Berwick Vampire

(Bur-LICK Vam-pire or BER-ik Vam-pire)

Variations: Vampire of Berwick-Upon-Tweed

In 1196, in the village of Berwick (England or Scotland, sources conflict), a rich, corrupt, and overall sinful merchant died of the plague and was not buried in hallowed ground. The merchant returned to the village as a vampiric REVENANT—a smelling, rotting corpse that carried the plague. At night, the undead merchant would run through the streets screaming, "Until my body is burnt, you folk of Berwick shall have no peace!" Dogs would bark in alarm as he would near and nearly half of the village died of the plague. Eventually, the people of the town exhumed the body, severed the limbs and head, and burned the body down to ash.

Source: Aylesworth, Story of Vampires, 49­50; McNally, A Clutch of Vampires, 40­41; Summers, Vampire in Europe, 82; Twitchell, The Living Dead, 32