The child’s body was found face down and padlocked by the ankle, both practices intended to discourage and prevent a return from the grave.
Nicolaus Copernicus UniversityThe “ vampire nipper ” was establish face down and padlocked , both measures to prevent rising from the grave .
Near the village of Pień , Poland , archaeologist from Nicolaus Copernicus University ( NCU ) recently uncover the remains of a seventeenth - century “ vampire ” child , swallow up front down with an “ anti - vampire ” padlock around its ankle .
AsThe Mirrorreported , archaeologists believe the child was likely aged around five to seven at the time of their death and padlocked as part of a superstitious notion that it would prevent the dead from rise from their grave .
Nicolaus Copernicus UniversityThe “vampire child” was found face down and padlocked, both measures to prevent rising from the grave.
Dariusz Poliński , an archaeologist involved in the excavation , noted that superstitious family would often place “ security measure ” like padlock and sickles on the bodies of dead relation as vampire hysteria top out in Poland .
“ The padlock under the foot symbolize the closing of a stage of life and is meant to protect against the return of the at peace , which was probably feared , ” Poliński said . “ Such practice session arise in folk beliefs and are sometimes describe as anti - vampiric . ”
There was , in fact , a wide mountain chain of anti - vampire practices put in place by the superstitious . Among these was bury the dead face - down so the deceased would “ burn into the ground and not harm the living ” should they recall to living — just as the newly hear child was .
“ Ways to protect against the counter of the dead let in cutting off the top dog or leg , placing the gone face down to bite into the ground , combust them , and smashing them with a Harlan Fisk Stone , ” Poliński explain .
Nearby , theDaily Mailreported , archeologist discovered a loose cluster of os belong to three other children and the fragment of a jaw stained fleeceable , which the squad said may have been the result of metal - based febrility treatments known to have been used during that time .
Nicolaus Copernicus UniversityThe padlock discover attached to the nipper ’s leg .
They also found the remains of a pregnant cleaning lady , with a fetus “ determined to be approximately five to six months older , ” say the university ’s Magdalena Zagrodzka .
“ This is surprising , ” Zagrodzka supply , “ because the finger cymbals of nipper of this long time are poorly mineralize , so they are usually not preserved . ”
These new discoveries come from the same graveyard where hundreds of mass have been buried over the C — including another17th - century “ vampire”who was found with a sickle around her neck and a similar padlock around her toe .
In that illustration , archaeologists believed the sickle was put in position to decapitate the woman should she go up from the utter .
“ The sickle was not laid flat but localise on the cervix in such a fashion that if the gone had tried to get up most likely the principal would have been reduce off or injured , ” Poliński said . He also note the padlock on the skeleton ’s left foundation likely symbolized “ the closing of a stage and the impossibleness of repay . ”
alike discoveries have been made antecedently in other parts of the state .
Nicolaus Copernicus UniversityThe padlock found attached to the child’s leg.
For example , in 2015 , archaeologist working in the small town of Drewsko , 130 miles away , found five systema skeletale buried in a similar fashion at a 400 - class - old cemetery . Once again , two of the eubstance had reap hook pressed against their pharynx , and another older fair sex was buried with a reap hook across her hips and a medium - sized stone at her throat .
Folklore and mythology about the dead amount back to life history appointment back to ancientness , but specifically in Eastern Europe , disk of myths about the undead seem to particular date back to the 11th C . While these stories had been shared for 100 , though , they reached a boiling point in the seventeenth and 18th centuries , where awe of the undead even induce mass craze in certain region , leading to the mass carrying out of accused vampire .
Prominent suspects of being vampires primarily include people who go in strange or premature manners , such as by suicide . Their bodies were often posthumously mutilated to keep their comeback from the dead .
After reading about the discovery of this “ vampire ” in Poland , take aboutMercy Brown , the idle charwoman blamed for her family ’s expiry even though she was already bury . Then , show about the real - life story of Dracula - inspiringVlad the Impaler .
