Spooky stories from Greece - Part 2 - Vrykolakes
In 1645, Leo Allatius wrote “The vrykolakas is an evil and wicked person who may have been excommunicated by a bishop. Its body swells up so that all its limbs are distended, it is hard, and when tapped it thrums like a drum.” It has also been reported, along with the rise of the Greek Orthodox Church, that the Vrykolakas had to do with evil (or the devil) inhabiting a body of the already-dead, causing it to move.
According to Álvaro García Marín, “if we were to judge from the standpoint of a Western European of 1730 or 1820, Dracula, without any doubt, should have been a Greek,” as “at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Slavic vampire was still unknown to the West, the Greek vrykolakas has been recurring in theological treatises, travel accounts or books on occultism from the beginning of the sixteenth century.”
From a literary perspective, the story of the vampire is “one of transformations and interbreedings of genre.” If “the folkloric vampire of the eighteenth century, at the outer reach of Europe” was “an agricultural figure,” with John Polidori’s The Vampire, the story of the aristocratic vampire, which will triumph with Count Dracula’s literary and cinematographic career, begins.
The Undead in the Pierian Mountains
In a village in the Pierian mountains the residents still speak of Yorgos, the shepherd, who died by accident while taking care of his sheep. After that his soul came out of his body and it still looked like him. He got out every night, taking to the streets to return home to his wife. He fed on people who passed him by.To stop his appearances, the locals poured boiled wine onto his grave.
In 1642 the French Catholic priest Francois Richard was one of the pioneers of the proselytizing campaign in the Aegean. He lived for many years in Santorini. An entire chapter of his journal refers to the beliefs of vampires. It is entitled “The pseudo-resurrected ones that the Greeks call vrykolakes”.
He describes horrific incidents of gang violence by the locals of Santorini. Dead who come back to life and exterminate the islanders at night, horrible scenes of exhumation of “vrykolakes”, exorcism ceremonies by the priests on the corpses inside the churches, creepy impalements of the undecayed corpses with axes and hoes.
An eyewitness to these scenes, the Jesuit missionary does not dispute at all the appearance of the vrykolakes and their vicious action:
“Every now and then the Greek priests, after obtaining the permission of the bishop, go to the cemetery, read some wishes and then bury the dead who are suspected of being vrykolakes. And if they find the whole corpse, fresh and bloody, they are sure that the dead became an instrument of Satan. They then begin the exorcisms and do not stop unless they see signs that the demon is gone, that is, meaning when the decomposition of the corpse begins.
The body of a girl (Kallisti her name) was found undecayed. They brought it to the church and the Greek priest resorted to exorcisms. And indeed the corpse began to disintegrate in a frightening way, so you could not stay in the temple because of the stench. So they buried her, and the vrykolakas did not appear again.
But what upset Santorini the most was a vrykolakas’ attachment to his widow. His name was Alexandros, he was a shoemaker and he lived in Pyrgos. After his death he was presented to his wife, just as he was in life. He would come home and work, repair the children’s shoes, draw water from the cistern. And many times he was seen cutting wood for his family. After a while, the terrified people dug it up, burned it and along with the smoke, the power of Satan disappeared.
“I learned from a reliable person that in Amorgos, these vampires have become so unrestrained that they not only run here and there at night, but also show up at noon, in the fields and collect fava beans. I wanted some of our atheists in France to come here, not to hear but to see with their own eyes in the light of day and to see how unjust they are who believe that when a man dies everything dies with him.”
He continues with another story: “The abbot of the famous monastery of Amorgos, told me that a merchant from Patmos going to the east for trade, instead of earning money lost his life. Upon learning of his death, his wife sent a boat to bring the deceased home and bury him as befits a Christian.
So they put the corpse in a chest, loaded it on the boat and set off for the island. One of the sailors sat on the chest. Suddenly he feels something moving inside. He tells it to his companions. They then decide to open it to see what condition the dead man was in. They open and what did they see? The deceased looked as if he were alive!
Despite their horror, the seamen had the obligation. They nailed the coffin again, arrived on the island and handed it over to the widow without saying a word about what they saw in the boat. But a few days after the funeral the deceased spread horror and death on the island. He would enter the houses at night screaming and knocking. Fifteen people, some from the beatings, others from their terror went to the other world.
The people of the island wanted to send the dead to Minor Asia. However, the sailors, on the first deserted island they found lit a fire and burned him. And since then the vrykolakas has not appeared again.”
It is known that the Greek priests and bishops, when they absolve someone, add the curse at the end: “And after death, unresolved and tympanic”. (his skin should be like the skin on a drum)
Richard also cites an authentic text in his chronicle about the characteristics of vrykolakes and what causes them to be like this. He copied it from an old manuscript he found in the church of Agia Sophia in Thessaloniki.
He who has a curse, holds only the front of his body.
He who has an anathema, looks yellow and wrinkled are his fingers.
He who looks white is absolved from the Divine Laws.
The one where he looks black is excommunicated by a high priest.
Information about Santorini can also be found in the history of the Frankish duchies of the Aegean of Sauger, which was published in Paris in 1699:
Something inconceivable is happening on this island but it seems ordinary there. Some of the dead return to their homes a few days after their burial. And no one knows what revives them. The people of Santorini call them “vrykolakes”.
The Dead Brother’s Song was widespread in the Greek-speaking world during the High and Late Middle Ages, as it can be seen by the many variants that have survived in various places of Greece. It is written in the meter called Political verse, iambic decapentasyllable (15 syllables), an evolution of the ancient Greek iambic trimeter (iambic dodecasyllable).
Audio of woman singing the song
Mother with your nine sons and with your only daughter,
the precious the most beloved daughter.
She was twelve years old and the sun had not seen her.
In darkness she bathed her and without moonlight she is making her hair,
under the star and the Bringer of Light she was tying her ribbons.
They’ve sent men from Babylon to ask her as a bride,
to take Arete too far away in the foreign lands.
The eight brothers don’t want and Constantine wants.
-My mother lets give Arete as a bride to the foreign lands.
Abroad, there that I am walking, in the foreign lands that I am travelling,
And if we go abroad, not to be considered foreigners.
-You are wise Constantis, but you replied wrongly.
And if, my son, to me comes death, and if, my son, illness happens to come to me,
If bitterness or joy comes, who will go to bring her back to me?
-I quote the Heaven as judge and the Saints as witnesses,
if death happens to come, if happens to come illness,
if bitterness or joy comes, I will go to bring her to you.
And once they gave Arete as bride in the foreign lands
and years of misery and months of anger came
and death fell upon them and the nine brothers died
the mother was left all alone.
In all the graves she was crying, in all she was mourning
In front of Constantine’s grave she was pulling her hair off.
“Damn you, Constantis, and damn you a myriad times,
cause you exiled my Arete in the foreign lands!
The promise that you gave me when will you fulfil?
You quoted the Heaven as judge and the Saints as witnesses
that if bitterness or joy comes, you will go to bring her to me”.
From the myriad anathemas and the heavy curse,
the earth was shaken and Constantis came out.
He turns the cloud into horse and the stars into bridle
and the moon into companion and goes to bring her back.
He leaves the hills behind him and the mountains in front.
He finds her making her hair out, under the moonlight.
From far away he greets her and from a close distance he tells her:
-Stand up sister to leave, lets go to our mother.
-Alas, my brother, and why that time of the night?
If maybe it is cause of joy, I should wear my jewels and come
and if it is cause of bitterness, tell me that, to get dressed in black and come.
-Come Arete in our home and let it be the way you are.
He kneels the horse and makes her sit behind.
In the way they were going, little birds were singing.
They were not singing like birds, nor like swallows,
but they were only singing and saying with human voice:
“Who has seen a beautiful lady being led by the dead?”!
-Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying?
-They are little birds and let them sing, they are little birds and let them say.
And a little further on their way other little birds are telling them:
“Isn’t pity and unfair, very strange,
the alive to walk along with the dead?”!
-Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying?
That the alive walk along with the dead.
-It is April and they sing and May and they are nesting.
-I am afraid of you my brother and you smell frankincense.
-Last night we went far away to Saint John’s Church
and the priest incensed us with too much frankincense.
And even later on their way more little birds are telling them:
“Look what a miracle and evil takes place in the world,
such a beautiful delicate lady being led by the dead!”
Arete heard that again and her heart was broken.
-Did you hear, my Constantine, what the little birds are saying?
-Stop Arete talking about the birds and let them say whatever they want!
-Tell me where is your beauty and your manfulness
and your blonde hair and the beautiful moustache?
-It’s been a long time since I got ill and my hair has fallen.
Over there, near there, they arrive to the church.
He mightily hits his horse and is lost.
And she hears the gravestone clashing, the soil buzzing.
Arete sets off and goes home by herself.
She sees her gardens leafless, the trees sickly
she sees the mint dried, the carnation turned black
she sees in front of her door grass having grown.
She finds the door locked and the keys having been taken
and the windows of the house been tightly bolted.
She knocks the door mightily, the windows are crunching.
-If you are a friend, come in, and if you are an enemy, go away
and if you are bitter Charon, I don’t have more sons
and my poor little Arete is far away in the foreign lands.
-Stand up my mother, open the door, stand up my sweet mother.
-Who is the one who knocks my door and calls me “mother”?
-Open the door, my mother, open it and it is me, your Arete.
She came down, they hugged and they both fell dead.
Thanasis Vagias was an Epirote Greek counselor and confidant of Ali Pasha, a Muslim Albanian ruler of Ottoman Epirus. his name had become notorious because, under Ali’s service, he led an attack against the village of Kardhiq, modern southern Albania. Hundreds of men and children were killed; when the Greek War of Independence ended, Vagias moved to the newly founded Greek state and was given a government post and acquired a pension, by the head of state of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.
Vagias was regarded as a traitor of the Greek cause by various historians and authors of that period, like Ioannis Makrygiannis, Aristotelis Valaoritis, Alexandre Dumas. Valaoritis’s masterpiece was titled Thanasis Vagias after him. In this work, Vagias is presented as a traitor, who after his death returns to his home place as a vampire.
Videoclip of the song with Karagiozis shadow theatre re-enactment and Greek traditional tunes with saxophone. They sing the poem “Vrykolakas”/“Thanasis Bagias” by Aristotelis Valaoritis:
Some verses from the poem:
Why are you standing
like a corpse in front of my eyes
why, my Thanasis, you go out at night?
There is no sleep for you in Hades?
Stay away from me… Why are you frightening me?
What have I done, Thanasis, and you are scaring me?
How can it be that you are viridescent? You smell of dirt…
Tell me… haven’t you decomposed, Thanasis, yet?
Furl your shroud…
Maggots feast upon your face
Cursed by God, look… they fly
and they come to eat me, too.
Inside the darkness of my grave
I was shut in such a night
and as I was inside my shroud,
deep in my tomb shrunk,
Suddenly, an owl from above
I heard screeching –Thanasi Bagia
get up and one thousand dead will come
and take you there-.
I heard those words and my name.
My bones burst and grind.
I hide, I nestle down
in my pit, so I don’t see them
Shouting, the rabid dead
fall upon me.
And with their nails and mouths,
they dig the black earth
And as they found me, at once,
in my grave’s the desolate land,
laughing and shouting, wildly they drag me
and when they promised they take me
We fly, we run,
our course causes chaos.
When the black cloud comes,
the rocks tremble, the earth lights up
The wind blows our shrouds
as if we glide with our sails.
On the road they come off and fall
our hollow bones, they scatter on the earth.
Aristotelis Valaoritis, Stefanos Padovas and Konstantinos Lomvardos
Similarly to the previous poem, a Greek midwife is forced by the monster to assist his partner in the birth of his first child.Though it is not explicitly stated that the vrykolakas is aTurk, the description—through the eyes of the woman—of the cave where he lives is reminiscentof Ottoman Palaces, particularly of those that the Turkish governors of Greek regions, renowned—in the national imaginary—for their cruelty, used to inhabit.
It was a rainy night of 1768. In a village on the mountain Imitos of Attica the locals were prepared to return home for the night after a round of tsipouro. Vasilis was one of them. He sat in front of the lit fireplace to warm his bones while his wife brought him a dish of trahana. His children were sleeping peacefully, unbothered by the whistling of the wind outside.
Not even a week has passed after Vasilis’ brother had died. He had loved no one and was loved by no one. He barely made enough money to live. He was relaying on his brother, Vasilis. When he needed money he came at this house. He was coming here when they found him dead outside the village. He had a blow on his head which, some suspected, was done by a criminal. He was buried at the small cemetery of the village. Vasilis was the only one remembering him, thinking of him fondly as he was gazing at the fire.
It was midnight when he and his wife heard footsteps outside their door. Someone called Vasilis’ name. Vasilis wanted to ask “who’s there?” but his wife stopped him. She had suspected something was wrong. Without an answer, the steps faded away.
The next morning the villagers said that someone was knocking on their door, shouting the name of the owner. They hadn’t answered, fearing it was a ghost. They were unharmed but the stranger had left his marks. The feed in the stables was scattered outside, the oil from the lamps on the icon stands were spilled, and all the animals in the village were restless and nervous.
In the nearby village worse things had happened. Many animals had been found dead with their bellies open and their entrails and hearts missing, the church candles had been thrown down and a couple living outside the village had disappeared, their room full of blood.
The locals decided it was a vrykolakas. As the days went by the creature got wilder and more bloodthirsty. Its victims were unprotected animals or at night travelers who have not had time to find shelter. The people threw holy water on their windows and doors. Even churches had to be locked and secured. Somebody had caught a glimpse of the vrykolakas from his window. His torso and hands were bloated, his skin dark as night, his eyes red. His face was black and his mouth open and hungry. The man had to cross himself to fight his fear.
One night the vrykolakas came to Vasilis house again. Loud knocks shook Vassilis’ door while the creature roared and shouted his name. There was no response from the house. Stones began to fall everywhere and a little later the footsteps were heard on the roof. The chimney was the only vulnerability since it was open, but it was so hot that the vampire did not even approach it. He screamed from his evil, tossed the tiles until he got bored and started knocking on the other houses and shaking the windows. That night the priest of the nearby village was slain by the creature.
The locals decided to take matters into their own hands. The priest advised them to look at their own cemetery in the morning and check if all the bodies were decaying as they should. The priest took a cross and the people were armed with a javelin and an axe and four big nails.
They quickly found the body of Vasilis’ brother. They noticed his body was still fresh. So they started the ceremony. One person born in the Sabbath should take part in it so it could succeed.
They boiled the vinegar and the man born on the Sabbath washed himself with it. They hung a cape on a branch so it would seem like a person. Then they opened the grave, while the priest was chanted. Grunts and howls came from inside the coffin. The vrykolakas started cursing them. The people didn’t stop, they continued opening the coffin.
The creature stood up, red froth at its mouth. A man pierced it with the javelin, stunning it. The vrykolakas asked who had betrayed him. The people showed him the clock at the branch. Thinking it was a human, the creature set it afire with a simple move. The Sabbath born man took the chance and cut the vrykolakas with his knife. He took his intact heart out and threw it in the boiling vinegar.
The people took the four nails and nailed the body of the vrykolakas on the grave. One in his neck, one in the pelvis and the other two on the ankles. With the remaining of the boiled vinegar they showered the body. Finally, they threw the heart in the grave, they closed the coffin and buried it again.
After that, the two villages found peace again.
The forgotten horror story of Mykonos
The French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, upon arriving on the island in the 1700s, learned of a villager who had been killed in the fields, by whom and why. The inhabitants believed that after his murder the villager became a “vrykolakas”, that is, an immortal satanic creature operating in the dark. According to the botanist, the evil began two days after the funeral, when it began to circulate that the deceased was seen walking hurriedly in the night and grabbing passers-by from behind.
The tenth day after his death the locals opened the dead and burned the heart on the beach. However, this did not stop the vampire, who was now accused of beating people at night, destroying houses and stealing… drinks. The locals were terrified. They were leaving their homes and sleeping together, sleeping in the squares and often migrating to Syros and Tinos. They dug up the corpse four times a day and nailed countless Greek and Turkish swords on it.
The solution was given by transporting the body to the neighboring islet of Agios Georgios, where it was cremated on January 1st, 1701.
“The Vampyre” by John William Polidori
In this short work of prose fiction written in 1819, Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets Lord Ruthven. Ruthven is a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society. Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey travels to Greece, where he becomes attracted to Ianthe, an innkeeper’s daughter. Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire (vrykolakas).
Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire. Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels. The pair are attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded. Before he dies, Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day. Looking back, Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering.
Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter, alive and well. Ruthven reminds Aubrey of his oath to keep his death a secret. Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey’s sister while Aubrey, helpless to protect his sister, has a nervous breakdown. Ruthven and Aubrey’s sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends. Just before he dies, Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven’s history, but it does not arrive in time. Ruthven marries Aubrey’s sister. On the wedding night, she is discovered dead, drained of her blood—and Ruthven has vanished.
part 1 – Ghosts and Hauntings
part 3 – Other Demonic Entities