‘Anti-vampire’ device found in child’s grave from 17th century, Poland officials say

Around 400 years ago, a young child was laid to rest in a Polish cemetery in a strange fashion.

The child’s body was restrained with an “anti-vampire” device and buried facedown.

Now, the remains have been discovered by archaeologists, and they could shed light on some of the superstitious beliefs that once ran rampant throughout Europe, according to a July 28 news release from Nicolaus Copernicus University.

The 17th century grave was unearthed in an ancient cemetery of outcasts located near the village of Dąbrowa Chełmińska, archaeologists said.

A partial skeleton of the child, who was between 5 and 7 years old, was found upside down under layers of soil.

This peculiar funerary arrangement indicated that whoever buried the child feared potential reanimation.

By placing the body facedown, gravediggers ensured it could only gnaw on the ground — and not on the living — were it to somehow be revived, archaeologists said.

A triangular padlock was also found at the skeleton’s feet, likely to further hinder any posthumous exploits.

The child’s partial remains were located just a stone’s throw away from the grave of a woman buried with a padlock as well as a sickle around her neck. The woman, found last year, came to be thought of as a vampire.

Vampires, believed to be reanimated corpses that fed on the living, were part of Slavic folklore that originated around the 11th century or earlier, according to a study published in 2014 in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.

At a time when scientific knowledge was limited, vampires helped explain otherwise incomprehensible diseases or untimely deaths, and belief in them strengthened the Christian social order.

Individuals believed at risk of becoming vampires were buried with special treatments that typically involved restraining certain body parts, particularly the hands, feet and mouth, according to the study.

Individuals who deviated from the norm, including those who were sick or had an odd appearance, were prime targets for being suspected of vampirism, Darius Polinski, a professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University, told News in Poland.

Further research, including DNA analysis, is being conducted on the child’s remains and on the remains of other individuals in the cemetery.

Dąbrowa Chełmińska is located about 180 miles northwest of Warsaw.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from Nicolaus Copernicus University and a news report from News in Poland.

This story was originally published August 7, 2023 at 3:10 PM with the headline "‘Anti-vampire’ device found in child’s grave from 17th century, Poland officials say."