Gliwice in southern Poland: 17 skeletons buried with the skulls severed and placed between the knees or hands found in Poland. Archaeologists say this is burial place for vampires and now we can see how vampires used to be interred, to stop them rising from the dead.
Site was discovered when construction workers building a road near the town of Gliwice in southern Poland found four skeletons buried in a bizarre way during digging. Skulls had been cut off from bodies and placed between the knees or hands of the dead. Later, a further 13 skeletons arranged in a similar way were found. No jewellery, remains of clothing or coins, not even a button — was found on the bodies.
Archaeologists now believe that the bodies date from the 15th or 16th centuries, when the fear of vampires was widespread in Eastern Europe. The office’s chief archeologist, Jacek Pierzak, told Polish newspaperDziennik Zachodni: “It was one of the most common forms of burying vampires.” The office could not immediately be reached for comment.
It can’t be ruled out that the dead were executed, because the site lies close to where a gallows used to stand. So far, a total of 43 graves have been unearthed there, and historians hope to learn more about the skeletons by studying court files and church logs on executions. The skeletons are being removed for tests to ascertain their age and the possible causes of death.
In 2012, archaeologists in Bulgaria discovered two medieval skeletons that had been pierced through the chest with iron rods — another popular way to prevent suspected vampires from rising from the dead and gorging themselves on the blood of the living.
