According to Heritage Daily, in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, vampire folklore was rampant in European countries, leading to many people being labeled as vampires when they accidentally had a special death, such as suicide victims or people who are falsely accused of being witches or demons.
Ancient tombs dating from the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries were unearthed near Bydgoszsz, a city in Northern Poland. A team led by Professor Dariusz Poliński from Nicholas Copernicus University in the nearby city of Torun excavated and learned about the tomb.
The 17th-XVIII century woman, possibly aristocratic, but buried with a ‘sealed’ crescent suggests she was suspected of being a vampire – Photo: Miroslav Blicharski / Aleksander
It was the remains of an unfortunate woman with protruding front teeth, most likely the reason she was labeled a witch or vampire by the superstitious people of the time.
She was buried with a crescent placed on her neck and a padlock attached to the toe of her left foot.
The Daily Mail quoted Professor Poliński as explaining that the sickle was placed on the neck in such a way that it was embedded in the ground, the sickle around the neck area was so that if the female ‘vampire’ wanted to sit up and return to the world, it would will result in a severed head or at least a neck injury.Archaeologists are working at the scene – Photo: Miroslav Blicharski / Aleksander
Despite the superstitious ‘seals’ of the ancient tomb, the woman was buried with a silk headdress, an extremely luxury item in her time, indicating that the deceased had may be very rich or have a high social status.
Before that, several ancient tombs showing anti-vampire customs had been unearthed in Poland, including several decapitated skeletons in Kraków or another victim in Kamie Pormorskie with a brick tied to her mouth.