George Grando: Vampire of Kring

In 1672, a man named George Grando died in the east European village of Kring. A monk of St. Paul buried the body and went to console Grando's wife. When he arrived at the widow's home, the spectral image of George Grando was sitting behind the door. Everyone in the house fled from the apparition, but the image was soon seen again.

George Grando began to haunt the evening streets of Kring, tapping on the doors of homes. Grando would leave before anyone would answer the knocking. It didn't take long for the citizens of Kring to notice that the occupants of these houses were dropping like flies. It didn't help that Grando's wife claimed he would come home to her at nights, make her fall into a deep sleep, then drink her blood.

A party of townsmen decided to take action. One day they went to Grando's gravesite and opened the tomb. What they saw shocked them. Grando looked perfectly healthy. He even looked happy, with a slight smile upon his lips. The townsmen panicked and ran back to Kring. Fortunately, the chief magistrate was able to round them up again.

This time they were not to be deterred from their ugly task. They even brought a priest with them, armed with a sharp stake, carved all of hawthorn.

The priest wasted no time in taking charge. He knelt down beside the corpse, holding a crucifix before its eyes. The priest began to pray: "O vampire, look at this. Here is Jesus Christ who loosed us from the pains of Hell and died for us upon the tree."

Grando began to weep, tears coursing down his cheeks. Then the stake was placed to Grando's chest and slammed with a mallet. Nothing happened. The staked didn't even break the skin. Filled with resolve, the priest tried again, and this time the stake merely bounced off Grando's chest. The priest tried again and again, but to no avail. Finally, one of the townsmen grabbed an axe an decapitated the corpse. Grando let fly a bone-curdling scream, arms and legs flailing, and his spirit left his body forever (Masello 121-122).

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George Grando: Vampire of Kring copyrighted 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.