The Vampire of Ropraz
Jacques Chessex
Translated by W.Donald Wilson
1903, Ropraz, a small village in the Jura Mountains. On a howling December day a lone walker discovers a tomb recently opened, the body of a young woman violated, left hand cut off, sex mutilated and heart cut out. Horror in the nearby villages, the return of atavistic superstitions, mutual suspicions in the heart of winter. Then two more bodies are violated. Now a suspect must be found. Favez, a stable-boy with blood-shot eyes is arrested, convicted, subjected to psychiatric care and then vanishes in 1915. Chessex takes this true story and weaves it into a lyrical tale of fear and cruelty.
