Slavic peasants know that wampirs ("blood-sucking ghosts") flit eerily about at night, fixing their terrible fangs on human victims, draining out blood. Therefore, the corpse of a wampir (vampire) remains always fresh and rosy in the grave, nourished by the blood sucked by the vampire ghost at night. Effective means of exterminating vampires are: to drive a stake through the blood-nourished corpse; cut off the head; tear out the entrails. So say the wise sages of the Balkans, and so simple peasants believe.
Last week this grisly theme (fictionized with great power some years...