The Vampire Who Terrorized Croatia For 16 Years

One such tale is that of Jure Grando, who, according to Croatia's official tourism site, constitutes the first documented, historical case of someone very much living up to folklore. Jure was a 17th-century stonecutter from the Istrian (now Croatia) town of Kring (which now, of course, has a booming tourism industry centered around vampires). Jure

One such tale is that of Jure Grando, who, according to Croatia's official tourism site, constitutes the first documented, historical case of someone very much living up to folklore. Jure was a 17th-century stonecutter from the Istrian (now Croatia) town of Kring (which now, of course, has a booming tourism industry centered around vampires). Jure passed away from illness in 1656, and was buried in a local cemetery, as the story goes. For the following 16 years he appeared at night to his widow, stinking of death, face decayed, and would even sexually assault her, as described in Total Croatia News. Townsfolk heard noises in the night, knocks on doors, and unexplained deaths followed such occurrences. It seemed that Jure had indeed become a štrigon, a member of the dead who terrorizes the living.

Eventually, mayor Miho Radetić decided enough was enough, and led a group of 9 men, including a priest, armed with honest-to-goodness torches and crucifixes, out to Jure's grave to dig him up and impale him through the abdomen with a wooden stake. As the legend goes, they found his corpse smiling and intact. They got scared, ran away, and once they went back said some holy words over the body, all attempts at piercing it failed. In the end, a local named Stipan Milašić raised his axe over Jure's dead head and took the blade down on the neck. There was a horrific scream, and blood gushed out of the neck till it flooded the grave. From that day, the village was safe, and legends persist amongst locals to this day.

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