Magia Posthuma
A short treatise on Vampirism published at Olmutz in 1706, and written by Ferdinand de Schertz. Reviewing it Calmet (q.v.) says in his Dissertation on Vampires: "The author relates a story of a woman that died in a certain village, after having received all the sacraments, and was buried with the usual ceremonies, in the Churchyard. About four days after her death, the inhabitants of the village were affrighted with an uncommon noise and outcry, and saw a spectre, sometimes in the shape of a dog, and sometimes in that of a man, which appeared to great multitudes of people, and put them to excessive pain by squeezing their throats, and pressing their breasts, almost to suffocation. There were several whose bodies he bruised all over, and reduced them to the utmost weakness, so that they grew pale, lean, and disfigured. His fury was sometimes so great as not to spare the very beasts, for cows were frequently found beat to the earth, half dead; at other times with their tails tied to one s another, and their hideous lowings sufficiently expressed the pain they felt. Horses were often found almost wearied to death, foaming with sweat, and out of breath, as if they had been running a long and tiresome race; and these calamities continued for several months."
The author of the treatise examines into the subject in the capacity of a lawyer, and discusses both the matter of fact and the points of law arising from it. He is clearly of opinion that if the suspected person was really the author of these noises, disturbances, and acts of cruelty, the law will justify the burning of the body, as is practised in the case of other spectres which come again and molest the living. He relates also several stories of apparitions of this sort; and particularises the mischiefs done by them. One, among others, is of a herdsman of the village of Blow near the town of Kadam in Bohemia, who appeared for a considerable time together, and called upon several persons, who all died within eight days. At last, the inhabitants of Blow dug up the herdsman's body, and fixed it in the ground, with a stake driven through it. The man, even in this condition, laughed at the people that were employed about him, and told them they were very obliging to furnish him with a stick to defend himself from the dogs. The same night he extricated himself from the stake, frightened several persons by appearing to them, and occasioned the death of many more than he had hitherto done. He was then delivered into the hands of the hangman, who put him into a cart, in order to burn him without the town. As they went along, the carcass shrieked in the most hideous manner, and threw about its arms and legs, as if it had been alive, and upon being again run through with a stake, it gave a loud cry, and a great quantity of fresh, florid blood issued from the wound. At last the body was burnt to ashes, and this execution put a final stop to the spectre's appearing and infesting the village.
The same method has been practised in other places, where these apparitions have been seen, and upon taking them out of the ground, their bodies have seemed fresh and florid, their limbs pliant and flexible, without any worms or putrefaction, but not without a great stench. The author quotes several other writers, who attest what he relates concerning these spectres, which, he says, still appear in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. They are seen, it seems, both by day and night, and the things which formerly belonged to them are observed to stir and change their place, without any person's being seen to touch them. And the only remedy in these cases, is to cut off the head, and burn the body of the persons that are supposed to appear. 66