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Bringing an Italian Vampire Back to Life (With a Brick in Her Mouth!)

Bringing an Italian Vampire Back to Life (With a Brick in Her Mouth!)

A woman who lived in 16th century Italy was buried in a most unusual fashion. Originally excavated in a mass grave of medieval plague victims several years ago, the woman’s skull was found with a...
AI close-up portrait of Dracula baring his sharp fangs, with a predatory glare in a dark room.		Source: EOL STUDIOS

Bloodsuckers Through the Ages - A History of Vampires (Video)

Vampire lore , originating from Eastern European folklore, has fascinated and terrified people for centuries, with various creatures haunting the imaginations of different cultures worldwide. Among...
The vampire child burial included the horrific addition of a “anti-vampiric” padlock attached to the foot of the child, aged between five and seven years old. Source: Institute of Archaeology - Nicholaus Copernicus University, Torun

Grim Vampire Child Burial in Poland Featured “Anti-Vampire” Padlock

Vampire tales are normally associated with Transylvania, a mysterious Romanian locale remembered as the mythical home of Count Dracula. It was also the actual home of the merciless 15th century...
A headless skeleton, Suffolk, England (representational). Credit: Archaeological Solutions.

450 Headless ‘Vampire’ Skeletons Unearthed in Mass Grave in Poland

Archaeologists in Poland have excavated what is being called a “mass-suspected vampire grave.” With their decapitated skulls lodged between their legs, and coins in their mouths, every effort was...
Left 3D scan of JB55's skull with tissue depth markers helped guide the ‘vampire’s’ facial reconstruction. Right- Forensic facial reconstruction of JB55, a Connecticut man suspected of being a vampire. Source: Parabon NanoLabs, Inc

Face of 19th Century American 'Vampire' Reconstructed

Based on the DNA extracted from a 19th century skeleton, a forensic artist has recreated the face of a man who was buried, but never laid to rest. Mr. John Barber’s body was later dug up so that his...
The vampire slaying kit which was sold at auction. Source: Hansons Auctioneers

Vampire Slaying Kit Sells During High-Stakes Bidding War

A vampire slaying kit has been sold for five times more than expected at an auction in Derbyshire, England. The sale of this bizarre box of artifacts, once believed to help guard against vampires,...
Photograph of a face-down burial, also known as a prone burial, in a churchyard in Berlin, just one of almost a hundred medieval and post-medieval burials in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria included in the study. Source: (Claudia Maria Melisch / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin)

Buried Face-Down 400-Years-Ago, But Through A Fear Of Zombies, Or God?

In 2014 a construction project required Swiss anthropologist Amelie Alterauge of the University of Bern Institute of Forensic Medicine to investigate a very unusual burial in a 400-year-old cemetery...
Witches, Vampires and Werewolves

Witches, Vampires and Werewolves – 10 Ghoulish Archaeological Discoveries

Archaeologists are quite familiar with the unearthing of human remains. But occasionally they come across burials that are more bizarre and unsettling – from hybrid frankenstein-type skeletons, to ‘...
'The Premature Burial’ by Antoine Wiertz

How Long Have We Believed in Vampires?

Vampires have a contested history. Some claim that the creatures are “as old as the world”. But more recent arguments suggest that our belief in vampires and the undead was born in the 18th century,...
Demons

Incubi and Succubi: Protection from Dark Magics and Cures for Night Terrors – Part II

Psychological Distress Some researchers have suggested that Incubus/Succubus attacks are related to strong sexual repression. As noted above, tales of Incubi and Succubi were originally linked more...
'The Nightmare’ (1781) by Johann Heinrich Füssli.

Incubi and Succubi: Crushing Nightmares and Sex-Craving Demons – Part I

Imagine you suddenly awake at night. You feel a sense of panic when you realize that you cannot move. The fear increases when you sense another presence in the room with you. You gasp for breath, but...
The skeleton of the girl, a little under 5 feet tall and about age 13, showed signs of scurvy and anemia

New Analysis reveals Italian Girl given Witch Burial probably just had Scurvy

The remains of a teenage girl from medieval times given a witch burial in which she was placed face-down in a deep tomb is believed to have had scurvy that disfigured her body, causing her community...
Vampires Burial site in Poland

Archaeologists unearth Vampire burial in Poland

A 16 th - 17 th century grave has been unearthed in Poland which shows evidence that the deceased was believed to be a vampire – a brick was found wedged between his teeth, and his leg had been...
Unusual Discoveries 2013

Ten unusual archaeological discoveries

One of the best things about archaeology is uncovering the unexpected. Some of the findings listed below certainly fit into this category – from elongated skulls to vampire graves, green slime, and...
Vampire Burial Site

Bulgarian archaeologists unearth second ‘vampire’ grave

Archaeologists working on Bulgaria’s Perperikon site have found the skeleton of a male buried with an iron stake plunged through its chest , a ritual practiced in the Middle Ages to prevent the...
‘Vampire’ burial site found in Poland

The Vampire burials of Poland

The last few weeks we have been bombarded by the discovery of graves, evidence of ancient massacres and dead bodies found all over the world. But we do not hear every day about ‘vampire’ bodies! Well...