The Historic Vampire Debate Project brings a volume of theological writings compiled from 1733 that were a direct response to a case of Vampirism that became the center of controversy throughout the Holy Roman Empire. After 17 individuals suddenly died in a rural Serbian village, an Official Report was drafted detailing the autopsies of 13 bodies that were exhumed during the inquisition that the locals blamed on vampirism. For the first time, famous works detailing the theological response to this case have been translated into English and are available to a modern contemporary audience.

Johann Christoph Harenberg – Sensible and Christian Thoughts upon those Vampires or Bloodsucking Dead, so among the Turks and on the borders of Serbian Lands that suck the blood of the living men and cattle, accompanied with all sorts of theological, philosophical, and historical notes brought from the realm of spirits. (1733)

– Two highly esteemed nobles implored Harenberg to write this treatise on vampirism. This work, written by a theologian and educator, delves into the histories of folklore, mythology, and utilizes theological principles to explain the purported incidents of vampirism, and expands this inquiry to include werewolves, witchcraft, and the alleged interactions of the World-Spirit. Harenberg analyzes the historical use of hallucinogenic plants in both criminal enterprise and religious rituals, with a plethora of narratives that might deduce a reasonable connection to the official reports of vampirism that had recently emerged at the time. This famous treatise was even mentioned in LeFanu’s gothic horror novella Carmilla.

This volume was expanded to include:

• The 8th Part of Johann Samuel Carl’s Spiritual Fama (1732, Printed in 1733)
• Johann Heinrich Zopf’s Dissertatio de Vampyris Serviensibus (1733)
• and Zopf’s Dissertation on What is Just Concerning the Cruentation of Cadavers (1737)

The Introduction and appendices provide historical context relating to the theological perspective behind various cases of plague and sudden death blamed on phenomenon associated with vampirism, provide biographical information on the individuals and nobility involved with the writings of this volume, analyze the philosophies and perspectives of these individuals, and further details a modern forensic analysis of certain phenomena reported on cadavers that were typically taken for a supernatural occurrence.