Strigoi Mort are undead creatures from Romanian folklore, specifically linked to the myth of the Strigoi, which are spirits or revenants that rise from the grave. The term “Strigoi” can refer to both living and dead entities, but Strigoi Mort (literally meaning “dead Strigoi”) are revenant vampires or ghosts that return from the dead to haunt and harm the living. Strigoi Mort are closely related to the widespread concept of vampires, but they have distinct characteristics rooted in Romanian traditions.

Origins and Characteristics of Strigoi Mort

1. Undead Nature:
   • Strigoi Mort are essentially the undead or revenants—those who rise from their graves after death to feed on the life force of the living, often through blood. These creatures are considered malevolent, returning to torment their families, cause sickness, or even kill those they encounter.
   • Unlike the Strigoi Vii (living Strigoi, who are still alive but possess magical powers), Strigoi Mort are animated corpses that return from the grave, similar to the more widely known vampire.
2. Physical Appearance:
   • Strigoi Mort are typically described as decaying corpses that have been reanimated. In some stories, they retain human features but have an eerie, corpse-like pallor and sunken eyes. In others, they are more grotesque, showing advanced signs of decomposition. Despite their decayed state, they possess supernatural strength and agility.
   • They are often depicted with the ability to shape-shift into animals like wolves or bats, enhancing their vampiric associations. Some versions of the Strigoi Mort can become invisible or move about as shadows, making them difficult to detect.
3. Return from the Dead:
   • A person could become a Strigoi Mort for several reasons, often tied to improper burial rites, untimely deaths, or curses. Individuals who had lived sinful lives, died suddenly or violently, or were unbaptized were thought to be at higher risk of returning as Strigoi Mort.
   • In Romanian folklore, it was also believed that witches or individuals with magical abilities could curse someone to rise as a Strigoi Mort after death. In some cases, Strigoi Mort were said to return to punish those who wronged them in life.
4. Feeding on the Living:
   • The Strigoi Mort often return to feed on the blood or life force of the living, much like the traditional vampire figure. They are most active at night, rising from their graves to haunt villages and attack sleeping individuals. This act of draining blood or energy is thought to weaken the victim, causing illness or death.
   • The Strigoi Mort’s targets are frequently family members or loved ones, creating a deeply personal and terrifying aspect to the myth, as these undead figures return to harm those closest to them.

Methods of Detection and Protection

1. Signs of a Strigoi Mort:
   • Certain signs were believed to indicate that a deceased person had become a Strigoi Mort. For instance, if livestock died unexpectedly, crops failed, or people in the household began to fall ill or die shortly after a family member’s death, it was often suspected that the deceased had returned as a Strigoi Mort.
   • Additionally, strange occurrences at the gravesite, such as the earth above a grave appearing disturbed or hearing strange noises near the cemetery, could be interpreted as signs that a Strigoi Mort was rising from the grave.
2. Prevention and Protection:
   • Proper burial rites were crucial to prevent the dead from becoming Strigoi Mort. Bodies were often treated with great care, and rituals were performed to ensure the spirit would rest peacefully. Failure to conduct the proper burial could result in the deceased returning as an undead.
   • Specific objects were often used to prevent or destroy Strigoi Mort. Common protective measures included:
     • Garlic: Similar to later vampire lore, garlic was thought to repel the Strigoi Mort, and it was often placed around doors, windows, and even in coffins.
     • Iron stakes: To prevent a Strigoi Mort from rising, people would drive an iron stake through the heart or body of the corpse. In some cases, the body was decapitated to prevent it from rising from the grave.
     • Exhumation: If a Strigoi Mort was suspected, villagers would exhume the body and perform rituals to re-kill the undead. This often involved staking the body or burning it to ensure it could no longer rise from the dead.
3. Sacred Symbols:
   • Religious symbols such as crosses, holy water, and prayers were also used to ward off or protect against the Strigoi Mort. In some traditions, priests were called to bless gravesites or homes to keep the undead away.

Connection to Vampirism

1. Vampiric Traits:
   • Strigoi Mort have many of the classic traits associated with vampires, including blood-drinking, fear of sunlight, and a nocturnal existence. They share these characteristics with other Slavic and Eastern European vampire legends.
   • However, the Strigoi Mort is distinct from later popular depictions of vampires in that it retains more folkloric features of decay and corpse-like appearance, while later vampire myths often romanticize the figure into something more human-like or aristocratic (as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula).
2. Influence on Modern Vampire Lore:
   • The Romanian Strigoi Mort influenced the development of the vampire archetype in European and later global culture. In fact, the Dracula legend, written by Bram Stoker, is said to have drawn inspiration from Romanian vampire folklore, particularly the Strigoi.
   • As the vampire myth spread through Europe, it gradually transformed from a decaying revenant like the Strigoi Mort into the more refined, seductive vampire seen in later works of fiction.

Strigoi Mort in Romanian Culture

1. Cultural Legacy:
   • Although belief in the Strigoi Mort has faded in modern times, the creature remains a significant part of Romanian culture and folklore. Many regions of Romania, particularly Transylvania, maintain a rich tradition of stories about Strigoi, often told to children or tourists.
   • The Strigoi Mort still appears in Romanian literature, horror films, and popular culture, often being featured in stories about vampires or undead creatures.
2. Rituals and Superstitions:
   • Even today, some rural areas of Romania retain a few of the traditional superstitions regarding death and burial rites, with families taking care to follow specific customs to ensure the dead do not rise from their graves. These customs highlight the enduring influence of the Strigoi Mort myth on cultural practices surrounding death and the afterlife.

Conclusion

The Strigoi Mort represents one of the most chilling figures in Romanian and Eastern European folklore. As undead revenants that rise from the grave to prey on the living, they embody humanity’s fear of death, the unknown, and the consequences of improper burial or sin. Closely associated with vampire legends, the Strigoi Mort have left a lasting impact on European folklore and have helped shape modern depictions of the undead, particularly the iconic vampire. Their presence in Romanian culture continues to be a source of fascination, mystery, and fear.

Description

Strigoi in general originate from Romanian mythology and are said to be spirits risen from the dead [1]. Strigoi may have originated from the Latin word “strix” and “striga” which during the late Roman period became associated with witches and strixes [2,3].

In Romanian, the word Strigoi means “one risen from the grave” as well as being related to the word striga which means “to scream”. 

Strigoi seems to enjoy feasting on the flesh of the living and seem to be particularly related to the consumption of blood although this may be due to its relation to vampires [4,5].

Although the name Strigoi is so closely related to being reawakened from the dead only one type of Strigoi seems to be just that. The Strigoi mort is a reawakened dead who seeks to torment their families until their relatives die [6,7].

There are many similarities between vampires and Strigoi due to vampires being largely based on the myth of the Strigoi. Similarly to vampires is also the ability to transform into animals [4].

The way to know that a buried family member has become a Strigoi mort is to check if rigor mortis has set in. No Strigoi can move if rigor mortis holds them still. 

Becoming a Strigoi

There are certain criteria for becoming a Strigoi. Any of these fulfilled increases the risk of returning as a Strigoi mort.

1. Be the seventh child of the same sex in a family.
2. Lead a life of sin.
3. Die without being married.
4. Die by execution for perjury.
5. Die by suicide.
6. Die from a witch’s curse.

[8]

Preventing & protecting against Strigoi

1. Exhume the Strigoi.
2. Remove the head of the Strigoi and cut it in two.
3. Drive a nail into its forehead.
4. Place a clove of garlic under its tongue
5. Smear its body with fat from a pig killed on St. Ignatius Day.
6. Turn its body face down so that if the Strigoi were to ever wake up it would be headed towards the afterlife.

Sources:

[1]: “Strigoi”. www.dexonline.ro. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

[2]: Melton, J. Gordon (2010). The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press. p. 584. ISBN9781578593507.

[3]: Petic, Mircea (2011). “Generative mechanisms in Romanian derivational morphology” (PDF). Memoirs of the Scientific Sections of the Romanian Academy. XXXIV: 8.

[4]: McLaughlin, Daniel (18 June 2005). “A village still in thrall to Dracula”. The Guardian. London, England: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 13 January 2019.

[5]: Boris Perić, Vampir, translated into Slovene by Iztok Osojnik, Zbirka Beri globalno, Ljubljana (Tuma) 2007. ISBN978-961-6682-05-3

[6]: oul dicţionar explicativ al limbii Române, Bucharest: Litera Internaţional, 2002. ISBN973-8358-04-3

[7]: *moroi in Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii Române, Academia Română, 1998

[8]: Theodor, Burada T. “Datinile poporului român la înmormântări.” (1882).