Remains of 'vampire child' discovered in cemetery with padlock around its ankles

08 August 2023 , 19:54

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The remains of a so-called 'vampire child' were discovered face down at a grave site in Poland (Image: Institute of Archaeology - University of Nicolaus Copernicus)

The remains of a "vampire child" with a padlock kept around its ankle have been discovered at a grave site in Poland.

The child's corpse was uncovered face down at a necropolis where hundreds of people have been buried over the centuries. Scientists believe the youngster - whose remains have been dated to the 17th century - was padlocked as part of a superstitious ritual to prevent the departed from making an uninvited return to the world of the living.

Archaeologists from the University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Torun, Poland, uncovered the disturbing find at the village of Pien in south-eastern Poland. The child's remains were discovered alongside those of 30 people at the site.

According to archaeologists, the child was likely aged around five to seven at the time they died. Dariusz Poliński, who was involved in the excavation, said superstitious families would often place security measures on departed relatives' bodies out of fear they would return from the dead.

Archaologists involved in the dig at Pień, Poland (Institute of Archaeology - University of Nicolaus Copernicus)

He said: "The padlock under the foot symbolises the closing of a stage of life and is meant to protect against the return of the deceased, which was probably feared. Such practices originated in folk beliefs and are sometimes described as anti-vampiric."

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The disturbing practice was not the only one people would carry out to protect themselves from so-called 'vampires' returning. Mr Polinski explains some bodies would be buried face-down to make the deceased "bite into the ground and not harm the living".

The remains of another female "vampire" were found pinned down by a sickle less than five feet away from the child's grave in September 2022. The team who found her remains theorised that the strange padlock and sickle positioning was a way of keeping the woman in her grave if she tried to rise.

The padlock was supposed to stop people from coming back from the dead (Institute of Archaeology - University of Nicolaus Copernicus)

The grim ritual was carried out out of superstition (Institute of Archaeology - University of Nicolaus Copernicus)

Poliński said at the time of the discovery that the strange elements of the burial were consistent with defences against "the return of the dead". He added: "Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them, and smashing them with a stone.

"The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up most likely the head would have been cut off or injured." He added the padlocked big toe on the skeleton's left foot likely symbolised "the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning".

The woman also had a silk cap on her head, indicating she had held a high social status. In Bulgaria in 2016 archaeologists uncovered a 13th century staked "vampire" at Perperikon, an ancient Thracian site in the south of the country, with an iron rod hammered through his chest.

Susie Beever