Strigoi
Also called Strigoiul, Strigoi Viu, Strigoi Mort, Strigoaică.
In Romanian folklore, the Strigoi is a restless, blood-drinking undead being said to rise from the grave to torment the living, widely regarded as a direct folkloric ancestor of the literary vampire.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Romanian folklore
- Region
- Romania (place of origin)
- Symbols
- Vampire
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Vampire is image-domain The vampire denotes the dead that will not stay dead, feeding on the living, seductive and repugnant at once, draining what it claims to love.
why
In Romanian folklore, the Strigoi is a restless, blood-drinking undead being said to rise from the grave to torment the living, widely regarded as a direct folkloric ancestor of the literary vampire.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Living and dead forms of same affliction
why
In some tellings a strigoi viu is fated to become a strigoi mort after death, so that the living and dead forms are read as two stages of the same affliction rather than wholly separate beings.
- Shapeshifts human animal
why
Some accounts describe it as capable of shapeshifting into an animal
- Grows larger with each victim consumed
why
growing stronger, younger, and more vigorous with each victim
Behaviour
- Staked decapitated or burned to destroy
why
remedies described in various tellings include driving an iron or wooden stake through the corpse's heart, decapitation, placing garlic or thorny plants (such as hawthorn) in or around the grave, or burning the body outright.
- Consumes victims soul or life force
why
return to its home village at night, drain the blood or life-force of the living (family members and livestock both cited in various accounts)
- Site bound until substitute claimed
why
others describe it more simply as a shambling revenant tied closely to its own grave and village.
Sight and sound
- Exhumation reveals undecayed ruddy corpse
why
Suspected graves were sometimes exhumed to examine the corpse for signs of strigoi-hood, such as an undecayed body or a ruddy, blood-filled appearance
Omens
- Caul or seventh child marks the cursed
why
Folk explanations for why a corpse might become a strigoi vary but recur across tellings: dying unbaptized, being born with a caul or an extra membrane, being the seventh child of the same sex in a family, having been cursed, or simply being improperly buried or mourned.
Offensive powers
- Blood drain
why
return to its home village at night, drain the blood or life-force of the living (family members and livestock both cited in various accounts)
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
Some accounts describe it as capable of shapeshifting into an animal, becoming invisible, or growing stronger, younger, and more vigorous with each victim
- Invisibility
why
Some accounts describe it as capable of shapeshifting into an animal, becoming invisible, or growing stronger, younger, and more vigorous with each victim
Curses
- Blighting venom
why
in some tellings spread disease or blight upon the crops of its former community