Vampire depictions in today’s popular culture have emerged as more “rimmed” versions of horror stories that have been told in public for a very long time. Although the origin of the original vampires is unclear, they are largely associated with ancient Slavic communities. One of the places where vampire stories are most influential is Poland.
A female skeleton discovered by archaeologists in Poland reaffirms the ancient belief in vampires among locals. It appears that a sickle and a padlock were used to keep the skeleton found in the village of Pien in the tomb.
They stopped the vampire with a sickle: Didn’t that work need a stake?
There is a sickle placed on the throat of this skeleton, which belongs to a woman thought to have lived in the 1600s and found in the village of Pien, Poland, so that if she tries to get up, she will slit her throat. It also stands out that the woman has a padlock on her toe. According to archaeologists, the reason for this is the belief that the woman was a vampire.
Professor Dariusz Poliński from Nicolaus Copernicus University, the head of the research, also underlined that different methods were used to prevent the resurrection of the dead, who were thought to be vampires at that time, in Central Europe. Different vampires have been depicted in Slavic societies since the 11th century, more or less alike.
Vampires in Polish culture are not very similar to those in American movies. Some individuals were born with two spirits and at some point in their lives turned into vampiric creatures called strzygon. Those born with two hearts, extra teeth, one eyebrow, being born with a tooth, not being baptized, committing suicide, dying suddenly were also considered as signs of turning into vampire-like creatures called strzygon or upior. We have seen some of these creatures in the Witcher series, whose author is also Polish.
For this reason, measures were taken to ensure that even if the dead were resurrected, they would die in the grave again. A sickle was placed on the head of the vampires, who were buried deep and face down among the piles of stones. In addition, it was tried to prevent the vampires from getting up by damaging their feet or legs.
A study carried out 7 years ago, about 200 km from the village of Pien, also found 5 vampire skeletons buried with a sickle in their throat.
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