“I Dug Out His Heart with A Pitchfork”

It’s not a thing that necessarily happens often in Romania, but one does hear about it now and again. I’m talking about the people who dig out dead people from their graves, spear their heart, or take their heart out, burn it, make a liquor out of it and give it to someone to drink, because they think the dead are haunting a living person and making them sick. Even though it doesn’t happen often, it is pretty common that children grow up with folklore stories about strigoi, moroi (evil spirits of a dead person that possess a living one) or iele (witches). I myself have been told throughout my childhood that my heart should be speared after I’m dead, lest I become a pricolici. A special birthmark that I have allegedly signals my turning into an entity that comes back from the dead to play pranks on my family until they all go mad.

Aside from the sensationalist qualities of such stories, and their role in reinforcing the vampire and mystery myths about Romania, and the discussions about folklore and tradition, I think what we got here is actually pretty sad. People live so isolated and have little access to information and medical services, that they take refuge in centuries old tales, which sometimes leads to them ending up in jail or hurt.