Fearful residents in Western Serbia have been hopping from shop to shop in search of garlic after a vampire is said to be "out there looking for shelter and food".
Sava Savanovic, the most famous vampire in Serbian folklore, is feared to have been "awoken" and gone into the human world after his final resting place, an old watermill located on a river at Zarožje village, collapsed recently.
Officials of Bajina Bašta Municipality, where the village is, have issued a public warning on possible vampire attacks. Legend has it Savanovic used to kill and drink the blood of those who went to mill grains at the watermill.
The residents are preparing for the worst.
"People are worried," mayor Miodrag Vujetic told the local press.
"Everybody knows the legend of this vampire and the thought that he is now homeless and looking for somewhere else [to stay] and possibly other victims are terrifying people. We are all frightened," he added.
The local council also advised all villagers to put garlic and crucifixes on their doors to ward off the blood-sucking creature. As a result, anti-vampire paraphernalia are selling like hotcakes in the village with a population of only 790 people based on a 2002 census.
Knowing that they'll be laughed at by outsiders over their worries of such attacks, the villagers are clear about what they're doing and the seriousness of the situation they'll be facing soon.
"It's all very well for people who don't live in the area to laugh at our fears but nobody in the region is in any doubt that vampires do exist," Vujetic continued. "We have also reminded the residents to put a Holy cross in every room in the house."
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