De Witte Lever

(DEWITLIV-er)

Variations: Witte Lever ("White Liver")

In the northern regions of the Netherlands there is a type of vampirism that can occur when a person is born with a white liver (see LIVING VAMPIRE). Just like everyone else, the de witte lever ("the white liver") lives a normal life, falls in love, and eventually marries. Sadly for the de witte lever, soon after the wedding day, the spouse becomes sick, begins to waste away, and eventually dies. The de witte lever is a normal human being except for the fact that the white liver is supposedly responsible for the spouse becoming ill and dying (see ENERGY VAMPIRE). Unfortunately, there is no way to test and determine who may have this condition prior to having been married and widowed fairly quickly. After the suspected de witte lever dies, the body can be cut open and examined to verify the condition.

Source: American Folklore Society, Journal of American Folklore, vol. 58­59, 323; Barbe, Vampires, Burial, and Death, 44; Noyes, Encyclopedia of the End, 127