Transformation of the vampire

Year by year the theme of a vampire occupies human imagination. We are obsessed with vampires and we feel some kind of mixture of fascination and fear when watching or reading about it. They are powerful, strong, rich and charming, they live forever and they are superior to humans. They have everything that the humans want, but how did it all start? Almost every culture has stories about people who died but eventually came to life and started feeding on human blood. Vampire myths started in eastern Europe and spread throughout the world. Many vampire myths (crucifix, garlic and stake) have their origin in eastern European legends. One of the most well documeneted vampire stories is that of Peter Plogojowitz (Petar Blagojevi), Serbian peasant. It happened in Kisilova (allegedly today's Kisiljevo), part of Serbia that was under the Austria at that time. Frombald, an official of the Austrian administration, was in that area and it was his report that documented this legend. Plogojowitz died in 1725. Two months after his death eight people in his village died and he was the one connected to their deaths. People claimed he visited them, and there is a legend which says he visited his wife, too. When she opened the door he asked her to give him his shoes. Widow was so terrified that she moved in another village. Annoyed people decided to exhume his body and check if there were any changes on it. They asked Frombald to accompany them what he unwillingly accepted. When they opened the coffin, Plogojowitz's body was visibly changed. His hair and nails grew longer, his skin was pretty fresh, though pale and he had blood in his mouth. They decided to stab the body but when they did it, the blood gushed out of his mouth. They burned the body. Frombald wrote a report onto this event and it was even published in some newspapers (Wienerisches Diarium, a Viennese newspaper, today known as Die Wiener Zeitung, in 1725). One of the Croatian famous vampires is Jure Grando who lived in 17th century in Istria. Jure was told to have tormented his village for 16 years after his death. He died in 1656 but people claimed that he had came back as a vampire (they called it trigon). He is told to knock at the people's doors and few days later somebody from that house would die. They chased and stabbed him with a stake but it didn't help. The group of nine men went to his grave and one of them cut his head off and it finally killed him. This legend is mentioned in the work of scientist Johann Weichard von Valvasor and some consider it the first document on vampires. Myths or truth, these legends affected liteary and film works, but modern vampires don't have a lot of in common with these stories. Today's most popular movies and TV shows such as Twilight Saga or The Vampire Diaries (TV show) show us different vampire portraits. Twilight's vampires are rich, beautiful and they sparkle when exposed to sun. There is of course a girl who falls in love with a vampire and then there's an eternal struggle- to be or not to be a vampire? There is obvious erotic component and romantic image of vampire, so the girl in the end embraces love and vampirism. Similar story with slight changes happens in The Vampire Diaries- these vampires don't sparkle but they wear magic rings which protect them from the sun. In these stories vampires aren't bad as they were in those legends. They are almost positive characters and readers and viewers are on their side. From a night creatures with evil intentions, vampires have become teenage girls' superheroes. Unknown words:

Mixture- mjeavina Throughout- kroz Stake- kolac To claim- tvrditi To accompany- pratiti Unwillingly- nevoljko To gush out- izbijati, navirati Scientist- znanstvenik To expose (oneself)- izloiti (se) Creature- stvorenje