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Vrykolakas of Mykonos

Also called: Tournefort's vrykolakas
Folklore and mythUndeadA bad death or burial1500 to 1899

The Mykonos case of 1701 is the classic eyewitness account of a Greek community dealing with a walking corpse. Tournefort, a French scientist travelling in the Aegean, watched the islanders exhume a murdered man they blamed for night-time disturbances, cut out and burn his heart and finally burn the body. His report, published some years later, became widely known. It shows the panic running its full course, from pranks to assault to cremation.123

⚔️ Battle it
First recorded
1701
Witnessed by the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort on Mykonos in 1701; his account was published around 1718
Origin
Greek
Greece
What causes it
A bad death or burial
An ill-natured man who had quarrelled with everyone on the island was murdered, and was then said to walk.
How you become one
A quarrelsome islander who died by violence.
Intelligence
Some intelligence
Weak spots
  • cutting out the heart and burning it by the sea (which did not end the panic)
  • prayers and blessings by the priests
  • burning the whole body

When did it first appear?

Ancient world
Middle Ages
1500 to 1899
1900 to 1967
1968 to 1999
2000 to 2009
2010 to today
1701

Witnessed by the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort on Mykonos in 1701; his account was published around 1718

field notes

What the sources say

1

At first he was a nuisance who stole food and drink and upset furniture123

2

The mood changed after he was said to have attacked a man at night123

3

Islanders crowded the churches asking the priests for protection123

4

The heart was removed and burned first; when the disturbances continued the entire corpse was cremated123

5

Tournefort's description became the best-known Western report of a Greek vrykolakas123

Sources

  1. Vrykolakas - Wikipedia
  2. Upi%C3%B3r - Wikipedia
  3. Mykonos by Night: The Island's Untold Vampire Tale - Greek Reporter

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

Erichtho's reanimated soldierRoman (literary), 61VrykolakasGreek, 1645PhilinnionAncient Greek, 150The corpse of ThelyphronRoman (literary), 170BouplagosAncient Greek / Roman, 150PolykritosAncient Greek, 150

Same era: 1500 to 1899

JiangshiChinese, 1789Zombi (Haitian)Haitian (Vodou folklore), 1750StrigoiRomanian, 1714Vampir (South Slavic)South Slavic (Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Bosnian), 1725AbhartachIrish, 1870Arnold PaoleSerbian, 1732