vampire. 

Following was one of the most well documented cases of exhumation of a corpse to perform rituals and banish the alleged undead manifestation that seemed to have taken hold of her. Contrary to popular belief about being puritanical, the rural New Englanders in the 1800s were not overly religious and 10 percent belonged to church in these parts. They were however superstitious. Many years later, they found her newspaper articles in the belongings of Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula.

Exeter: The countryside of Rhode Island were plagued with a belief that consumption was caused by the undead, and the locals went through plenty of exhumations of their dearly beloved and used them for rituals trying to cure themselves. // Source: Flickr

History of Mercy Brown: The Last Vampire in America

Mercy Lena Brown lived together with her family in Exeter, Rhode Island, a place populated by Europeans since the mid 1700s. After years of civil war, the number of people living there had dwindled to a few thousand. By some, this was known as Vampire Capital of America. 

The Brown family lived on a small farm in a place with barely fertile soil and were her parents and her four other siblings. People used to call her Lena when she was alive, but has been immortalized as Mercy Brown. Over the years, sickness took the lives of many as an epidemic of tuberculosis swept through the northeastern states. Her 36 year old mother, Mary Eliza was the first to die from consumption as tuberculosis was known back then on December 8, 1883. 

Mercy Brown: A historical portrait of Mercy Brown, the young woman at the center of the New England Vampire Panic.

So did the eldest daughter, Mary Olive, six months later on June 6, 1884 when she was 20 years old. She was working as a dressmaker before she got sick. She started having terrible dreams about her life being drawn out of her. 

Two weeks before she died, she joined the church. When she died the whole village came out and sang her favorite hymn, One Sweetly Solemn Thought. Mercy was only a child then and knew little that she would be blamed for her family’s misfortune.

Chestnut Hill Baptist Church: The historic church in Exeter, Rhode Island, near the site of the Mercy Brown vampire legend. //Source: Swampyank/Wiki

After the initial deaths, it seemed like the sickness had passed through their home, but then it came back and struck her 24 year old brother, Edwin. He was seen as a strong and healthy man working as a store clerk, so it was a shock to everyone when he fell ill, becoming sickly and frail. To help, he went to Colorado Springs in hope to be cured by the mineral waters there. 

The Death and Exhumation of Mercy Brown

In 1891 the daughters Marcy got the TB disease as well. She might have had the “galloping” kind that had been inside her for years before it broke out. And when it did, it took her quickly as the doctors told her father that there was nothing to do. 

Before her death, Mercy had worked on a quilt of fabric scraps. The pattern she used is sometimes called the Wandering Foot in Rhode Island and rare. According to superstition it is said that those who sleep under it, will be lost to her family and doomed to wander forever. 

On January 18, 1892, only 19 years old she succumbed to her illness and died. As the ground was frozen, she was put inside a crypt as they had to wait for it to thaw in the spring to bury her. The feelings toward the Brown daughters had shifted, and the whole village never showed up to sing her hymns. They thought something was strange, and that something unnatural was happening. Could it be that little Lena was actually an undead?

Consumption: Before it had a scientific explanation, TB was a horrifying, slow-moving plague. Victims grew pale and thin, their cheeks sunken, eyes glassy. They coughed blood. It was contagious, of course, though no one knew why or how. When one family member died, others often followed. And so the imagination of rural folk—grounded in a stew of folklore, fear, and grim necessity—did what it does best: It reached for reasons. They began to believe that the dead were not staying dead.

The time in Colorado seemed to work for a while for Edwin and he got better. But when he returned when he heard about his sister’s passing, it was like a switch, and he got worse. It is said that he screamed out “she was here,” and “she wants me to come with her,” when he was dreaming. 

People started to talk about the undead, and that there had to be a supernatural cause for all the deaths in the Brown family. Stories about Mercy having been seen walking in the cemetery and through fields started to circulate. 

The last left alive was their father, George Brown and Edwin. George started to get desperate as his only son was withering away as he had already seen his wife and oldest daughter do. He decided to dig up members of his family to check, to appease his neighbour, and maybe, just maybe, save his son.

The Crypt: The eerie, weathered stone structure was the crypt that Mercy Brown was put inside until the ground was thawed enough to bury her. //Source: Flickr

A bunch of the villagers, the local doctor from Wickford called Dr. Harold Metcalf and a reporter from the newspapers went to Exeter’s Chestnut Hill Cemetery and dug the bodies up on March 17 in 1892. It was said that the dr. did not’ believe in the vampire stories, but tagged along to check it out, and would confirm signs of TB in her lungs. George stayed home, not wanting to see his family dug up, but desperate enough for his son to let other people do it. 

Both his wife and his eldest daughter were as expected, but Mercy, who had been buried for a couple of months, looked like she was affected by the undead. She still had blood in her heart and showed almost no sign of decomposition. They also claimed that her position had shifted since they put her down in the coffin. 

The Ritual of the Undead

As the ritual demanded, Mercy’s heart and liver were burned on a nearby rock and the ashes were mixed with a tonic. Where this ritual came from is uncertain. Did it travel from Europe through the immigrants? Was it something they had heard from the Native Americans?

This tonic made of the ashes of his sister was given to the sick Edwin to drink. It was thought to cure his illness that the undead had infested him with. Edwin died of his disease two months later on May 2 and so would two of his younger sisters as well.

The Truth Behind the Legend

After the ritual, the remains of Mercy’s body were buried in the cemetery of the Baptists Church in Exeter. What really happened when they decided to open up her grave? 

Of the decomposition it was a coffin kept in an above crypt  in the winter months in Rhode Island in the two months after her death. Her body had been kept in an almost freezer like environment and slowed the decomposition. 

The Tombstone of Mercy Brown: Gravestone of Mercy L. Brown, marking her death on January 17, 1892, at the age of 19, amidst the vampire hysteria in New England. The stone has probably been replaced over the years.

It  seems like her father didn’t even believe in the stories, he only wanted to appease his neighbors. 

What happened to the other Brown kids though is almost never mentioned. It seems like the other children Jennie Adeline Brown and Myra Frances Brown also died of consumption, although there wasn’t much talk about vampires or the undead then. 

Only Hattie May Brown seemed to have made it out alive and died at 79 in 1954. 

The Enduring Legend and Haunting

George Brown never contracted the illness and lived until 1922. By then he lived to see Calmette and Guerin discover the BCG vaccine that could have cured his family of the very non-supernatural disease they had. 

And for Mercy, her grave is still standing at the same graveyard she was dug up. During Halloween, her grave is guarded as people sometimes try to steal her headstone and vandalize her final resting place. Many rumors and legends have flourished from this cemetery, especially about the strange blue lights hovering over the family plot. She is also said to show up on a particular bridge nearby, followed by the smell of roses. She is also said to show up to the dying, telling them that death isn’t as bad as they think. 

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References:

Mercy Brown vampire incident – Wikipedia

Vampire Mercy Brown | When Rhode Island Was “The Vampire Capital of America”

Grave of Mercy L. Brown | quahog.org 

Mercy Lena Brown (1872-1892) – Find a Grave Memorial 

Have Mercy… – The Rhode Island Historical Society

Mercy Brown was 19 when she died of tuberculosis. Her town thought she was a vampire. 

The Great New England Vampire Panic 

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Anchanchu: The Shapeshifting Vampire of Bolivia’s Lonely Roads

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In the loneliest corner of the Andean highlands of Bolivia and Peru, an Aymaran legend of the Anchanchu or the Abchanchu is said to lurk. Disguised as an elderly man, weary from his travels, he uses people’s goodness to attack and drink their blood. 

Come in, come abchanchu, do not do any harm, because Mallcu protects me.
– Chant to keep the monsters at bay

South America is no stranger to terrifying folklore — from weeping women haunting riverbanks to spectral riders in the dead of night their ancient and distinct cultures throughout history has given rise to so many different legends and myths. 

One of the more obscure and perhaps not so well known tales chills the blood quite like that of Anchanchu, sometimes known as the Abchanchu, one of Bolivia’s most enduring and sinister legends. For generations, whispers of this deceptive creature have echoed through mountain villages and remote country paths, warning travelers of the horrors that may lurk beneath a frail, human guise.

Vampires on the Road: Said to haunt the deserted roads in highland Bolivia, the Anchanchu appears as an old man before attacking. The Anchanchu: In Aymara mythology, Anchanchu or Janchanchu (Hispanic spelling, Anchancho) is a terrible demon that haunts caves, rivers, and other isolated places. This deity is closely related to the Uru god Tiw. He is also said to be a vampiric deity, feeding on people’s blood.

The Legend of the Bloodthirsty Trickster

At first glance, Anchanchu appears as nothing more than a harmless, elderly man on the side of the road, a hunched figure, weary from travel, moving slowly along the dusty Bolivian roads. His face is lined with age, his clothes tattered from long journeys, and he leans heavily on a walking stick, luring in his unsuspecting victims. 

But behind those sorrowful eyes lies a predator.

Anchanchu is a vampire of ancient origin, known for his ability to shapeshift into this deceptive, vulnerable form. 

When a kind-hearted passerby offers to assist the seemingly feeble traveler, walking him to safety or providing shelter for the night when he knocks on your door, it’s then that his true, monstrous nature is revealed. The helpless elder transforms into a savage creature, attacking his victim under the cover of darkness and drinking their blood.

Sometimes he lures the victims to his home, promising them a hot meal or anything to get them inside. Other times he plays on your good will, and you bring him home and give a bed for the night. Even if you survive the attack, you will slowly die of the disease the monster leaves you with. 

In some versions of the tale, it’s said the vampire leaves little trace of his victims, allowing him to wander from town to town, his terrible secret forever cloaked by his kindly, unassuming appearance.

A Cautionary Tale Born from Bolivia’s Mountains

The legend of Anchanchu is believed to have originated in Bolivia’s Andean highlands, where treacherous mountain paths wind between isolated villages. It is believed that the vampire story comes from an older demon lore of the modern Aymara people in Bolivia and Peru. 

The Aymara People: The Aymara or Aimara people are indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. The ancestors of the Aymara lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century and later of the Spanish in the 16th century.

In these remote regions, travelers would often rely on the kindness of strangers for survival — a fact that the myth of Anchanchu turns tragically on its head. It used to be confined to small regions until the 18th century, when tales of the monster travelled further. 

Aymara Settlement: The story of the Anchanchu as a vampiric demon was confided to the rural Bolivian highlands. Here, a Aymara town around 1904.

In the Uyuni region, he comes with the cold, and if you don’t remember to close the windows and lock your doors, he will just walk right in. 

Uyuni: The Uyuni region is mostly known for the mysterious and beautiful salt flats. It is also thought to be a place where the Anchanchu roams.

For the people of Huancané, it is recommended to not walk at night, specifically after midnight. Anchanchu appears as a red dog around one to three A.M. His appearance is described as being a pudgy, bald, older man.

If you find yourself on a deserted Bolivian road as the sun begins to set, and you happen upon a frail old man limping along the path, remember the warnings of generations past. His weathered smile and pleading eyes may mask ancient hunger, and one act of misplaced kindness could be your last.

Anchanchu or the Abchanchu waits for the charitable, hiding his fangs behind a trembling voice — and the mountains have many lonely places where the missing are never found.

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References:

Abchanchu: Bolivian Vampire. From the desk of The Reddest Raven | by Rayven Red | Feb, 2025 | Medium

Anchanchu. Dios del mal aymara.

Anchanchu – Wikipedia

Aymara people – Wikipedia

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The Legend of the Jiāngshī: China’s Hopping Vampire

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With stiff limbs after rigor mortis has set in, the Chinese vampire entity, the Jiāngshī is after the life force of the living. But where did the lore of the hopping undead really come from? 

The concepts of vampires and the undead is not a modern notion. Long before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and centuries before Hollywood’s suave, bloodthirsty counts graced silver screens, the people of ancient China harbored their own chilling tales of the dead refusing to stay buried. 

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In Chinese folklore, these restless corpses came not with bat wings or seductive stares, but with stiff limbs, pallid skin, crimson eyes, and long hooked claws. Their name? Jiāngshī (殭屍) — roughly translating to “stiff corpse” or more colorfully, “corpse-hopper.”

Yes — they hopped. And it was every bit as unsettling as it sounds.

Mr. Vampire (1985)

What is a Jiāngshī?

The Jiāngshī (僵尸) is a reanimated corpse, a creature caught somewhere between life and death. It goes under many names like Chiang Shi, Kang Shi and Geungsi. The myth also appears in other parts of Asia; such as South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Unlike your typical Western vampire, which drains blood with charm and elegance, a Jiāngshī is known for its stiff, rigor mortis-bound body that can only move by hopping, arms outstretched like some grim parody of a child’s game.

Its arrival is accompanied by the scent of decay and often a sinister green phosphorescent glow. Traditionally, it feeds on the life essence or qi of the living or by simply draining their vital energy. Victims struck down by a Jiāngshī would either die outright or rise again as one of its own.

As for appearance — imagine a corpse with ashen or moldy green skin, protruding fangs, claw-like fingernails, and red, hungry eyes. In some accounts, it wears the clothes it was buried in: threadbare robes from dynasties long past.

In some folkloric accounts it had more powers and was capable of running and chasing people at high speed. 

Origins of the Legend of the Jiāngshī

The origins of the Jiāngshī legend are as murky as a midnight fog rolling through a mountain pass. Tales of reanimated corpses in Chinese culture can be traced as far back as the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), with possible roots stretching into even earlier dynasties. 

One plausible theory ties their genesis to the folk custom of “transporting corpses over long distances, “ ((千里行屍; 千里行尸; qiān lǐ xíng shī)In rural China, Xiang province (present-day Hunan), when people died far from home, families often couldn’t afford to transport the body by cart. A lot of people worked construction work in the backwaters of western Hunan and the death toll was high. But they all preferred to be buried with their family in their ancestral homeplace.

the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, whose reign was rife with war and conquest in an attempt to claim land and establish the Chinese states.

Instead, local priests or corpse-handlers were hired to bind the corpses upright between bamboo poles, carried by porters walking in unison. They avoided driving during the day as people feared dead bodies. From a distance, the swaying of the corpses might have resembled hopping — giving birth to stories of corpse-hoppers prowling the countryside.

Couple this with deep-seated fears of improper burials, vengeful spirits, and death-related taboos, and you had the perfect storm for spawning the Jiāngshī myth. This practice also gave rise to the belief that Taoist sorceres could be paid for the corpse to “hop their way home” if they couldn’t afford the transportation costs.

The Jiāngshī’s Vampiric Traits

The Jiāngshī shares enough blood-chilling traits to land itself firmly in the category of vampiric folklore like the eastern European one. In some ways it could also look more like a mindless zombie than an immortal and intellectual vampire. If absorbing enough energy, it could even fight. It was said to come from the hills, soaring through the air to devour infants. 

They believed they could be created with dark magic or by spirits possessing the dead bodies, or even by absorbing enough yang qi energy to return. There were also more specific ways to become this entiry like When the dead person is not buried even after a funeral has been held. The corpse comes to life after it is struck by a bolt of lightning, or when a pregnant cat (or a black cat in some tales) leaps across the coffin.

Its victims may fall ill, die, or rise as new Jiāngshī. It is repelled by sunlight and sleeps in their coffins, caves or dark forests during the day. 

Like its Western counterparts, a Jiāngshī is often born of violent death, improper burial rites, or spiritual unrest. In some tales, even a strong grudge or curse could tether a soul to its body, animating it into a hopping nightmare.

Unlike its western counterparts though, there is rarely talk about the Jiāngshī feeding on human blood with fangs. 

How to Stop a Jiāngshī

Chinese folklore, practical as ever, offers several creative ways to ward off or destroy a Jiāngshī and they have several weaknesses. As with most undead, exposure to daylight causes the creature to decay or combust.

They also feared their own reflection and mirror could also repel them. They were also afraid of things made from peach trees, a rooster calling, fire and hooves of a black donkey, dropping a bag of coins as they must count them, glutinous riceand blood of a black dog among other things. 

Fulu or Taoist talismans are also a classic way of fighting dark entities. Written on yellow paper in red ink and affixed to the creature’s forehead, these magical scrolls could immobilize or dispel the vampire.

The Jiangshi in Pop Culture

The legend of the Jiāngshī didn’t fade with the passing of imperial China. Instead, it found new life in Hong Kong horror comedies of the 1980s and 90s, notably the cult classic Mr. Vampire (1985), which turned the hopping vampire into an iconic figure of Chinese pop culture. Interestingly, the use of the entity in pure horror movies without comedy has proved to not work. 

It is also perhaps from Hong Kong cinema that we get the depiction of a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing dynasty. The Manchu style qizhuang and the headpiece Qingdai guanmao could come from anti- Manchu propaganda. 

Modern adaptations often blend humor with horror, depicting Taoist priests armed with incense sticks and spirit scrolls battling swarms of hopping undead. While the Jiāngshī might seem quirky or even comedic in some modern depictions, at its core it’s a reflection of ancient anxieties about death, spiritual unrest, and the consequences of neglecting the dead. 

Beneath the slapstick lies a persistent echo of ancient fears: that death, if disrespected, will come hopping after you.

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References:

https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_38-1

Hopping Vampire – 僵尸 (jiāngshī) – CHIN 3343: Chinese Popular Culture Terms, Vol. 2

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The Adze: Bloodthirsty Firefly of Ewe Folklore

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Without any cure and without knowing, the vampiric Adze entity can shapeshift as a Firefly and suck the blood and life force, they are also said to have demonic abilities to possess their targets.  

In the dense tropical nights of Togo, Ghana, and Benin, when the air grows thick and the hum of insects rises like a restless chant, ancient stories whisper of a creature more sinister than any ordinary predator. Known as the Adze, this vampiric spirit from Ewe folklore is said to lurk in the shadows — taking the form of a harmless firefly by night, only to slip through cracks and keyholes, draining the life of the sleeping.

Beneath its flickering glow lies something far more sinister than superstition — a terrifying legend deeply rooted in the Ewe people’s culture, fears, and unexplainable tragedies of West Africa.

A Firefly with a Hunger for Blood

By day, the Adze is nowhere to be found, but by night it takes the form of a firefly, flitting silently through the darkness. The Adze is particularly known for residing in baobab trees, which are considered sacred in Ewe culture and hold significant spiritual importance. Unlike ordinary insects, the Adze seeks out homes, slipping through the tiniest of openings: a cracked window, a gap beneath a door, or the invisible seams of a thatched roof.

Once inside, it descends upon the sleeping, silently feeding on their blood especially from children. Victims would grow pale and feverish, their strength ebbing away, sometimes slipping into death with no visible wound to explain their decline. Entire households might fall ill, fueling whispers of witchcraft and unseen forces at work.

Ewe People: There is no record of when the stories of the Adze first began. Archaeological evidence shows that the Ewe people settled the coast of West Africa, in the tropical region of what is now Ghana and Togo, around the 13th century.  Traditional Ewa dancers perform the Bobobo dance at the Hotel Campement de Kloto in the Forêt de Missahohe at Kouma-Konda village near Kpalimé, Togo. //Source: Bobobo Dance

Possession and Witchcraft

But the Adze’s terror does not end with its nocturnal feedings. Although known for it’s vampiric traits, it doesn’t stop there. If caught, the creature is said to transform into its human form — and worse still, it can possess the living like some sort of demon. Those possessed by an Adze, whether man or woman, are viewed by the community as witches, known locally as abasom.

Vodun Religion: Ewe people were exposed to the teachings of missionaries, they did not cast away their traditional religion of Vodun—which means “spirit” in Ewe and is the source of the various Vodou or Voodoo traditions in the Americas—for Christianity. Instead, they loosely combined the two. This is perhaps why adze started to resemble demons and the devil.

It was believed that an Adze’s influence spread misfortune and sickness among the victim’s family or neighbors. Suspicion of Adze possession traditionally fell upon those viewed as outsiders or threats:

Women with brothers whose children thrived while theirs sickened, are jealous on her husband’s other wives or are infertile. In general, women are thought to be possessed by adze much more than men are. Elderly villagers who inexplicably outlived the young. The poor and envious, suspected of seeking revenge on the prosperous through dark spiritual means.

A Reflection of Real Dangers

Folklorists have long speculated that tales of the Adze may have emerged as an attempt to explain the deadly effects of malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes in the same regions where belief in the Adze is strongest. The Ewe people have long felt powerless against the disease. Like the legendary creature, mosquitoes slip unnoticed into homes at night, leaving their victims ill and weak without apparent cause.

Yet the Adze is more than an allegory. For generations, its legend served as a way to make sense of death, illness, and envy in tightly woven communities, where unexplained tragedy demanded a face — and the Adze, with its shifting form and vampiric hunger, provided one.

No Defense, No Escape

Perhaps most chilling of all is the belief that there is no defense against an Adze. Neither amulet nor spell, no sacred rite nor healer’s blessing, could prevent its entry or spare the marked victim. A silent predator, it moves between worlds — from insect to human, from spirit to possession — and once it has claimed a victim, death or ruin soon follows.

Some say you can free someone from possession though, like forcing the adze out from the host, or after Christianity entered, through prayer. 

Even today, in rural villages and among elders who remember the old stories, the flicker of a lone firefly on a humid night can still stir unease. Is it merely a harmless insect… or a centuries-old vampire in search of blood?

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References:

In West Africa, the Adze Is an Insectoid Source of Misfortune – Atlas Obscura

Adze (folklore) – Wikipedia

Adze – Deyerin Storytellers 

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Abere: The Marsh Demoness of Melanesia

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Waiting in the swamps of the Melanesian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the cannibalistic Abere demon lures men to their death by posing as a seductive woman. 

Across the scattered islands and lush, humid marshlands of Melanesia, ancient legends tell of creatures both beautiful and unspeakably cruel. Among the most unsettling is the story of Abere, a beguiling demoness who dwells in the swamps and wetlands, preying upon the foolish and the lovestruck. 

To those unfamiliar with her legend, she appears as a wild and stunning woman, but to the elders of Melanesia, she is a flesh eating monster older than memory — a cunning predator who devours those seduced by her beauty.

source

The Allure of the Marsh

Abere is said to reside deep within the marshes and stagnant waterways, in places where the reeds grow tall and the mist clings low to the water’s surface. It’s said that the mimia reed grows around her to hide her from her victims.

Melanesia is a region in Oceania, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, west of New Guinea to Fiji Islands and include Vanuatu and Solomon Islands as well. Although the Melanesians are a group of people with different cultures, mythologies and languages, they share a long history of cultural exchanges. 

source

She is not alone, for countless tales describe her surrounded by a group of young, beautiful female attendants — women who themselves may be victims turned thralls, or spirits bound to Abere’s service.

Those who wander too close to her domain often find themselves inexplicably drawn to the otherworldly beauty of these figures, unaware of the mortal danger awaiting them.

Reeds sprout and twist unnaturally, growing rapidly around the victim until they are trapped, ensnared in a living prison of marsh grass. The more they struggle, the tighter the reeds wind themselves. Once the unfortunate soul is bound and helpless, Abere reveals her monstrous nature — shedding her illusion of beauty and devouring her captive alive.

An Ancient Warning from the Swamps

Like many demoness figures in regional folklore, Abere serves as both a supernatural terror and a cautionary figure. What is she really? A vampire, a particularly vicious mermaid species? Something demonic? In the isolated, waterlogged regions of Melanesia where survival depended upon sharp instincts and respect for nature’s hazards, Abere personified the unseen dangers of straying too far into the unknown.

Melanesian Mythology: A common theme in Melanesian tales is the risk for humans to be eaten alive by non-humans: either ghosts, spirits, or dangerous animals. Mentions of human cannibalism – where humans are eaten by other humans – are much rarer, but they exist in some stories. // source

Whether interpreted as a metaphor for the treacherous marshes themselves or as a caution against reckless desire, her legend endures, whispered by elders to warn children against wandering alone, and to remind them that not all beauty should be trusted.

Though Abere may not be as widely known outside of Melanesia, she remains a potent figure within the folklore of the islands. Her story survives in oral traditions and regional myths, a chilling reminder of the shapeshifting, hungry spirits that populate the world’s forgotten places.

In the modern age, tales of encounters with ghostly women along misty waterways still surface now and then. And for those who walk the marsh paths of Melanesia under the cover of night — there’s always the chance that the rustle in the reeds isn’t the wind, but Abere, waiting.

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References:

Rose, Carol (1998). “A”. Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns and Goblin. The Abere is a particularly vicious mermaid species. Norton. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-393-31792-3. 

Coulter, Charles Russell; Turner, Patricia (4 July 2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-135-96397-2.

ABERE – the Melanesian Demoness (Melanesian mythology)

Melanesian mythology – Wikipedia

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The Dark Tale of Enriqueta Martí: The Infamous Vampire of El Raval in Barcelona

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For years children kept disappearing in the El Raval neighborhood in Barcelona. When the culprit finally was found it was Enriqueta Marti and her twisted crimes at fault. She was because of the darkness of her crimes called The Vampire of El Raval, and perhaps the scope of her crimes will never be revealed.


Step into the dark streets of El Raval, Barcelona, and immerse yourself in the chilling tale of Enriqueta Martí, the infamous vampire who haunted this neighborhood in the late 19th century. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from Spain

Known for her macabre activities, Enriqueta Martí preyed on the most vulnerable members of society, luring innocent children into her clutches. This dark tale unravels the secrets behind her heinous crimes, revealing a web of deceit, manipulation, and unspeakable horrors that made people refuse to believe that she was actually human. 

The Dark and Scary Neighborhood: El Raval

The Raval neighborhood in Barcelona had a dark and sinister reputation in the years leading up to the first world war. This area, still commonly referred to as the Barri Xino or red light district, has a long history of criminal activity and poverty as well as the bohemian homes to artists, theaters, bars and cabarets. 

Its dimly lit streets and alleys have witnessed countless crimes, making it the perfect setting for the haunting tale of Enriqueta Martí. At the start of the 20th century it was the most densely populated district in Europe. The atmosphere of fear and unease that permeates the Raval adds an extra layer of dread to the story of the infamous vampire.

The Missing Children Nobody Looked For

In the late 19th century, Barcelona was a city plagued by poverty and social inequality where there was a big difference between the highs and lows of social status. It was in this environment of desperation that Enriqueta Martí found her victims. She preyed on the most vulnerable members of society: the poor children that no one really noticed. These innocent souls were often neglected and forgotten by society, making them easy targets for Martí’s twisted desires. 

The disappearances of these children went unnoticed for far too long, as their absence was overshadowed by the chaos and hardships of the time. Martí’s ability to operate in the shadows, unnoticed by the authorities, allowed her reign of terror to continue unchecked.

The Dark Legend of Enriqueta Martí as the Vampire of El Raval

Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés, a name that still sends chills down the spines of those who dare to speak it. Born in 1868, Martí would go on to become one of the most notorious figures in Barcelona’s history.

Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés: Photo of the alleged serial killer from Barcelona.

She was known by many names: “The Vampire of carrer Ponent”, “The Vampire of Barcelona,” and “The Vampire of the Raval.” The press sensationalized her crimes, perpetuating the image of a bloodthirsty monster who fed on the innocent. 

Read more: Check out the stories about Paris’ Haunted Père Lachaise Cemetery or Poveglia Island — The Most Haunted Place in the World for more stories about suspected vampires.

Martí’s macabre activities included kidnapping, murder, and even running a brothel that specialized in child prostitution. But what drove this woman to commit such heinous acts?

Before being renovated in 1923, the street was something else entirely than the home of a bar, pub and fancy shops. It used to be a brothel that Enriqueta owned.She was a simple country girl that moved to the city to earn her living. She started out as a nanny and a waitress, but soon ended up becoming a prostitute until she became a madam and opened her own brothel on Carrer Ponent. 

The Vampire’s Work as a Witch Doctor

One of her darker endeavors was her work as a witch doctor. She was said to sell miracle skin creams to rich ladies that promised them eternal beauty. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories about: Witches

The only thing they didn’t know was that these supposed creams contained the blood and fat of children. Or perhaps they knew, but just didn’t care. 

She also claimed to have found a cure for tuberculosis that plagued the city at that time. She said that by drinking the blood of children, they would be cured. 

The Horrible Crimes

It is said that she dressed up as a poor woman and looked for children that had no grown ups watching them. She then took them and sold them in her brothel. 

She was arrested once in 1909 during the Tragic Week for selling children but was never convicted as she utilized her friends in high places that relied on her services. 

It was only when a particular girl went missing that the police really bothered to investigate properly as she was not a poor and orphaned child as many of her other victims had been. 

The Tragic Tale of Teresita Guitart Congost

Although Teresita Guitart Congost’s parents weren’t necessarily rich, they were popular and had a fair amount of influence to make this case matter compared to all the other cases. A neighbor saw the girl in Marti’s apartment on 29 Ponent Street or Carrer de Joaquin Costa as it is today, and notified the police. When they arrived they found both Teresita Guitart Congost and a girl called Angelita. Teresita Guitart Congost said that Marti had lured her there with sweets before locking them up in her apartment. 

Saved: Teresita Guitart Congost at 5 years old after she was found and rescued from the Vampire of El Raval.

No one knew who Angelita was, and even if Marti claimed it was her daughter, her ex husband said they never had any children. It was from this girl that harrowing details came into the light. According to this young girl, she had apparently seen Marti butcher a 5 year old in the kitchen table called Pepito that she had stolen from a single mother that was new to the city. 

The police also found bags filled with small and bloody human bones as well as dirty clothes as well as around 50 jars of fat, blood, hair and skeletons, some already mixed into an ointment, ready for sale. 

Although there was a filthy apartment with a horrible stench, there was one room where it was clean with expensive furniture and nice looking clothes for both girls and boys, most likely where her clients were taken. 

In her former apartments they found bones, in the yards, a skull of a child. They had no way of piecing all of them together, and the forensic could only identify twelve children. But how many it really was, is unknown. 

The Arrest and Trial of Enriqueta Martí

The police accused her of abducting and killing children, how many is unknown. She had 20 years to commit her crimes in peace. She never confessed to killing any of the children, but admitted that she had brought children to rich child molesters through her brothel. She never named her clients. 

Arrested: Enriqueta Martí was finally arrested after the discovery of two kidnapped children in her apartment that told the authorities about the killings. Although she was finally arrested for her crimes, she never had a proper trial and became convicted, and a lot of questions remain.

Martí was never convicted. Her fellow inmates took matters into their own hands and hung her in the prison yard in May 1913. In some versions she was beaten to death. The official death claims it was cancer. Rumors circulated that Martí’s wealthy patrons had paid for her murder to ensure that their dark dealings with her would never come to light. The official cause of death listed on her death certificate was uterine cancer, effectively closing the door on any further investigation into her crimes.

Was the Rumor False?

While Martí’s reign of terror came to an end with her death, questions still linger about the true extent of her crimes. Did she really kill them, or was she more of a scapegoat for the elite to throw away when the police came too close? 

They suggest that she can only be reliably linked to the abduction of one young girl, Teresita Guitart. These researchers contend that the black legend attributed to Martí cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 

However, the stories and legends surrounding her continue to haunt the dark corners of Barcelona, perpetuating her infamous reputation and for many years, there were countless of local Barcelonians that claimed that they had been tried or were kidnapped by her.

Enriqueta Martí’s Dark Tale Lives On

The tale of Enriqueta Martí, the infamous vampire of El Raval, is a chilling reminder of the darkness that can lurk in the human soul. Her crimes shocked a city and left scars that still remain to this day. While the truth may never be fully known, the legend of Martí continues to captivate and terrify those who dare to delve into the depths of her dark tale. 

As we walk through the streets of El Raval, it’s impossible not to feel a sense of unease, as if the echoes of her crimes still linger in the shadows. Enriqueta Martí may be gone, but her legacy as one of Barcelona’s most notorious figures lives on, reminding us of the thin line between good and evil, and the horrors that can lie hidden just beneath the surface.

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References:

Enriqueta Martí – Wikipedia

Enriqueta Martí – The Vampire of the Raval – Barcelona Lowdown

https://www.thepastworld.com/post/the-vampire-of-raval