November 9, 2012

An ancient skeleton discovered with metal spikes driven through its shoulders, heart, and ankles may be the earliest known vampire burial in Europe, according to a new report released by British archaeologist Matthew Beresford this month. The unusual burial, which dates to between 550 and 700 A.D., was originally excavated in 1959 in the town of Southwell, near Nottingham in the United Kingdom. While archaeologists considered the burial odd, they did not investigate it at the time, and the skeleton was placed in storage and forgotten until now. Recently, Beresford re-examined the skeleton and the site of the burial. He has concluded that it shows an ancient belief in vampires and provides real evidence of the steps people once took to protect themselves from the undead.

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian actor who gained fame on the stage and in motion pictures as the vampire Count Dracula. As the count in the 1931 horror film Dracula, Lugosi attacked one of the vampire's victims, played by Helen Chandler. (Shooting Star)

According to European legends, a vampire is a corpse that supposedly returns to life and feeds upon the blood of the living.  Stories of similar creatures come from many parts of the world. Most vampire tales originated in Eastern European and Balkan countries, such as Hungary and Romania, but were widespread in Europe. People who committed suicide, died violently, or were condemned by their church supposedly could become vampires. Traditional burial practices in many places developed out of fear that the dead would emerge from the grave as vampires.

Many aspects of the Southwell burial strongly suggested people feared the occupant of the grave might be a vampire. The location of the burial at the fringes of what was a late Roman-era settlement was one indication. Beresford knew that in the past, certain people were buried away from the town or village, along roadsides or near road intersections. This was thought to be far enough away from town to keep vampires from coming back or to confuse them so they would become lost and not return to the town. As an extra precaution, some bodies were staked or pinned into the grave, as was the case in the Southwell burial.

Beresford stated that such treatment was usually reserved for people who were “thieves, murderers or traitors or later for those deviants who did not conform to society’s rules, including adulterers, disrupters of the peace, the unpious or oath breakers.”  Such people were considered especially more likely to return from the dead as vampires. Whether the person in the grave was an actual vampire or simply a social outcast who violated the rules of his society cannot be known. An initial examination of the skeleton’s teeth, however, showed only normal dentition.

Additional World Book articles:

• Dracula
• Folklore
• Rice, Anne
• Meyer, Stephenie
• Transylvania