A vampire story for Halloween.
Berwick is a town in the borders of Scotland.
Berwick
upon Tweed Vampire
’ This account of a haunting is considered to be one of
the earliest possible accounts of a vampire in Britain. It was written by
William Parvus, also known as William of Newburgh (or Newbury) (Born 1136 –
Died 1198), an Augustinian Canon who wrote several accounts of
haunting/potential vampire cases.
‘At the mouth of the river Tweed, and in the jurisdiction of the king of
Scotland, there stands a noble city which is called Berwick. In this town a
certain man, very wealthy, but as it afterwards appeared a great rogue, having
been buried, after his death sallied forth (by the contrivance, as it is
believed, of Satan) out of his grave by night, and was borne hither and
thither, pursued by a pack of dogs with loud barkings; thus striking great
terror into the neighbours, and returning to his tomb before daylight. After
this had continued for several days, and no one dared to be found out of doors
after dusk - for each dreaded an encounter with this deadly monster - the
higher and middle classes of the people held a necessary investigation into
what was requisite to he done; the more simple among them fearing, in the event
of negligence, to be soundly beaten by this prodigy of the grave; but the wiser
shrewdly concluding that were a remedy further delayed, the atmosphere,
infected and corrupted by the constant whirlings through it of the pestiferous
corpse, would engender disease and death t o a great extent; the necessity of
providing against which was shown by frequent examples in similar cases. They,
therefore, procured ten young men renowned for boldness, who were to dig up the
horrible carcass, and, having cut it limb from limb, reduce it into food and
fuel for the flames. When this was done, the commotion ceased. Moreover, it is
stated that the monster, while it was being borne about (as it is said) by Satan,
had told certain persons whom it had by chance encountered, that as long as it
remained unburned the people should have no peace. Being burnt, tranquility
appeared to be restored to them; but a pestilence, which arose in consequence,
carried off the greater portion of them: for never did it so furiously rage
elsewhere, though it was at that time general throughout
Is it just a folktale? What do you think?
