Polish vampire graves

In the eleventh century shortly after Poland adopted Christianity, anybody accused of being a vampire faced a gruesome outcome.

They would be decapitated or hung from a gibbet until decomposition resulted in the head falling from the body. In both cases the head was then laid on the legs of the deceased so that a failure to locate their head would keep them from rising out of the grave.

In Gliwice, were archaeologists more accustomed to finding human remains of the bloody fighting of World War II, they have found vampire graves on a highway construction site. Skeletons were found with their heads removed and placed on their legs indicating they had been subjected to an execution ritual designed to ensure the dead stayed dead.

Historians say that the practice was common in the Slavic lands following the adoption of Christianity by pagan tribes.

When they were buried is open to speculation. The skeletons were found with no jewelry, belt buckles, buttons or anything that could aid the task of determining their age.

Contrasting the classic Dracula image of a caped, blood-sucking aristocrat, the definition of a vampire in the middle ages was much broader. People who kept old pagan customs and left food on the graves of dead relatives could be accusations of vampirism, and suffered prompt execution.

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