The remains of a “vampire woman” with a sickle on her neck and a padlocked toe discovered in Poland

The burial is somewhat unusual, scientists say. In a 17th century cemetery in the village of Pień, Poland, researchers from Nicholas Copernicus University in the nearby town of Toruń have indeed made a strange discovery: the remains of a woman pinned to the ground by a sickle at of the throat, with the big toe of the padlocked left foot. Nicknamed the “vampire woman”, she would have been buried in this way for “to prevent him from coming back from the dead”say the archaeologists behind the research at DailyMail this September 2, 2022. This is a first in Poland, indicates Magdalena Zagrodzka, member of the team quoted by the site First News:

It is a unique find. There has never been anything like it before.

Special anti-vampire practices

According to Professor Dariusz Poliński, director of research interviewed by the DailyMailseveral means were used by the populations of the time to prevent the deceased suspected of being vampires or witches from coming back to life: “cut off the head or the legs, [les] place face down to bite the ground, [les] burn [ou les] break with a stone”. Here the sickle was unusually placed so that if the body attempted to rise, the head would have been severed. Two other graves were revealed with the same scene, a tool above the necks of skeletons of a woman aged between 30 and 39, and a young girl between 14 and 19.

“According to popular wisdom, the sickle protected women in labor, children and the dead against evil spirits. It also played a role in rituals designed to counter black magic and witchcraft“, continues the researcher. The padlock of the “vampire woman”, meanwhile, probably symbolized “the end of a stage and the impossibility of returning”. She also had a protruding tooth, leading to speculation that her appearance could have led the superstitious inhabitants of the 17th century to call her a vampire. But she was also wearing a very expensive silk cap, suggesting that she was of high social status, and buried with care – which is quite surprising for anti-vampiric practices.

The remains unearthed in Pień have now been transported to Toruń, where they will be further examined and scrutinized for any secrets.

17th Century Vampire Legends

The earliest records of myths about the living dead date back to the 11th century in Eastern Europe. In the 17th century, the fear of “vampires” (or “vrykolakas”) even became so widespread that funeral practices similar to those observed in Pień became common. People who died prematurely, in particular, could be feared and their bodies mutilated to prevent a possible resurrection. Several skeletons with a metal rod hammered through the skull have been exhumed. In 2015, the remains of five suspected vampires were also discovered in the 400-year-old cemetery in the Polish town of Drawsko, a sickle around the neck or a stone between the teeth.

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