The family explains that Gorcha has gone to hunt and kill a notorious vourdalak (a Slavic vampire, distinct from a traditional nosferatu; a vourdalak is a reanimated corpse that returns to torment and drain the life from its own loved ones first, often calling them by name in a pitiful, irresistible voice). The family’s patriarch was warned that if he does not return before midnight, he will be dead — but worse, he will become a vourdalak himself.
The family knows what this means: Gorcha is a vourdalak, and now George will rise as one too. The marquis, initially skeptical, witnesses the horror firsthand. Over the next few nights, the vourdalak Gorcha returns again and again, calling to each family member by name. One by one, in a trance-like state, they go to him. The old woman Zdenka disappears. The strong, brave son, Pierre, resists for a while but eventually succumbs to the pitiful, irresistible voice calling, “Pierre, my son… open the door… I am cold…”
The marquis stays the night. As the clock strikes midnight, a knock comes at the door. It is Gorcha. He is pale, his eyes are glassy, and he moves stiffly. The family is horrified, but he insists he is alive. He acts strangely, demanding food and wine but barely touching them. He tells a rambling, unsettling tale of killing the vourdalak, but his story has gaps and contradictions.
Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism
