Vampire of the Melrose Abbey

During the 12^th Century, there is an eerie story about how the monks of the Melrose Abbey rescued the town from some dark entity that has been plaguing the village for quite some time.  The suspected Vampire of the Melrose Abbey was said to be a chaplain.  The chaplain lived a life of sin; the villagers gave him the name “Hundeprest” which means Dog priest.  The name was derived from his hobby of hunting animals while riding a horse and being followed by several hound dogs.

When the chaplain died, he was buried on the Melrose Abbey. But his mortal death did not grant him the peace, his phantom spirit kept on haunting the said abbey at night in search for a blood to replenish.  The local was terrified about the Hundeprest sightings, they went to the church and utter prayers hoping that it will protect them against the undead.    The group of monk started a war against the creature.  They prayed, fasted and went on hunting and eventually defeated it. 

The account of their battle against this vampire has to be one of the most exaggerated accounts of a vampire case.  The monks said that he saw the phantom of the chaplain in form of a vampire and chase him at an increased pace.  He was trembling when he went out of the abbey.  He decided to come back when he saw the grave opened and found the vampire inside.  The next day the monk gathered some people to help him in exhuming the body.  When they open the coffin they saw the fresh body of the chaplain with a grin on his face and a fresh blood on his lips.  Some accounts of this event have also been documented by William of Newburgh:

“as the horrible creature rushed at him with the mosthideous yell, he firmly stood his ground, dealing it a terribleblow with a battle-axe which he held in his hand.When the deadman received this wound he groanedaloud with a terrible hollow noise, and swiftly turning hefled away no less quickly than he had appeared.”

The corpse of the chaplain was burned and the wind carries his ashes onto the hills and over the Scottish borders.  They said that black blood came gushing out of his mouth and open wound and filled the grave.  Up to this day people who live on that place said that they can still hear the scream and moan of the Hundeprest.