Polish archaeologists unearth 'vampire grave'

jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #1

Skeletons were found with their heads removed and placed on their legs indicating they had been subjected to an execution ritual designed to ensure the dead stayed dead. Anybody accused of being a vampire in the distant past faced a grim fate. Sometimes they would be decapitated, while another punishment involved........

Grisly details here
telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/10174137/Polish-archaeologists-unearth-vampire-grave.html

I always thought a stake through the heart was enough

smurf 38 | 1940

12 Jul 2013 / #2

Pretty cool to unearth something like that.
Gliwice's a nice wee city, hope they make something of this.

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #3

It must have been pretty wretched for the 'vampires' too.

I wonder who they were and what sort of lives they led?

Harry

12 Jul 2013 / #4

I wonder who they were and what sort of lives they led?

Well, there used to be a certain group in Poland who were all too often accused of drinking blood....

Ziemowit 14 | 4046

12 Jul 2013 / #5

I am surprised to see this article in the Telegraph as Number One in the "Most Viewed" section and as Number Four in the "Most Shared" section. Is the "vampire culture" so popular in Britain?

Harry

12 Jul 2013 / #6

Why? It's a cracking headline.

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #7

Vampires, dead bodies, eastern Europe, gruesome murder - it's got everything.

Ziemowit 14 | 4046

12 Jul 2013 / #8

As far as I can see, I am not able to find any mention of it in the Polish websites (having not used Google or another search engine, however) except the PolishRadio site, so it strikes me very much that the readers of the Torygraph have been finding it so attractive. And the article is not even on the front page of their website, only in the "Most ..." sections!

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #9

it strikes me very much

You're struck all too easily in that case.

And the article is not even on the front page of their website, only in the "Most ..." sections!

Which are on the front page of their website.

Hard to say what point you're trying to make.

Harry

12 Jul 2013 / #10

As far as I can see, I am not able to find any mention of it in the Polish websites

You either aren't looking very hard or are being economical with the truth:

Further remains were discovered in the old cemetery in Gliwice. The discovery was made in a place where the road is built . This is the sixth body, which was buried differently than others. One hypothesis assumes that buried it in the Middle Ages, a person deemed to be vampires .

kaja

12 Jul 2013 / #11

Yeah, It is a quite known subject in archaeology. This method of burial is called there: 'antvampires methods' and was especially popular in the south of Poland, for example in the area of Sandomierz.

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #12

This method of burial is called there: 'antvampires methods' and was especially popular in the south of Poland, for example in the area of Sandomierz.

I wonder when the most recent antivampire burials were?

ShawnH 8 | 1488

12 Jul 2013 / #13

According to The News:

The last recorded instance of a vampire burial within current Polish borders was in the village of Stare Mierzwice, Masovia, in 1914. A corpse was dug up in the village, and the head was cut off and placed between the person's legs.

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #14

I bet there's a heck of a story behind that. Mind you, the last person arrested in Poland for witchcraft was less than a decade ago.

ShawnH 8 | 1488

12 Jul 2013 / #15

Is witchcraft illegal in PL? And did she float?

Harry

12 Jul 2013 / #16

And did she float?

Burn her just in case.

Poland was the place where the last witch was legally burned in Europe.

ShawnH 8 | 1488

12 Jul 2013 / #17

Poland was the place where the last witch was legally burned in Europe.

Ah, good old traditional values!

OP jon357 73 | 22653

12 Jul 2013 / #18

Is witchcraft illegal in PL? And did she float?
Illegal enough to arrest someone for it apparently. It was in a village down in Podhale. The prosecutors didn't pursue the case because of the obvious lack of proof. That and ridicule from the media.

Poland was quite a hotbed of witchcraft (and witch hunts). Doruchów was of course the most famous case but there were hundreds of others.

An update on the Polish 'vampires':

Legends of vampires roaming rural areas of Eastern Europe may have actually been the result of untimely deaths of cholera victims, according to scientists.
Suspected vampires were buried in bizarre rituals during the 17th and 18th centuries to ward off evil and prevent them from rising again from the grave.
But rather than being blood-sucking monsters, tests have revealed they were in fact early victims of cholera and were viewed suspiciously because they died so suddenly.
Archaeologists discovered skeletons in a Polish cemetery that had rocks and sickles placed across their necks in these strange funerals, known as apotropaic burials.

dailymail/sciencetech/article-2850623/Polish-vampires-killed-CHOLERA-Tests-reveal-suspected-bloodsuckers-actually-early-victims-epidemic.html