The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains

The breathtaking Carpathian Mountains are home to many old vampire stories, including today’s. Today you’ll learn about a case of supposedly real vampirism that was reported in the early 1900s, so get comfortable and prepare yourself for a tale of horrible death and fear.

June 10, 1909 was when the vampire of the Carpathian Mountains was first reported in the Neues Wiener Journal in Vienna. The article chronicled in detail how terrified villagers in a town in the mountains were suffering the loss of their children at an alarming rate. Many of the villages’ beloved children were dying at a rate that was far beyond normal. The villagers decided that it was their Count, who had recently died, that was responsible for the deaths. They believed that the man had turned into a vampire and was hiding somewhere in his massive castle, a fortress that was originally built in defense against the Turks.

But then the story changed later – in the Occult Review of September 1909 they published an article titled “An Authenticated Vampire Story,” which included a theory by a noted German vampirologist by the name of Franz Hartmann. Hartmann, who was also a physician, theosophist, geomancer and astrologer, theorized that it wasn’t the Count that was the vampire, but his daughter, Countess Elga, who had been killed in a horse riding accident shortly before her father’s death.

Hartmann’s theory was eventually supported by a story from an occultist journal editor who visited the castle. This editor said that while in the castle he experienced several episodes of hauntings and apparitions that centered around a painting of the Countess Elga.

Shortly after all of this went public, the petrified villagers’ fear took over and they burned the Count’s castle to the ground. There were no more unusual deaths reported after the castle was destroyed.

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

17 comments

  1. Pingback: vampires
  2. Pingback: Kane Ryu
  3. That’s really creepy and yet, so true. I belive every word of it.
    Great article.
    Short yet, very knowledgable.

    -Tyler

  4. Pingback: robyn hill
  5. Now that’s creepy! So was it the vampire killing everyone or the ghosts?….. Anyway, that is a very interesting article. Nice job! Good research!

    1. i want to go to the carpathaon mountains, exspecailly after reading Christine Feehan dark series, which deals with a race of vampires that are good and they are called Carpthains, and the vampire or evil men from the carpthains who decided to give up their souls so they could feel something. carpthains lose the ablilty ti feel and see in color which in then leads them to either find their lifemates, walk into the sun, or become the most vile of all creatures the vampire

      1. i am doing an assignment on the Carpathians and i included this in my research i got awesome marks for it (my teacher loves un natural stuff)

      2. I have been obssesed with going to these very mountains after reading Christine Feehans carpathian novels. I love her work and her tails of fantasy.

  6. my question is was she really a vampire or was she just crazy and felt she needed to drink blood??????

    1. These stories weren’t created for tourists. There may not be vampires, but these are in fact old folktales that were once believed by locals.

  7. If anyone can read German fairly well I found a copy of the June 10, 1909 copy of Neues Wiener Journal, which allegedly if the first mention of this story. I have a PDF scan of it.

  8. I have read all of Christine Feehan’s Dark Series books and I had a chance to go to the Carpathian Mountains with a family member but I was recently diagnosed with cancer, so I could not go. I still want to and my uncle told me if I still want to go with him he will take me with him and with my doctors approval. So when I come back I will share all my experiences with all of you. We will leave in a couple months.They are very beautiful.

  9. Strange things in the Carpathian mountains. Recent discovery of the mummy of a strange unknown creature. Not known to science. Like a dog but with many rows of teeth.

Leave a Reply to Tyler Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: