DOM AUGUSTIN CALMET
French monk, author of one of the earliest learned studies of vampires, published in 1746 and entitled Vamyres And Their Kin. Showed a rare compassion for vampires, especially if they were merely innocent victims of superstition. "They were killed by decapitation, performation or burning and this has been a great wrong; for the allegation that they returned to haunt and destroy the living has never been sufficiently proved to authorise such inhumanity, or to permit innocent beings to be dishonoured… as a result of wild and unproved accusations, for the stories told of these apparitions, and all the distress caused by these supposed vampires are totally without solid proof." Ever open-minded, he concluded: "This is a mysterious and difficult matter, and I leave bolder and more proficient minds to resolve it."
Source: Children of the Night: Of Vampires and Vampirism  by Tony Thorpe

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