Before the vampire became a creature of velvet and candlelight, it was a terror of the village graveyard. In this episode, we descend into the origins of the folkloric vampire and the rituals meant to contain it — exhumations, seeds scattered on the earth, garlic pressed into the mouth of the dead. We explore how these practices sought to protect the living, and how strange phenomena once feared as supernatural can be explained today.

Sources and further reading:

Paul Barber, Vampires, Burial, and Death — a forensic study of vampire folklore and burial practices.

The Shoemaker of Silesia — an early Central European vampire account.

Peter Plogojowitz — one of the most famous 18th‑century vampire cases.

Arnold Paole & the Visum et Repertum — the official report that fueled ...