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Jure Grando

Also called: Giure Grando, Jure Grando Alilović

Jure Grando of Kringa is often described as the first named individual recorded as a vampire in European print. The Carniolan scholar Valvasor reported how, sixteen years after Grando's death, the villagers and their priest dug him up, failed to stake him and finally cut off his head. The door-knocking that marks a household for death recurs across Balkan and Greek revenant lore. Kringa now promotes the story to visitors.12

⚔️ Battle it
First recorded
1672
Beheaded in 1672 according to the account published by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor
Origin
Istrian (Croatian)
Croatia
What causes it
Never explained
The legend does not explain why he rose; he is simply called a štrigon, the local word for a sorcerer or vampire.
Intelligence
Some intelligence
Weak spots
  • decapitation
  • a hawthorn stake was tried and failed

When did it first appear?

Ancient world
Middle Ages
1500 to 1899
1900 to 1967
1968 to 1999
2000 to 2009
2010 to today
1672

Beheaded in 1672 according to the account published by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor

field notes

What the sources say

1

A stonemason of Kringa in Istria who died of illness in 165612

2

For sixteen years he was said to knock on doors at night, and someone in each house died soon after12

3

He was also said to assault his widow in her bed12

4

Nine villagers opened the grave and found the body intact and smiling12

5

The stake rebounded from his chest; when a villager sawed off the head the corpse screamed and bled12

Sources

  1. Jure Grando - Wikipedia
  2. Vampire folklore by region - Wikipedia

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.

Folklore from the same lands

Same era: 1500 to 1899