The Vampire of Ropraz
SynopsisPlot
Set in rural Switzerland in 1903, the novella begins with the death of Rosa Gillieron, a young woman from the village of Ropraz. Soon after her burial, her coffin is found desecrated, her body mutilated — and panic spreads through the region. When more graves are violated, the villagers become convinced a “vampire” is among them. Suspicion falls on Charles-Augustin Favez, a troubled farmhand with a history of odd behavior and petty crimes.
Story
About this book
In 1903, in the rural Swiss village of Ropraz, a young woman named Rosa Gillieron dies and is buried. Shortly after, her coffin is found opened and her body violated. The discovery sends fear through the surrounding region, and when additional graves are desecrated in similar fashion, locals begin speaking of a vampire. Jacques Chessex builds this novella around the real events that shook the canton of Vaud in the early twentieth century, drawing on local records and collective memory.
Suspicion quickly settles on Charles-Augustin Favez, a farmhand known for erratic behavior and minor offenses. Favez is an outsider in temperament if not in geography, and the community's anxiety finds a ready target in him. Chessex traces how fear moves through a small, tightly bound population, how superstition fills the space left by incomplete answers, and how collective guilt can harden into persecution. The story is set against a landscape of cold winters, isolated farms, and Protestant villages where social order is prized and deviation is noticed.
The novella is brief and direct, closer in shape to a case study than a conventional novel. Chessex, who was born in the canton of Vaud, wrote from close proximity to the places and traditions that shaped the story.
