THE MONTERREY VAMPIRE

In 1997, construction crews uncovered a sealed chamber in colonial ruins outside Monterrey. Inside were journals, letters, and medical records from 1780-1840. The documents tell the story of a woman who terrorized the town for decades, feeding on residents in their homes at night.

Victims grew weak and anemic over weeks. She was careful never to kill, just keep them sick enough to feed from. When too many became ill, physicians would be summoned from neighboring cities to treat the mysterious epidemic and restore the townspeople to health.

From Dr. Fernando Ruiz, 1789: “I cannot explain this anemia. No bleeding, no parasites. A woman came to my lodgings requesting I return next spring ‘when the town will need me again.’ Very strange manner. I will not be returning.”

Dr. Ruiz never made it back to the city. His horse was found abandoned on the road. Every doctor who came to treat the sick vanished the same way. Parish records show a pattern: illness spreads, doctor arrives, people recover, doctor disappears.

Multiple accounts describe the woman who would arrange for these doctors. Father Miguel Santos wrote in 1792: “Something is deeply wrong with her. She will not meet my eyes. When I asked her name, she recited it as though reading from a card.” Another witness noted she moved “too precisely, like a puppet on strings” and seemed unable to navigate a simple marketplace without bumping into things.

How she convinced anyone to help summon these doctors remains unclear. One letter mentions threats, another suggests blackmail.

THE SURVIVORS

Not everyone died from her feeding. Some escaped, though their bodies were left horribly mutilated. Antonio Mendez wrote to his brother in 1823: “I do not remember the four months clearly. When I escaped, I found myself changed, my arm withered, my face scarred in ways no blade could make. There are nine of us living in the caves now. We tried to warn people but they chase us away.”

Photo considered to be a capture of her vampire form, dated approx. 1833

These survivors tried desperately to protect others, but nobody believed the disfigured monsters raving about a vampire. Their warnings were dismissed as madness and they eventually fell into madness.

Then in 1840, everything stopped. Father Santos recorded the final account: A traveling merchant brought a daguerreotype camera to town. When the woman approached to have her portrait made, she recoiled from the device as if burned and fled. She was never seen again.

Attempted recreation of a damaged daguerreotype from the ruins, circa 1827 - possibly her human form

No documents exist after that date. No more mysterious illnesses, no more disappearances. Did she flee? Was she destroyed by the camera somehow? The records end without answers. The Monterrey Historical Society keeps the original documents in restricted storage and refuses most requests to view them.