article on vampire culture in Romania

[manderguy]

Thought people might find this (http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/8267146.htm) of interest.

And I thought the US was bad at things....

[cloudyphiz]

MAROTINU DE SUS, Romania - Before Toma Petre's relatives pulled his body from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he hadn't been in the news much.


awesome. i can only hope that my corpse will attain a similar notariety when i knock off.

-gary

[orpheus last chant]

Oh dear, saw it on the local news, some weeks ago.

Please don't think because of some kooks, that all romanians still believe in vampires. In fact, we never have. The hole story is just Bram Stoker's imagination and some old german legends. One of the most annoying things is the only things forreigners know about Romania is: vampires, Vlad the Impalior, Nadia Comaneci and that's bout it.

And, that article just plays on sensationalism. The person that started this news never believed the dead body will be a vampire, he thought it would be, let's call it the romanian version of, a zombie. They are also from a rural secluded area, and probably crazy.

Vampire slaying is a custom that's been passed down from mother to daughter, father to son, for generations beyond memory, not just in this tiny village of 300 huts astride a dirt cart path about 100 miles southwest of Bucharest, but in scores of villages throughout southern Romania.


What a load of bull! :mad: This is just plain false.


Little has changed since the days that Turkish invaders rolled through 500 years ago, seeking the mineral riches of Transylvania just to the north. By day, the people are Roman Catholics. At night, they fear the strigoi, or vampires.


What condescending crap. The thing is basically calling romanians Middle-ages. And we're not Roman Catholics. We're Eastern Ortodox. I can just imagine the writer of this article "Look at me...pulling facts out of my arse!"



That's the problem with vampires," said Doru Morinescu, a 30-year-old shepherd who, like many in the village, has a family connection to the current case. "They'd be all right if you could set them after your enemies. But they only kill loved ones. I can understand why, but they have to be stopped."

Let me try to explain the mentality of those people who were interviewed in a few words. "Tell them what they want, and get their money"

[Arken]

This made me laugh.

Yes, according to the Romanian State Police. Its view, expressed by Constantin Ghindeano, the chief agent for the region, is that vampires aren't real, and dead bodies in graves aren't to be dug out and killed again, even by relatives.

[AtheistSalmon]

21st century? :confused: This sounds like something from the ancient past.

FYI, chicken hearts squeak and pop (like popcorn) when fried in a pan too, but that does not mean they are chicken vampires. :boohoo:

[4th Generation Atheist]

Relax orpheus, we also know about Cosescu. ;)

But agreed, the article had a definite whiff of insult to it---had it been Americans, it just would have ended up in the News of the Weird column. (Probably will anyway.) And the author of this one shows unpreparedness, in reporting the wrong religion when any encyclopedia can tell you otherwise.

[manderguy]

Orpheus: I was hoping you'd weigh in with a more informed point of view.

They are also from a rural secluded area, and probably crazy.

Hah-hah. What is it about rural people (having been one myself)?

[4th Generation Atheist]

Or maybe it's more specifically people in the mountains---lack of oxygen or something. I have family in the Berkshires who'd put any Southern good-ol'-boy to shame with their supply of guns and dogs; they fly the flag of a no-longer-extant European nation that no one in my family has lived in in three hundred years. What, they gonna go back like Aragorn and claim the throne? My housemate grew up in Appalachia: confrontations with neighbors were dangerous, you might get shot. At least he didn't live near any of those snake-handling churches, but they do exist, I once rode a Greyhound seated next to a member of one. (Interesting ride; she wouldn't shut up until I pretended I was a Mason. Two things those guys are terrified of : Jews and Masons.) I know some people from the Rockies who just had some kind of huge party to celebrate the fact that they'd installed an AC generator. The cabin nearly burned down during the facilities, but for some odd reason all eyes were on the toolshed..... :eek:

Perhaps I can rescue the digression by pointing out that Transylvania is a very mountainous region? (At least it has said so on every atlas I have ever seen. I also hear it's beautiful.) Maybe these guys are just doing the local version of nutty mountaineers, and the world (esp. US) press picks up on it just b/c it's similar to Hollywood?