Kruvnik

(CREW-nic)

In Slavic vampire lore, if a person is not properly mourned or does not have the proper burial rites said over his body, he can return as a type of vampiric REVENANT known as a kruvnik ("blood-sucker"). A person who committed suicide died a violent death, or led an evil life can also return as this type of vampire as well. At night, it will return and attack the people from the town where it used to live. It sometimes even tries to return to its wife and continues to live there as if it never died. If the wife accepts the vampire, takes it in and loves it, at the end of three years the kruvnik will become a human man again. Any children that are conceived from their union will be born a DHAMPIRE. However, if the vampire returns home and the wife does not want the vampire's attention or affections, it can be warded off with prayers to the god Troyan.

The kruvnik can be destroyed by beheading it and then placing it back in its grave with its head between its legs. Then its hands and feet must be severed as well. Finally, a stake of aspen wood must be driven through its heart.

Source: Alexander, Mythology of All Races, vol. 3, 232; Senn, Werewolf and Vampire in Romania, 66; Taylor, Death and the Afterlife, 392