Photo: reproduction
Remains of about 450 people have been found during excavations to widen a road in the small village of Luzino in northern Poland. However, the condition in which the bodies were found attracted attention: the skeletons’ heads were between their legs and coins were stuck in their mouths.
The message comes from CNN Brasil. The practice, common in 19thcentury Poland, is part of a ritual intended to prevent the ‘vampire curse’ that was common and widespread in medieval Polish folklore.
After the discovery, archaeologists were called to examine the site, which was part of an old disused cemetery next to the town church.
Maciej Stromski, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Polish newspaper The First News: “What we have discovered are examples of belief in the return of the dead from the grave that could only be stopped by beheading.”
“It was believed that if a family member of the deceased died shortly after the burial, he might have been a vampire.” Coins found with the remains date to 1846.
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