Jan L. Perkowski

Jan Louis Perkowski (December 29, 1936 - November 21, 2023) was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia.

Biography Perkowski was born in 1936 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey to John Perkowski and Veda Meyers Ferenchwich. He had three consecutive degrees, including a PhD in 1965 from Harvard University. Slavic languages, linguistics and folkore was the focus of his studies and research. His 1972 report, Vampires, Dwarves, And Witches Among The Ontario Kashubs made national headlines and even reached the floor of the Canadian House of Commons. It provoked a reaction from residents who felt Perkowski embellished or fabricated his claims.

He resided in Charlottesville until his death in 2023, following complications from radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

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.