[1][2] Petar Blagojević lived in a village named Kisilova (possibly the modern-day town of Kisiljevo), in the part of Serbia that temporarily passed from Ottoman into Austrian hands after the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718) and was ceded back to the Ottomans with the Treaty of Belgrade (1739) (see Arnold Paole § Background for more details on the historical context).
The villagers decided to disinter the body and examine it for signs of vampirism, such as growing hair, beard and nails, and the absence of decomposition.
Together with the Veliko Gradište priest, he viewed the already exhumed body and was astonished to find that the characteristics associated with vampires in local belief were indeed present.
[1] After that, the people, who "grew more outraged than distressed", proceeded to stake the body through the heart, which caused a great amount of "completely fresh" blood to flow through the ears and mouth of the corpse.
Along with the report of the very similar Arnold Paole case of 1726–1732, it was widely translated West and North, contributing to the vampire craze of the eighteenth century in Germany, France and England.
He gives the following explanation when talking about the case of Petar Blagojević:[citation needed] This brave man perished by a sudden or violent death.
These dreams enfeeble body and spirit until illness overcomes and, eventually, death.Recently, the story has sparked some interest in the village of Kisiljevo among some Serbian journalists.
One person recalled stories of a certain female vampire by the name of Ruža Vlajna, who was believed to haunt the village in more recent times, in the lifetime of her grandfather.