Female Vampire, Witch and Heretical, During the Middle Ages

In A. D. 1300 in Poland, more precisely in the region of Kashubia, was coined the term ＂nachzeher＂ to define the female vampire, or ＂chewing the shroud＂ or ＂devourer of the night.＂ The Nachzehrer would be a special kind of vampire who lives in a constant state of numbness in his grave, without understanding what is happening around and just like a child, chewing spasmodically his dress. Martin Böhm wrote in 1601: ＂We have seen in times of the plague how dead people especially women - who have died of the plague make smacking noises in their graves, like a pig that is eating, and that while this smacking is going on the plague becomes much worse, usually in the same family, and people die one after the other.＂ The theologian Philip Rohr’s in 1679, in his presentation at the University of Leipzig, ＂Historico-Dissertatio Philosophica de Mastication Mortuorum＂ also known as ＂chewing Mortuorum＂, describes in detail the behavior of these dead.