One of the most important sources for the history of vampirism is the report Visum et Repertum written and attested by military surgeons in Serbia on January 26 1732. It was sent to the authorities in Belgrade and Vienna, and copied by envoys of foreign governments. Foremost it was distributed in various versions to newspapers and scientific periodicals throughout Europe causing a public as well as scientific sensation in many European countries throughout the year 1732. In fact, had it not been for this report, the word ‘vampire’ and the stories of these supposedly blood drinking corpses would probably not have become known, and consequently the popular vampire of authors like John William Polidori and Bram Stoker, as well as the vampire of 20th and 21st century popular media would not have come into existence.

This Digital Library of 18th and 19th Century Journals contains the March 1732 issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine, which on page 681 reports ‘That certain dead Bodies called Vampyres, had kill’d several Persons by sucking out all their Blood.’ This was not the first British magazine to mention vampires, as The London Journal did that, but that is, I think, not yet available online. The article in that journal, a shortened and corrupted version of the Visum et Repertum, led to a political debate in several journals which was documented in the May issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine. Unfortunately, one of the pages of this issue seems to be unavailable at the moment (I have notified the webmaster of this error), but one can still get a flavour of this debate on e.g. ‘Political Vampyres’.

“In acknowledging my former letter, you express an eager desire to learn, as you phrase it, “all about Vampyrs, if there ever were such things.” I will not delay satisfying your curiosity, although by so doing I interrupt the logical order of my communications. It is, perhaps, all the better. The proper place of this subject falls in the midst of a philosophical disquisition; and it would have been a pity not to present it to you in its pristine colouring. How came your late tutor, Dr. H., to leave you in ignorance upon a point on which, in my time, schoolboys much your juniors entertained decided opinions?”.

I molti tabù presenti nelle tradizioni africane costituiscono un fertile terreno per la credenza popolare dei vampiri. I vampiri africani possono essere sia “non-morti”, sia “viventi”, sia “spiriti” malefici.

Il mito del vampiro non è solamente un mito europeo, anche in alcune popolazioni nord americane sono state ritrovate leggende che narrano di esseri molti simili ai vampiri.

I vampiri, come tramandato dalla tradizione, sono morti che tornano dalla tomba per succhiare ai viventi l’essenza vitale (preferibilmente il sangue). Il termine vampiro ha origine slava: riconducibile alla radice -pi, mago, stregone, e al verbo lituano wempti, bere, succhiare. Chiamati vampir in Serbia e Bulgaria, upiór in Polonia, upir in Russia, si distinguono non solo per i nomi, ma anche per caratteristiche e modus operandi e, per lungo tempo, sono stati considerati tutt’altro che un parto fantastico di leggende perse nel tempo.