Episode 315 - The Vampire Epidemic of Medveđa: A True Horror Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: Two Girls One Ghost
Episode: 315 - The Vampire Epidemic of Medveđa: A True Horror Story
Release Date: March 30, 2025
Host: Sony Music Entertainment's Corinne Vien and Sabrina Deana-Roga

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1. Introduction

In Episode 315 of Two Girls One Ghost, hosts Corinne Vien and Sabrina Deana-Roga delve into a chilling historical account of a vampire epidemic in Medveđa, Serbia. The episode intertwines personal anecdotes with meticulously researched folklore, offering listeners a spine-tingling exploration of the supernatural mingled with potential real-world explanations.

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2. Personal Anecdotes: Meeting a Hero

Sabrina shares a personal and surreal encounter with her idol, the renowned artist Kesha, during the iHeart Podcast Awards in Austin, Texas.

• Sabrina (02:49):
  "On the podcast, I met my hero, my idol, and a woman who has been such an instrumental part of my life."

• Sabrina (04:25):
  "But I am really grateful I got a picture. And because of Corinne, she followed me on Instagram and messaged me."

This heartwarming story underscores the hosts' genuine passion for connecting with influential figures, adding a relatable and human element before transitioning into the main horror narrative.

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3. Main Story: The Vampire Epidemic of Medveđa

a. Background and Arnold Powell’s Encounter

The episode recounts the early 1700s in Medveđa, Serbia, a period marked by Austrian control following conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. Amidst recovery and economic rebuilding, a soldier named Arnold Powell experiences a terrifying encounter.

• Sabrina (13:00):
  "Arnold Powell was being attacked by a vampire, but he didn't die, not immediately after the attack."

Arnold’s initial confidence in an honorable death shifts to horror when he believes he is being consumed by a vampire. Surviving the attack, he attempts to understand his condition by investigating the deceased assailant’s grave.

b. Vampire Hysteria and Community Response

Arnold's survival leads to rumors and fear within Medveđa as unexplained deaths begin to surface.

• Sabrina (19:36):
  "Four people in the town suddenly dropped dead, as well as some sheep and livestock."

The community, grappling with these mysterious deaths, links them to vampirism, igniting a widespread vampire panic. Efforts to exterminate the suspected vampires involve the desecration of graves and brutal methods to ensure eradication.

c. Government Involvement and Official Reports

Austrians send Imperial Contagions Medicus Glasser to Medveđa to investigate. His findings confirm abnormal preservation of bodies, reinforcing the belief in vampires.

• Sabrina (23:16):
  "They found similar results. Lively looking corpses... his was a vampire."

Johannes Fleckinger, the regimental field surgeon, compiles an official report detailing the epidemic, which gains significant attention and sparks controversy, especially with the Catholic Church questioning the methods used to combat vampirism.

d. Explanations: Diseases vs. Supernatural

The hosts explore plausible explanations behind the vampire hysteria, suggesting diseases like pellagra and rabies could mimic vampire traits.

• Sabrina (51:01):
  "There are two possible diseases that could be responsible for all of this in Serbia in 1725, pellagra and rabies."

These diseases account for symptoms such as sensitivity to sunlight, foul breath, and unusual behavioral changes, providing a grounded perspective on the supernatural tales.

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4. Historical Context: Vampire Myths and Folklore

Corinne and Sabrina contextualize the Medveđa epidemic within broader vampire folklore, tracing its origins and evolution across cultures.

• Sabrina (44:02):
  "The term vampire actually didn't exist until this time in Serbia where like all the vampire epidemic or hysteria as they call it happened."

They discuss how vampire myths were influenced by historical figures like Vlad the Impaler and how similar hysteria occurred in different regions, often exacerbated by societal stresses and lack of medical understanding.

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5. Conclusion and Reflections

The episode concludes with reflections on the thin line between folklore and historical events, pondering whether vampire myths are merely societal constructs or if there's an underlying truth yet to be uncovered.

• Corinne (56:10):
  "Learning a lot here at two Girls one Ghost."

• Sabrina (61:18):
  "It's so complicated because when you... We're not experts, but there's a lot to consider."

The hosts leave listeners contemplating the complexities of historical narratives and the enduring allure of vampire legends.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Sabrina (14:15):
  "A smile on their face."
  (Describing Arnold Powell’s perception of death prior to his attack.)

• Sabrina (17:09):
  "This is the monster of Medveđa."
  (Introducing the central figure of the epidemic.)

• Corinne (23:56):
  "It's a field surgeon Johannes Fleckinger goes, I don't need any other evidence. He is now certain that the town is being impacted by vampires."

• Sabrina (51:27):
  "These two are diseases that people are like, well, maybe it was these two things."
  (Discussing possible real-world explanations for the vampire symptoms.)

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Final Thoughts

Episode 315 of Two Girls One Ghost masterfully blends personal narratives with historical horror, providing an engaging and thought-provoking exploration of vampire lore within the context of a real epidemic. By examining both supernatural elements and plausible medical explanations, the hosts invite listeners to question the boundaries between myth and reality.

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For more paranormal stories and discussions, subscribe to Two Girls One Ghost on your preferred podcast platform and join Corinne and Sabrina on their hauntingly captivating journeys.

Transcript

[Corinne]

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[Sabrina]

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[Guest]

Hi.

[Sabrina]

Hey.

[Corinne]

This is two girls, one ghost.

[Sabrina]

Two girls, one ghost. And we are your ghost assist. That is Corinne. Hello, I'm Sabrina and we have a story for you to sink your teeth into.

[Guest]

Hell yeah.

[Sabrina]

Can you guess what we're talking about?

[Guest]

Spoiler alert. Sorry to suck your blood voyage here.

[Sabrina]

To suck your blood.

[Guest]

You're a different person though, because you went somewhere and you met a person that has been on your, like, idol bucket list for years. And then you called me and I was like, oh my gosh, I'll call you back later. And then I was like, I'm just going to wait two days. I want you to tell me about it.

[Sabrina]

On the podcast, I met my hero, my idol, and a woman who has been such an instrumental part of my life. Like, literally when I posted the photo on my story, people from middle school were messaging Me like, holy shit, did you die? Because they know how big of a role she played in my life.

[Guest]

From a poster in your middle school childhood bedroom to meeting her in Austin, Texas. Sabrina met.

[Sabrina]

I met Kesha.

[Guest]

So wild. And you have a photo.

[Sabrina]

It was, like, such a surreal moment. So we were in Austin for South by Southwest, and we were there for the iHeart podcast awards. Payne was presenting and was nominated. It was one of these weird moments. Like, it's a great place to network just generally. But, like, the woman, Andrea Gunning, who won best true crime podcast for Betrayal, shout out to Betrayal. She's from, like, Pennsylvania area. And I said, I'm from New Jersey. And she goes, oh, do you know pds? The high school I went to, her cousin is someone I went to high school with, like, a year older than me.

[Guest]

That's wild.

[Sabrina]

Like, so small world.

[Guest]

But also, that's so podcasting, because even we were on a meeting the other day, and I was like, where's everyone from? Are you all in la? And they're like, no, I'm in San Francisco. Oh, I'm in Indiana. Oh, I'm in Pennsylvania. Oh, I'm in Texas. Like, podcasting. Well, I guess also just, like, remote work.

[Sabrina]

It's a global industry.

[Guest]

Everywhere.

[Sabrina]

Everywhere and nowhere all at once.

[Corinne]

Yep.

[Sabrina]

Haunting your ears wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm in the airport for the flight back to Boston, and we're sitting at a bar, like, right next to our gate, and I'm like, oh, I feel like we should be boarding soon. So I get up to go check and see if we're boarding. And I'm walking back, and I see this woman sitting at a table right next to where we were sitting, and it just. Instantly, I will know that face anywhere. And I walk over to Payne and Mike, like, my heart was beating so fast, and I go, is that Kesha? And then I, like, sat down in my bar stool, and I was just like, I think that's Kesha.

[Guest]

Say it ain't so. Oh, my God.

[Sabrina]

And Pam's like, you have to go say hi. And I was like, okay. I just.

[Guest]

What if it wasn't?

[Sabrina]

Well, then that's a compliment to whoever it was, but it was her. So I gather myself as much as I possibly could, and I just go over, and I'm like, hey, I don't want to bother you, but I just need you to know I'm such a big fan. And then I mentioned some connections that we have, and the guy that she was with was like, oh, yeah, we've been talking to your team. So she knew who we were. And then she starts asking me all these questions about paranormal investigating, and she's like, are you a ghost hunter? And I was like, I mean, I wouldn't say professionally, but we dabble. We're hobbyists. And then she starts telling me, as if I didn't already know, that she had a TV show called Conjuring Ke$, and they went and did a bunch of things. I was like, no way.

[Guest]

Oh, my God, that's so cool.

[Sabrina]

What do you experience? I actually haven't watched it, weirdly. But she was like, wow. Like, this is making me want to go do an investigation. I was like, come to Massachusetts. We'll do one with you.

[Guest]

You have so many places to go.

[Sabrina]

And I was very much like, anyway, I don't really want to bother you. I just wanted to introduce myself. My name's Sabrina.

[Guest]

I just a cool girl.

[Sabrina]

I was like, nice to meet you. Meanwhile, like, dripping sweat under my sweatshirt and, like, my heart is still pounding. And I go up to my campaign. I'm like, I need to go take a lap. Because I was like, not okay. And that's when I immediately called you and texted in all caps, I just met Kesha. And then I'm walking back and I see Pain talking to her. And he was like, listen. She probably didn't say this, but she's a really big fan. Like, you've made such an impact on her life. And she was like, oh, my. Does she want a picture? And then I see this and I'm so embarrassed. Like, I feel like a little kid.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

But I am really grateful I got a picture. And because of Pain, she followed me on Instagram and messaged me. And my last message to her was in 2018 when I was at her concert in LA and I was waiting for her to come out and I sent her a message. I'm going to pee myself when you come onto stage.

[Guest]

That's so cute. Honestly, Sabrina, thank God. It was just one message. Can you imagine if she went back and it was like, from the time that Instagram first became a thing in, like, 2011, if you were just non stop messaging, which 2011 was the peak.

[Sabrina]

Of my obsession with her.

[Guest]

Right. I know.

[Sabrina]

Yeah. Anyway, it was a beautiful moment that I'm still not sure really ever happened, but I would love if it turns into us actually doing an investigation with her, that would be how cool.

[Guest]

I, like, can't even fathom it happening.

[Sabrina]

I know.

[Guest]

It feels, like, untouchable.

[Sabrina]

I. I'm still nervous thinking about it.

[Guest]

You're making me nervous. I'm not even though.

[Sabrina]

But I am also glad that the first time I met her is not when we're doing something with her, because I got that out of the way, you know?

[Guest]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sabrina]

Anyway, Cash, if you're listening to this, I love you and I would make out if you wanted.

[Guest]

We gotta clip that. Put that on your personal Instagram. Make sure Kesha sees it.

[Sabrina]

Oh, man.

[Guest]

So, yeah, this is a paranormal show, but also, sometimes it's paranormal.

[Sabrina]

When you meet people you love, it feels otherworldly.

[Guest]

It does.

[Sabrina]

And it was destiny calling.

[Guest]

And I feel like it's also a great reminder that the paranormal touches everyone. Everyone experiences ghosts to some degree.

[Sabrina]

Exactly. Whether you believe in the paranormal itself or not.

[Guest]

And if you're extra unlucky, you might experience something else.

[Sabrina]

Well, maybe you're lucky. It depends what you want.

[Guest]

Oh, well, I don't. I'm not sure because I'm thinking about your topic today.

[Sabrina]

Right. So some people have, like, sexy dreams about vampires thanks to Twilight and some vampire smut things. But today we are talking about a vampire, a certain specific vampire from Serbia.

[Corinne]

Oh, okay.

[Sabrina]

And similar to the legend of vampires being eternal, everlasting, and surviving off of blood and never dying, I have a gift for you. A gift that will never die.

[Guest]

I got excited for one second, and then it immediately turned to fear.

[Sabrina]

Oh, no, it's not fearful. This is a gift for you. Oh, my gosh.

[Guest]

These are Rose forever. Oh, my God.

[Sabrina]

Sabrina, these are for you.

[Guest]

This is so nice. This is for us.

[Sabrina]

It's for us. It can be in here, like, floating in this. Like, really cool.

[Guest]

So cool.

[Sabrina]

Anyway, I got them.

[Guest]

They smell how you smell them.

[Sabrina]

Yeah, they do smell. Really?

[Guest]

Roses. They do smell like roses.

[Sabrina]

Yeah.

[Guest]

I'll do what they do in perfumeries. Smell the lid first. Smells like nothing.

[Corinne]

There's a scent, a small wee scent.

[Sabrina]

But they'll never die.

[Guest]

Oh, my gosh.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Guest]

How cool.

[Sabrina]

Aren't they really pretty?

[Guest]

These are really pretty. Rose forever New York.

[Sabrina]

I thought it was very appropriate for this story and for our podcast, which we could keep these.

[Guest]

Whoa.

[Sabrina]

Oh, yeah. There's a drawer. Here's a storage. We could put crystals in there.

[Guest]

Send us knickknacks, Send us haunted objects to keep below our roses. But thank you, Sabrina.

[Sabrina]

That's. Yeah, you're welcome. And also, if anyone else wants to purchase Rose Forever for yourself or for other people, we do have a little promo code, and it's linked down in the show notes. But you can use two girls. 20. T wo girls, 20.

[Guest]

I feel like a little kid because I know I'm not gonna be able to focus. I want to, like, fidget and touch them.

[Sabrina]

I know they feel like real roses.

[Guest]

Because they are butter.

[Sabrina]

They're so weird.

[Guest]

It's like this wild thing. How. How Magic.

[Sabrina]

It is magic. It's spooky. It is. And I do think to. To preserve them, you should touch them a little less than Corinne's touching them.

[Guest]

Sorry. The oils on my finger don't make them last longer.

[Sabrina]

I get it. When there's things around you, you just want to touch them.

[Guest]

Yes.

[Sabrina]

Touch it. Touch it anyway. Vampires. Something else that does not die or is difficult to kill. Corinne, do you believe in vampires? Cause I feel like vampires are usually not the most believed in entity. It feels very Dracula fantasy text.

[Guest]

I feel like it's a hard thing for people to digest to hear me say that I truly, wholeheartedly, 100% believe in Bigfoot, but that I might not believe in vampires. And I also believe in mermaids and fairies, but I might not believe in vampires. But I will say I don't believe in vampires with the caveat that I do specifically believe in New Orleans vampires.

[Sabrina]

Interesting.

[Guest]

Like, I feel like vampires as a whole global sort of, you know, it just exists. Doesn't exist. But there's something weird going on in New Orleans. And there's maybe just this weird mutation pocket of vampires.

[Sabrina]

But vampires came from Europe. That's the story. The women who came in coffins.

[Guest]

Right.

[Sabrina]

I don't know.

[Guest]

I don't know what to believe. What do you believe?

[Sabrina]

Who am I to say what is real and what is not? I think anything is possible. And I do think that if vampires exist, they're not as sexy as I'd like them to be. They're not going to, like, be like True Blood and Twilight Romance Me in the Vampire Diaries. But who do you choose?

[Guest]

Stefan or Damien?

[Sabrina]

Damien for sure.

[Guest]

Obviously.

[Sabrina]

Obviously. Okay, and then Damien, if you want to make out with me, you can.

[Guest]

Who do you choose from the color crew? Edward.

[Sabrina]

Or is Jasper the really weird one? Yes, I think Jasper.

[Guest]

I named my car after Jasper after the actor that played Jasper.

[Sabrina]

Really?

[Guest]

My high school car I named. I love that Jackson. So weird.

[Sabrina]

Okay, but who would you choose?

[Guest]

Him, obviously. Jasper.

[Sabrina]

We'll battle it out.

[Guest]

We have a lifetime of living as vampires. You can have them for a century. I'll take them for a century. We'll just.

[Sabrina]

We'll trade. Okay, perfect. So this is. We're both turning into vampires in this situation, I guess.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Okay, cool. So I feel like vampires are less believed in, especially because the lore is that they are humans turned into vampires, whereas Bigfoot is this otherworldly creature that doesn't really cross breed with humans, unfortunately. Sorry for you.

[Guest]

I'll never say never.

[Sabrina]

That's true. They have not yet, but. And I feel like when we hear the word vampire, we think of Dracula, we think of Nosferatu, we think of true blood, Twilight, we think of like horror and smut. And then, you know, if you think more historical, you probably think Vlad the Impaler, who we talked about, I can't remember what episode, but we talked about his castle.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Vlad also inspired Dracula.

[Guest]

So also I'm realizing every time we've talked about vampires, it's been you covering it.

[Sabrina]

Cause I really like. I think they're so fascinating. And in doing the research for this episode, I realized how many historical stories of vampires there are that I've never heard of.

[Guest]

It's one of those confusing things where it's like, is it because of the time in which they were created in these sort of gothic fairy tales, or is it something coming out of Transylvania?

[Sabrina]

Also, I think we think of cannibalism or you probably think of cannibalism when you think of vampires.

[Guest]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Sabrina]

Yeah. So this story I'm going to tell you is actually documented in government records. So this is not lore, this is not legend. This is not a story inspired by a story that created Dracula. This is documented in government records. You can read the English translated version of the record if you want to. We'll link it in the show notes.

[Guest]

Was this like government propaganda or is this like, holy shit, there's something going on. We're documenting it.

[Sabrina]

Holy shit, something's going on. We're documenting it.

[Guest]

Wow.

[Sabrina]

We'll digest that in a little bit. This is the monster of Mvidza. It was early 1700s, and young Arnold Powell, or Pole, I always want to call him Arnold Palmer because it's like similar was a soldier from Serbia and he was on duty in Greece. He was proud to fight for his country, to defend what was controlled by Austria, and even to die for his country. He'd imagined his death many times. Each imagining came with pride and a fight well fought. Sweat beads gripping his eyebrow each iteration. He knew his last thought would be of his beloved wife who was back home in Serbia. Whether a bullet pierced his armor or a blade struck his entrails, he knew or thought he knew his death would be honorable.

[Guest]

I have never seen or witnessed someone say the word entrails with love in their heart as they said it, and.

[Sabrina]

A smile on their face.

[Guest]

Yes. Yeah. It's just part of a romantic love story that their entrails, their guts and.

[Sabrina]

Organs being skewered out.

[Corinne]

But he thought of his wife the whole time.

[Sabrina]

Yes. But then the day came and he was attacked while on duty. But this attack was not like anything he had prepared for. No skewering, no being shot. And instead of his last thought being of his wife, his last thought was, what the fuck? Am I being eaten by a vampire? In those words, exactly.

[Guest]

The first documented use of fuck.

[Sabrina]

Yeah, I'm just painting the picture. You get the idea. He's like, what the fuck is happening? There's someone sucking my blood. That is right. Arnold Powell was being attacked by a vampire, but he didn't die, not immediately after the attack. He's still alive. He's studying his body. He's. He sees bite marks. He realizes his entire body has gone pale. He looks peckid and ill, like he is sickly and going to die. But he didn't want to die. He was not going to die by a vampire bite. No, that is not what he imagined. So he does everything he can. He researches who attacked him, who was this person, and he finds out that the person who attacked him had been dead. So then he's like, okay, for sure this is a vampire. What is happening?

[Guest]

I have so many questions, too, about being buried, because I. I don't know, I just kind of thought of vampires as being these, like, missing people instead of people that, like, literally had to claw their way out of the ground after a, like, false death.

[Corinne]

Yep.

[Guest]

And burial.

[Corinne]

Yep.

[Sabrina]

He goes to the burial site, the grave of this man, and decides to dig him up. And I don't know where this came from. I think there was probably. And doing some research. I think during this time, there was a lot of study and conjecture about vampires. So I think he probably had read or learned of how to proceed. So he ate some of the dirt from the grave. And then when he found the body, he saw that it did not decay. It was not decaying like a normal body would. It still seemed very lively.

[Guest]

This is so confusing because it's like, how do you get in and out of the grave without disturbing the land above you as a vampire, if his body's still there?

[Sabrina]

I know. That's what's confusing. And there's gonna be a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions, but I think so at the end of this whole story. We'll do a dissection and an analysis of that time.

[Guest]

Or wait, hold on.

[Sabrina]

Please tell.

[Guest]

I have an idea.

[Sabrina]

Okay.

[Guest]

Okay. Because you know, in what we do in the shadows, they just kind of like poof into bats. What if you can poof into anything and he poofs into like a mole, little worm or something, works his way up and then poofs back into his vampire body?

[Sabrina]

Maybe?

[Guest]

That makes total sense to me. I understand how he gets in and out now. No more questions.

[Sabrina]

Continuing. Now, you know what? I'm just going to read from Arnold's words himself from his mouth. This is later documented and written down. Arnold stated that he had eaten from the earth of the vampire's grave and smeared himself with a vampire's blood in order to be free of the vexation he had suffered. And it worked. He survived.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Sabrina]

And he returns back to his wife and his home of Medveda, Serbia. Just a little bit of context of this time. This is 1725 now, and in the early 1700s, Austria had just taken control of. Of Serbia and some other areas after, like the Ottoman Empire. And there was like an Austria Ottoman fight, war, battle, all those words. And so basically a lot of this land was pretty devastated after the wars and winters weather was really, really harsh. Farming was pretty like our agriculture was pretty desolate. And so now in Austrian control, there's like a lot of desire to boom the economy and they decide to focus a lot of their energy into agriculture in this area. Okay, but they're still recovering.

[Guest]

Yeah. Feed the people and then rebuild.

[Sabrina]

Exactly. So they're still recovering. And this area remained in Austrian control until 1739. And Austria kind of had this like, benefit to people who lived in the area, which is why Arnold found himself in Greece in the first place. So they had, in order to protect the borders that they had just won in the war, they hired and recruited militiamen known as hadjouks, which is a word that you'll hear later on. But they're basically military men protecting the border. And in exchange for doing this work, they were promised a lot of land. So here we are now, 1725. Arnold is now back from battle. He returns to his homeland with his wife, and he's ready to amass all of his land that he was promised.

[Guest]

Wait, can you remind me, was it at home or was it in Greece that he encountered in Greece the vampire?

[Corinne]

Yes.

[Guest]

Okay.

[Sabrina]

A greckon vampire. Okay. So now he's like trying to settle down. He's with his wife in Mebhedza. And he starts telling people of his encounter with death and of defeating the grim reaper and a vampire.

[Guest]

And.

[Sabrina]

And so this is now pretty well known in the town. And so he's like, goodbye, death. You're no longer my worry, no longer my problem. I'm not dreaming and thinking about how I'm going to die anymore, because I just defeated death. Unfortunately, that same year, 1725, death came for him, and not in any way that Arnold had thought of. He fell out of a hay wagon, broke his neck, and died.

[Guest]

Oh, my God.

[Sabrina]

Sorry, Arnold. And this time, there was no defeating death.

[Guest]

But also, I have to say, I'm a little bit surprised that Arnold just accepted his resurrection and went home, because maybe it's the, like, storyteller side of me. I truly thought that he was going to be like, whoa, I found a secret potion. And he was going to start taking from the grave continuously, like, bits of dirt and selling them. Like, I thought he was going to open, like, a dirt apothecary. Oh.

[Sabrina]

To like, combat vampires, to cure people. I think it was specifically if you were bit by a vampire, you had to eat from that vampire's grave.

Oh, okay.

[Guest]

I thought there was just like some weird magical mineral spell, composition of the dirt.

[Sabrina]

No.

[Guest]

And then it was just like a cure all for. You get to prolong your life a little bit longer.

[Sabrina]

Unfortunately, no.

[Guest]

All right, Arthur, I understand why you were trying to.

[Sabrina]

Similar.

[Guest]

What's up, a?

[Sabrina]

What's up, A? So Arnold is buried and the town kind of moves on. Obviously there's some sadness, but the town moves on until about three weeks later when something strange starts to happen in this town. Arnold was reported to have been taunting and visiting people in their sleep throughout the town. This man is dead. How is he doing that? He would appear suddenly at the ends of their beds, keeping them up at night, terrifying them. And after seeing this visage of Arnold, these people would suffer ailments. And after about three weeks from the burial and death of Arnold, four people in the town suddenly dropped dead. 4. As well as some sheep and livestock.

[Guest]

Whoa.

[Sabrina]

Which keep the sheep in mind for later.

[Guest]

Okay, this is also. I do have one outstanding question, and I'm not sure that this is something that will be answered, because this feels something we'd have to interview a vampire about.

[Sabrina]

Okay.

[Guest]

Is there any difference to the vampire themselves whether someone who you've just eaten from survives by taking from your grave or not? Does it hurt them or harm them to have survivors?

[Sabrina]

I don't know. That's a Good question. I think what this proves is that he didn't actually survive, because clearly he's coming back and he's haunting and hurting people. So it just took him actually dying to turn into a vampire.

[Guest]

A vampire.

[Sabrina]

So I think that's the problem, because it's like, oh, shit. He said he defeated it, but did he?

[Corinne]

Right.

[Sabrina]

So now the townspeople are like, this is strange. Four people mysteriously dying. And all of these people had reported seeing a visage of Arnold. Spirit. Spirit. Prior to dying. So the townspeople start to put the story together, and perhaps that tale that Arnold told of his time in Greece and the vampire attack was more than just a story. Perhaps it was true. And perhaps Arnold had, in fact, become a vampire. Recalling the manner in which Arnold rid himself of the vampire, the townspeople decide to do the same. So this is now 40 days postmortem. They go and visit Arnold's grave and unearth his remains, only they're not as they expected it to be. His remains are not decaying at all. In fact, he is looking very spry, very lively. And they also notice that there is blood on his shirt, as if he had feasted recently.

[Corinne]

Oh, God.

[Sabrina]

Not only that, but the nails on his hands and feet and the hair on his head and his beard had grown as they would if he was still alive for those 40 days. So, I mean, you can probably imagine the gasp that was guffawed in that moment. The entire town. Like, that's probably a residual haunting now at that cemetery. And there are more gasps that were guffawed later on at this very same cemetery. So the villagers were like, we gotta do something about this vampire that is now plaguing our town and prevent it from rampaging and killing any more.

[Guest]

Also, what. What were his wife's thoughts like? She's still alive, right?

[Sabrina]

Unfortunately, the wife is not really mentioned in the story, aside from my added element of him having her be his last thought. That's not his words. Those are mine. So they drove a wooden stake into Arnold's heart, and apparently blood spewed, and Arnold let out a shriek. And so they were like, oh, he for sure was alive. So he shrieks, blood starts oozing out of his chest, and then he lets out a final groan as if dying. But they were like, this is not enough. We need to be extra sure. So they. This is a little bit gruesome. They chop his head off, dismembering his head from his body, and then they throw his head and his body into a fire until there is nothing but ash left over, they proceeded to do that same manner of disposal to the four victims that had died. Because they're like, we don't want to take our chances, they now become vampires. Let's just do the same for all of them, actually.

[Guest]

I like that they're really thinking ahead here.

[Sabrina]

Exactly. As far as they know, that puts an end to the vampire epidemic in Mevedza. Or so they think.

[Corinne]

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[Sabrina]

Five years later, in 1731, 17 people fell ill and died.

[Guest]

Is it the sheep?

[Sabrina]

Hold on to this, okay? The sheep are going to come back in a way that you're not expecting.

[Guest]

Okay. I thought vampire sheep were coming for the whole town now.

[Sabrina]

But again, not from accidental causes. They are just dropping dead. And they varied from the age of 10 to 70. They all fell ill with stabbing sensations in their sides, chest pain and and involuntary jerking of their limbs. But they're like scrambling. They're like, why are so many people dying? And there's this young woman named Stanoska who fell ill and woke up to a boy trying to strangle her. And she was totally fine. Like, she was fine, but she's asleep. She wakes up to a boy trying to strangle her. And she starts screaming, obviously, because she's like, what the fuck? Someone trying to kill me? And the boy staggers backwards and she looks him in the eye and she realizes that is the boy who had died one week earlier. So she starts screaming even more and the boy disappears. Immediately after that encounter, she falls ill. And just three days later, she dies from this illness.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Sabrina]

So now, this time with the death toll climbing, they are like, there's another vampire. Something is amok. And so this time they realize that they clearly had not succeeded in ridding the town of the vampire the last time. And so they call for help. They report this to the Austrian military, and the commander sends an infectious disease specialist, Imperial Contagions Medicus Glasser, to Medvedza Glasser comes to Medveda and he's examining the bodies and he's like, this is not a vampire, this is malnutrition. But people in town are so certain that it is more than malnutrition. They're like, we are doing the best we've done with our crops. Like people are eating and they're so certain it's a vampire that people are packing up their bags and they're like, we're going to leave. And obviously to continue with economy and booming, they don't want people relocating or leaving Serbia. So this time Glaser's like, okay, you know what, I will go look at the bodies with you. And he thinks he's just going to prove to them that it's malnutrition. But they go to the graves, they dig up the bodies. And Agasp was gasped, a guffaw was guffawed because Glazar.

[Guest]

The people were aghast.

[Sabrina]

They were aghast. But the people weren't just. Glaser was because he realizes these bodies are not decaying the way that they should. And they are ripe and some of them look better than they did when they had been alive. And one of them has like blood stained lips. And so he is like, oh my gosh, they're not crazy. There is a vampire. So Glaser reports this back to the Supreme Command and recommends that they send military to execute the vampires. As requested. Word reaches Vienna where the Austrian Emperor literally rose from his throne and goes, my goodness, we must send some military officials and medical professionals to go examine and get rid of this problem. So he sends multiple officers and military surgeons to the town of Moveda to investigate. The charge of this group is regimental field surgeon Johannes Fluckinger. I'm sorry if I said your name wrong, but Johannes is the one who goes on.

[Guest]

I'm just thinking about the guy in Frozen, that yoo hoo big Zama blowout. Like I feel like that's how this guy would.

[Sabrina]

Johans fucking, sir.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Yes, but so Johannes is the one who goes on to write the official document. That is the reason we have the government record of this story.

[Guest]

Also, I just want to say I appreciate that the people. This whole time I'm thinking about the witch trials and how it's like, you know, there's someone. You see the image of someone like their spectral being is visiting you in the night or whatever. But I think at least in this situation everyone is already dead.

[Sabrina]

Exactly.

[Guest]

And that is the one difference between accusing.

[Sabrina]

Big difference.

[Guest]

The living or accusing the dead.

[Sabrina]

Right. Which is why I think the vampire stories are less horrific. And there are certain places where they do attack living people. And this is just specifically a story in Serbia that they did not kill any living people. So shortly after arriving, two more people in the town die. And the village is like, we have to continue disinterring all the bodies and look at them. And Johannes is there for the disinterring of and the digging up of the these bodies. They found similar results. Lively looking corpses. Some even had fresh blood in their organs and looking more youthful than they did in their life. Upon seeing this, Johannes reported that the bodies were Das Vampirenstand in vampiric condition and that is filed in the official report. What further solidified the belief that this was in fact a vampire epidemic is that they learned that the first few people who died in 1731 had one thing in common. Arnold Powell. So remember the sheep that died in 1725 along with the four people? Well, in 1725, crops and agriculture and food was not aplenty. And they were like, we can't let these go to waste. So some people ate the sheep.

[Guest]

Oh my God.

[Sabrina]

One such woman, her name was Stana. And Stana was the first to die in 1731.

[Guest]

So normally you could just assume like a diseased sheep, but if I don't know, this is okay.

[Sabrina]

But it's five years later, right? Right. This is what it says in the English translation of the document. If people want to look it up, it is down below, but it is called William and Repertum, which translates to seen and discovered. So you can read that, but this is verbatim and I'm going to read a couple excerpts from it. But this is about Stana, a woman by the name of Stana, 20 years old, who had died in childbirth two months ago after a three day illness and who had herself said before her death that she had painted herself with the blood of a vampire, who for both she and her child, which had died right after birth and because of a careless burial, this is really morbid, had half been eaten by dogs, must also become vampires. She was quite complete and undecayed. After opening the body, there was found in the cavitat pectoris, a quantity of fresh extravascular blood. The vessels of the arteries and veins were not, as is usual, filled with coagulated blood. And the whole viscera, that is the lung, liver, stomach, spleen and intestines, were quite fresh, as they would be in a healthy person. The uterus was, however, quite Enlarged and very inflamed externally, for the placenta had remained in place. Wherefore the same was incomplete putridine. The skin on her hands and feet, along with the nails, fell away on their own. But on the other hand, completely new nails were evident along with fresh and vivid skin. So basically, when she had died before they buried her, she was decaying. And then when they dug her up, like her nails had grown again, her skin had kind of refreshed.

[Guest]

Which is so weird that there could be this dormancy with certain victims, but then not others. But then that also makes me question whether. Okay, so we're believing that it's the sheep here that could be the connection.

[Sabrina]

Sure.

[Guest]

But here's another pitch that I have. What if sometimes vampires feast on fresh corpses that are already in the ground? So you would. You would see the initial decay because there's some sort of like, incubation period before it hits.

[Sabrina]

Like. So you're saying a vampire could feast on a dead body and bring the dead body back to life?

[Corinne]

Almost.

[Guest]

Yeah. Or like turn it post mortem into a vampire. Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Who are we to say? We don't make the rules either way.

[Guest]

I don't know why it would be decaying and then not decaying, so.

[Sabrina]

Right. It doesn't make sense. I do believe that there's probably an incubation period that after death it takes some time to actually turn into. Because with Arnold's case, it took three weeks.

[Guest]

Oh, that's true. But with the boy, it only took one. The little boy, but he has a smaller body, maybe perhaps a coarse.

[Sabrina]

Faster. His metabolism is faster.

[Guest]

Yes.

[Sabrina]

His vampire metabolism. Okay, so field surgeon Johannes Fleckinger goes, I don't need any other evidence. He is now certain that the town is being impacted by vampires. So he orders all of the recently deceased to be dug up. This is 40 bodies in total. 17 of those were seemingly preserved and believed to be vampires. And I'm just gonna read a couple of reports. So they. They look at all 40 bodies. And in the report, it does talk about some that do look decayed so that they are not vampires. But there are a couple, and there's a lot of talk of. I mean, this is the 1700s. A lot of children and women died during childbirth. And so there's a lot of young children who died. I'm just gonna read a couple. But this one is a woman by the name of Militsa, 60 years old, who had died after three months sickness and had been buried 90 some days earlier than when they were dug up there was in the chest much liquid blood found. And like those mentioned before, the organs were in good condition. During her dissection, all of the militiamen hadooks who were standing around marveled greatly at her plumpness and her perfect body because apparently through life she was very lean and dried up. So they emphasized that it was such a surprise that now she was so plump despite being dead and in the grave for 90 days. So yes, this woman who was otherwise to the men examining her body, frail and skinny in life, was now plump and sexy in death. So that to them was another sign that this was a vampire. And this is also another person who had eaten the sheep. So again, connected to Arnold.

[Guest]

This is one of those times too where I wish I knew more about the like post mortem sort of reactions that bodies can have, because I know that they can bloat. Yeah, bloat, but like for how long? And I know bacteria as they eat can also contribute to that, but like again, for how long?

[Sabrina]

And also you would think that they're reporting a terrible stench. And I don't think that they, at least it's not documented. So in contradiction, there were two bodies again of a mother and a young child who died during childbirth, that while dying around the same time, and having been buried in the exact same soil just next to the grave of a woman who they determined to be a vampire, both bodies were decomposed. So it's like, okay, of the 40 bodies, all buried in the same soil, same land, seemingly dying of the same illnesses, like being struck by something and dying, although some of them childbirth, it's different, are decaying differently, right? So 17 of the 40 are determined to not have decayed.

[Guest]

So you can't blame, basically like the way that we view bog bodies, exactly where it's like there's a certain set of conditions that keep these bodies from decaying normally. But that can't be true if all the conditions are the same and they're quite literally feet apart from each other.

[Sabrina]

Right? There was a girl of no less than 10 years of age who had died two months previously, found herself in the above mentioned condition quite complete and undecayed and had much fresh blood in her chest. But then there was a Haduk named raid, who was 21 years old, who had died after a three month long illness and after a five week burial was found completely decomposed. So it's like even though these people both died of like a three week long illness and buried similar times, one's decomposed, one is not so it's like, even though we're not scientists and we don't have extreme knowledge of the burial process or how bodies decompose, there's no consistency.

[Guest]

Right.

[Sabrina]

And, like, you could say, oh, like there's a soil or water or whatever, but why wouldn't both be the same?

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Of these 40 bodies, 17 were determined to have been vampires and they disposed of them. I know there's a lot. So they were all staked in the hearts, beheaded and burned, just like Arnold Powell was. The rest of the bodies were returned to the graves and the sudden deaths just stopped just like that. Granted, not just like that because it took a lot of effort, but right after disposing of these 17 bodies, it stopped.

[Guest]

Wow.

[Sabrina]

Field surgeon Johannes Fleckinger put all of his findings into an official report, which at the time was very difficult to discount, as it was signed by no less than five officers in the army of Charles vi, the Austrian emperor. Three of them were doctors, all very familiar with corpses. The accounts of everything that occurred with Arnold Powell are recorded secondhand in the report, but the rest of the report that was written in 1731 was written firsthand by those who witness and observe what they could only describe as a vampire attack. The report became quite popular and traversed nations and towns, eventually landing in the hands of the Catholic Church, who was taken aback by the mutilation and digging up of these Catholic bodies, who in their eyes would no longer be able to reach heaven. So there's controversy starting here. Then there's more controversy. When a French Benedictine monk who had dedicated his life studying apparitions of spirits and vampires, concluded that these people who had been called vampires were not actually vampires, but instead were being animated by demonic forces. The Catholic Church argued that, no, the people who burned and accused these people of being vampires were being controlled by demonic forces. A really big, true controversy started brewing between scholars of all types of pedigree, until Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who is Marie Antoinette's mother, sent her personal physician to get involved. And Gerard Van Sweeten, who's her personal physician, is like, there are no such thing as vampires. They don't exist. Which is all the Empress needed. And so she passed laws that prohibited opening graves or desecrating bodies. So some people are like, was she working with the Catholic Church to prevent this from happening? But if we want to do a little bit of conspiracy, put our tinfoil hats. Was she working with the vampires, trying to let them keep turning other people into vampires?

[Guest]

Right. It was an inside job.

[Sabrina]

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[Guest]

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[Sabrina]

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[Sabrina]

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Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan taxes and fees. Extra feeful [e-mail] that is the story of Arnold Powell and The monster of Moveda. But if it was not a vampire, what was it? How do we dissect this story? So I wanted to like briefly look at the history of and the origin of vampires. And I'm just going to say right now this is like a little like fingernail scratch of the folklore origins of vampires, but just helps us understand. The term vampire actually didn't exist until this time in Serbia where like all the vampire epidemic or hysteria as they call it happened. But there are many ancient beliefs of something otherworldly and supernatural that consumed blood or the flesh of the living. The Persians were one of the first civilizations to have stories of blood drinking demons. Ancient Babylonia had the mythical llute similar to Lilith, who was a demon that survived off of the blood of babies. Then there's Vlad the Impaler who is said to have inspired Dracula who lived and died in 1476. Dracula was not released until 1897. So we're like, what is happening in 1725 in Serbia to stir up this conversation of vampires? Or is it just vampires? I don't think it's just vampires.

[Guest]

It's so weird. It's like I have so many questions because part of me is like, how many other places was this happening? Because the way that it works, at least in this story, it makes me think that this would happen in many other towns and pockets. But then I'm also like, well, did it go more unnoticed? Because those were more populated places that that was happening in. And this was more of like a. I don't know anything about this town or where it is, but I'm picturing it as this hard to get to.

[Sabrina]

Well, so there's a lot happening in this time. There's like the age of enlightenment, there's Christianity, Catholicism coming in and like taking over. There's wars, there's diseases that are running rampage that like people didn't have the medical knowledge that we do now. So I think we've seen in a lot of different stories it's easier to blame it on like demons or something supernatural because they didn't have the knowledge right.

[Guest]

But this feels like it goes beyond blame because there's effort in digging up bodies and medical examiners and third parties brought in to observe and report on what's being seen. So I am confused by this and maybe I am starting to believe in vampires.

[Sabrina]

It's so complicated because when you. I was trying to like string together the origins and like where did the stories of vampires begin and how did it travel? And it does kind of Travel from Greece to Serbia. And the story begins in Greece where Arnold was attacked by a vampire. So it's like, did he. Were they trading stories on the front lines and got caught up in it?

[Guest]

Is this all really a story of psychosis? In a way.

[Sabrina]

Right, so Christianity definitely had a large role during the medieval period. A lot of vampire myths arose with the arrival of Christianity in Greece and other parts of Europe. In 1672, there was a panic among the locals of a region called Istria, now part of modern Croatia, where a man became a vampire after dying, drinking blood from his victims and also sexually harassing his widow. The offender's body was staked and beheaded. Then, starting in 1679. So now, like a good 50 years before Arnold and his encounter, multiple people are writing essays on the subject. The below, or if you're watching, is a photo of one of those written in 1734. So it's like 1679, people start writing essays on it, and it's continuing through the 1700s. The title translates to the Treatise on Chewing and Smacking of the Dead in Graves, which I imagine is a really bad translation, but it was written by Michael Ranch.

[Guest]

Chewing and smacking.

[Sabrina]

Yeah. Of bodies and graves.

[Guest]

Yuck.

[Sabrina]

Which I guess is kind. That kind of makes sense. It's like you don't chew and smack unless you're alive.

[Guest]

It's an interesting Choice.

[Sabrina]

It's the 1700s there, and it's a different language. So then there was a vampire panic, mass hysteria that spread throughout much of Europe in the 18th century in tandem with the Age of Enlightenment. So Arnold Powell was not the only vampire case in 1725 in Serbia, there's another very infamous case of vampirism not too far away. So now there's this pattern arising when you look at the history. There are multiple cases of vampires in Serbia in the 18th century. But again, why. Why is this happening? What's happening in that time is Austria is getting control of northern Serbia and this trend of locals hunting and killing vampires is growing. This hysteria lasts a generation until the Austrian Empress passes that law that people are not allowed to dig up or desecrate bodies. And then it kind of fizzles out. So it's like, oh, interesting. Maybe it's this, like, because people are digging up bodies and looking at bodies when they're recently buried that we hadn't done before, that it's bringing up all these questions, and instead of studying the way bodies decompose, they're now thinking there's a discrepancy, meaning someone's a vampire.

[Guest]

We might actually gain answers soon because I have an episode that I'm gonna do based on the book Stiff, which I haven't read yet, but it's been on my list forever, which is all about, like, what happens to bodies postmortem. So maybe we'll learn about different stages of decomposition.

[Sabrina]

Right. Well, that's.

[Guest]

My.

[Sabrina]

Body farms are so interesting because bodies do decompose. And again, we're not experts, but from the bare minimum knowledge that we have, bodies do decompose differently based on environment, based on how they die. Like, what the disease does to your body afterwards. Things bloating, decaying at different rates. Yeah. Also, this is before the time where they're doing. What's it called, where they're, like, taking all the organs out before burying it and, like, draining the body of blood and stuff.

[Guest]

Oh, I don't remember the term.

[Sabrina]

They're, like, burying fresh dead bodies back then. So they're not doing the postmortem practices that we do now. Anyway, it's not clear what really caused the hysteria, but most people do think it is and has to do with a combination of things like new power Christianity coming in, people dying from things that they don't understand and new diseases, traveling. But it's very similar to the witch hysteria, where it's spreading throughout places and traveling. So it's like one person travels with the story and it comes up, it pops up somewhere else. It's likely that these beliefs were easier to understand than the spread of unknown diseases. I mean, the movie Nosferatu, the original, was made to personify the spread of disease and how it arrives and can decimate a village. And there are two possible diseases that could be responsible for all of this in Serbia in 1725, pellagra and rabies. Pellagra is a disease caused by the imbalance of B3 and tritofen, which causes a variety of symptoms, including sensitivity to sunlight. Is a big thing in vampires.

[Guest]

Vampires, yeah.

[Sabrina]

Foul breath and anemia, which are other traits of vampires. Like, they are very white and looking anemic. And this disease entered the region in the time of the 18th century when corn was introduced to the diets. So a new disease could have really confused people and been like, what the heck? And then there's also several hundred cases of rabies recorded, spread initially by rabid wolves and then people.

[Guest]

Which this makes sense too, because some of the examiners were like, oh, this is malnutrition. And they're like, well, we have so much food. But when you have A rabies, one of the late stage symptoms is like, you are hydrophobic, like, you won't consume food or water. You basically, yeah, you become malnourished despite the resources that you have available to you to not be.

[Sabrina]

And since a lot of wolves were the ones who were spreading rabies, wolves are another symbol of vampires. So another connection there. And then rabies is spread through biting. A lot of victims do avoid sunlight and are repelled by strong odors like garlic. So again, being bit to get the disease and garlic repelling them to more connections with vampires that we now believe.

[Guest]

Which is interesting because one of the diseases says that they have stinky breath, but garlic also gives you stinky breath.

[Sabrina]

Depends on if you like the smell of garlic or not, which I do. But. So these two are diseases that people are like, well, maybe it was these two things. And this hysteria actually started to spread into the rest of Europe, led to the word vampir from Serbia first entering Germany around 1726 as der vamper and later into English as vampire by 1734 at the latest. So this is the time where the term vampire is now becoming a part of our vocabulary. And this vampire epidemic lasted about eight years, from 1725 until roughly 1755. So it's like the Arnold Powell story is in the heart of that.

[Guest]

Yeah. And I guess this would make sense why, like, one village would see so much of it, and then also why it's not, you know, like, just because there's a disease doesn't mean everyone's going to get it. But a good chunk, like, it was. Almost 50% of the people who died in this one town looked like they.

[Sabrina]

Died and became vampires.

[Guest]

Right.

[Sabrina]

But if there's this new disease that came in, does that disease cause a different type of decay to the body, or does rabies cause a body to decay differently?

[Guest]

Right.

[Sabrina]

And they also reported having, like, convulsions of their body that they couldn't control.

[Guest]

So it does sound like rabies. I don't know anything really about the other disease, but, yeah, rabies is still very much a thing.

[Sabrina]

And if you look at vampire stories and hysterias that travel, even though they're different pockets and different times, like, there's a New England vampire epidemic that happened in the 18th century as well, but it was like, with the rise of tuberculosis and diseases like that. And then came the weird medical practice of ingesting your recently deceased loved ones like body parts to help prevent you from contracting what they had, which actually made you get it.

[Corinne]

Right.

[Guest]

Ew.

[Sabrina]

Yeah.

[Guest]

God. So Cannibalism?

[Sabrina]

Yep.

[Guest]

They were pro cannibalism, but it makes.

[Sabrina]

Sense because, remember, they were vaccines. Are you like, do give yourself a part of not all vaccines, but some vaccines are made with a part of the illness to help build immunity against it.

[Guest]

Exactly. And this is making me think of. When I went to. I almost said the body farm. I've never been to the body farm.

[Sabrina]

I was so. I was like, I'm jealous.

[Guest]

Yeah. Oh, I went last week. Sorry I didn't tell you.

[Sabrina]

You didn't invite me.

[Guest]

When I went to the cannibalism exhibit that was in San Diego, there was that whole, like, at the very end, it was like, do you consider this to be cannibalism or not? And one of them was, like, a practice that they used to have where they would, like, grind up human brains or something like that into, like, a powder to ingest.

[Sabrina]

What was that for?

[Corinne]

I don't remember.

[Sabrina]

I mean, listen, people, like, consume placenta, right? So.

[Guest]

Yeah, but. Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Is that considered cannibalism? What about colostrum? Like, those things are all really good for you and.

[Guest]

Yeah, but I guess colostrum's, like, produced by you.

[Sabrina]

That's true.

[Guest]

And, like, regenerates.

[Sabrina]

But placenta is, like, kind of, like, alive.

[Guest]

Yeah. No, it's an organ. Yeah, but again, it's like something that comes.

[Corinne]

No.

[Guest]

My placenta is in the deep freezer downstairs.

[Sabrina]

Is it really?

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Can we go look at it?

[Guest]

I haven't looked. You've never looked at it? No. It's buried beneath many, many frozen breast milk pouches.

[Sabrina]

I want to see what it looks like.

[Guest]

Well, I'll invite you over. In the spring, I want to plant a tree on top of the placenta.

[Sabrina]

That's so witchy of you.

[Guest]

I think a lot of people do it.

[Sabrina]

I love that idea.

[Guest]

Everyone take the placenta and do something with it.

[Sabrina]

I support that idea more than eating it.

[Guest]

Yeah. No, I have no interest in eating my placenta. But I'm going to.

[Sabrina]

That's not to, like, at anyone who does. To each their own. Personally, I'd rather.

[Guest]

I want to eat things that are grown from the nutrients of the placenta.

[Sabrina]

I'm on board with that.

[Guest]

So I don't know what I'm going to grow yet, but some sort of tree.

[Sabrina]

I like that.

[Guest]

I'll invite you over. We'll have a placenta party and then.

[Sabrina]

We'Ll dance around it.

[Guest]

We'll bury the placenta. At night, you wake up and there's a new tree. Suddenly it's grown five Feet.

[Sabrina]

It's like practical magic. Yeah, you teased me that the story that you have to read for this episode is exciting.

[Guest]

Oh, it's good. It's short, but it's so good. Hey, sisters from another Mr. Can we.

[Sabrina]

Know the subject line?

[Guest]

Sure. I mean, it just says laundry room, vampire bite, and Yahoo. Messenger.

[Sabrina]

Okay.

[Guest]

My name is sin or kin, and my now estranged hubby, we will call him A. And then my messenger friend, we'll call him Big T for big teeth. Big titties.

[Sabrina]

Big titties. I said big teeth.

[Guest]

I know. And I said big titties. That's what we call you, me and A. So this was estranged hubby A went to go wash our clothes. We lived in an apartment, and we had to walk down half a block to get to where we would wash our laundry. So while we were in the laundry area, we were folding our clothes, and after they were done washing. I'm very ocd, so I have a very particular way about how I want to fold my blankets and my towels and to wash clothes.

[Sabrina]

Sounds like you.

[Guest]

It does.

[Sabrina]

It's like I offered to do laundry for you way back when, and I was like, I know she's not gonna accept it because she has her way of doing it.

[Guest]

So I was taking my time. We were there for a little while, but then when the laundry room is done, my hubby and I head back to our home. And my hubby suddenly gets a stiff neck, and he has to sort of walk with his head tilted as he pulls our clothing cart behind him. And then all of a sudden, he screams, ouch. Fuck. What was that? We were almost home at this point, so I said, I'll look when we go inside. So we get inside, we go up to the bathroom, and I'm looking at his neck and his head to figure out what is going on, and I find two puncture holes in his neck. My first instinct was to pour rubbing alcohol onto the wounds, so I literally poured them into the holes, and then I covered up with this big bandage. And so we get into our room and I get on my computer and I start texting Big T. And at this point in time, I looked at the time that I sent a message to Big t. It was 3:01pm And I don't know how soon after that we either knocked out or we both fell asleep.

[Sabrina]

Both of them?

[Guest]

Yeah, just like, middle of the afternoon. I looked at the time on my computer when we woke up, and it was 3:34. We do not recall the 33 minutes of time going by from when I first messaged Big T to when I came to me and my hubby then go back into the bathroom to look at his neck and the puncture wounds are now gone. I don't know what happened. I don't know if this was a glitch in the Matrix type thing. Vampirism. Anyway, keep up the great work. I've been binge listening since 2024. Early in the year. I'll send more stories soon. But I wanted to send this one because I'm curious what your opinion is on it. Love, peace and no hair grease. Love, peace and no hair grease. Sin or kin. I don't know how to pronounce it.

[Sabrina]

Well, I'm really curious because they both were knocked out. Like, did they both get bit because they were so focused on A. Because A had like the feeling. Did they look at Sin Kin's neck at all?

[Guest]

Right, I know.

[Sabrina]

And was this more of like a sleeping? Like it almost makes me think like they were injected with something rather than their blood being sucked.

[Corinne]

Well.

[Guest]

And I also felt this one was the reason I was so excited to read this one too was because I feel like oftentimes, like in the story that you told, it was like you see the visage of a. Of a person. Like they appear in astral form or their physical body but before you. And you have like the actual body of a vampire. But this one, it was like completely invisible.

[Sabrina]

Maybe they were bit by a spider. And next email we'll get they turned into Spider man because he also gets really tired after being bit and falls asleep and then wakes up.

[Guest]

That's true.

[Sabrina]

And he's got muscles and can do push ups. And this is the Tobey Maguire version. And he no longer needs his glasses.

[Guest]

Because if there's one thing spider bites do, it's fix your vision.

[Sabrina]

Yes.

[Guest]

But it's weird that they both fell asleep, like right after a certain period of time. Like it'd be one thing if he did and he was just knocked out.

[Sabrina]

But both of them.

[Guest]

Yeah. And it was mid conversation with big T with a friend. Like you're messaging, messaging. Like, oh, something weird is going on. Like, let me tell you this story, my dear friend. And then boom, all of a sudden you're knocked out and they're assuming. Here's the other thing. They're assuming they fell asleep because they don't have any recollection of time. They just suddenly came to again.

[Sabrina]

And at the same time.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Where it's like usually if you nap, like you're aware of, oh, I'm really tired. I'm going to nap. Or someone falls asleep and then you're like, well, I guess I might nap too. Like, they both get knocked out at the same time, brought back at the same time and brought back. Which. Yeah, I don't know. Weird vampire at the laundromat. Or aliens. Or Spider Man.

[Guest]

Only one of those three.

[Sabrina]

What do you think? What's your take? Wow. Okay.

[Guest]

Is that scary? You could be bit by a vampire that you don't even see at three in the afternoon, broad daylight, wheeling your laundry cart back to your home.

[Sabrina]

That's so wild. All right, well, what do you think? Do you believe in vampires after this story, or are they just a way of dealing with unknown diseases?

[Guest]

I still don't know.

[Sabrina]

Me neither. But I would be open to the idea.

[Guest]

I'm more open than when we began.

[Sabrina]

I think also, humans are so obsessed with this idea of, like, living forever.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina]

And not dying. Not me personally, but is that also part of the vampire lore and legend?

[Guest]

We're also just such weird creatures. Like, I obviously believe in evolution, but if we didn't have evidence of evolving, I very quickly could be like, we are aliens. Like, we don't. It feels so weird that we're here. It feels.

[Sabrina]

Technically, aliens are called aliens because they're like an unidentified unknown species.

[Guest]

Yeah. We don't understand what we're seeing.

[Sabrina]

So we are alien in a sense.

[Guest]

We don't understand ourselves, basically. Yeah.

[Sabrina]

Learning a lot here at two Girls one Goes. If you have any vampire stories or ghost stories or cryptid stories or anything odd and paranormal, please email them to us@2girls1ghost podcast gmail.com and if you want episodes ad free one week early, plus bonus episodes, plus campfire stories. Every Tuesday, join us on Patreon.

[Guest]

You can follow us on social media. You can tell everyone about our podcast. You can rate and review all the things that help keep this podcast alive. And thank you for coming back every week. Thank you to our editor and producer, Jamie Ryan, and everyone.

[Sabrina]

Go tell Kesha to be on two Girls one Ghost podcast, and we will love you.

[Guest]

And. And we will see you on the other side.

[Sabrina]

Very spooky.