Chi sono veramente i vampiri? | Francesco Paolo De Ceglia | TEDxBarletta

The Mysterious Deaths in Medvegja (1731)

• In the year 1731, a mysterious event occurred in the Serbian village of Medvegja, located on the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, where people were dying at an alarming rate, and it was believed that the cause of death was not natural (45s).
• The villagers claimed that the dead were rising from their graves and killing the living, prompting the local lieutenant of Belgrade to intervene and investigate the matter (1m19s).
• The lieutenant, thinking it might be an epidemic, called upon a doctor named Glaser, an expert in epidemics, to investigate the situation in Medvegja (1m54s).
• Upon his arrival, Glaser found that the situation was not much different from what was described in the letter, with the few survivors claiming to have seen the deceased individuals, who were described as having large yellow eyes and seemingly sucking the life force out of the living from a distance (2m35s).
• These creatures were not like the vampires of literary tradition, but rather like zombies, and after visiting the living, the latter would be found dead in their beds within three to seven days (2m55s).
• Glaser was confused, but it was evident that the villagers were convinced that the cause of the deaths was the work of vampires, as the word "Vampire" was mentioned repeatedly in his report, despite the fact that the word did not exist in the German language or any other European language at the time (3m36s).

Glaser's Investigation and the Identification of "Vampires"

• The word "vampire" was used to describe a monster that returns to kill, and Glaser was forced to examine the bodies of those who were believed to be vampires, including two women who were considered to be the primary vampires responsible for the epidemic (4m11s).
• One of the women, Stano, was described as being very thin and possibly ill, but after being exhumed, her body was found to be swollen, leading the villagers to believe that she had sucked the life force out of the living (5m5s).
• The second woman, Stana, had a more tragic story, as she was a young woman who had died in childbirth along with her child, and her body was also exhumed as part of the investigation (5m59s).
• In many cultures, women who died in childbirth were believed to return from the dead, and this was particularly true for Stano, who was a single woman as indicated by the fact that her child was not buried with her in consecrated ground, but rather behind a fence near her mother's house, suggesting that there was no father present (6m41s).

Escalation and Flückinger's Autopsy

• Glaser, a doctor who was not a surgeon, wrote a rapid report and sent it to Belgrade, where the lieutenant who received it realized that the situation was more difficult than he had thought and could not be handled alone, so he wrote to Vienna for assistance (7m21s).
• A military surgeon named Flückinger was sent from Vienna to Medveđa, where he performed autopsies on 13 bodies in a short winter afternoon, confirming Glaser's observations that two of the bodies were strangely undecomposed, while the others were more decomposed and could be returned to the earth (8m4s).
• The two undecomposed bodies were those of Miliz Stano, a single woman, and another woman, while the decomposed bodies were those of people connected to the local military forces, suggesting that the difference between a vampire and a non-vampire was the presence of a family or comrades who would claim the body and say it was decomposed like the others (9m0s).

The Spread of Fear and the "Year of the Vampires"

• Flückinger's report was sent to Vienna, where it caused a stir, particularly during the Christmas season, as people began to think that the dead were rising from the East and that a forest of the dead was emerging to crush Vienna, which had already been besieged twice by the Turks (9m55s).
• The report was later published in a French-language Dutch magazine in March 1732, which sparked fear across Europe, and 1732 is considered the "year of the vampires," a term linked to the description of a first major fake news story spread by new magazines that copied facts from each other (10m46s).

Vampires, Saints, and Religious Interpretations

• The vampire phenomenon also created some embarrassment, as Catholics were said to have their own version of vampires, namely saints with incorrupt bodies, and some critics argued that Catholic theology in the 18th century did not want to admit the existence of vampires (11m49s).
• In the 17th century, Pope Prospero Lambertini, also known as Benedict XIV, wrote a treatise on sanctification that included a chapter distinguishing saints from vampires, as the idea of vampires was becoming too similar to that of saints (12m21s).
• The Pope's intention was to establish that saints exist because they are blessed by God, while vampires do not exist, as they would be too similar to saints if they did (12m49s).
• On the other hand, Protestant reformers, particularly Lutherans, suggested that the devil could exercise a function of conservation over certain bodies, leading them to consider the possibility that vampires might actually exist (13m41s).
• They believed that bodies could be preserved not by divine intervention, but by negative forces such as the devil, natural forces, or astral forces (14m5s).
• The concept of vampirism was also linked to the idea of the devil leaving uncorrupted bodies in Catholic churches to keep people within the "wrong" religion (14m30s).

Historical Context of Vampirism

• Historically, vampires were not supernatural beings, but rather ordinary people who died under unfortunate circumstances, such as during epidemics, famines, or wars (15m9s).
• In isolated areas where there was no political or ecclesiastical power, people would often dig up corpses in cemeteries, usually in winter, and blame the decomposing bodies for the misfortunes that had befallen their community (15m50s).
• The corpses were then beheaded, staked, and burned, with the fires serving as a symbolic act of taking control of their lives in a time when they had no other power to shape their destinies (16m30s).
• Vampires were essentially scapegoats, people who could not tell their own stories and were instead talked about by others after their death (16m52s).

Modern Interpretation of Vampirism

• In modern times, the concept of vampirism can be seen as a metaphor for people who do not have control over their own narratives, but are instead defined by the stories told about them by others (17m46s).
• The concept of vampires can be reinterpreted in the modern context, where they might be people who die in wars without knowing the causes, or those who are swept away by the Mediterranean Sea while chasing a distant dream, or victims of femminicide (18m35s).
• In today's society, people are often defined by the stories told about them, rather than the stories they tell about themselves, and this can be seen as a form of vampirism (19m42s).
• Social media platforms and algorithms control the narrative of people's lives, making it difficult for individuals to truly express themselves and tell their own stories (19m45s).
• As a result, people are often unable to fully express themselves, and their stories are told by others, which can lead to a distorted view of their lives and experiences (20m18s).
• The idea that people are unable to tell their own stories and are instead defined by the stories of others is a common theme in modern society, and it can be seen as a form of vampirism (20m21s).

Reclaiming Our Narratives

• However, this concept also teaches us that we are all responsible for telling our own stories and not delegating that task to others, as Lady Gaga once said, "We are all little monsters" and there is no such thing as normality (21m0s).
• By taking control of our own narratives and communicating openly with others, we can break free from the constraints of societal expectations and be more authentic, and this can be a liberating experience (21m53s).
• Ultimately, being able to define oneself and tell one's own story is a powerful act of self-expression, and it allows individuals to say, "I am a vampire, and I was born this way" (22m10s).