The key to identifying a skeleton that was buried as a vampire? Pinned to the ground with a sickle across the throat. And then the padlocked toe to symbolize the impossibility of returning as a revenant. That is an animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living. Irish Celtic and Norse mythology have stories of revenant visitations.
A vampire skeleton was reported on September 8th, but got overrun by the Queen's own death.
According to Smithsonian magazine, residents across Eastern Europe initially became fearful of vampires in the 11th century, believing that “some people who died would claw their way out of the grave as blood-sucking monsters that terrorized the living.”
By the 17th century, “unusual burial practices became common across Poland in response to a reported outbreak of vampires,” Science Alert reported.
The discovery of the “female vampire” in Pień — located in the south of the country — comes seven years after the remains of five other presumed vampires were unearthed in the town of Drawsko, 130 miles away.
Vampire burials have been found in Italy as well. But Poland remains the Vampire capital between the 11th and 17th century.
Scientific explanations point to cholera.
"The fact that all the people buried as vampires were local suggests they may have been felled by a cholera epidemic that swept through the region, said study co-author Lesley Gregoricka, a bioarchaeologist at the University of South Alabama.
This was a Halloween display in St. Catharines in 2016. I took quite a few pictures - as it was an excellent display. Here's our demonstration of revenance.
