- [Narrator:] In 2004, 1500 miles from England, a story makes headlines in Romania.

A group of villagers has performed a vampire-slaying ritual on a recently buried corpse.

The incident occurred in the remote town of Marotino de Sus, when a 26-year-old woman began complaining of a mysterious illness.

- [Narrator:] The girl said the decaying body of her uncle, Petra Tomas, who died three months earlier, was visiting her during the night and drinking blood from her heart.

Her cousin speaks of the family's fears.

- [Narrator:] The villagers understood what was going on.

This was the work of a vampire.

And they knew just what to do about it.

Six men from the village, including the victim's father, Gheorge Marinescu, went to the man's grave.

The men chiseled open the tomb and removed the body.

They say they found the man's mouth stained with blood, and his stomach swollen.

They cut open his chest, impaled his heart, and burned it at the village crossroads.

Then they made a potion from the ashes of his heart, and gave it to the girl to drink.

This, they say, finally laid the troubled soul of Petra Tomas to rest, and the girl was cured.

Marina Andronache is the local journalist who investigated the story at the time.

- It is a ritual in which everybody, from Celaru, from Dolj County, believes.

There are small communities and they pass the ritual from generation to generation.

“This person of our family is not feeling well.

What shall we do?

” And everybody say, at this point, “Oh, the dead man from our family, he will be a vampire, so we have to perform the ritual.

” Our first image of Marinescu was very shocking because he was so proud.

We can say he was proud.