'Put garlic in your windows and crosses in your homes': Serbian council warns residents vampire is on the loose after his 'house' collapses

Sava Savanovic 'on prowl' after his watermill home in Serbia collapsed

Legend has it he drank blood of anyone who came to mill their grain

Mayor: ' We've also reminded people to put Holy crosses in their houses'

Fear factor: Panic has spread through a Serbian village amid rumours that notorious vampire Sava Savanovic (pictured) is on the loose

Sales of garlic are booming in western Serbia today after the local council issued a public health warning that a vampire was on the loose.

The official announcement came after an old ruined mill said to once have been the home of the country's most famous vampire collapsed.

Sava Savanovic was believed to have lived in the shack on the Rogacica river in Zarozje village in the municipality of Bajina Basta.



It is said he drank the blood of anybody that came to mill their grain.

The watermill was bought by the local Jagodic family and they were too scared to use it as a mill – but discovered it was a goldmine when they started advertising for tourists to come and visit it – always during the day.

The family were worried about carrying out building work on the mill because they were scared they might disturb the vampire or unleash his wrath.

And now the property has collapsed through lack of repair.

But for locals it has sparked rumours that the vampire is now free once again.

Local mayor Miodrag Vujetic admitted: 'People are worried, everybody knows the legend of this vampire and the thought that he is now homeless and looking for somewhere else and possibly other victims is terrifying people. We are all frightened.'

He added that it was all very well for people who didn't live in the area to laugh at their fears but he said nobody in the region was in any doubt that vampires do exist.

He confirmed that the local council had advised all villagers to put garlic on their doors and windows to protect them from the vampire as it was well known they can't stand the smell.

'People are terrified': Savanovic is said to be on the prowl after his home (above), a favourite with tourists, collapsed in the village of Zarozje Frightening folklore: Savanovic was believed to have lived in the shack (pictured) on the Rogacica river in the village of Zarozje, where it is said he drank the blood of anybody that came to mill their grain

BELIEF IN VAMPIRES SPARKED MASS HYSTERIA AND PUBLIC EXECUTIONS

The notion of blood-sucking vampires preying on the

flesh of the living goes back thousands of years and was common in many ancient cultures, where tales of

these reviled creatures of

the dead abounded. Archaeologists recently found 3,000 Czech graves, for example, where bodies had been weighed down with rocks to prevent the dead emerging from their tombs. The advent of Christianity only fuelled the vampire legends, for they were considered the antithesis of Christ — spirits that rose from the dead bodies of evil people. But the term 'vampire' was not popularised until the early 18th century after an influx of vampire superstition from areas such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Belief in such legends became so pervasive it caused mass hysteria in some areas and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, above, is considered the seminal vampire novel which provided the basis of modern vampire fiction.



He added: 'We have also reminded them to put a Holy cross in every room in the house.'

Villagers who cashed in catering to tourists fascinated by the legend of Savanovic say they now wish they had left the place well alone.

Savanovic features in the 1880 story Posle Devedeset Godina (After Ninety Years), written by the Serbian realist writer Milovan Glišić who inspired the 1973 horror film Leptirica

He also appears in the novel Strah i njegov sluga (Fear and His Servant) written by Mirjana Novaković.

Other famous vampire cases in Serbia include those of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole.



Plogojowitz, a peasant, was said to have died at the age of 62 in 1785, but reportedly returned from the grave to ask his son for food.

When his son refused, Plogojowitz brutally murdered him.



Later, the villagers decided to exhume the son's body to look for signs of vampirism and were shocked to apparently find a fresh corpse with 'new skin and nails'.



They said blood could be seen at the mouth.

They proceeded to stake the body through the heart causing 'completely fresh' blood to flow through the ears and mouth of the corpse.



Finally, the body was burned.

In the other case, it was said Paole, a soldier-turned-farmer, was attacked by a vampire and went on to kill a dozen people in the surrounding area in the early 18th Century.



Both cases became famous because the Austrian authorities, who at that time controlled Serbia, appeared to confirm that vampires did indeed exist.

On alert: The mayor of Bajine Basta advised all villagers to put garlic on their doors and windows to protect them from the vampire as it was well known they can't stand the smell



