INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Welcome back - I had the loveliest break, and a very happy birthday. I went to Colchester Zoo and saw anteaters, so I was very very happy. And I went on a lovely week-long road trip around the west coast of Scotland, so I hope you enjoyed all the Loch Ness content. 

DESCRIPTION:

But most importantly, we’re back on the monsters and this week, we’re heading over to Eastern Europe and looking at a fierce vampire who has made their way into modern media recently. 

Yes, we are talking about the Strigoi, not the traditional vampire from Eastern Europe, but another adaptation of the blood-sucking monster we all know and love. Of course, there are plenty of cultures with vampires in, and we’ll cover most of them separately - but if you want a good vampire summary, check out the Vampire special I did back in October 2021. The Strigoi are mostly from the Slavic regions of Europe, such as Romania, Czech Republic & Poland. 

Anyway, the Strigoi are generally described as a spirit or demon, which present as usual humans - but have vampiric features such as the blood lust, and aversion to sunlight. They are usually depicted as female spirits, and there are very few noted male Strigoi. They are known to have two hearts, two souls and two sets of teeth - and are avid sleepwalkers. All Strigoi crave blood, however, most types are content on animal blood instead of human, although humans will satisfy them for longer. They are also said to have a bald spot on the top of their head, and a tail covered in hair. 

But are they like vampires in the typical sense? No - they’re a little different. And before we go too hard into general descriptions, there are actually three different types of Strigoi and they’re all a bit different. 

Firstly there are the Strigoaica, who were believed to be human women who had sold their souls to the Devil. The black magic then turns her into a monster with a wolf-like snout, sharp teeth and the ability to walk on all fours. She hunts people in the woods during the day, imitating a crying child to attract lost travellers that she will drain. They also have a fondness of baby blood by night, however, Slavic families would often leave decoy cradles with hawthorn dolls in to kill the Strigoi. These Strigoi more count as witches, than as vampires - and are completely living.

The second is the Strigoi Viu, who are sorcerers who have gotten a little too powerful, and destroy their physical body in the process. They appear human most of the time, and will only hunt animals, but this of course means that farmers and agriculture is affected. You can pacify them with wheat and milk as an offering, but even the presence of them in their farmland brings desolace to the farmland. These Strigoi are fully living vampires, they aren’t undead in any way and are completely human. 

Lastly, and most dangerously - the Strigoi Mort or the Dead Striga. This is the undead version of the monster, and rises from their grave, returning to their family as if they’ve never died. It then feeds from their lifeforce, until they die in their place. Another reason for this is if the Strigoi died an unjust death, such as suicide, murder, starvation - and would then return to get their revenge for their death, usually living in abandoned buildings or ruins. They do hold onto their humanity though, so they are conscious and able to have a conversation like typical vampires, not like the zombie-like style that it sounds like.

In terms of powers, they all have their separate skills - such as the Mort having superhuman strength and speed like traditional vampires, Viu having magical wielding powers and the aica being almost a dog-like creature. Some can turn into animals, can walk in the daytime, go invisible and of course, they are immortal - general vampire stuff. It is also that sometimes they can control the weather and stop rain to encourage drought, and that if it hails - it is God’s punishment to them for not allowing the clean fall of rain. 

How do you become one though? Is it traditional vampire stuff? Well no, it’s either that you die that unjust death, being born out of wedlock, dying from a witch's curse, dying before baptism or having birth defects. Although, if you are bled by a Strigoi, you could die with unfinished business, so I guess you can come back as one. Unfortunately, some of these are unavoidable - including being the seventh child of the same gender in one family, that one really sucks.

Okay, so how do you destroy one? This one is as expected, so silver, garlic, stake through the heart, burning the corpse, holy water or sunlight - the usual. However, you can also exhume and exorcise the body too, which is a little different than usual. 

In terms of protection and prevention though, you can arm yourselves with all of these things, but you can also bury a bottle of whiskey with the body or just destroy the corpse - so you could just do cremations, but this was not as common way back when. You can also hammer nails into the body, put flint in their mouth, scattering poppy seeds in the shape of a cross on the body, put a piece of paper with Jesus written on it under the dead one’s tongue and my personal favourite, slapping it across the face with your left hand. On St George’s Day though, which falls in April, you could ask your boy pal to water your head so that you don’t turn into one if you’re a girl - so remember that ladies.

There is another story of their creation, but this all came from modern media. It’s that the Striga are caused by a curse, and are destined to be buried with their mothers, and become the dog-like Strigoaica. They can be cured, but it’s 50/50 as to whether the girl recovers, and can also relapse into the Striga form. 

ORIGIN:

Now onto etymology - you’ve heard me say two different names for this monster, Striga and Strigoi. Technically, they’re the same monster, but they’re often separated into two. I’ve found it easiest to kind of merge them into one in this episode, so I won’t be covering the Striga any further. Strigoi is also technically the plural of the verb that this word comes from. The verb they come from is Romanian and Latin, a striga - which means ‘to scream’. Sometimes this is related to owls in the wild, but from the late Roman times, the word became associated with witches and owl-based omens. 

Their history goes back to then too, but we don’t really have many actual reports of them or details. However, what we do have is the first ever report written in the late 1500’s in Croatia, where a person was believed to be a Strigoi, and was decapitated by the village priest. I will say though, that this was the first ever writing of the vampire folklore, and so we can put Strigoi in the first ever vampires recorded within folklore history. 

They were mentioned again by a Moldovan soldier in the 1710’s, but they were much more associated with witches than they were with the blood-drinking vampires we know and love. He also believed that vampires were just in Moldovan and Transylvanian folklore, which is cute. Bear in mind that Transylvania is not a myth, it’s the central region of Romania, so it does exist and is absolutely massive. If you’ve ever been to Romania, you’ve most likely been in the Transylvania region. 

More modern sightings include ones in 1856, where they were described as baby-praying vampires, and the way to prevent them getting to your child is to throw a rock behind you after the baby is born so it goes in the mouth of the Strigoi. Then in 1909, Franz Hartmann, a famous German occultist amongst other things, reported that children from the Carpathian mountains in Romania were going missing, and so the locals burnt down the local castle to remove the potential Strigoi in the ruins. 

Of course around this time in 1897, we have the publishing of Dracula, who was apparently inspired by the Strigoi Mort - and started a vampire craze over the European and Western World. Following this, vampire sightings and experiences increased tenfold, but the Strigoi then started to fall out of favour for the umbrella term ‘vampire’.

However, there were more sightings in the 1900s’ - including an old man in Romania dying, and many members of his family following him to his death. They uncovered his body and found his face distorted and red, and so as a preventative measure, his body being burned. Then again in 1989, during the Romanian revolution, the corpse of a prominent Communist dictator Nicolae Ceau sescu was not buried correctly and was believed to be a threat - therefore they carpeted his former apartment with garlic braids to prevent him from returning. 

Lastly in most modern times, in 2004 a woman in Romania claimed that her dead uncle had been visiting her in the nights dand that he was a Strigoi. Her brother in law then setup a vampire hunting party, and they exhumed the body, tore out his heart and burned the corpse - then made the girl drink the ashes with water. The police actually ended up arresting them for disturbing the dead and the family were given 6 months in jail. However, from that point onwards - all bodies nearby are buried with a stake in their heart as a preventative measure.  

Of course, we can see similarities with normal vampires with this monster - but a vampire is more of an umbrella term for something that is vampiric in nature. But there is a direct link to the Strix from Greek mythology here, which is that owl-omen I mentioned earlier. I’ll be doing a full episode on this creature, but they’re very much linked to vampires and witches like the Strigoi is, and you can see the inspiration in the name too. 

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a few this week - but you’ll probably notice some crossover here from usual vampire stuff too. 

For art, we have Strzyga by Filip Gutowski for a spooky adaptation of the Strigoi and Scrambles amongst the Alps by Edward Whymper of the Notre Dame Cathedral gargoyle called Le Stryge which is pretty cool. Otherwise, independent spooky stuff is a big recommendation this week!

In movies, we have; Strigoi, The Addiction, The Breed, Ultraviolet, Underworld, The Vampire Doll, Morbius, I Am Legend, The Hamiltons, Blood Red Sky, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Hotel Transylvania & Justice League: Gods and Monsters,

For TV, we have; The Witcher, The Hexer, Supernatural, The Strain, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Ben 10: Omniverse, Batwoman, Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek, Castlevania, American Dragon: Jake Long & Vampire Academy.

In video games, we have ones such as; The Witcher, Castlevania, Warhammer, BlazBlue, Bloodborne, Cursed Fables, Eternal Champions, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, RimWorld, Shadow Hearts & Touhou Project. 

My book recommendation this week is Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology by Theresa Bane for a great summary of the history of Vampires in folklore or A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite by Violet Fenn for the same. Lastly Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins is another really good one for these monsters - really recommend all of these. 

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 1710

Much like vampires, they’re a tricky one because they are super cool but do I think zombies are about roaming the hallowed halls of Romania and Eastern Europe - probably not. Although, I do respect the impact that they have had on culture and history - as well as introducing the supernatural to a wider audience from actually a pretty small part of the continent.

With Strigoi specifically, the idea that vampirism can be within a living organism like the Chupacabra is pretty wild - and I do really like the idea. However, it seems to me like potentially another way to demonise women within a time where it was impossible to defend yourself against superstition, and where you can openly desecrate a grave?! The idea of this part of vampirism is pretty crazy, imagine being stuck with a stake in your body and you were completely cool in life? Those people in that tiny village are really getting a raw deal here.

But what do you think? Did the Strigoi feed on the people of Eastern Europe? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

What a super monster this week, I can’t believe that there was so much content on these ones. I had a horrible feeling when scheduling this one that we would struggle to get away from the vampire folklore, but I think we’ve managed it. 

Next week, we’re heading over to Sri Lanka for the first time and looking at another demon, which we all love right?! Well we’re going to focus on the king of demons, the Maha Sona next Thursday - so come prepared for an exorcism.

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.