Jure Grando

2 Writings

Jure Grando or Giure Grando (? - 1656) was a person from Istria (at that time divided between Republic
of Venice, for most part, and Austrian Empire; in today Croatia) who may have been the rst real person described as a vampire in historical records.[1] He was referred to as a strigoi, trigon or trigun, a local word for
something resembling a vampire and a warlock.[2]

Carniolan scientist Johann Weikhard von Valvasor wrote

about Jure Grandos life and afterlife in his extensive
work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola when he visited Kringa during his travels.[7][8] This was the rst written document on vampires.[9] Grando was also mentioned
in writings by Erasmus Francisci and Johann Joseph von
Goerres (La mystique divina, naturelle, et diabolique,
Paris 1855), whose story was much more elaborate, full
1 Story
of fantastic details to make the story more interesting and
sensational. In modern times, Croatian writer Boris Peri
Jure Grando was a peasant who lived in Kringa/Corridico, has researched the legend and written a book (The Vama small place in the interior of the Istrian peninsula near pire) on the story.[1]
Tinjan/Antignana. He died in 1656, but according to legend, came back as a vampire (trigon) and terrorised his
village until his decapitation in 1672.[3] According to the
legend, for 16 years after his death, Jure would arise from 3 Modern times
his grave by night and terrorise the village.[4] The village
priest, Giorgio, who had buried Jure sixteen years previ- Today, Kringa has embraced the story of Jure Grando and
ously discovered that at night somebody would knock on have opened up a vampire themed bar aimed at attracting
the doors around the village, and on whichever door he tourists to the town.[5] The Juraj Dobrila gymnasium in
knocked, someone from that house would die within the Pazin created a short lm called Vampire of My Homenext few days.
land (Vampir moga zaviaja) based on the writings from
[10]
Jure also appeared to his terried widow in her bedroom, Valvasor.
who described the corpse as looking as though he was The folklore related to the trigun has recently been docsmiling and gasping for breath, and would then sexually umented and examined by numerous scientists at the
assault her.[5] When Father Giorgio eventually came face University of Zagreb.[2][11][12]
to face with the vampire, he held out a cross in front of
him and yelled Behold Jesus Christ, you vampire! Stop
tormenting us!" At that moment tears fell from the vam4 References
pires eyes.
The bravest of the villagers led by the prefect Miho Radeti chased and tried to kill the vampire by piercing his
heart with a hawthorn stick, but failed because the stick
just bounced o of his chest.[5] One night later, nine people went to the graveyard, carrying a cross, lamps and a
hawthorn stick. They dug up Jures con, and found a
perfectly preserved corpse with a smile on its face.[6] Father Giorgio said: Look, trigon, there is Jesus Christ
who saved us from hell and died for us. And you, trigon,
you cannot have peace!"[6] They then tried to pierce its
heart again, but the stick could not penetrate its esh.[3]

[1] Intervju: Boris Peri" [Interview with Boris Peri]. Glas

Istre (in Croatian). 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
[2] Vinak, Tomo (December 2005). O trigama, trigunima i krsnicima u Istri [On "trige, "triguni and
Krsnici on Istrian Peninsula] (PDF). Studia ethnologica
Croatica (Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb) 17 (1): 231. ISSN 1330-3627. Retrieved 2011-11-04. Drago Orli je jo prije dvadesetak godina (Orli, 1986) prikupio i tiskao vrlo zanimljivo
gradivo o ukorijenjenosti i ivotnosti tradicije vezane uz
trige i trigune u Istri. [...] trige i triguni su najblii
pojmu vjetica. trigun se rodi u rnem mihuru koji se
potom saije pod pazuh. Bez tog rnog mihura ili u drugoj varijanti crne kugle s kojom se raa, gubi mo. trige
i triguni su opaki i vrlo opasni i po ivot ljudi, a piju i krv.
[...]

After some exorcism prayers, the one villager, Stipan Milai, took a saw and sawed the head o. As soon as the
saw tore his skin, the vampire screamed and blood started
to ow from the cut, and soon the whole grave was full of
blood. According to legend, peace nally returned to the
region after Jures decapitation.
1

[3] Caron, Richard (2001).

Draculas Family Tree.
sotrisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique: mlanges offerts Antoine Faivre. Belgium: Peteers, Bondgenotenlaan 153. p. 598. ISBN 90-4290955-2.
[4] Wright, Dudley (2006) [1924]. The Book of Vampires
(2nd ed.). Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
pp. 4950. ISBN 0-486-44998-X.
[5] Croatian Dracula Revived to Lure Tourists
[6] Jure Grando - Istarski vampir ili ljudska mata?
[7] Writer Boris Peric at the Literaturhaus in Switzerland
[8] Boris Peri, Vampir, Biblioteka 21, Zagreb ( Naklada Ljevak) 2006. (Croat) ISBN 953-178-741-7
[9] Boris Peri, Vampir, translated into Slovene by Iztok Osojnik, Zbirka Beri globalno, Ljubljana (Tuma) 2007. ISBN
978-961-6682-05-3
[10] Film of the Vampire from Kringa
[11] Strah i nelagodu iri trigun Jure Grando. Jutarnji list
(in Croatian). 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
[12] Jure Grando je ustvari trigun. Glas Istre (in Croatian).
2011-09-18. Retrieved 2011-11-04.

External links
Croatian Dracula Revived to Lure Tourists
Jure Grando: Istrian Vampire or Human Imagination

EXTERNAL LINKS

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Jure Grando Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jure_Grando?oldid=667328571 Contributors: Joy, Dbrukman, GregorB, Eleassar,

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