Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire
is on the loose.
Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje,
nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick
forests. They say rumours that a legendary vampire ghost has
awakened are spreading fear - and a potential tourist opportunity -
through the remote village.
A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and
place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although
it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished
region bordering Bosnia.
Many of the villagers are aware that Sava Savanovic, Serbia's most
famous vampire, is a fairy tale. Still, they say, better to take it
seriously than risk succumbing to the vampire's fangs.
"The story of Sava Savanovic is a legend, but strange things did
occur in these parts back in the old days," said 55-year-old
housewife Milka Prokic, holding a string of garlic in one hand and
a large wooden stake in another, as an appropriately moody mist
rose above the surrounding hills. "We have inherited this legend
from our ancestors, and we keep it alive for the younger
generations."
Vampire legends have played a prominent part in the Balkans for
centuries - most prominently Dracula from Romania's Transylvania
region. In the 18th century, the legends sometimes triggered mass
hysteria and even public executions of those accused of being
vampires.
Sava Savanovic, described by the Zarozje villagers as Serbia's
first vampire, reputedly drank the blood of those who came to the
small shack in the dense oak tree forest to mill their grain on the
clear mountain Rogatica river.
The wooden mill collapsed a few months ago - allegedly angering the
vampire, who is now looking for a new place to hang his
cape.
Some locals claim they can hear steps cracking dry forest leaves
and strange sounds coming from the rocky mountain peaks where the
vampire was purportedly killed with a sharp stake that pierced his
heart - but managed to survive in spirit as a butterfly.
"One should always remain calm, it's important not to frighten him,
you shouldn't make fun of him," said villager Mico Matic, 56, whose
house is not far from the collapsed mill.
"He is just one of the neighbours, you do your best to be on
friendly terms with him," he said with a wry smile, displaying
garlic from both of his trouser pockets.
Some locals say it's easy for strangers to laugh at them, but they
truly believe.
"Five people have recently died one after another in our small
community, one hanging himself," said Miodrag Vujetic, a local
municipal council member. "This is not by accident."
Vujetic, however, said that "whatever is true about Sava," locals
should use the legend to promote tourism.
"If Romanians could profit on the Dracula legend with the tourists
visiting Transylvania, why can't we do the same with Sava?"
Richard Sugg, a lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the UK's
University of Durham and an expert on the vampire legends, said the
fear could be very real. Stress can bring on nightmares, which
makes people's feelings of dread even worse.
"The tourists think it is fun - and the Serbian locals think it's
terrifying," he said.