Arnaut Pavle was an Albanian hajduk (guerrilla fighter) who lived in the village of Medveđa, located near the West Morava River in what is now Serbia in the 1700s. According to reports, he had previously served in the Ottoman military and later in the Austrian military after the Habsburgs took control of the region. He died in 1727.
Before his death in 1727, he claimed to have been attacked by a vampire in a place called “Gossowa,” possibly referring to Kosovo. He allegedly cured himself by consuming soil from the vampire’s grave and smearing himself with its blood, a practice rooted in local folklore.
Pavle died in 1727, reportedly after falling from a hay wagon. Approximately 40 days later, several villagers began to show symptoms common in “vampirism”, such as pallor and weakness. They eventually died. The community, fearing a vampire outbreak, exhumed Pavle’s body and found it well-preserved, with fresh blood around the mouth and signs of decomposition aligning with vampire lore. Consequently, they staked his heart, decapitated him, and burned his body.
Investigation
The local authorities reported the incident to the Austrian military command. In December 1731, Johann Flückinger, an Austrian military doctor, was sent to Medveđa to investigate. His findings, detailed in the Visum et Repertum report, confirmed the villagers accounts and described the exhumation and treatment of the bodies, including that of Pavle. This report was sent to Vienna and subsequently published, sparking widespread interest across Europe.
Hysteria
The case of Arnaut Pavle, along with that of Petar Blagojević from the nearby village of Kisilova, was part of a vampire hysteria in 18th century Europe.
Reference
Balkan Academia 