- The medieval belief in vampires was so widespread that it caused mass hysteria.
Archaeologists investigating a church in northern Poland discovered a “vampire tomb” buried beneath the floor in what they say is the first discovery of its kind.
The skeletal remains of a 17th-century man were found in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the small village of Pączewo after archaeologists discovered a stone slab decorated with an engraving of a skull.
Buried about two meters below the slab, they found three skeletons, one of which had a sickle around its neck, a medieval practice believed to be designed to prevent vampires from returning from the dead.
Anthropologist Justyna Kargus said the skeleton’s skull showed signs that the man who is believed to have been around 50 when he died had suffered some form of trauma before his death.
She said: ‘His skull had numerous wounds indicating he probably had many deep scars on his face.
Archaeologists find grave under rock containing ‘vampire’ with sickle around neck to prevent ‘return from the dead’ with skull engraved in Polish church
The skeletal remains of a man from the 17th century were found in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the small village of Pączewo
Placing a sickle around a dead person’s neck was a medieval practice used to prevent people believed to be vampires from returning from the dead.
‘During one of the blows he also lost some teeth. He would have looked different than the average person and that can be scary.
He added that the discovery of a vampire burial in a church is especially rare, saying that “no one expects to find a vampire in a church.”
“This is the first known case of an anti-vampire burial in a church.”
‘People suspected of being vampires were usually buried away from local communities or in cemeteries.
‘Clergymen, benefactors of the church, worthy and especially deserving people were buried inside the church.
“Maybe he was someone of merit in the local community, and something made them afraid of him.”
Records of myths about the dead date back to the 11th century in Central and Eastern Europe. People feared that some of those buried would return to the surface as blood-sucking monsters and terrorize the living.
It is not uncommon in the region to find burial sites where a metal rod, or stake, has been driven through the skull of the deceased. People at the time believed this was a way to ensure the person stayed dead.
Three skeletons were found in the Pączewo church
People feared that some of those buried would return to the surface as blood-sucking monsters and terrorize the living.
In some parts of the continent, especially among the Slavic peoples, belief in vampire legends became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria.
In some parts of the continent, particularly among the Slavs, belief in vampire legends became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria and even led to executions of people thought to be vampires.
People who died prematurely, such as by suicide, would often also have been suspected of vampirism, and their bodies would have been mutilated to prevent them from rising from the dead.
Various procedures were used to prevent them from returning from the dead. Some placed a sickle around the neck, others saw the body tied up, padlocks placed on the body, coins placed over the eyes, the body wrapped in fishing nets or the bodies crushed with stones or bricks.
The most recent discovery is the latest in a series of vampire finds in Poland. Earlier this month, the decapitated remains of a “vampire child” were discovered buried face down more than 600 kilometers away in the southeast of the country.
In 2023, a mass grave containing more than 400 decapitated suspected vampires with their skulls placed between their legs and a coin in their mouths was discovered during roadworks in northeastern Poland.
The skeletal remains of another “vampire boy” were found that same year face down with a triangular padlock tied to his foot in the village of Pień, where archaeologists previously found the remains of a “vampire woman” pinned to the ground by a sickle. . her throat and a padlocked toe.