We all know about vampires and werewolves, or at least we think we do. The legends and myths that inspired these monsters are sometimes surprisingly different, but no less chilling. In this series of posts, Monster Monday, we’ll investigate the monsters that have informed our modern notions, as well as some lesser known monsters. Today, we talk about the Blow Vampire.

The Blow Vampire supposedly terrorized the town of Kadam in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, around the year 1706. According to the story, a shepherd from the nearby village of Blow died, but he reappeared several days after he was buried. He wandered the streets at night, calling out the names of the people he passed by, who would all die within a week.

The townspeople dug up his body and fixed it to his coffin with a giant stake, but he reappeared and strangle several people to death, mocking them by thanking them for the large stick he could used to beat back the dogs. The townspeople again dug him up and gave his body to an executioner. The executioner pierced the body with several stakes made of hawthorn, and fresh, red blood poured from the wounds. Then the executioner set the body on fire. As the body of the vampire burned, his hands and feet writhed, and he screamed in agony until the flames consumed him.