Bloody Knee
The Shy Vampire of the Olšany Cemetery
According to legend, Prague's only vampire lives in Olšany Cemetery. They are not a particularly scary bloodsucker, but a rather shy fellow. To quench their thirst, they wait among the gravestones for clumsy cemetery visitors to stumble. Then they lick the scrapes. This has earned them the nickname Bloody Knee (cz. ‘krvavé koleno’). One day, the vampire meets the knee of their dreams, and suddenly love is in the air. Can romance between human and vampire actually work?
- Authentic story based on a real place and its urban legend: the life of the shy vampire Bloody Knee
- Gloomy illustration style meets endearing characters
- A story about being different, friendship and the hurdles of interspecies love
My name is Marie, and I am an illustrator and art educator based in Berlin. In summer 2025 I’ve spent three months in Prague for an internship at LUSTR Festival of Illustration and Comics. During this time, I lived right next to the Olšany Cemetery. Especially on hot summer days the cemetery offered a (literary) chill spot. Since I am a sucker for vampire stories anyways, stumbling across the legend of Bloody Knee made me want to bring their legend to new life. Bloody Knee is usually characterised as a loser, but in my story they are a shy hero. The characters that populate my illustrations oscillate between cuteness and strangeness and try to offer an opportunity for identification. I like comforting stories that take place in slightly weird narrative environments.
E-mail: marie.buschmann@gmx.de
Instagram: @apfelbaum_97
Instagram: @apfelbaum_97
