Vampire Legend

John Blair, professor of medieval history at Oxford University, was studying a 12th-century text known as The Life and Miracles of Saint Modwenna.

Pop culture has fixated on vampires, thrilling audiences with the horror of a deadly monster… A nocturnal predator from Eastern Europe who rises from the grave to feed off the blood of its victims. But what if Dracula, and all the other vampires that have captured the public imagination, have a basis in reality?

In 2004, 1500 miles from England, a story makes headlines in Romania. A group of villagers has performed a vampire-slaying ritual on a recently buried corpse. The incident occurred in the remote town of Marotino de Sus when a 26-year-old woman began complaining of a mysterious illness.