Revenant

Vivid stories of revenants arose in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. Many stories were documented by English historians in the Middle Ages. Often the revenants are associated with the spreading of disease among the living. For example, in Historia rerum Anglicarum the corpse of one revenant is reported to have been found in the grave, swollen and "suffused with blood". Augustine Calmet conducted extensive research on the topic in his work titled Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. Calmet compares the views of the Greek and Egyptian ancients and discovers the old belief that magic could not only cause death but also evoke the souls of the deceased as well.