Archaeologists discover remains of ‘child vampire’

Archaeologists excavating at an early medieval necropolis in Poland have discovered the unusual remains of a vampire child who was found buried with a padlock on his leg.

According to scientists, the castle is evidence of fears that existed in the Middle Ages that the dead could return to life in the form of “vampires”. According to the Independent, researchers including Dariusz Poliński of Nicolaus Copernicus University have explored and excavated graves at an early medieval cemetery near Dąbrowa Chełminska in Poland in search of unique burials.

So last year they made a groundbreaking discovery – the burial of a young medieval woman whose body was twice protected so that she “could get out of the grave.” Among the remains, a triangular lock was found, apparently attached to the big toe of the left foot, as well as a sickle with a blade directed towards the neck.

While searching for other similar burials nearby, archaeologists have uncovered a strange and unprecedented burial of a 17th-century child aged around 5-7 years old. The remains of a child were found in a grave pit. At the same time, the body lay face down, which suggests that the possible “activity” of the deceased after death was thus “eliminated”.

Such burials of the dead, face down, were probably carried out in the area in the Middle Ages, so that “the resurrected dead gnawed at the ground, trying to get out.” This type of burial “guaranteed that the deceased did not pose a threat to people,” as the scientists explain the strange custom.

Beneath the child’s bones, archaeologists have also found a triangular padlock, almost identical to the one that accompanied the remains of a medieval woman discovered in the area last year. The analysis showed that the child’s grave was probably disturbed and part of the body was removed, but it is not known when and why this happened, and what happened to the remains.

Source link