Michael Ranft, in Latin Michael Ranfftius was a Protestant Lutheran pastor, writer, historian and expert on vampires of the Enlightenment in Germany.
Biography
A pastor's son, Michael Ranft was born in Güldengossa and went to school in Chemnitz. He then studied at University of Leipzig from 1720 and where he became bachelor of philosophy. In 1724 he graduated with a masters. From 1725 he was steward to the Vice President of the Court of Appeal von Berlepsch to Gröditz. In 1727 master Michael Ranft became the successor of Friedrich Wilhelm Preuser in the diaconate of the city ofNebra. While Ranft was in the care of the diaconate station, the council of the city of Nebra promised that they would repair the apartment diaconate which was dilapidated. Nothing was done until 1732 so Ranft repeatedly complained to the Presbytery of Leipzig. While struggling with a small income amounting to a maximum of 150 talers and poor living conditions, Ranft was researching vampirism. His book, De masticatione mortuorum in tumulis, dealing with cases of the dead who devoured the linen of their coffins, called Masticator , is regularly quoted in vampire literature. Ranft, married to Anna Christina Ranft, was a son of Michael Ranft, born 5 July 1760 in Oederan. In 1749 Michael Ranft gained a reputation as a pastor in Großstechau in the Principality of Altenburg, where he died 1774. His sons Michael Gebhard and Christian Solomon Ranft were also pastors in Großstechau or Rückersdorf.
Works
Treatise on the chewing and smacking of the dead in graves
Michael composed a work investigating cases in Germany of dead persons who have devoured the linen and everything that was in reach of their mouth; that people who happen to be nearby would hear sounds such as pigs with low crys and as if growling and grunting. A particular case mentioned was that of a nobleman by the name of Henry, Count of Salm who after being declared dead was entered into the grave alive; eyewitnesses to the accounts heard loud cries during the night at the place he was buried, at the church of the Abbey of Haute-Seille, and the next day they opened his tomb, dis-entered him and discovered that he had gnawed the flesh of his arms. Other cases researched date back to the year 1355 and that to stop the dead from masticating in their graves, traditions sprung throughout Germany in which mounds of dirt would be placed under their chin; in other places a piece of money and a stone was placed into the mouth; yet elsewhere a handkerchief would be tied tightly around the throat.
