Grave Of A 'Female Vampire' With Sickle Across Neck Found In Poland: Report

The skeletal remains of a "female vampire" from a 17th century Polish graveyard have been found by archaeologists, according to a report in New York Post. The skeletal remains were discovered by the team headed by Nicholas Copernicus University Professor Dariusz Poliński. The archaeologists, while digging, uncovered the skeleton of a female, who had been pinned to the ground with a sickle across her neck. 

According to the Post, the popular farming tool was commonly used by superstitious Poles in the 1600s to try and restrain a dead person thought to be a vampire so that they would be unable to return from the dead.  

It was reported that the sickle was placed in such a way that if the dead had tried to get up, the head would have been cut off or injured. It was also found that the dead woman had a padlock around her toe, which symbolised "the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning". 

The dead woman was buried with a silk cap on her head, which was luxury commodity in the 17th century.  

Smithsonian magazine reported that people in 11th century Eastern Europe believed that “some people who died would claw their way out of the grave as blood-sucking monsters that terrorized the living”.

And throughout the 17th and 18th century, some pretty unusual burial practices became common across Poland in response to a reported outbreak of "vampires," reported Science Alert.

New York Post reported that the "female vampire" was found in Pien, located in the south of the country - seven years after the remains of five other presumed vampires were unearthed in the town of Drawsko, 130 miles (209 kilometres) away.