Grobnik

(GRUB-nic)

Variations: Gromlik

In the Kukush, Ohrid, and Struga districts of Bulgaria, there is a vampiric REVENANT known as a grobnik ("of a grave"). It is created when either a person is strangled to death or is simply predisposed to becoming a vampire. After the body is buried, for the first nine days, the vampire is an invisible spirit. It is capable of only pulling off small pranks. Then, after 40 days, it can leave its grave and pass itself off as a human who has only one nostril. The only other telltale sign that it is not human is that its shadow will have sparks in it. The grobnik is very dense and strong, and it feeds on cattle, draining off their blood, and consumes the carcasses of animals it can find. Talismans can be worn to ward off the vampire, but if it can be captured and destroyed, all the better, as left unchecked, it will destroy all the cattle in a village. Once it is caught, it must be tied to a pyre of thorn bushes and burned to ash. If the vampire is detected during its first nine days of unlife, a DJADADJII can be hired to bottle it (see BOTTLING).

Source: Georgieva, Bulgarian Mythology, 95; Gypsy Lore Society, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, 131; Perkowski, Vampires of the Slavs, 206