IN THE windswept lowlands of Romania the villagers of Marotinul de Sus know better than to skirt the cemetery after nightfall. After all, one of the wooden crosses shifting in the wind may lie over the grave of a bloodthirsty vampire.
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The saga began when Petre Toma, 76, was buried at the New Year. His nephew's family fell ill with an unexplained sickness and a few days later a witness claimed to have seen Toma leaving their house before sunrise as a flock of crows flew portentously overhead.
"He sucked the life from us so that he could live," said Mirela Marinescu. "We were all dying, my husband and my child, and we all saw him come to us in the same dream."
Armed with hammers and chisels, and fortified with home-made schnapps, four men led by Gheorghe Marinescu, the supposed vampire's brother-in-law, set out for the cemetery.
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