The remains of a ‘female vampire’ pinned to the ground with a sickle across her throat to ‘prevent her from coming back from the dead’ have been discovered in a 17th-century cemetery in Poland.
Researchers also found a protruding tooth and a silk cap on its head, which means she had a high social status.
Professor Dariusz Polinksi from the Nicholas Copernicus University said the form of burial was different from usual.
“Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them, and smashing them with a stone,” he said.
“The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up most likely the head would have been cut off or injured.”
He also said that the padlocked big toe likely symbolized ‘the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning.’
Records of myths about vampires date back as far as the 11th century in Eastern Europe. Some people feared that those who were buried would still manage to dig their way back up and attack the living.
It is common in the region to find burial sites where a steak or a metal rod has been hammered through the skull of the deceased.
In other regions, belief in the legends of the undead became so widespread that it resulted in mass hysteria.
In 2015, researchers found five skeletons buried in the same manner at a 400-year-old cemetery in the village of Drewsko.
The archeologists said at that time: “When placed in burials they were a guarantee that the deceased remained in their graves and therefore could not harm the living, but they may also have served to protect the dead from evil forces.
“According to folk wisdom, a sickle protected women in labor, children and the dead against evil spirits. It also had a role in rituals designed to counter black magic and witchcraft.”
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