Count Bethenykörös, Vampire (And His Daughter)

[Doris V. Sutherland]

The June 1909 edition of an Austrian newspaper called the Neues Wiener Journal (archived here) has a short report about a fire at a castle in Wallachia, possibly caused by locals who believed the previous owner, Count Bethenykörös, was a vampire. Here's the report in its original German:

(Zerstörung eines Schloffes aus Uberglauben.)
Wir erhalten aus Bermannstadt die Nachricht, daß das Schloß Bethenykörös einem seltsamen Aberglauben der walachischer Bevölferung des Dorfes gleichen Namens zum Opfer gefallen ist. Bethenykörös liegt in wildromantischer Gegend am Südostabhang des Starpathengebirges und mag einst ein überaus festes Bollwert gegen die Türken gewesen sein. Seit langen Jahren war es nicht mehr bewohnt und nur ein Kastelan hauste mit seiner Frau in einem Seitenflügel. In der Bevölterung war eine Reihe von Geschichten über die Bewohner des Schlosses verbreitet, unter anderem glaubte man allgemein, der leßte Graf Bethenykörös sei als „Vampir“ gestorben. Als nun in den leßten Wochen zahlreiche Bauernkinder infolge einer Seuche rasc nacheinander starben, behauptete das abergläubische Volk, der Graf Habe sie ermordet, und beschloß, die Grabstätte des „Vampirs“ zu zerstören. Bei dieser Gelegenheit ist wahrscheinlich durch Unachtsamkeit Feuer ausgebrochen, dem der staatliche Bau bis auf die Grundmauern zum Opfer gefallen ist. Das Schloß soll gulegt einem in Wien lebenden jungen Kavallericoffizier, der es durch Erbschaft erwarb, gehört haben.

Here's a Google translation:

(Destruction of a castle out of superstition.)
We get the news from Bermannstadt that Bethenykörös Castle has fallen victim to a strange superstition of the Wallachian population of the village of the same name. Bethenykörös lies in a wildly romantic area on the south-eastern slope of the Starpath Mountains and may have once been a very strong bulwark against the Turks. It has not been inhabited for many years and only a Kastelan lived with his wife in a side wing. A number of stories about the inhabitants of the castle were spread among the population, among other things it was generally believed that the last count Bethenykörös died as a "vampire". When in the last few weeks numerous peasant children died in quick succession as a result of an epidemic, the superstitious people claimed that the Count had murdered them and decided to destroy the tomb of the "vampire". On this occasion, fire broke out, probably due to carelessness, which destroyed the state building down to its foundations. The castle is said to have belonged to a young cavalry officer living in Vienna, who inherited it.

I'm wondering if anyone has any information to corroborate this account. Searching for "Bethenykörös" turns up little beyond repeats of the above report.

For what it's worth, the report influenced an article by Franz Hartmann that ran in the Occult Review in 1909, headed "An Authenticated Vampire Story" (you can read it here). Hartmann claims that, after he read the report in the paper, a friend (who he leaves unnamed) told him about first-hand experiences in the castle, including a seance. This version of events adds a new character to the narrative -- Count Bethenykörös's daughter Elga -- and alleges that she, not her father, was the vampire. The description of the seance is, in parts, so over-the-top that I have to wonder if the whole thing was a prank:

"'Is the lady living?' asked Mr. W--. This question was not answered; but instead it was rapped out: 'If W---desires it, I will appear to him bodily tonight at two o'clock.' W---consented, and now the table seemed to be endowed with life and manifested a great affection for W--; it rose on two legs and pressed against his breast, as if it intended to embrace him.

Hartmann also included a photograph of a painting by Hans Makart reportedly located at the castle; according to the story, the ghost of Elga identified it as a portrait of herself. I've read a scan of the original Occult Review issue, and seen the painting; it turns out that the portrait is currently showcased on the Dutch Institute of Art website, which identifies the subject as Empress Elisabeth of Austria. (Other sources have reproduced the portrait under the title "The Patrician" or similar).

 

[maximus otter]

The June 1909 edition of an Austrian newspaper called the Neues Wiener Journal ( archived here ) has a short report about a fire at a castle in Wallachia, possibly caused by locals who believed the previous owner, Count Bethenykörös, was a vampire. Here's the report in its original German:



Here's a Google translation:



I'm wondering if anyone has any information to corroborate this account. Searching for "Bethenykörös" turns up little beyond repeats of the above report.

For what it's worth, the report influenced an article by Franz Hartmann that ran in the Occult Review in 1909, headed "An Authenticated Vampire Story" (you can read it here ). Hartmann claims that, after he read the report in the paper, a friend (who he leaves unnamed) told him about first-hand experiences in the castle, including a seance. This version of events adds a new character to the narrative -- Count Bethenykörös's daughter Elga -- and alleges that she, not her father, was the vampire. The description of the seance is, in parts, so over-the-top that I have to wonder if the whole thing was a prank:

Hartmann also included a photograph of a painting by Hans Makart reportedly located at the castle; according to the story, the ghost of Elga identified it as a portrait of herself. I've read a scan of the original Occult Review issue, and seen the painting; it turns out that the portrait is currently showcased on the Dutch Institute of Art website , which identifies the subject as Empress Elisabeth of Austria. (Other sources have reproduced the portrait under the title "The Patrician" or similar).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_castles_in_Romania#Wallachia

I'm not seeing anything in the list that could be identified with a Bethenykörös family, however.

There seems to have been an aristocratic family named Bethlen , who built several castles, eg this one , but no link to what you're looking for seems obvious.

maximus otter

PS: Strange spacing and punctuation are down to a stroppy iPad…

m.o.

 

[James_H]

I'm drawing a blank too. Bethenykörös is presumably a Germanisation (is that a word?) of the original name, which might be in Romanian, Hungarian, or possibly even Turkish?

To Max's point, there are a lot of Bethlen castles in Romania, they must have been an extremely powerful family (edit - they were, including princes, kings and prime ministers in their ranks). There is a small town called 'Beclean' named after the family, which also has a castle which could possibly account for the 'castle and village of the same name' in the article.

There's a river called 'Körös' in Hungary and Romania. Perhaps the quoted name is a corruption of a Bethlen castle on the Körös? It turns out that 'Körös' is 'Criș' in Romanian, and a few rivers and places bear that name. And, it turns out there is a castle named Bethlen in a village called Criș. So maybe that's the badger? Map link.

The 'Starpathengebirges' ('Starpath mountains') doesn't throw up much either (except for a page I can't open about Nosferatu, which might be a clue), though it's possibly a corruption of 'Carpathians'? Doesn't make much sense though as they are called 'Karpaten' in German.

My instinct is that this is a tall tale.

 

[Doris V. Sutherland]

The 'Starpathengebirges' ('Starpath mountains') doesn't throw up much either (except for a page I can't open about Nosferatu, which might be a clue), though it's possibly a corruption of 'Carpathians'? Doesn't make much sense though as they are called 'Karpaten' in German.

I hold my hands up -- "Starpathengebirges" is a transliteration error on my part. I used an image-to-text tool to transcribe the scan of the newspaper, and I thought I'd picked out all the glitches... but I didn't notice that the tool had mistaken a Gothic "K" for a "St". It should be Karpathengebirges -- Carpathian Mountains. (The article on Nosferatu you mention is one I wrote, and it has the same error; I've fixed it now).

That said, "Starpath Mountains" does have a nice ring to it. Might borrow it if I ever write an epic fantasy novel...

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm drawing a blank too. Bethenykörös is presumably a Germanisation (is that a word?) of the original name, which might be in Romanian, Hungarian, or possibly even Turkish?

Same here. There are a number of languages possibly involved here, and the location (Romania, probably ... ) contains a lot of places whose names have shifted over the centuries.

There's a river called 'Körös' in Hungary and Romania. Perhaps the quoted name is a corruption of a Bethlen castle on the Körös? It turns out that 'Körös' is 'Criș' in Romanian, and a few rivers and places bear that name. And, it turns out there is a castle named Bethlen in a village called Criș. So maybe that's the badger? Map link.

The Körös / Criș River originates in western Transylvania (northwestern region of modern Romania). The 1909 story consistently cites the location as Wallachia (southern region of modern Romania). A location on the "southeastern slope of the" Carpathians would most probably fall within Wallachia.

The 'Starpathengebirges' ('Starpath mountains') doesn't throw up much either (except for a page I can't open about Nosferatu, which might be a clue), though it's possibly a corruption of 'Carpathians'? Doesn't make much sense though as they are called 'Karpaten' in German.

The closest match to "Starpath mountains" I could find were the Stara Mountains - even further south, between Bulgaria and Serbia.

My instinct is that this is a tall tale.

The one clue that we can reliably point to is the fact the portrait is catalogued as Makart's portrait of Empress Elisabeth "in Renaissance" garb.