'Vampire' unearthed in Poland with a sickle across neck to prevent 'rise from dead'

In an unusual discovery, archaeologists have unearthed the skeletal remains of a female 'vampire' which were found at a 17th-century cemetery in Pień, Poland. According to pomorska.pl media, the body was buried with a sickle that had been placed across her neck as it was believed that it would prevent the 'vampire' from rising from the dead. The archaeological excavation resulted in the discovery of the bones, which were uncovered with a 'protruding' front tooth and were found wearing a silk cap.  

In order to keep a deceased person, who was believed to be a vampire from rising from the dead, superstitious Polish in the 1600s, had frequently utilised ordinary agricultural equipment such as the sickle. Furthermore, the skeleton's toe was also wrapped in a padlock.  

The revelation was made by an expedition team while working in the village of Pień, which is close to Ostromecko. Starting on August 15, an expedition from the Nicolaus Copernicus University's Institute of Archaeology worked under the direction of professor Dariusz Poliński. On the final day of the expedition, August 30, the finding was made. The unearthed bones were brought to Toruń, where they would undergo close inspection, as per the media outlet.  

Professor Poliński told The Daily Mail, “The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up… the head would have been cut off or injured".  

Eastern Europe people started performing anti-vampire rituals in the 11th century

According to Smithsonian magazine, people in Eastern Europe started performing anti-vampire rituals on the deceased in the 11th century as they were afraid of vampires and thought that "some people who died would claw their way out of the grave as blood-sucking monsters that terrorized the living." Besides this, ScienceAlert reported that similar burial customs became prevalent across Poland in reaction to a claimed outbreak of vampires during the 17th century. 

In addition to this, as per the pomorska.pl, Poliński explained that other ways to protect against the return of the dead were "cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into it, burning, being hit with a stone.” 

While a metal rod hammered into the skeleton was another typical anti-vampire burial technique, the remains in Poland were discovered with the sickle across the neck and a padlocked toe to confine the deceased. Poliski even told Daily Mail that the padlocked big toe on the skeleton's left foot most likely represented "the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning." 

According to New York Post, the "female vampire" was found in Pień, a city in the south of the nation, seven years after the bodies of five other alleged vampires were found in Drawsko town. Similar to this one, sickles were placed across the throats of the five people who were discovered there. 

(Image: Mirosław Blicharski / Aleksander Poznań)