A vampire burial: A Polish woman was buried with a sickle to stop her rising from the grave

The female "vampire" with a sickle across her throat found in Pień, Poland PC: Mirosław Blicharski Vampires are one of the most famous mythological creatures in history. These blood-sucking creatures roam the night searching for people to feed upon.Perhaps it is the fascinating legends surrounding these creatures: their sharp fangs, their association with the night, their ability to morph into a bat, or their aversion to garlic (imagine how sad?). Or perhaps it is the actual idea of being a vampire, meaning immortality, that makes them such a fan(g)-favourite.Maybe this fascination and fear led to the unusual burial of a 17th-century Polish woman, found with a padlock on her toe and an iron sickle across her neck. Whether she was a vampire or not, someone went to great lengths to ensure she remained dead.A grave that was anything but ordinaryImage Courtesy: D. Poliński et al., Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2026In 2022, archaeologists digging through a cemetery in the Polish village of Pień made a rather unsettling discovery. Grave 75 held the remains of a young woman, buried with an iron sickle across her neck, the blade facing her, and a triangular padlock attached t...