Modern Mysteries

Female vampire found with sickle across her neck to stop her rising from the dead

By T.K. Randall
September 5, 2022

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Vampires may be the stuff of fiction in today's world, but in centuries past, the threat of these undead night-dwelling horrors feasting upon the living was taken quite seriously.

In 17th-Century Poland, for example, such fears were so widespread that special measures were taken when interring the deceased to stop them rising from their graves.

This particular burial, which was unearthed by an excavation team headed up by Professor Dariusz Polinski from Nicholas Copernicus University, saw the body of a woman interred with a sickle placed across her neck to ensure a swift dismemberment if she had ever come back to life."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," Polinski told the New York Post.

The body had also been shackled to the grave by way of a padlock around her big toe.

These methods differed slightly from the more traditional 'stake through the heart' approach.

"Other 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," said Polinski.

The remains of a ‘female VAMPIRE' pinned to the ground by a sickle across her throat and a padlocked toe to ‘prevent her returning from the dead' have been found in a village in Poland #vampire #poland 🦇🩸🧟‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/U2aGKVoX5l

— Phoebe🇺🇸 (@educatematrix) September 2, 2022

Source: Science Alert

Tags: Vampire