The skeletons of two vampires were found in Bulgaria near the town of Sozopol. The director of the National Historical Museum, Bozhidar Dimitrov, announced an interesting find. Skeletons dating back to the Middle Ages are pierced with pieces of iron.
The scientist explained that such skeletons have been found over the past several years. It is not known for certain whether the owners of these skeletons drank blood. The discovery of skeletons only confirms the existence of a pagan belief, according to which the hearts of people who were considered evil during their lifetime were pierced with an aspen stake or an iron stick on the day of the funeral.
In addition, according to the tradition that existed in the Bulgarian villages until the first decade of the twentieth century, the coffins of the evil fellow villagers were firmly nailed down. This was done in order to prevent the dead from wandering at night, turning into vampires. A similar practice existed in other Balkan countries, in particular in Serbia. Archaeologist Petar Balabanov in 2004 found six such skeletons dating back to the 4th century.
vesti.ru
Meanwhile, scientists continue to debate about a skeleton with a brick in its mouth, found in 2009 in Italy.
An archaeologist from the University of Florence found the remains of a woman with a brick in her mouth on the Venetian island of Lazzaretto Nuovo during excavations of a 16th century mass grave. Matteo Borrini suggested that this is the earliest archaeological evidence of a vampire killing ritual.
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Photo: gazeta.ua
Photo: gazeta.ua
He proceeds from the fact that the concept of the dead, sending disease, was especially popular in Europe during the years of plague epidemics. People died like flies, and the corpses were placed in the graves that had just been filled up.
When the graves were opened, the living saw how the nails and hair of the corpses grew, and the shroud disappeared, corroded by chemically active fluids formed during decay. They assumed that the deceased gnawed through the shroud.
The woman died around 1576, when a plague raged in Venice, which claimed the lives of a third of the townspeople, including the famous painter Titian. Borrini believes that the brick in the mouth is an attempt to ward off evil spirits from the living.
Many colleagues of the Florentine laugh at his hypothesis and believe that he is deliberately fanning a cheap sensation in order to attract the attention of the press and donors. The brick, according to historians, fell into the mouth of the corpse by accident, during the destruction of the crypt.
“Unfortunately, in recent years, this has become commonplace in Italy. Probably due to severe funding cuts, researchers are seeking to attract attention with sensational discoveries that often have little to do with science,”said anthropologist Simona Minozzi of the University of Pisa.
In turn, an anthropologist from the United States, Peer Moore-Jensen, stated that the find is far from the only one of its kind and that he had previously found similar skeletons in burials in Poland.