archaeologists unearth 'vampire grave'

[TrackerSam]

Archaeologists in Poland believe they have found a vampire grave on a construction site in the south of the country.
Skeletons were found with their heads removed and placed on their legs indicating they had been subjected to an execution ritual designed to ensure the dead stayed dead.


Anybody accused of being a vampire in the distant past faced a grim fate.


Sometimes they would be decapitated, while another punishment involved hanging from a gibbet until decomposition resulted in the head separating from the body. In both cases the head was then laid on the legs of the victim in the hope that an inability to locate their head would hinder the progress of those intent on rising from the grave.

Unlike the classic Bram Stoker image of a caped, blood-sucking aristocrat, the definition of a vampire in the Middle Ages was far broader. Even people who abided by old pagan customs and left food on the graves of dead relatives could fall foul of accusations of vampirism, and suffer a prompt execution.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ish-archaeologists-unearth-vampire-grave.html

See a gibbet

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=gibbet&qpvt=gibbet&FORM=IGRE

 

[Ausgirl]

In both cases the head was then laid on the legs of the victim in the hope that an inability to locate their head would hinder the progress of those intent on rising from the grave.

Wow. Being a Polish vampire would really .......suck.

:dracula:

someone had to say it

 

[Vabrownid1]

You know you can find your head when it's on your lap... what were they thinking? I would have taken the head and put it in an entirely different grave! :scared:

 

[TrackerSam]

Wow. Being a Polish vampire would really .......suck.

:dracula:

someone had to say it

I like a polka, but if you were a 300 year old Polish vampire....................you'd drive a stake into your own heart.
As far as the 'head on the lap'.....<modsnip> :blushing: