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Vampire myths have been passed down for generations. These legends of the undead, unfairly based largely in rumor and ignorance, are staples at every fireside chat in every culture throughout the world. In fact, if there is one common thread that bonds every person on earth, it is their fear of the vampire.
The modern day stories that have brought the vampire myth into the mainstream were largely based on observations of the mentally unstable or strangely deceased, creating a stigma that many real life vampires deal with today.

I am sure that most people are familiar with Bram Stoker's Dracula, a great romance novel that rightfully captured the populace in 1897. However, Stoker's tale stretched the realities of vampirism and created a false faade that overwhelms the true origins and beliefs of the myths.
Stoker was neither the first nor the last author to pen accounts of the vampire. Lord Byron introduced (and maybe influenced) the common elements of vampirism in his 1813 poem, The Giaour. An epic poem the acted as a precursor to the first book on the subject, The Vampyre, penned by Lord Byron's personal physician John Polidori.
Even today, writers such as Ann Rice and Stephen King have embellished these myths to shock society into a biased view of the undead.
From the outset of recorded history the Slavic people have had a history packed full of vampiric lore. A unique distinction when you consider the vast split in their religious make-up. During the 9th and 10th Centuries, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches battled for a foothold on Slavic society, before finally breaking apart in roughly 1054, a change that severed the face of vampiric lore in this vast region. In the Orthodox doctrine, the incorrupt bodies of the deceased were viewed as vampires, while the Roman Catholic doctrine held these bodies on a pedestal, as saints.
These religious differences aren't the only ones that exist in this region of the Adriatic Coast; remnants of pre-Christianity Paganism still stand side-by-side with visions of modern day Catholicism. One journey through the Coastal town of Split, Croatia provides a dynamic snapshot of the culture as identified above and re-enforces the underlying currents of the legends.
Split, one of the largest cities along the Adriatic, started as a retirement retreat for Caesar Diocletian, who built a giant fortress along the sulfur hot springs that populate this region in the fourth century. Remains of Diocletian's Palace exist today,

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