In Romania, the villagers of Marotinul de Sus were inspected by the police, because they ripped out the heart of the recently
deceased, believed that they are vampires. After one of the villagers, Petre Toma was buried, his family became ill and a witness saw the dead Toma leaving the house before sunrise. They believed, that Toma vampirizes the family so they went to the local cemetery and opened the grave. They noticed that Toma’s hands were not on his chest as he was buried, but at his sides. They saw blood on his mouth and as they did cut out his heart, it was full of fresh blood. After burning the heart and mixing the ashes with water from the
village well, the family drank it and they healed, but Toma’s daughter called the police. After the investigation, the police discovered more than twenty such vampire slayings in the past few years. The police said, this incident is not unique, as the belief in vampires is still very strong in the villages of Romania.