Grave containing 450 'VAMPIRES' is discovered during roadworks in Poland: Burial site is filled with decapitated skeletons with skulls placed between their legs
The practice which was common in the region during the 19th century was believed to remove the ‘vampire curse’.
Archaeologist Maciej Stromski said: ‘We discovered examples of belief in the dead returning from the grave, which could only be stopped by decapitation.
‘It was believed that if a member of the deceased's family died shortly after the funeral, then he or she could be a vampire.
‘Therefore, after burial, the grave was dug up and the deceased's head was cut off, which was then placed in the legs.
‘We also discovered an example of a woman after decapitation.
‘The skull of a child was laid on her bosom.’
In September last year, the remains of a 'female vampire' pinned to the ground by a sickle across her throat and a padlocked toe to 'prevent her returning from the dead' were also found in Poland.
Records of myths about the undead date back as far as the 11th century in Central Europe.
People feared that some who were buried would claw their way back up to the surface as blood-sucking monsters, and terrorise the living.
It is not uncommon the region to find burial sites where a metal rod - or a stake - have been hammered through the skull of the deceased.
People at the time believed this was one way to ensuring the person stayed dead.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...oland.html
The practice which was common in the region during the 19th century was believed to remove the ‘vampire curse’.
Archaeologist Maciej Stromski said: ‘We discovered examples of belief in the dead returning from the grave, which could only be stopped by decapitation.
‘It was believed that if a member of the deceased's family died shortly after the funeral, then he or she could be a vampire.
‘Therefore, after burial, the grave was dug up and the deceased's head was cut off, which was then placed in the legs.
‘We also discovered an example of a woman after decapitation.
‘The skull of a child was laid on her bosom.’
In September last year, the remains of a 'female vampire' pinned to the ground by a sickle across her throat and a padlocked toe to 'prevent her returning from the dead' were also found in Poland.
Records of myths about the undead date back as far as the 11th century in Central Europe.
People feared that some who were buried would claw their way back up to the surface as blood-sucking monsters, and terrorise the living.
It is not uncommon the region to find burial sites where a metal rod - or a stake - have been hammered through the skull of the deceased.
People at the time believed this was one way to ensuring the person stayed dead.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...oland.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
