{
  "country_code": "RS",
  "id": "kisiljevo-vampire-report-1725",
  "title": "Kisiljevo, 1725: the report that helped launch a vampire debate",
  "category": "apparition",
  "date": "1725-01-01",
  "date_label": "1725 report anchor; individual alleged attacks require original-record dating",
  "location": "Kisiljevo area, Serbia",
  "lat": 44.714,
  "lng": 21.435,
  "summary": "An official’s report of a feared revenant reached Vienna in 1725. The case lets investigators distinguish reported deaths, an exhumation and the interpretation that made them a vampire story.",
  "documented_claim": "The national library identifies a Frombald vampire report from Serbia in 1725.",
  "unproven_claim": "The report proves that Peter Plogojowiz returned from death to attack residents.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Austrian National Library — The first vampire hype",
      "url": "https://www.onb.ac.at/mehr/blogs/untot-seit-dem-18-jahrhundert-der-erste-vampirhype",
      "language": "de",
      "kind": "National-library historical account",
      "note": "Named author and links to the documentary tradition; English paraphrase, not an original attack record.",
      "id": "S1",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "Cambridge — Vampire Country: Borders of Culture and Power in Central Europe",
      "url": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/metamorphoses-of-the-vampire-in-literature-and-film/vampire-country-borders-of-culture-and-power-in-central-europe/448526EC12F36C6B627FD63205F4428C",
      "language": "en",
      "kind": "Scholarly historical chapter",
      "note": "Context for the 1725 report and reception; full chapter may require library access.",
      "id": "S2",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "country": "Serbia",
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/kisiljevo-vampire-report-1725",
  "source_url": "https://www.onb.ac.at/mehr/blogs/untot-seit-dem-18-jahrhundert-der-erste-vampirhype",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named locality, not an exact encounter, burial, ritual or excavation position.",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=44.714&mlon=21.435#map=8/44.714/21.435",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "A documented 1725 source chain connects local revenant fear with an administrative and public debate. A supernatural attacker and a definite cause of mortality remain unestablished by the selected evidence.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "The mystery and the documented account",
      "text": "The Austrian National Library’s account by Tobias Dittmoser-Pfeifer traces an early vampire report to Frombald’s visit to a Serbian village in 1725. It names the recently deceased Peter Plogojowiz, whose alleged nocturnal return prompted alarm. The spelling of both village and personal name varies across publications. A Cambridge historical chapter discusses the report reaching Vienna and the exhumation, staking and destruction of a corpse. These are records of what people feared, reported and did. They do not establish that a dead person physically returned or identify a medical cause of the reported deaths.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The question worth investigating",
      "text": "Which propositions were personally observed by the reporting official, and which were relayed by frightened residents? Publication and administrative transmission may have amplified a local account into a wider category of monster.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence, provenance and uncertainty",
      "text": "The library blog and scholarly chapter are interpretations of the earlier record, not two independent attack reports. The full original text must be checked before using a translated phrase as an official medical finding. Corpse descriptions cannot support retrospective diagnosis without burial and environmental context.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "A documented 1725 source chain connects local revenant fear with an administrative and public debate. A supernatural attacker and a definite cause of mortality remain unestablished by the selected evidence.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Next research and discriminating evidence",
      "text": "Use the library’s references to locate the original report and its printed transmission. Transcribe observer, informant and hearsay clauses separately. Compare personal and place-name variants and record translations. Seek mortality context without assuming all deaths share one cause or disturbing any burial.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "1725 local alarm",
      "text": "The institutional account connects revenant claims with Frombald’s visit.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1725 administrative transmission",
      "text": "The scholarly chapter discusses the report reaching Vienna.",
      "refs": [
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "27 October 2022",
      "text": "The national library publishes its account of the early vampire debate.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The national library identifies a Frombald vampire report from Serbia in 1725.",
      "status": "Documented in the named record",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The report proves that Peter Plogojowiz returned from death to attack residents.",
      "status": "Not established by the selected evidence",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "A documented 1725 source chain connects local revenant fear with an administrative and public debate. A supernatural attacker and a definite cause of mortality remain unestablished by the selected evidence.",
      "status": "Editorial assessment; stated limits apply",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Revenant belief amplified through administrative reporting",
      "status": "Supported historical framework",
      "support": "A named report and wider debate are traceable.",
      "limits": "Each observation needs its original wording.",
      "test": "Compare the first report with its printed copies and later summaries."
    },
    {
      "title": "An actual returning dead person",
      "status": "Not established",
      "support": "Residents reportedly attributed attacks to the deceased.",
      "limits": "Attribution and an exhumation do not demonstrate nocturnal return.",
      "test": "Distinguish direct observation from hearsay and seek evidence independent of the accusation chain."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Trace the earliest accessible record",
      "body": "For Kisiljevo, 1725: the report that helped launch a vampire debate, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable."
    },
    {
      "title": "Investigate the central question",
      "body": "Use the library’s references to locate the original report and its printed transmission. Transcribe observer, informant and hearsay clauses separately. Compare personal and place-name variants and record translations. Seek mortality context without assuming all deaths share one cause or disturbing any burial."
    },
    {
      "title": "Compare explanations without merging evidence",
      "body": "Compare the first report with its printed copies and later summaries. Distinguish direct observation from hearsay and seek evidence independent of the accusation chain. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed."
    }
  ]
}