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housing not only the oldest cathedral known to man, but a combination of early Egyptian statues and other agonistic relics.
Walking along the cobblestone pathways in this city, or in any port along the Western Adriatic Coast, you can almost sense the history and lore that made this region a hotspot of vampiric activity centuries ago. In 1672, one of the first recorded vampire epidemics took place in Croatia. It has been reported that Giure Grando, from Khring on the Istrian Peninsula, returned from the dead to torture his family. Older writings record reports of two different types of vampires in Croatia, the Pijawika and the Kuzlak.

Grando would have most certainly been considered a Pijawika, having been decapitated with the remains of his head placed between his legs, the proposed way of killing a Pijawika. The Kuzlak is a bit more interesting. The belief is that one is created when an infant is not breast-fed enough, taking their place with the undead at an early age.
To the North, Yugoslavia is home to an incredible amount of vampiric history, dating back centuries. In fact, in 1725 a similar case to the 1672 Croatian outbreak took place in Kisilovo, part of the Vojvodina Region of Serbia. In this case, Peter Plogojowitz returned from the grave to terrorize his former neighbors. This encounter set the stage for many recorded encounters, introducing the word "Vampire" into the Slavic vocabulary for the first time.
This was followed closely by the introduction of the French word "Vampyre" in 1732 when Arnold Paole was accused of killing herds of cattle and numerous people around the small town of Medvegia, Serbia. Legends state that Paole was actually bitten and turned into a vampire while serving the Turkish front in Kosova. This encounter and the detailed description of the exhumed and then decapitated corpse (Fresh blood stains, full complexion and growing hair), ranks as one of the best selling government reports in Yugoslavian history.
Throughout history, three different vampiric entities continually appear in this culture, the Vikodlak, Mulo and Vukodlak. The Serbian Vikodlak has a drunken appearance of a man in his early 20s. The legend states that this creature of the night can exist for only seven-years before having to repeat the process. Killing this eclipse causing creature can be a chore, having to pierce its naval with a hawthorn branch and then lighting it on fire with vigil candles.
A Mulo is rarer and a lot more sinister. It is a dead gypsy, dressed all in white, that is said to boil women alive, filleting their flesh until death. If you happen to encounter one, you will need to summon a Dhampir (a vampire degenerate's son) to battle the Mulo to death.
The Montenegrin Vukodlak actually shares similarities with the modern werewolf (another common piece of Slavic folklore). This undead creature comes out only at night on a full moon. This creature is also very similar to the Blautsauger from Bosnia-Herzegovina (also along the Adriatic Coast).
The Blautsauger is a hairier version with no skeleton. It has the ability to shape-shift into a rat or a wolf, luring people to its tomb in an attempt to have them digest dirt. The digestion of dirt is said to speed their transformation into the undead.
While it is not known who recorded these accounts of vampirism, it is quite possible that famed Croatian historian and writer Marko Marulic (1450-1524) encounter these same legends while documenting his accounts of mythology. Regardless of who captured these interludes into the supernatural, they have left lasting impressions on society as we know it.

Learn more about this author, Mark Mihalko.
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