The Story of Jure Grando Alilović… 🧛🏻‍♂️

Welcome to the twenty-sixth day of my daily October posts AND the first day of our final mini series of the season—Vampire Week!! Throughout these next 6-days, I will be posting different spooky fun facts, tricks and treats. Today, I will be talking about the first person described as an actual vampire in history—by the term “vampire” in their language as vampire-like creatures have existed in many different countries’ folklore for thousands of years. Warning: mentions of spousal and physical abuse—please do not read if these topics trigger you. Stay safe!!

For those that stayed, enjoy!

Jure Grando Alilović, or Giure Grando of Kringa, Croatia is thought to be the first vampire ever recorded in history. Born in 1579, Jure Grando Alilović lived his life near Tinjin, Croatia in the region of Istria (modern-day Croatia). He died at 77-years of age in 1656 and was buried in the Kringa cemetery. 

Not long after his burial, villagers began to report seeing him around the region. For the next 16-years, he was thought to haunt Kringa. He would knock on doors throughout the city every night—people took this as an omen meaning whomever’s home was knocked on meant they had little time left. This made the locals believe he was a “štrigon”—meaning “vampire” or “warlock” in their language—it is widely believed to mean “vampire” in current day descriptions. They also claimed that Jure Grando Alilović and a cat had gone around their village eating all of their sheep.

The village priest that buried Jure Grando Alilović, Giorgio had the epiphany that Jure Grando Alilović had been raised from the dead to terrorize the village as a štrigon. Jure Grando Alilović’s widow, Ivana, claimed that the monster would visit her window every night and force her to perform her marital duties on his rotting corpse as he grinned and gasped for breath. 

After 16-years, the priest, Giorgio exorcised Jure Grando Alilović in the name of Christ. Jure Grando Alilović retreated in tears and terror from the village. A few nights later, a man named Milo Radetic led a group of villagers to kill Jure Grando Alilović. Upon discovering him, they attacked and attempted to kill him by stabbing a hawthorne stick through his chest, but he regenerated and got away. The next night, the villagers returned to the graveyard he was buried in and dug up his coffin. They placed crosses around them and opened his coffin to find his corpse, perfectly preserved, with an eerie smile on his face. They attempted to stab him with their hawthorne sticks’ but they would not penetrate his flesh. Then, they tried to exorcise him again, but it didn’t work. Finally, a man named Saipan Milasic took a saw and was able to saw off Jure Grando Alilović’s head—which ultimately killed him.

This story was recorded in The Glory of the Duchy of Cariola in 1689 by the polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor when he had overheard it on a trip to Kringa. He went on to research more into the story before publishing it.

That was a creepy one! Thank you for reading and make sure to come back for tomorrow's post!

Sincerely, 

        your 21st century poet <3