Jan Louis Perkowski (December 29, 1936,

Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city (New Jersey), city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,4 ...

- died November 21, 2023 ) is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He has three consecutive degrees including a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He currently resided in

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until his death in 2023. He attracted attention when he published research into alleged

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

in the 1970s that was easily sensationalized in the press and has a vogue among

fans. Perkowski wrote about a Kashubian

idiolect Idiolect is an individual's unique use of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This differs from a dialect, a common set of linguistic characteristics shared among a group of people. Th ...

and was employed by the National Museum of Man in Canada in 1968–9 to conduct research for the Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies in the area of Wilno, Ontario, to study Kashubian Polish folklore and traditions. His 1972 report, "Vampires, Dwarves, And Witches Among The Ontario Kashubs" inspired sensational articles in ''Psychology Today'', ''The Canadian Magazine'', and ''The National Enquirer'' which got it denounced on the floor of the Canadian House of Commons. Kashubians in

Wilno, Ontario Wilno is a settlement in the Township Municipality of Madawaska Valley, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Geography Wilno is nestled in the rolling, picturesque terrain of the Madawaska valley which was largely shaped during the demise of the L ...

allegedly believe that "the only remedy against this kind of future vampirism was to extract the teeth from the infants. The Kashubs also feared those born with a red caul, a piece of amniotic membrane that naturally surrounds an unborn baby in the womb.How to Kill a Vampire: An excerpt (and guide) from Liisa Ladouceur's book of the same name
/ref> Perkowski was previously employed at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

, the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. He taught classes on Slavic languages, diachronic linguistics, the occult and vampires, and courses such as "How to be a Spy." He is now retired. In 1989, he published ''The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism'' which contains original vampire accounts translated into English from over twenty languages, many for the first time, including a vampire trial in Dubrovnik in 1737. The book is currently being added as a chapter in his forthcoming work ''Vampire Lore''. However, he was best known for teaching an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

class called "Dracula", covering vampire mythology in western culture from ancient times to the present. Perkowski himself approaches the vampire as an outgrowth of the culture in which its legend arose - often more a morality tale than anything else. After his retirement, the course was taken on by his former student Stanley Stepanic, a known noise musician and demonologist.

Publications

*1969: ''A Kashubian Idiolect in the United States'' *1972: ''Vampires, Dwarves and Witches Among the Ontario Kashubs''. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada : 1972 *1976: ''Vampires of the Slavs''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA : Slavica, 1976. *1978: ''Gusle and Ganga Among the Hercegovinians of Toronto''. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA : University Microfilms International, 1978. *1982: "The Romanian Folkloric Vampire". ''East Europe Quarterly'', September 1982. Reprinted in ''The Vampire: A Casebook'', Alan Dundes, ed. (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998) *1989: ''The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism''. Columbus, Ohio, USA : Slavica, 1989.

*2000: ''Linguistic History Engraved in Gold and Silver: Legends on the Coins of St. Vladimir''. *2006: ''Vampire Lore: From the Writings of Jan Louis Perkowski''. Slavica, 2006.

References

External links

Perkowski's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkowski, Jan L. Living people University of Virginia faculty Harvard University alumni Vampirism Year of birth missing (living people)