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AP
A piece of iron lies next to a skeleton dating back to the Middle Ages at an archaeological dig in the Black Sea town of Sozopol. Bulgarian archaeologists say they have found skeletons that were pinned down through their chests with iron rods - a practice believed to stop the dead from rising as vampires.
Bulgarian archaeologists are showing off two centuries-old skeletons that they say were pinned down through their chests with iron rods to keep them from turning into vampires — a trend that was all the rage in medieval Europe.
The "vampire" skeletons were excavated recently near the Black Sea town of Sozopol, according to reports from The Associated Press and AFP. Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of Bulgaria's National History Museum, was quoted as saying that corpses were regularly treated this way in some parts of the country until the beginning of the 20th century.
About 100 similar burials have been found in Bulgaria over the years. "I do not know why an ordinary discovery like that became so popular," AP quoted Dimitrov as saying on Tuesday. "Perhaps because of the mysteriousness of the word 'vampire.'"
Bulgarian archaeologist Petar Balabanov has found a number of nailed-down skeletons near the eastern town of Debelt, at gravesites dating as far back as the 1st century. According to custom, the bodies had to be pinned down just in case they tried to rise from the grave. AFP quoted Balabanov as saying that the rite was practiced in Bulgaria as well as other Balkan countries.
Of course, the world's most famous vampire legend is associated with the 15th-century Balkan strongman known as Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler. That's mainly due to Irish novelist Bram Stoker, who borrowed the Dracula name for his 1897 novel about a blood-sucking bad guy from Transylvania. The idea that vampires drank blood may be of relatively recent vintage, but the idea that the dead had to be stopped from rising again was widespread in medieval times — in part due to the plague.
Several years ago, Italian archaeologists made a splash when they dug into a mass grave for 16th-century plague victims on the Venetian island of Nuovo Lazzaretto and found the remains of a woman who had a brick stuck between her jaws. To explain the brick, they cited some of the anti-vampire strategies practiced at the time.
For example, in one region of Germany, gravediggers would occasionally return to a plague grave and find that the shroud surrounding the corpse had been eaten away, with blood or other fluids coming out of the mouth. The hair and fingernails also appeared to grow longer, even after burial. Today, researchers say such phenomena are due to the natural stages of decomposition — but in the Middle Ages, people feared that these were the signs of vampirism.
The Italian researchers claimed that the brick was jammed in to keep the "Vampire of Venice" from causing trouble. But other archaeologists have disputed that claim. They suggest instead that the brick merely fell into the mouth of the woman's skull. That has sparked a scientific tiff, as LiveScience reported last month.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Based on Balabanov's excavations, the Bulgarian nailing-down practice goes much farther back than Dracula or the Black Death — maybe like placing coins on the eyes of the deceased, but grislier. What do you think? Is this solid science, or another case of vampire grandstanding? Please feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
More about ghoulish archaeology:
- 'Vampire' victim spurs gruesome debate
- Black magic revealed in ancient tablets
- The science of bloodsuckers
- Gallery: Seven ghoulish discoveries
- Gallery: Myths and realities about vampires
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
The second comment is from "cheetah-822547". It got a little green star and lots of votes but sombody please tell me what "cheetah" is talking about. I guess I'm just dumb but I don't get it.
My guess is if she rose from the dead it might get her to keep from talking, but I was thinking of someone.
Maybe they were trying to grow iron rods and thought that the body would make good fertilizer.
Humans are amazing creatures.
and all this time i been usin the standard wood stake thru the heart
"Several years ago, Italian archaeologists made a splash when they dug into a mass grave for 16th-century plague..."
Made a 'splash' about a mass graves of plague victims? Great choice of words bro.
They obviously made someone mad!
Please excuse me...but this story is going to take the "bite" out of some good old fashioned mythology...sorry...had to do it.
The matter is easily settled. Pull out the stake.
The term "wake" from the British Isles, comes from the fact that people often drank warm meade from pewter which due to the properties of the metal that leached out could cause the person to appear dead after becoming intoxicated and passing out. These people later would 'come alive". The "wake" was held to view the bodies for a period of time to be sure that the person was actually dead before being buried (alive).
Might be a idea when Obama goes down.........
arney, why don't you post that on Faux's web site--Hannity, O'Reilly, ad nauseum might see it and use the "fact" that the president is a vampire to make viewers a little more paranoid and frightened. They have called and accused him of being just about everything else!
Obama 2012
Doesn't look like Pam, Eric, or Bill.
People, you are missing the point of the stake. It was not to prevent Vampires from coming back from the dead. It was to prevent that person from being turned into one and then coming back from the dead.
Hmm if a vampire leaves a skeleton behind rather than disintegrating completely, maybe its genes can be harvested to create super humans.
cheetah-822547
LMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I question the timing of this what with a new bio/pic Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer ...soon to hit the theaters
Best leave the bones alone...shovel incisors?
You folks are having a lot of fun making all kinds of jokes about this. When someone dies, the body goes through all kinds of changes and twitches until it passes through rigormortis, and then to a relaxed state. Coins were placed on eyelids to keep the lids closed during these hours. Before removal of blood and embalming were available, the dead were able to "sit up," and they needed someone in attendance to lay them back down into position, hence the "wake," where a relative or trusted friend sat up all night to attend to the deceased. Imagine the shape of the coffin if dead Aunt Mary were in a sitting position?
Now my "educated" guess to the stakes: if someone dies of the plague, you would want to bury them immediately. But because of contagion you wouldn't want a wake. Doesn't it make sense to "stake" them in place so they "stayed" down, rather than allowing them to change position as they went through rigormortis? Also possibly scaring the living? Why they just didn't burn them is beyond me. Also, as an earlier person posted, many people, before embalming was the norm, were buried alive. The bells helped, and there are some well known phrases from that time (which now escape me) , as to some of the other methods for the buried to alert their kin that they were in fact "not dead." For me, I don't believe in vampires.
Of course they're having fun with this! Look at the headline again!!!
Obviously hard core Twilight fans are staying away.....
I find it appalling the way graves are dug up and disturbed. Is there no respect for the dead anymore?
If the remains had been found in Chicago I would guess it was an attempt to keep the dead from rising on the first Tuesday in November.
Why do people keep digging up graves like these? Would you want your father dug up?
of course logic tells me it is nothing but superstition...but having Hungarian blood and family in and from the village of Mezotarkany ...a DNA test probably would't ..uumm...really show anything unusual, would it?
Alan,
I had problems opening up that link regarding the dispute.
Works for me now, it may have been a glitch...
Yep! Thank you!!
what the phuck?
the only true vampires are the koch brothers.
This reminds me of an old ex. At night, when the moon was on it's way out, she lay still as death itself. Over and over and over I pounded a rod as hard as steel into her, to no avail. She could not have been a Vampire though, she had no interest in sucking.
Hate it when they do that and don't do that.