Ancient Polish 'Vampires' Were Locals Rather Than Immigrants

It turns out that "vampires" that were buried in northwestern Poland were actually locals rather than immigrants. Researchers have taken a closer look at these remains and have discovered some new insights into the customs of these people.

In northwestern Poland, apotropaic funerary rites, which is a traditional practice intended to prevent evil, occurred throughout the 17^th and 18^th century. Any dead considered to be at risk for becoming vampires for a variety of reasons received specific treatment.

In this case, excavations revealed six unusual graves. Sickles were placed across bodies and large rocks were placed under the chins of specific individuals. In order to understand whether these bodies were local or non-local immigrants, the scientists tested permanent molars from 60 individuals, including the individuals from the six atypical burials.

What did they find? It turns out that the individuals in these deviant burials were predominantly local. In fact, this indicates that those targeted for apotropaic practices were not likely migrants to the region but were instead local individuals whose social identity or manner of death marked them with suspicion in some way.

There is, however, another explanation for this burial. It's possible that the cholera epidemics prevalent in Europe could be behind the strange burials. At the time, it was believed that the first person to die from an infectious disease outbreak was more likely to return from the dead as a vampire.

"People of the post-medieval period did not understand how disease was spread, and rather than a scientific explanation for these epidemics, cholera and the deaths that resulted from it were explained by the supernatural-in this case, vampires," said Lesley Gregoricka, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.