The 1833 Tirnova Incident: An Official “Vampire Hunt” Documented in the Ottoman State Archives

In the winter of 1833, a report reached the capital of the Ottoman Empire that was so disturbing, it was published in the empire's first official newspaper, Takvim-i Vekayi (Issue 69).

This wasn't an urban legend or a traveler's tale. It was a formal administrative report sent by Ahmed Shukru Effendi, the Judge of Tirnova. He was reporting a crisis that had paralyzed an entire town: An outbreak of "Cadı" (vampires).

The Official Record: According to the Judge’s report, invisible entities were terrorizing homes, destroying food supplies, and physically attacking citizens. The panic reached a level where the state had to intervene. They didn't send soldiers; they officially hired a professional "vampire hunter" named Nikola.

The Exhumation: In front of official witnesses, Nikola used an icon to identify two graves belonging to former Janissaries, Ali and Abdi. When the graves were opened, the report describes a sight that defies medical explanation for the time:

• The corpses had grown significantly in size.
• Hair and nails were still growing.
• Their eyes were blood-red and wide open.

The Neutralization: The state-funded specialist performed a ritual—driving stakes through the hearts and boiling them—but the disturbances continued. Finally, with a legal religious fatwa, the bodies were cremated to ash. Only then did the "haunting" of Tirnova cease.

While modern historians like Ilber Ortayli suggest this could have been a psychological tool against the disbanded Janissary corps, the existence of a government-sanctioned "vampire hunt" in official records remains one of the strangest chapters in Ottoman history.

Sources:

• Takvim-i Vekayi, Issue 69 (1833)
• Archives of the Ottoman Empire (BOA)
• Research by Mehmet Berk Yaltirik & Giovanni Scognamillo