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This is not a place that I want to be after Dark Evo.

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For thousands of years, our nightmares have had one name.

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Vampire.

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The concept of the vampire is something that has real roots in Romania.

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But in the home of the Dracula legend...

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There is an open sarcophagus.

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Can I finally dig up the truth behind our fears?

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Okay, creepy cemetery check.

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You dig up a body and eat a heart, you're gonna get a little attention.

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Holy s***, are you kidding me?

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Something just cracked.

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Since the dawn of man, monsters have appeared in our myths,

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our culture, and our nightmares.

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And there's one type of monster that casts a long shadow over all the rest.

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Or no shadow at all, actually.

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Vampires.

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But where did the legend of these nocturnal bloodsuckers come from?

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And could it be based on something real?

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Nonsense, right?

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Well, that's what I thought.

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But a series of strange reports from Eastern Europe has many people sleeping with the lights on.

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In a village in southern Romania, a group of residents made headline news

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when they claimed a recently deceased man came back from the dead.

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They exhumed his body and performed ancient anti-vampire rituals on the corpse,

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including burning and eating his heart.

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And across the border in Bulgaria, archaeologists have just made a ghastly discovery.

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At a mystical site high in the mountains, they've uncovered a vampire grave.

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Was this strange burial the result of superstition?

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Or was there something about this corpse that made it more than human?

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What in the name of the living dead is going on in Eastern Europe?

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I intend to find out by getting to the bottom of these long-held beliefs.

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So pack your holy water, a few wooden stakes and a clean pair of underwear, kids,

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because we're going vampire hunting.

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My name is Josh Gates.

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With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration.

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I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations.

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God, Lord have mercy!

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My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth,

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as I investigate the greatest legends in history.

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We're going to fly a star.

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This is Expedition Unknown.

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Morning in Bucharest, Romania.

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This is Eastern Europe at its most confusing,

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a place where stunning Orthodox churches share real estate with drab Soviet apartment buildings.

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If you're not careful, Bucharest is the kind of city that's easy to be unimpressed by.

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That's the truth.

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It doesn't have the architectural sex appeal of Prague.

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It doesn't have the opulence of Vienna.

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After 30 years of brutal communist rule,

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much of the city that once was is gone.

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But something amazing is happening in Bucharest.

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The bricks of communism have crumbled,

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and the city is getting a serious second wind.

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Restaurants are bustling, there's music in the air,

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and on the streets, there's a kinetic energy that's impossible to deny.

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I'm here to begin my quest to understand the long-standing belief in the vampire.

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And to do that, I'm going to have to dig up the perfect ride.

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This is a Russian Euro motorcycle with optional oak coffin sidecar.

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It is amazing what you can find on Romanian Craigslist.

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How are you guys doing?

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I'm calling it, greatest vehicle of all time.

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It's fuel efficient, it's a serious head turner,

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and if you crash it, you can just roll right into your final resting place.

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Hi guys!

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Romania and vampires go hand in hand.

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After all, this is the home of Transylvania and the legendary Dracula.

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On my way to meet my first contact,

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I ride over to check out the offerings at the peasants market.

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In these stalls, every native dish of Romania is here for the tasting,

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including their insane version of a churro.

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Woo! Hot! Hot!

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Good lord, sir!

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That is a boiling hot tube bread.

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That's it.

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People say, what do you think heaven looks like?

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I can tell you what heaven looks like.

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It looks like this, a tube of buttery, sugared bread.

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That's it.

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This is my baby now.

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I'm going to eat it.

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I'm going to eat my baby.

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Eat my hot buttery baby.

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This is more than a market, though.

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It's also a kind of time capsule.

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On every table, Romania's history is sprawled out to be haggled over.

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The market itself is situated in a nearly forgotten graveyard,

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with headstones surrounding the vendors.

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Romania's past is steeped in eastern Orthodox Christianity,

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co-mingled with ancient pagan beliefs and symbols,

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used to ward off evil forces like the vampire.

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It smells funky inside that desk.

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Only a few blocks away are the eerie remains of Kurti Vecce,

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the 15th century fortress of Vlad the Impaler,

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Romania's most famous leader.

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A meeting with historian Olivia Krasnik,

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who leads me down into the catacombs of the castle.

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We are going to the older parts of the fortress.

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Please watch your step.

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It's pretty dark down there.

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Sure, it's Dracula's basement.

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Of course it's dark.

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This is spooky.

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This was Dracula's fortress.

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Dracula was here.

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The real one.

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Amazing.

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Surprisingly, Vlad Tepes is nothing short of a national hero here in Romania.

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He viciously defended Christianity from the invading Islamic Ottomans,

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and he had a penchant for impaling his enemies on spikes.

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Vlad's family was inducted into the Nightly Order of the Dragon, or Drakuul.

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400 years after Vlad's death, though,

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writer Bram Stoker took more than a little dramatic license with the story.

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With the stroke of a pen, Vlad became Count Dracula,

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and Dracula became a vampire.

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But the roots of vampire belief run much deeper here.

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The idea of the vampire, or the concept of the vampire,

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is something that has real roots in Romania, right?

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Yes, of course.

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The word vampire is not used in Romanian lore.

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We mostly call them Strigoi,

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which is the main word for the vampire.

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The Strigoi are the original vampires of Romania.

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Belief in these creatures is older than the Bible.

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These are tortured souls that rise from the dead to drain the energy of the living.

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Do people in Romania today still believe strongly in the Strigoi?

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In the cities, no.

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But still, there are some villages which believe the Strigoi exist.

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Not too far from here, there's even an abandoned church.

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Some people believe there's a Strigoi there coming out at night.

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You may want to check it out.

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Sounds like a place I do not want to check out.

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If you are wearing a cross, you'll probably be safe.

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And so what do you think? Do you think that there's a Strigoi there?

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I think we should keep an open mind to the mysteries of the universe.

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I think we should investigate, but we still rely on facts.

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And that's not far from the city?

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Not far from the city.

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I'm not exactly buying Olivia's story that there may be an actual vampire

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wandering around the grounds of a nearby church,

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but this kind of belief is exactly why I'm here to investigate.

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So I drive to the very outskirts of Bucharest to see for myself.

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Just as the sun goes down, I make it to the abandoned church,

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where the Strigoi is rumored to be lurking.

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This was one of hundreds of Orthodox churches that were closed

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and abandoned after the Communists took over Romania in 1947

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and tried to eliminate what they called a remnant of the capital estate.

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Church here at night, not at all scary.

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Look at this place.

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This place is incredible.

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Okay, let's see what's inside.

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Oh my God, look at this.

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This is crazy.

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The entire tower has collapsed down into the middle of the church.

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That is insane.

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I've never seen anything like that.

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Whole tower just fell into the room.

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This church was dedicated to St. Andrew,

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which is a saint that actually has ties to this Strigoi vampire legend.

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There's actually a St. Andrew's night here in Romania

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where people go out and kind of protect against the Strigoi.

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It's like a Halloween-type night.

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So it's no wonder that a church dedicated to this saint

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that has been ripped apart and destroyed

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that people might think that there could be, you know, living dead here.

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Total destruction.

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If I was a Strigoi, where would I come from?

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Probably right here.

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Okay, creepy cemetery check.

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Oh boy.

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Holy s***.

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Look at this.

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There is an open sarcophagus.

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Let's see what's going on here.

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You can see these holes that drop down to the crypt.

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We'll avoid those.

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Let's see what's inside of this thing.

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Good lord.

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In an abandoned Orthodox church just outside of Bucharest,

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I'm investigating the legend of the Strigoi,

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the Romanian vampires who are said to rise from their graves after dark.

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Locals claim that a Strigoi has been sighted here,

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and while I'm not as convinced,

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I am feeling creeped out as I try to get to the bottom of their story.

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Let's see what's inside of this thing.

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Good lord.

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Cat, come on!

187
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That is nonsense.

188
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The old cat in the sarcophagus.

189
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I should've seen that coming a mile away.

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I am here by calling this no Strigoi in this abandoned church and cemetery.

191
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I think what we've got here is a very powerful piece of folklore

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and a very scary location working in concert to create, you know, a boogeyman.

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Okay, let's go.

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If I find that cat, I'm gonna kill it.

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The next morning, I trade in my coffin for a rattle-y 4x4 to make room for Petra Rotar,

196
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a Romanian journalist and author who's well-versed on the modern belief in the vampire.

197
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In America, when we think of Romania or Transylvania in particular,

198
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all we think about is vampires.

199
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But then you do have these old, strong folklore beliefs about things like the Strigoi.

200
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So there is kind of a vampire belief thing happening here.

201
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Yes, it is a very ancient belief and a very strong one in the countryside, not in the cities.

202
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Right.

203
00:12:32,540 --> 00:12:38,540
It's one of those rural areas Petra mentioned where a horrific incident recently made international headlines.

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From Bucharest, we drive three hours west toward the town of Cryovon.

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Petra arranges access to visit the local police station and the prosecutor

206
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who can unseal the case files and explain the details of the event.

207
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Daniela Barbou had the unpleasant duty to charge six villagers in her jurisdiction

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with exhuming and desecrating a man's fresh grave.

209
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The villagers claimed that they were preventing the man from rising as a Strigoi or vampire.

210
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So tell me about this case.

211
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This incident happened in 2004.

212
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The prosecutor's office got a complaint by the daughter of a man named Petra Toma.

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She said that the dead body of her father was desecrated.

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He was buried in the town and very short after they buried Petra Toma,

215
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the villagers started feeling ill and having nightmares where they saw Petra Toma.

216
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Believing that Petra Toma has become a Strigoi,

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six people from the village went into the cemetery during the night.

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They dug up the body, they pulled out the heart, they grilled it,

219
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and with the ashes they prepared the potion and everybody who was ill in that village drank that potion.

220
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Wow, that is dramatic.

221
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The six men were convicted to six month jail for desecrating graves.

222
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And did they serve the six month term?

223
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It was suspended.

224
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It was suspended?

225
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Yes.

226
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Wow.

227
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And is it possible to look at the report?

228
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I can imagine how many people are in the family.

229
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Yes, but the autopsy photos are there and they're quite disturbing.

230
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These are the autopsy photos?

231
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Yeah.

232
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The gruesome autopsy photos need no translation.

233
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This crime is a horror in any language.

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Wow, it's really, it's hard to look at.

235
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It's very violent, very graphic.

236
00:15:00,540 --> 00:15:03,540
And how far is this village from here?

237
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Less than one hour away.

238
00:15:08,540 --> 00:15:10,540
So what's the name of this village?

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Marotino de Sus.

240
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Marotino de Sus.

241
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Have other people gone down to this village to talk to them?

242
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Yes.

243
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How did that go?

244
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And the last group that went there, they were chased away by the villagers.

245
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Like actually chased out of the town?

246
00:15:22,540 --> 00:15:23,540
Yes.

247
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Well, you dig up a body and eat a heart, you're going to get a little attention.

248
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I mean, right?

249
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They would like to bury all that stuff.

250
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That's what we call a bad pun, Petra.

251
00:15:36,540 --> 00:15:41,540
After several hours on the road together, Petra and I have kind of a Tracy Hepburn thing going on.

252
00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:45,540
And I will hide behind mostly, I'm just hoping she keeps me from getting my ass kicked in this town.

253
00:15:46,540 --> 00:15:47,540
Do you have a gun?

254
00:15:47,540 --> 00:15:49,540
Oh, I don't have a gun. Do you have a gun?

255
00:15:49,540 --> 00:15:50,540
No.

256
00:15:50,540 --> 00:15:51,540
Do you know how to fight?

257
00:15:51,540 --> 00:15:52,540
Do I know how to fight?

258
00:15:52,540 --> 00:15:53,540
No karate moves, no.

259
00:15:53,540 --> 00:15:55,540
Nothing, no karate moves.

260
00:15:55,540 --> 00:15:57,540
I'm a lover, not a fighter, Petra.

261
00:16:00,540 --> 00:16:02,540
My weird s***.

262
00:16:08,540 --> 00:16:10,540
Marotino de Sus.

263
00:16:13,540 --> 00:16:15,540
Looks friendly enough.

264
00:16:19,540 --> 00:16:20,540
Do we have shivers?

265
00:16:20,540 --> 00:16:21,540
Not yet.

266
00:16:22,540 --> 00:16:26,540
There is the cemetery.

267
00:16:26,540 --> 00:16:28,540
There she is.

268
00:16:46,540 --> 00:16:51,540
Since the villagers have been extremely hostile toward outsiders, I'm eager to see Tomas Gravestone firsthand,

269
00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:54,540
and then get out of here as fast as possible.

270
00:16:59,540 --> 00:17:00,540
This is it.

271
00:17:00,540 --> 00:17:01,540
You found it?

272
00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:02,540
Yeah.

273
00:17:03,540 --> 00:17:04,540
Tomas Petra.

274
00:17:07,540 --> 00:17:08,540
Here?

275
00:17:11,540 --> 00:17:14,540
So Tomas Petra, born 1937.

276
00:17:16,540 --> 00:17:17,540
So this was what they removed?

277
00:17:17,540 --> 00:17:20,540
They broke out the edge of the tomb?

278
00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:21,540
Yes.

279
00:17:24,540 --> 00:17:32,540
That's amazing that it's just incredible to think that something like this could happen in the modern world, you know?

280
00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:36,540
I don't know. This is shocking for me too.

281
00:17:40,540 --> 00:17:43,540
I don't know, just being here makes it seem... oh, we got incoming.

282
00:17:48,540 --> 00:17:49,540
You got this?

283
00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:50,540
They're upset.

284
00:17:50,540 --> 00:17:52,540
Yeah, thank you. I get that.

285
00:18:00,540 --> 00:18:02,540
Oh, we got incoming.

286
00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:09,540
While examining the grave of a Romanian man believed by villagers to be a real life vampire,

287
00:18:09,540 --> 00:18:14,540
my translator and I are accosted by several members of the local welcome wagon.

288
00:18:14,540 --> 00:18:15,540
You got this?

289
00:18:15,540 --> 00:18:16,540
They're upset.

290
00:18:16,540 --> 00:18:18,540
Yeah, thank you. I get that.

291
00:18:19,540 --> 00:18:20,540
Hello?

292
00:18:20,540 --> 00:18:22,540
We have permission from the first to be here.

293
00:18:22,540 --> 00:18:23,540
What are you talking about?

294
00:18:23,540 --> 00:18:25,540
We have... we have... we don't know, right?

295
00:18:25,540 --> 00:18:27,540
Well, first in all.

296
00:18:27,540 --> 00:18:30,540
So we have a white-haired man, don't you know Romanian?

297
00:18:30,540 --> 00:18:33,540
I... let's all just... let's all just... just stay calm.

298
00:18:33,540 --> 00:18:36,540
Petra does some quick talking and diffuses the situation.

299
00:18:36,540 --> 00:18:42,540
She explains that we're only here to learn about the Strigoi and the men calm down enough to talk.

300
00:18:42,540 --> 00:18:47,540
He's saying that they're upset that we're here.

301
00:18:47,540 --> 00:18:50,540
Okay, so we can leave? It's okay, we can leave.

302
00:18:50,540 --> 00:18:52,540
We'll leave, we don't want to die.

303
00:18:52,540 --> 00:18:55,540
We don't want to disturb, we don't want to film others dying.

304
00:18:55,540 --> 00:18:56,540
Give me your hand.

305
00:18:56,540 --> 00:18:57,540
Yes, yes.

306
00:18:57,540 --> 00:18:58,540
What's his name?

307
00:18:58,540 --> 00:19:02,540
This guy is related to the man who dug up the body.

308
00:19:02,540 --> 00:19:05,540
He's related to one of the people that dug up the body?

309
00:19:05,540 --> 00:19:07,540
He's in your family?

310
00:19:07,540 --> 00:19:08,540
Yes.

311
00:19:08,540 --> 00:19:10,540
Does he think it's possible that we could talk with him?

312
00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:12,540
Yes, yes, yes.

313
00:19:12,540 --> 00:19:14,540
He can take us to him.

314
00:19:14,540 --> 00:19:15,540
You can?

315
00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:16,540
Yes.

316
00:19:16,540 --> 00:19:17,540
Okay.

317
00:19:17,540 --> 00:19:20,540
The man, whose name is Florin, agrees to introduce us to his relative.

318
00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:22,540
It's an offer I can't refuse.

319
00:19:22,540 --> 00:19:27,540
Petra, on the other hand, isn't so eager to continue here after dark, so we part ways.

320
00:19:27,540 --> 00:19:33,540
This means that I'll be traveling alone with a complete stranger to meet a cannibal Romanian vampire killer.

321
00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:35,540
Not my ideal Saturday night.

322
00:19:38,540 --> 00:19:39,540
Whoa.

323
00:19:41,540 --> 00:19:42,540
A lake.

324
00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:44,540
He lives here?

325
00:19:44,540 --> 00:19:46,540
He lives across.

326
00:19:46,540 --> 00:19:47,540
He lives over there?

327
00:19:47,540 --> 00:19:48,540
Yes.

328
00:19:49,540 --> 00:19:56,540
Florin's cousin, Matrica, the man who helped exhume Petra Toma, lives on a swampy island across the lake.

329
00:19:57,540 --> 00:19:58,540
You ready?

330
00:19:58,540 --> 00:19:59,540
Ready.

331
00:19:59,540 --> 00:20:00,540
Here we go.

332
00:20:10,540 --> 00:20:13,540
Did not think I was going to end up in a rowboat today.

333
00:20:21,540 --> 00:20:22,540
Very nice night.

334
00:20:22,540 --> 00:20:23,540
Yes.

335
00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:24,540
Beautiful.

336
00:20:24,540 --> 00:20:25,540
Beautiful.

337
00:20:25,540 --> 00:20:26,540
Yes.

338
00:20:26,540 --> 00:20:28,540
I think I'm on a date out here.

339
00:20:34,540 --> 00:20:36,540
Have you ever seen a little mermaid?

340
00:20:36,540 --> 00:20:37,540
Do you know a little mermaid?

341
00:20:37,540 --> 00:20:38,540
Little mermaid?

342
00:20:38,540 --> 00:20:39,540
No?

343
00:20:39,540 --> 00:20:40,540
I don't know.

344
00:20:41,540 --> 00:20:43,540
Just trying to do something.

345
00:20:47,540 --> 00:20:50,540
By the time we reach the island, darkness is falling.

346
00:20:50,540 --> 00:20:51,540
Okay.

347
00:20:51,540 --> 00:20:52,540
Okay.

348
00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:57,540
As we leave the boat and head into the woods, I'm both intrigued and nervous about meeting Florin's cousin.

349
00:20:57,540 --> 00:20:58,540
This way.

350
00:20:58,540 --> 00:21:04,540
What kind of a man could commit such a horrific act, and how will he react to meeting me?

351
00:21:05,540 --> 00:21:13,540
Soon, I see the light of a ramshackle cabin, and I come face to face with Matrica Mersella.

352
00:21:13,540 --> 00:21:14,540
Nice to meet you.

353
00:21:14,540 --> 00:21:19,540
He greets me with a handshake, but I can't say that I feel at ease out here in the middle of the woods.

354
00:21:22,540 --> 00:21:24,540
Thank you very much for talking with me.

355
00:21:24,540 --> 00:21:25,540
I appreciate it.

356
00:21:25,540 --> 00:21:27,540
Thank you very much.

357
00:21:27,540 --> 00:21:29,540
I can tell you…

358
00:21:29,540 --> 00:21:31,540
Thank you very much.

359
00:21:31,540 --> 00:21:36,540
I've read about this story about this man, Petra Toma.

360
00:21:36,540 --> 00:21:40,540
You were involved in that story, yes?

361
00:21:40,540 --> 00:21:44,540
Yes, I was the leader of the group.

362
00:21:44,540 --> 00:21:46,540
Several people in the village became ill.

363
00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:52,540
In their sleep, they saw visions of Petra Toma who had recently died, so we took action.

364
00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:58,540
When you opened the grave, did the man look like Astrigoi?

365
00:21:58,540 --> 00:22:00,540
Was there anything strange about his body?

366
00:22:00,540 --> 00:22:05,540
When I opened the grave, Toma had blood in the corners of his mouth, and his beard and nails had grown.

367
00:22:05,540 --> 00:22:08,540
These are the signs of the Strigoi.

368
00:22:10,540 --> 00:22:14,540
Do you understand why somebody would be upset that this happened?

369
00:22:16,540 --> 00:22:17,540
People were sick.

370
00:22:17,540 --> 00:22:21,540
We performed the ceremony and they got better, immediately better.

371
00:22:21,540 --> 00:22:23,540
What we did saved them.

372
00:22:24,540 --> 00:22:28,540
Matrika isn't backtracking a single step on his actions.

373
00:22:28,540 --> 00:22:33,540
Not only is he not sorry, he's convinced that he was right to dig up his neighbor's grave.

374
00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:43,540
I saw the photographs of what you did to that body.

375
00:22:43,540 --> 00:22:48,540
And what about guilt? Do you ever feel bad about what you did?

376
00:22:48,540 --> 00:22:52,540
Absolutely not. You do not understand. This is not one event.

377
00:22:52,540 --> 00:22:54,540
This has happened many times.

378
00:22:55,540 --> 00:22:58,540
To learn that this is not an isolated incident is shocking.

379
00:22:58,540 --> 00:23:04,540
It turns out that in many Romanian burials, people's hearts are pierced with a pin or thorn

380
00:23:04,540 --> 00:23:07,540
to prevent them from becoming Strigoi in the first place.

381
00:23:08,540 --> 00:23:10,540
What we did, we did to save people.

382
00:23:11,540 --> 00:23:16,540
I can certainly see that. You really believe that what you did was for a good cause.

383
00:23:16,540 --> 00:23:18,540
Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

384
00:23:19,540 --> 00:23:23,540
Matrika may have conviction, but that doesn't make him a medical expert.

385
00:23:23,540 --> 00:23:28,540
It turns out that blood often appears in the corner of corpses mouths due to internal hemorrhaging.

386
00:23:28,540 --> 00:23:34,540
And hair and nails do not continue to grow after death, but appear to as the skin shrinks around them.

387
00:23:34,540 --> 00:23:41,540
As to why the villagers fell ill, had visions of Petritoma, or were cured by the ritual, I simply don't know.

388
00:23:41,540 --> 00:23:47,540
I want to say it's the power of hysterical belief, but I'm not going to hang around these woods to find out.

389
00:23:49,540 --> 00:23:57,540
My trip through Romania has been a first-hand lesson in the power of folklore and superstition.

390
00:23:57,540 --> 00:24:02,540
But where do these beliefs come from, and could they be based on something real?

391
00:24:02,540 --> 00:24:11,540
To continue my search for answers, I'm headed to Bulgaria, where archaeologists have recently made a stunning discovery of an ancient vampire grave.

392
00:24:11,540 --> 00:24:17,540
I head due south and approach the border crossing of the two countries which is delineated by the Danube River.

393
00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:22,540
After adding a passport stamp to my collection, number 97, not that I'm counting,

394
00:24:22,540 --> 00:24:25,540
I board a ferry to cross the river into Bulgaria.

395
00:24:28,540 --> 00:24:34,540
We set sail under light rain and ominous skies, which I hope aren't a portent of doom for the expedition ahead.

396
00:24:35,540 --> 00:24:39,540
The vessel docks in the town of Vadim, but I'm not in Bulgaria yet.

397
00:24:39,540 --> 00:24:44,540
I hand the officials my paperwork, but I suddenly hit an unexpected snack.

398
00:24:45,540 --> 00:24:53,540
A little bit of an issue here, the car registration here in my Romanian 4x4 is a photocopy and not the original.

399
00:24:53,540 --> 00:24:55,540
That is not going over well.

400
00:25:05,540 --> 00:25:13,540
I'm doing my best to cross from Romania into Bulgaria, where a major archaeological find may shed some light on the origins of the vampire legend.

401
00:25:14,540 --> 00:25:17,540
While Garian customs though may be tougher to clear than I thought.

402
00:25:17,540 --> 00:25:25,540
A little bit of an issue here, the car registration here in my Romanian 4x4 is a photocopy and not the original.

403
00:25:25,540 --> 00:25:28,540
That is not going over well.

404
00:25:28,540 --> 00:25:31,540
If I don't make it through this crossing, my vampire hunt is over.

405
00:25:31,540 --> 00:25:37,540
They ask me for more documentation, which unfortunately is the one thing not in my glove compartment.

406
00:25:38,540 --> 00:25:41,540
I have a pine cone, I don't know if that's probably not what you're looking for.

407
00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:46,540
After an hour of watching the border police argue over my fate, they do something unexpected.

408
00:25:46,540 --> 00:25:48,540
They let me through.

409
00:25:48,540 --> 00:25:50,540
I'm guessing the pine cone did the trick.

410
00:25:50,540 --> 00:25:52,540
Okay, we're okay.

411
00:25:54,540 --> 00:25:57,540
Thank you. Thank you. Ciao.

412
00:26:07,540 --> 00:26:14,540
For a country on the losing side of every world conflict of the 20th century, Bulgaria has proven to be surprisingly resilient.

413
00:26:14,540 --> 00:26:21,540
Glimmering church domes, cobblestone streets, and the people, well their hospitality defined.

414
00:26:37,540 --> 00:26:43,540
To meet my next contact, I'm headed southeast past the capital of Sofia and to the city of Plovdiv.

415
00:26:43,540 --> 00:26:47,540
Outside of town, Bulgaria's true character begins to emerge.

416
00:26:47,540 --> 00:26:53,540
This is a land of empty spaces, with pristine forests covering nearly 40% of the nation.

417
00:26:53,540 --> 00:27:01,540
It is also a place of mountains, and as I make my way over the narrow 5,000-foot shipcapass, the roads get a little rustic.

418
00:27:01,540 --> 00:27:03,540
Is this road a seat better days?

419
00:27:04,540 --> 00:27:10,540
I reach the top of the peak and catch sight of what appears to be a spaceship.

420
00:27:18,540 --> 00:27:23,540
Welcome comrades to the skeletal remains of Bulgarian communism.

421
00:27:24,540 --> 00:27:32,540
This is Basluja. It's Bulgarian for glacial or ice, which seems appropriate since it is absolutely freezing up here.

422
00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:36,540
As you can see, it's in a pretty terrible state of ruin.

423
00:27:37,540 --> 00:27:43,540
I squeeze inside the decaying monument for a look at one of the world's most breathtaking modern ruins.

424
00:27:45,540 --> 00:27:48,540
Look at this. Wow.

425
00:27:49,540 --> 00:27:52,540
This is the definition of spooky.

426
00:27:52,540 --> 00:28:00,540
This mountain was the site of an incredible battle between Bulgarian and Russian forces as they fought back against the Ottoman Empire.

427
00:28:00,540 --> 00:28:05,540
Later, this was the birthplace of socialism in Bulgaria.

428
00:28:05,540 --> 00:28:09,540
Basluja was once a symbol of glory.

429
00:28:09,540 --> 00:28:15,540
A gleaming and space age structure to celebrate Bulgaria's socialism.

430
00:28:15,540 --> 00:28:22,540
But as the winds of democracy swept through the Balkans in the 1990s, the future became the past and Basluja fell silent.

431
00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:31,540
I leave the crumbling remains in the rearview mirror and press on with my search.

432
00:28:31,540 --> 00:28:42,540
Before I drive to an archaeological site where a vampire grave has been discovered, an anthropologist here has received a call to perform an anti-vampire ritual for a local village.

433
00:28:42,540 --> 00:28:45,540
And he's invited me to assist him.

434
00:28:45,540 --> 00:28:51,540
Our meeting place is in the Rodope Mountains where the River Arda snakes through dark and foreboding forests.

435
00:28:51,540 --> 00:28:57,540
I'm meeting Ivo Meev, an anthropologist and expert in the vampire legend in Bulgaria.

436
00:28:57,540 --> 00:29:02,540
Hello, Josh. Ivo. Yeah, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too.

437
00:29:02,540 --> 00:29:07,540
What a dramatic spot. This is incredible. It's called Devil's Bridge. Devil's Bridge.

438
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:15,540
It's a very sinister-sounding name for a bridge. Yes, because there is a legend here. The man who built the bridge made deal with the devil.

439
00:29:15,540 --> 00:29:19,540
And you see, it's still stable. Still standing. Seven centuries.

440
00:29:19,540 --> 00:29:24,540
Legends like that are exactly why I'm here. There is an abandoned village not far away from here.

441
00:29:24,540 --> 00:29:33,540
Last person who lived in this village died recently. And people are afraid really of him because he could be transformed into a vampire.

442
00:29:33,540 --> 00:29:39,540
Okay. That sounds scary. They asked me to perform an anti-vampire ritual. What is the ritual?

443
00:29:39,540 --> 00:29:46,540
We have to find a special plant and to plant this herb around the grave. Okay. Sounds interesting.

444
00:29:46,540 --> 00:29:51,540
Are you ready to begin? I'm ready. Let's go. Okay. Follow me. Yeah. That way.

445
00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:58,540
These rituals seem to be a less gruesome variation of their Romanian cousins.

446
00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:04,540
The plants we need lie some distance away. And as we hike on, we come to a minor obstacle.

447
00:30:04,540 --> 00:30:07,540
Holy ****. Are you kidding me?

448
00:30:10,540 --> 00:30:16,540
It's safe? Absolutely. Just try to step over the rope here very slowly.

449
00:30:17,540 --> 00:30:22,540
When was the last time anybody walked across this bridge? I walked across it. You walked across it? Yeah. Yeah.

450
00:30:22,540 --> 00:30:29,540
In 1754? No, 1754. Just two months ago. We can cross. We can cross. Okay. Here we go. Nice and slow.

451
00:30:34,540 --> 00:30:39,540
Though the bridge is still technically standing, the walkway is rotting into mulch. And it's a long way down.

452
00:30:40,540 --> 00:30:45,540
Slowly. Something just cracked.

453
00:30:53,540 --> 00:31:04,540
In the backwoods of Bulgaria, my guide, Ivo and I are having a temple of doom moment. We're seeking out a plant used in anti-vampire rituals.

454
00:31:04,540 --> 00:31:13,540
But the wood planks of this bridge are disintegrating beneath our feet. You okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Come on. You're here. Okay. Okay.

455
00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:20,540
Everything's cool. Everything's cool. Nice and slow. Yeah, I'm fine. The bridge, not so much. This is the only way how we can cross.

456
00:31:20,540 --> 00:31:24,540
I know. No, I'm with you. Here we go. I'm going very slowly. Here we go. Okay.

457
00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:44,540
A couple more steps. Okay. Yeah. We're alive. Absolutely. I told you. You have any doubt? Yeah, I had a lot of doubts. Okay, let's find the stupid plant and get out of here. Come on.

458
00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:51,540
Ivo and I set to work collecting the elements for an ancient ritual meant to ward off or kill vampires.

459
00:31:51,540 --> 00:32:00,540
Nearby villagers believe a fresh grave on the outskirts of town may give rise to a vampire, so they've asked Ivo to collect samples of a verbena plant.

460
00:32:00,540 --> 00:32:11,540
Aha. There you go. You found it? Yeah. Let me see. Oh, look at that. See? It's quite pretty, actually. But it's poisonous. Poisonous, especially the root.

461
00:32:12,540 --> 00:32:20,540
Anything the roots will go down and poison the body? Yeah, poison the body. How much do we need? We need a few plants. Just a few? Yeah. Okay.

462
00:32:28,540 --> 00:32:36,540
We cross back over the world's f*****gest bridge and pass into some place even more unsettling, a Bulgarian ghost town.

463
00:32:42,540 --> 00:32:50,540
With a shrinking population in these mountains, the villagers have abandoned this part of town.

464
00:32:58,540 --> 00:33:01,540
This is not a place that I want to be after dark, Ivo.

465
00:33:12,540 --> 00:33:18,540
This is it? Yeah, this is the grave.

466
00:33:19,540 --> 00:33:25,540
Nearby lies the lonely grave of this area's last inhabitant, the man whose soul Ivo is here to save.

467
00:33:25,540 --> 00:33:31,540
No headstones, just loose stones? Yeah, and nobody knows what's happened with this guy.

468
00:33:31,540 --> 00:33:38,540
And bones? Look. Animal bones? Animal bones. Cow maybe? Yeah.

469
00:33:38,540 --> 00:33:43,540
So why are these bones here? Yeah, I don't know. Could be a ritual.

470
00:33:43,540 --> 00:33:59,540
Okay, so what do we do with the verbena? My idea is to plant verbena here, near to the head, the legs, both sides. Just to organize a symbolic cross over the body.

471
00:33:59,540 --> 00:34:03,540
Okay, let's do it. Here's the verbena. Yeah.

472
00:34:04,540 --> 00:34:12,540
We transplant the verbena onto the grave, hopefully laying to rest any fears in the village that a new vampire will be lurking in the night.

473
00:34:12,540 --> 00:34:16,540
So this completes the cross? Exactly.

474
00:34:18,540 --> 00:34:21,540
Let's go back to the town and let them know, okay?

475
00:34:22,540 --> 00:34:29,540
We walk back down the hill, but instead of a sleepy town preparing for bed, we find a lively celebration.

476
00:34:30,540 --> 00:34:37,540
This dance is meant to ward off evil, and is, without a doubt, a dangerous affair.

477
00:34:39,540 --> 00:34:50,540
Now they spread the embers in the shape of the coals. This is traditional way how they start their ritual, before they start dancing inside the fire.

478
00:34:50,540 --> 00:35:03,540
The coals are glowing hot as the men kick through the embers. Thrown into a trance-like state, they feel no pain, even when they take the coals in their bare hands.

479
00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:13,540
Hey, hey! Thank you very much. That was amazing.

480
00:35:14,540 --> 00:35:27,540
The next morning I press on to the east and pass through the city of Klobdiv. Nearby, there may be proof that the ancient fear of vampires had a scientific origin.

481
00:35:34,540 --> 00:35:40,540
I'm bound for the ancient city of Piperaqan. This is probably the most famous historic site in all of Bulgaria.

482
00:35:41,540 --> 00:35:48,540
I've arranged to meet with archaeologist Nikolai Ocherov and his team, who recently made an astounding vampire discovery.

483
00:35:49,540 --> 00:35:50,540
Hi!

484
00:35:50,540 --> 00:35:51,540
How are you? I'm Josh.

485
00:35:51,540 --> 00:35:52,540
Hi, Dmitriy.

486
00:35:52,540 --> 00:35:53,540
Nice to meet you.

487
00:35:53,540 --> 00:35:54,540
How are you?

488
00:35:54,540 --> 00:35:55,540
Hi, Dmitriy.

489
00:35:55,540 --> 00:35:56,540
Welcome.

490
00:35:56,540 --> 00:35:57,540
Victoria.

491
00:35:57,540 --> 00:36:03,540
Victoria, nice to meet you. I've been reading about your work. You're a very prominent guy here in Bulgaria.

492
00:36:03,540 --> 00:36:06,540
They call me the Bulgarian Indiana Jones.

493
00:36:06,540 --> 00:36:08,540
They call me the Bulgarian Indiana Jones.

494
00:36:08,540 --> 00:36:10,540
Bulgarian Indiana Jones. Right down to the hat.

495
00:36:11,540 --> 00:36:17,540
I've read a lot about the work that you've been doing here. This vampire skeleton that you found got a lot of attention in the press.

496
00:36:21,540 --> 00:36:25,540
Yes, indeed. It attracted the attention of the people all over the world.

497
00:36:26,540 --> 00:36:34,540
The medieval skeleton they unearthed was found with a metal spike driven through its neck. Needless to say, the vampire grave made some headlines.

498
00:36:35,540 --> 00:36:39,540
Well, I'm really excited to see the site. And I can't wait to see what you've been doing up there.

499
00:36:39,540 --> 00:36:41,540
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of light left in the day.

500
00:36:45,540 --> 00:36:50,540
The spirit of this place is more important and maybe it's even better at night.

501
00:36:50,540 --> 00:36:51,540
Okay.

502
00:36:56,540 --> 00:36:58,540
Get ready for a nice ride.

503
00:37:01,540 --> 00:37:02,540
Good floor.

504
00:37:05,540 --> 00:37:17,540
In ancient times, Perpericon was visited by leaders like Alexander the Great and the Emperor Augustus, who came to consult a pagan oracle here.

505
00:37:17,540 --> 00:37:24,540
In the past 4,000 years, this land has been home to Greeks, Thracians, Romans, Byzantines and Bulgarians.

506
00:37:24,540 --> 00:37:28,540
So the ruins of Perpericon are like an archaeological slot machine.

507
00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:32,540
When you dig here, you never know what kind of marvelous discovery you'll make.

508
00:37:35,540 --> 00:37:43,540
With night falling, we trek through the maze of ruins, threading our way to Professor Ofcheros' latest find.

509
00:37:48,540 --> 00:37:49,540
Oh my God.

510
00:37:49,540 --> 00:38:05,540
An archaeological dig in the ancient Bulgarian city of Perpericon has uncovered an amazing specimen that could change the way we look at the vampire legend.

511
00:38:10,540 --> 00:38:11,540
Oh my God.

512
00:38:13,540 --> 00:38:14,540
Amazing.

513
00:38:15,540 --> 00:38:22,540
We're looking at a unique gift from the past, an almost perfectly preserved skeleton over 800 years old.

514
00:38:22,540 --> 00:38:26,540
And the people that buried it went to extreme lengths to make sure that it stayed dead.

515
00:38:26,540 --> 00:38:29,540
So this is the metal. And what is it exactly?

516
00:38:29,540 --> 00:38:35,540
It's a plowshare, the tool that the local people used to plow the ground.

517
00:38:35,540 --> 00:38:40,540
So this is something that was done after the person died, this was then driven into them.

518
00:38:40,540 --> 00:38:47,540
Definitely it happened after death and it shows evidence that this is a ritual preventing this person from becoming a vampire.

519
00:38:50,540 --> 00:38:57,540
It's quite gruesome really in a way. What do you think it was about this person that caused other people to perform this ritual?

520
00:39:01,540 --> 00:39:08,540
Many different things could be. It could be a health condition, could be an unknown disease, scary for the family, for the others.

521
00:39:09,540 --> 00:39:11,540
Or it could have been suicide.

522
00:39:13,540 --> 00:39:17,540
And this is the plowshare. You can see that.

523
00:39:17,540 --> 00:39:27,540
This is so incredible to think that this was buried inside of someone is, it shows how powerful the belief must have been.

524
00:39:27,540 --> 00:39:33,540
It makes this whole idea of vampires real in a way.

525
00:39:34,540 --> 00:39:38,540
We would love to be able to test the DNA. Would it be possible for us to take a sample to test?

526
00:39:43,540 --> 00:39:50,540
Of course it is possible and we would be very thankful if we learn something more about this person.

527
00:39:50,540 --> 00:39:51,540
Yeah?

528
00:39:51,540 --> 00:39:52,540
Great.

529
00:39:53,540 --> 00:40:00,540
In order to figure out if there was any genetic condition or abnormality that could explain why this poor soul was staked to the back of his coffin,

530
00:40:00,540 --> 00:40:07,540
I'm taking DNA to be tested in the United States. The sample? A tooth from the skull of the purported vampire.

531
00:40:10,540 --> 00:40:18,540
Back in the U.S. the tooth we recovered from perpericon has been analyzed for disease and genetic abnormality and the results are intriguing.

532
00:40:20,540 --> 00:40:26,540
The DNA in the tooth shows signs of a genetic disorder and may be an indicator for porphyria.

533
00:40:26,540 --> 00:40:33,540
This blood disease causes victims to become sensitive to sunlight. Their gums shrink, making their teeth look fang-like.

534
00:40:33,540 --> 00:40:36,540
Victims even develop an aversion to garlic.

535
00:40:36,540 --> 00:40:41,540
Other so-called vampire skeletons found in Europe show signs of plague or cholera.

536
00:40:41,540 --> 00:40:47,540
Diseases that may have inspired people to believe that the victims weren't just sick, but possessed.

537
00:40:48,540 --> 00:40:57,540
Like the devil himself, the vampire has had dozens of faces. In antiquity it was a demon. In the Middle Ages, a rotting corpse.

538
00:40:57,540 --> 00:41:04,540
Now, in modern times, it has become a romantic figure. Vampires both transcend death and inflict it.

539
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:09,540
They embody our fear of mortality and our desire for everlasting life.

540
00:41:09,540 --> 00:41:14,540
But for all the hold they have over our imaginations, they are in the end just a myth.

541
00:41:15,540 --> 00:41:19,540
One that, over the centuries, has had a tragic human cost.

542
00:41:22,540 --> 00:41:28,540
I've seen that cost first-hand. In Romania, I visited the disturbed grave of an innocent person

543
00:41:28,540 --> 00:41:33,540
and met a man who let superstition drive him to an obscene purpose.

544
00:41:33,540 --> 00:41:39,540
In Bulgaria, I witnessed the persecution of an unfortunate soul with an untreatable disease.

545
00:41:40,540 --> 00:41:45,540
Perhaps human beings created the vampire myth so we don't have to admit our own cruelty.

546
00:41:45,540 --> 00:41:53,540
After all, if there's no such thing as a vampire, then the monsters that haunt our nightmares are ourselves.