Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1919 — THINK VAMPIRES KILL SHEEP [ARTICLE]

THINK VAMPIRES KILL SHEEP

Macedonian Shepherds Have Firm Belief In the Existence of Creatures of a Lower World. A Macedonian shepherd, tending his flocks in the high pastures, sets off on his rounds In the morning, and finds several of his sheep mangled about the neck, dying or dead. He hastens to the nearest village and spreads the awful news —Vampires! Now, h vampire may only be seen by certain gifted people, and these make it their life’s business to destroy them. Their usual fee Is about sixty dollars. So the shepherd hastens to a vampire killer, and this man takes down his long musket, loads IL and rams down a holy wafer on top of the charge. He puts on a long sheepskin coat and sets out for the hills. Just before dawn he will be heard to fire a single shoL At daybreak he shows the shepherd a pool of blood. That is the dead vampire, for a vampire is all blood, and, being shot, of course resolves into a pool of blood. A vampire slayer is treated with great deference by his neighbors. He Is a power In the land. But in all villages there Is usually one scoffer; one man who can read, or, perhaps, has traveled outside his native land. He laughs when you mention vampires, and talks of wolves and dogs that have run amuck. He even hints that It is possible to hide a bladder filled with blood beneath the long sheepskin coat the slayer wears. There is bad feeling between the vampire slayer and this scoffer. They pass each other without speaking.