The Strigoi
In Romanian folklore, the restless dead rise from their graves at night, and villagers had rituals to keep them there.
What was reported
The strigoi are troubled spirits of Romanian folklore: the dead risen from their graves at night, or living people whose souls wander out while they sleep. They were blamed for draining the life from their families and livestock.
Customs to stop a strigoi included burying the dead with garlic or placing a sickle across the body. Some rural communities kept such customs into modern times.
Explanations offered
Beliefs in strigoi helped shape the Western idea of the vampire, alongside tales from Serbia. Folklorists see them as a way of explaining disease and death that spread through a family, at a time when infection wasn't understood.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Transylvania, Romania
- Witnesses
- Romanian village tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.