Bulgarian Archaeologists Put Vampire Skeletons on Display
Posted on June 14, 2012
Bulgarian archaeologists recently found two "vampire" skeletons in a monastery in Sozopol, a Bulgarian Black Sea town. The people who buried the bodies 800 years ago were afraid they might come back as vampires, so they stabbed them through the heart with an iron rod. Bricks are also sometimes found in the mouths of skeletons (see here) thought to be vampires from the same medieval time period. These techniques were both thought to prevent the vampire from consuming plague victims and returning from the dead. Discovery News says a lack of the understanding of how bodies decompose led to the belief that some of the dead may be vampires or "shroud-eaters."
The two recently discovered skeletons are now on display at The National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria. Take a look: