Vampires of Sarbanovac

In 1839, A mass grave desecration led to the arrest and punishment of 2 self proclaimed vampire hunters.  It started when the local priest sent a complaint to the District Court about the mass exhumation done by the villagers of Sarbanovac due to the alleged infestation of Vampires of Sarbanovac.

Before the court, the villagers said that 9 dead people have turned into a vampire.  They gave a full account of the people suspected to be a vampire and those people that were attacked by these vampires.  The Vampires of Sarbanovac are said to assault men, women, animals and children.  They first asked for the aid of their priest but the said priest refused to help them.  They were also given the advice not to perform any traditional remedies that includes exhumation and desecration of corpses.

One day the priest went out of town and the people of the town decided to act.  The vampire hunt was led by Novak Mikov who was paid a reasonable amount of fee for the exhumation.  Mikov was accompanied by several other villagers who dug up 8 corpses.  They cut the hearts of those suspected Vampires of Sarbanovac and boil them in a pot of wine.  After several hours they placed the heart back into the corpse and reburied them.  Remains of a woman were also unearthed but show no signs of vampirism so the villagers decided to just return her to the grave.

When the priest discovered that the villagers desecrated the corpse.  The priest seek the help of the sectarian court.  Radovan Petrov and Novak Mikov were found guilty for digging up the corpse which is prohibited by the church.  The two of them who led the exhumation were sentenced to 7 day imprisonment and 30 lashes of cane.

During this era, consumption and other sickness already has an explanation thus the church is doing everything they can to repel the pagan practices and traditional method on the exorcism of the undead.  Some priests acted more emphatic to the villagers by praying to the graves and blessing them with a holy water.