400-year-old ‘vampire child’ with padlocked ankle unearthed in Poland!

In an interesting recent discovery, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of, what according to them, is that of a 17th century ‘vampire child. ’ According to them, the vampire was buried face down and padlocked to the earth, and the villagers might have done it in an effort to ensure that the child doesn’t come back from the dead.

If reports are to go by, the skeletal fragments indicate the age of the child between 5 to 7, which has been found lying with a triangular padlock attached to one of the feet. According to the traditions of that time, such padlocks were used to secure a corpse in its grave.
The grave was discovered in Poland at a necropolis where hundreds of people have been buried over the centuries, and where padlocks were supposedly used to assure people that the child would not return from the dead. The ‘necropolis,’ which literally translates from Greek into ‘city of the dead,’ is also the spot where a ‘vampire’ woman was discovered last year, who was buried with a padlock attached to her big toe.

Read more: No humans allowed: Places that are off-limits to tourists!
As per the archaeologists, they have associated this act to anti-vampiric burial technique, which was commonly practiced across Christian Europe dating back to the 14th century.

The excavators added, “Such practices originated in folk beliefs and are sometimes described as anti-vampiric.”

Elaborating more on this, Archaeologist Dariusz Poliński, from the University of Nicolaus Copernicus, noted that the item placed 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.”

Records state that the rituals that were reportedly followed during that time believed that when a person was buried face down, the dead would bite into the ground and not harm the living, Poliński stated.
Reports also have it that around 30 such internments were discovered and archaeologists believe that people who were feared not only during life but also after death were also buried in the same manner in the region.

Read more: Floating wonders: Explore the enchanting Dal Lake

Poliński further added that during that time, people during that period used to follow several beliefs to protect themselves against the return of the dead, which included cutting of legs or the head, placing the dead face down, burning them, and even smashing them with a stone.

Poliński further informed that so far, he and his researchers have managed to uncover around 100 such graves in the cemetery. As per their records, vampiric outbreaks were linked to mass deaths, for which there is no logical explanation till date.
What do you think about this discovery? Do share your thoughts in the comment section.