The “Vampire” Incident That Frightened the People in an Ottoman Town

Everyone from seven to seventy is in fear, when everyone retreats to their homes after sunset narrow the night, hard in the morning was making.

These beings, who are said to haunt the city and are thought to be “vampires”, Tarnova terrified his people; It has even been the subject of newspapers. It may sound funny while reading it right now, but when you imagine it’s evening in lonely houses with gas lamps, it looks like a horror movie.

There were inexplicably strange events happening in the town that only happened at night.

Everything in the house, such as beds, quilts, pillows, was scrutinized and distributed. Some people even said they were attacked. After these increased cases, people could not find out who did them; it was decided that this could at most be a witch’s invasion.

This fearful news was given to the public in the official newspaper of the state, Calendar-i Vekayi.

It is highly likely that the people will squint assuming they are delusions, and those from Rumelia will also “What are our old wives’ tales doing in the official gazette?” These news, which he will read with amazement, are nothing but the horrifying events created by the witches who appeared in Tarnova.

The “witches” of Rumelia were not like the witches we know.

Today we use the word witch in many senses. However, it is very important that we evaluate the discourses according to the periods. Here The Muslim people in Rumelia were turned into vampires and ghouls. We need to know that her name is witch.

Important Shaykh al-Islam of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent Ebussuud Efendi’When we look at the ghoul fatwas given by the Prophet, we can more or less understand the effect of this belief among the people. We can encounter vampire/ghoul events in regions such as Manastır, Doyran, Thessaloniki, Yeniköy and Edirne, which we come across in both Ottoman Empire sources and foreign travel books.

This event went down in history as a case of mass hysteria.

This event In September 1833, Ahmed Şükrü Efendi, one of the professors of Tırnova,It was learned through the letter of . Looking at the letter, fearful hours of night began for the people. The witch of Tarnova in question was entering the houses in the evening and mixing the supplies in the pantry. It turns out that he’s not just mixing up supplies; it was falling on people like a nightmare at night. There was no limit to those who left the city because of this incident.

The word was sent to Nikola Efendi, who is known as the witch.

When Nikola Efendi walked around the scene, listening to the events from the people’s mouth, “all this is the work of witches” he said. After long negotiations, he was persuaded to cleanse the town of witches for 800 cents. It was on the way to the cemetery to determine the graves where the witches lay.

Master Nikola the Witch, turns a wooden icon in the Tarnova Cemetery on his finger and looks around. According to the belief, it was said that the vampire lay in the grave where the tip of the icon on his finger was located.

When the icon stopped, the people were astonished.

The people were astonished, because the people knew very well the two tombs that the icon showed. These graves belonged to Tetikoğlu Ali Alemdar and Abdi Alemdar, the bloody tyrants of the Janissary Corps. These two people, while living theft, extortion, murder, rape They were also well known to the public for doing all imaginable tyranny.

Many people actually believe that the events that occurred after the Janissary Corps were abolished. In 1833, with the influence of Vaka-i Hayriye, He mentions that the state used this event against the Janissaries.

The background in the matter was ignored: Ali and Abdi Alemdar were already dead when the stove was removed.

When the tomb was opened, the people were horrified. Because two janissaries the forms of his body are still the same; nails and hair had grown as long as possible. Actually, this was quite normal. A corpse’s hair and nails could grow and swell. However, the people perceived it as a ghost as a result of their belief structure.

Ebussuud Efendi’s emphasized in his fatwabloodshot eyesThey resurrected with the entry of evil spirits into their bodies because of the sins they committed with ”. One of the reasons for this situation is thought to be the anger of the sultan. hob lifter Sultan II. Mahmut’It is implied that they have become this way because of their opposition to it.

Nicholas the Witcher, to drive these spirits out of town. stakes in the stomachs of corpses He said that their hearts should be boiled in boiling water. All this was done; but there was no change. In the letter, it is stated that they did not work and the bodies were set on fire by Nikola.

The people, believing that their town was purified from evil spirits as a result of Nicholas’s methods, sent letters of thanks to the sultan.

In the official letter sent to Istanbul by the judge of Tırnova, Ahmet Şükrü Efendi, everything that happened was described in this way. the official newspaper of the state Calendar-i Vekayi’s September 5 This event was published in the issue of 1833.

It is hard to believe, but this event, which was even published in the official newspaper, was enough to frighten all the people. According to some, this event was real, while according to others, it was a smear campaign against the Janissaries. We cannot know the truth; however, when we interpret it according to its period, it is extremely eerie it is a fact.