The Truth Behind The World"s First "Real" Vampire

After so many starring roles in recent movies and TV series, the world seems a bit saturated with vampires these days. They’ve become so commonplace that you might not think twice if you saw one riding the bus, or standing on a downtown corner, or working in the cubicle beside you. But it makes you wonder: Where did the idea of vampires even come from? Who was the inspiration that started it all? Before Twilight and True Blood, before Nosferatu, before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there once lived a man named Jure Grando — the world’s first real vampire! Read on to discover the truth behind the legend!

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In 1897, Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula was first published.

His fictional tale of a Transylvanian vampire with a thirst for blood is thought to be inspired by a medieval ruler named Drăculea (in old Romanian), but who was more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler. As his nickname might suggest, Vlad wasn’t the kindest fellow of his day.One 15th-century poem claims Vlad even liked to wash his hands in the blood of his victims before eating his meal. Vlad was certainly horrifying and cruel, but he was still a long way from being a creature of the undead with supernatural powers.

But over 200 years earlier, another book was written — and this one told the story of an actual vampire.

You’ve probably never heard of Jure Grando, but he’s the first real person ever to be described as a true vampire, with supernatural powers and all. He lived in Croatia, in a small village called Kringa. A written account of Grando first appeared in a book called The Glory of the Duchy of Kranj, written by Janez Vajkard Valvasor (a Slovenian travel writer and historian). It was first published in 1689.

Even in life, Jure Grando was known as a repugnant man.

But he was said to have a pleasant wife and forged a living as a stonecutter until succumbing to an illness in 1656. Upon his death, his body was laid to rest in the local cemetery by a priest named Father Giorgio. And then things got real.

Despite being dead, Jure Grando began perpetrating a reign of terror on his village that lasted for 16 long years.

The legend says Grando continued to roam the streets at night after his death, knocking on doors and frightening the townsfolk. And according to the story, if he happened to knock on your door, a member of your family inevitably died a few days later. He also made unwelcome visits to his wife.But the strange happenings didn’t end there. And neither did Jure Grando’s inexplicable supernatural power.