stake through his heart, whereby he
gave an audible groan and bled copi-
ously.” The bodies of other villagers,
thought to have been also transformed
into vampires, were disinterred and
likewise maimed in an attempt
to “kill” them for good.
Exquisite Corpses
The incorruptibility of a
corpse was thought to
be evidence that a deadperson was a vampire. Calmet noted that
some bodies, after several months or even
years in the grave, were found with “the
blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire, the
limbs flexible and pliable.”
The observation was accurate, but
science rather than the supernatural can
explain such postmortem phenomena.
In large part, the belief in vampirism
grew out of a lack of knowledge about
the natural processes of decomposition
after death, which can, under certainconditions, be delayed for a long period
of time.
A body can remain well preserved
through two natural processes; one of
them, saponification, occurs when the
body is buried in a cold, damp environ-
ment, as is common in eastern Europe.
During the saponification process, the
body’s fatty acids turn into a waxy, soap-
like compound that covers the corpse
and prevents putrefaction. A saponified
body also retains a certain flexibility, as
described in Calmet’s work.
Accounts in Calmet’s Dissertation also
noted that vampires’ hair and fingernails
continued to lengthen even after death.
Certain postmortem changes may have
given the illusion of continued growth.
After death, the skin dehydrates, causing
it to retract from the hair follicles. This
may make the hair, especially stubble on
THE VAMPIRE IN THE 1922 MOVIE NOSFERATU, AN UNAUTHORIZED the chin, look longer. The same is true of
FILM OF BRAM STOKER’S NOVEL DRACULAAccounts in Calmet’s work also
noted that vampires’ hair and
fingernails continued to lengthen
even after death.ALBUMBRITISH LIBRARY/BRIDGEMAN/ACIAN ENGRAVING FROM THE 1872
SERIALIZATION OF J.S. LE FANU’S
VAMPIRE STORY, “ CARMILLA”PUBLISHED IN 1872, the
short story “Carmilla” by
Irish author Joseph Sher-
idan Le Fanu bore trac-
es of Calmet’s vampire
collection. In “Carmilla”
a young Englishwoman
named Laura becomes ill
after succumbing to the
wiles of a female vampire,
Carmilla, who is revealed
to be Mircalla, Countess
Karnstein. To dispense
with the vampire, Lau-
ra’s father follows meth-
ods similar to those in
Calmet’s Dissertation. He
finds Carmilla’s tomb,
drives a stake into her
heart, decapitates her,
and burns her remains.BEFORE
DRACULA