In Cazin and Velika Kladuša the folk believed that after death, in the
afterlife, evil people turn into swine, cows and other animals which reminds us
somewhat of the Hindu belief of reincarnation. Actually the belief in vampires
and bird meknjača fall into the same category and can be identified with the
Hindu belief. However, the root of belief can be found in Bogomils and its
dualistic teachings which are permeated with many superstitions of the Bosnian
people.
It is interesting to mention a belief on how a ghost or a vampire is created. Namely, even today in Velika Kladuša a special care is taken when the dead person is being carried out of the building that the coffin doesn't hit the door frame or wall of the house. If that happens it is believed that the spirit of the deceased or the deceased himself will return to haunt the house as a vampire. When we analyse the above mentioned belief the key moment is the "awakening" of the deceased which needs to be avoided at all costs and that is the banging of the coffin on the wall or door frame. There is a similar belief about a cat. When someone died in a household with a cat, the cat would be closed off in separate rooms to avoid it crossing the deceased while he is lying somewhere in the house. Allegedly, that can transform a deceased into a vampire. In this belief the key moment is the cat's crossing over the deceased body, when the cat "harasses" the dead body or hurts it with its claws. Therefore it is easy to conclude that a person doesn't die with his/her last breath but after some days, even months. A confirmation of this claim can be found in another folk belief which suggests that inside the room where a person has died and laid, a glass of water should be placed on the same spot every night so that the ghost can drink from it. Why these beliefs even existed in the past can perhaps best be understood by analysing folk belief about the soul. Namely, according to folk belief the soul is wrapped 99 times around each human joints and obviously much time is needed for it to unwind from all of the joints and leave the dead body.
