Vampire Burials

By Crusader1307

 ''Vampire''.....''Nosferatu''......''The Undead''.....All popular names for the one of the more popular Supernatural Beings which can be found in nearly all Countries Mythos in The World. Perhaps more known for Irish Writer Bram Stoker's ''immortal'' Tale ''Dracula''. However, even before the ''rise'' of the literary ''Monster'', many people fervently believed that One could become a Vampire and that ''matters'' needed to be taken to ensure such things did not ''happen''. Over the last 30 years, Archaeologists have unearthed many Medieval Graves which bear witness to the superstition which arose from keeping The Undead at bay as it were.

Many of these skeletons (dating from the 16th Century AD with several going back to the 5th Century AD although debated), have been found with large pieces of chiseled stone wedges lodged into their mouths (skull). Hyper extending their jaws (making them unable to close), was ''thought'' to keep a Person from returning from ..well, The Dead (hence Undead). Several found also had metal or wooded stakes hammered clear through their once ''solid'' bodies. The overall thought is that (unlike the much later use of wooden stakes to ''kill'' said vampire) stakes were used to keep ''bodies inside'' their graves. Thus unable to ''rise'', the vampire ''spirit'' was trapped. This leads us to ''how'' it was determined that a ''corpse'' was a vampire........

Decomposition was not clearly understood (by process). If by chance a coffin was sealed in such a way as to make it ''air tight'', decomposition was much slower. This coupled with ''where'' one was buried and when (colder weather, etc). IF a corpse was exhumed and found to be still ''fresh'' (in appearance), then the person must be a vampire. Additionally, the expulsion of bodily fluids (blood), from the mouth, would give the ''appearance'' that One must have recently ''fed''. Another indicator was hair and nail ''growth''. This, as is well known now, is not growth but the natural shrinkage of skin, giving the look of continued growth. However, to the mind of a superstitious Person from the 16th Century...all these factors may warrant a stone in the mouth or stake thru the body.