Stephen Hubner: The Vampire of Treautenau

Stephen Hubner is also known as the Vampire of Treautenau.  He lived in a Slavic village and was allegedly responsible for the death of several victims from 1730 to 1732.  According to the accounts, Hubner’s crime records were not only focused on humans; he also attacked cattle and other farm animals.  All the victims were diagnosed to die due to strangling. The eerie account was also mentioned by Montague Summers.

 

Stephen Hubner: A Real Vampire?

 

However, Stephen Hubner is not a serial killer. Hubner was already dead by the time he was accused of these murders.  When he was still alive, Hubner was a wealthy person.  Nevertheless, he was not popular among the villagers due to his behavior. According to the legends, this is a perfect recipe for someone to turn into an undead creature after death.  Some say that he became wealthy by signing a deal with the devil. These stories led to the birth of the legend of the Vampire of Treautenau.

 

Stephen Hubner Life

 

When Stephen Hubner was alive, the community already had an inkling that he was doing the bidding of the devil. His shot to success and wealth happened in an instant. His house manor was built right at the center of the town square. People believed that the house itself was cursed. Therefore, it was eventually rebuilt and was transformed into the city’s Town Hall. Hubner tried to bypass the standard construction method to save money. Thus, during the construction in 1563, the house collapsed. However, the collapse was still considered to be the work of evil.

 

The Death of Hubner

 

Hubner eventually decided to build a much bigger house.  During the reconstruction process, Stephen Hubner suffered a broken leg while he was unloading the stones. The bad luck and his extravagance have strengthened the suspicion of the townsfolks against him. He is also aware of herbal magic, which he used in treating animals and people. However, they still attributed his healing power to the devil. He died in the early months of 1567 and was given a grand funeral. Later after his death, people attested that they saw Hubner as a spectre, the Vampire of Treautenau. He was also blamed for the death of several people.

 

The Verdict

 

When the news reached the Supreme Court, they immediately decided that the body of Stephen Hubner should be exhumed.   After the body was disinterred, they found out that the corpse was adequately preserved even though five months had already passed.  They also managed to see the number of signs that they attributed to vampirism, concluding that Hubner is, without a doubt, a creature of the night.

 

 

The corpse was brought to the gallows, where his head was decapitated.  They decided to reduce the remains of Hubner to ashes and dispersed the ashes into the air as a traditional method of driving the evil spirit away.  The town’s folks wanted to make sure that there would be no more vampirism on the village, so they decided to exhume the bodies of the deceased, whose grave was near the pit of Stephen Hubner.  They were cremated and were reburied.