Discover why the word “Vampire” has Serbian origin
The real answer is the village Medvedja near Trstenik. At the beginning of 18th century, this village was a boundary between Austria and Turkey in which Serbs were the border police. And then in 1731 and 1732, a series of events drew attention from the whole Europe, because Austrian doctors have visited the village two times due to these events, and documents which they wrote have induced great interest of European public. The cause for Austria to send their best experts to the border with Turkey, in Medvedja, was the death of 17 people, who died due to epidemic of “black pimple” also known as Anthrax. Today’s experts claim this to be the cause, but at that time people blamed Vampires. The story would not have made it to the imperial Capital if not for Austrian epidemiologist dr Marin Glasser hadn’t wrote down that the bodies of the deceased were in perfectly good condition even after several weeks after they had died. Soon, a group of doctors are in Trstenik area “to enlighten the case”. To examine the bodies of dead Serbs in Medvedja, Austrian doctors have used the words Vampire (the walking dead) and vampiric. German society of educated people had an emergency meeting due to these strange occurrences and press all around Europe were racing to translate the report Visum et repertum (Seen and Discovered), for which even today is considered to be one of the most important documents in the history of Vampirism.
Sadly, verbal tradition is lost, because the village survived two devastations during the 18th century, so the authentic descendants do not exist. Further from Medvedja, Mijajlovac and Rujisnik, the hill Karaula is located. There brigand Arnaut Pavle was garrisoned there. He could see Morava all the way from Trstenik to Krusevac. Not far from there, the hill Vampirilija is located where the residents while plowing the filed found the human remains.
Who was Arnaut Pavle, and what did the Austrian doctors discover and how the news from Serbia shook the foundation of the educated Europe in 18th century, can be found in Medvedja, in the village on the left bank of the Morava River near Trstenik.