Archaeologists Claim to Have Recovered Remains of 'Vampire Child' in Poland
Workers in Poland have unearthed a burial pit containing the bodies of two children from the Early Middle Ages. The discovery was made when the workers were removing tree branches near a historic cathedral in Chelm, CBS News reported. While clearing away the branches their eyes went to a shallow burial pit, containing two skeletons. On further analysis, the skeletons were discovered to be of two children from the Early Middle Ages, as per the government's Culture Ministry.
Researchers were appointed by the government to analyze the site and found that both skeletons had stones laid across their torso, Daily Mail reported. The team also noted that the burial site was marked with two posts.
Polish government in a Facebook post, stated that one of the bodies had characteristics of an anti-vampire burial. The particular child's head was separated from his body and the skull was placed down toward the ground. Dr. Stanisława Gołuba, the archaeologist leading the research on these two skeletons claimed in the post, that the skeleton's condition as well as their arrangement, follows ancient burial methods put into use by medieval society to stop a demonic entity from escaping the grave.
Both the skeletons have been removed from the burial pit and taken by researchers for further analysis, CBS News reported.
As far as the other child is considered, researchers believe that he received a normal burial, Daily Mail reported. Pień is another Polish site where a 'child vampire' was unearthed in 2023. This 'child vampire' was found lying face down with a triangular padlock attached to its foot.
Archaeologist Dariusz Poliński from the University of Nicolaus Copernicus explained at the time, "The padlock under the foot symbolizes the closing of a stage of life and is meant to protect against the return of the deceased, which was probably feared. Such practices originated in folk beliefs and are sometimes described as anti-vampiric," Daily Mail reported.