Jure Grando Alilović or Giure Grando (1578–1656) was a villager from the region of Istria (in modern-day Croatia) who may have been the first real person described as a vampire in historical records.
History
Jure Grando lived in
Kringa, a small town in the interior of the Istrian peninsula near
Tinjan. He died in 1656 due to illness but according to legend, returned from the grave at night as a vampire (
štrigon) and terrorized his village until his decapitation in 1672. Ana and Nikola Alilović, daughter and son of Jure, fled from Istria to
Volterra, Italy, at young ages.
The word štrigon in Venetian, which is commonly spoken in Istria, means sorcerer, cf. Italian .
Legend
The legend tells that, for 16 years after his death, Jure would arise from his grave by night and terrorize the village.
Dudley Wright (2025). 048644998X, Dover Publications, Inc.. 048644998X
The village priest, named Giorgio, who had buried Jure sixteen years previously discovered that at night, somebody would knock on the doors around the village and on whichever door he knocked, someone from that house would die within the next few days.
Jure also appeared to his terrified widow Ivana in her bedroom, who described the corpse as looking as though he was smiling and gasping for breath and would then sexually assault her.[ Croatian Dracula Revived to Lure Tourists] When Father Giorgio eventually came face to face with the vampire, he held out a cross in front of him and yelled "Behold Jesus Christ, you vampire! Stop tormenting us!"
The bravest of the villagers, led by the prefect Miho Radetić, chased and tried to kill the vampire by piercing his heart with a stick of Crataegus but failed because the stick just bounced off of his chest.[ Jure Grando - Istarski vampir ili ljudska mašta? ] Father Giorgio said: "Look, štrigon, there is Jesus Christ who saved us from hell and died for us. And you, štrigon, you cannot have peace!"
After some prayers of exorcism, Stipan Milašić (one of the villagers) sawed the head off the corpse. As soon as the saw tore his skin, the vampire screamed, and blood started to flow from the cut. According to folklore, peace did finally return to the region after Jure's decapitation.
Writings
The Carniolan scientist Johann Weikhard von Valvasor wrote about Jure Grando Alilović's life and afterlife in his extensive work
The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola when he visited Kringa during his travels.
[ Writer Boris Peric at the Literaturhaus in Switzerland ][Boris Perić, Vampir, Biblioteka 21, Zagreb ( Naklada Ljevak) 2006. (Croat) ] This was the first written document on vampires.
[Boris Perić, Vampir, translated into Slovene by Iztok Osojnik, Zbirka Beri globalno, Ljubljana (Tuma) 2007. ] Grando was also mentioned in writings by Erasmus Francisci and Johann Joseph von Goerres (
La mystique divine, naturelle, et diabolique, Paris, 1855), whose story was much more elaborate, full of fantastic details to make the story more interesting and sensational. In modern times, Croatian writer Boris Perić has researched the legend and written a book (
The Vampire) on the story.
Modern times
Today, Kringa has embraced the story of Jure Grando Alilović and have opened up a vampire themed bar aimed at attracting tourists to the town.
The
Juraj Dobrila gymnasium in
Pazin created a short film called "
Vampire of My Homeland" (
Vampir moga zavičaja) based on the writings of Valvasor.
[ Film of the Vampire from Kringa ]
The folklore related to the štrigon has recently been documented and examined by numerous scientists at the University of Zagreb.
External links
