Case file · Folklore / legend
Jure Grando, the štrigon of Kringa
In 1672 villagers at Kringa in Istria dug up Jure Grando, a stonemason who had died in 1656, and cut off his head, believing he had walked at night for 16 years, knocking on doors and assaulting his widow.
1672 CE · 45.22, 13.83 · status: account
The account
A hawthorn stake reportedly failed to pierce the body, so after prayers a villager sawed off the head. Johann Weikhard von Valvasor described the case in 'The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola' (1689), often called the first written account of a vampire naming a real person.
The sceptical view
Valvasor wrote at second hand years later; the 'fresh' corpse and nocturnal visits fit the usual pattern of decomposition and village fear.