Remains of an accused vampire from the Middle Ages with the skull placed between the legs.We love sharing interesting stories from the jobsite, but this one, by far, is the weirdest one we’ve seen yet.
While working on a site near the town of Gliwice, Poland, construction workers unearthed multiple skeletons whose heads had been placed between their legs—an indication that these were people executed as vampires, according to the Telegraph.
During the Middle Ages, and shortly after the adoption of Christianity by pagan tribes in Slavic lands, accusations against supposed “vampires” were rampant. Back then, however, the term “vampire” was used to describe a much broader type of people than the blood-sucking superhumans played by attractive actors and actresses as we know today.
Back then, among the newly-Christian Slavic peoples, a vampire could be anyone caught still practicing pagan beliefs. Regardless, if found guilty vampires were executed through decapitation or hanging. The head was then removed from the body and placed between the legs to make it harder for the corpse to find and reaffix its head should it come back from the dead.
Told you this was weird. Can you imagine finding something like this on a Monday and then carrying on like everything is normal and you’re not working some accursed piece of land?
There’s no indication as to exactly when these “vampires” were buried as no personal artifacts were found buried with them that could signify a time period.
