Archaeologists have found the remains of a so-called “vampire child” dating to the 1600s in a Pień, Poland, cemetery.
The skeletal scraps were estimated to be from a child aged between 5 to 7. The remains were discovered lying face down with a triangular padlock attached to one of its feet.
Archaeologist Dariusz Poliński, from the University of Nicolaus Copernicus, gave some insight into his exploration and why the corpse was bonded to the lock.
He noted that the item placed 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,” according to the Daily Mail.
“Such practices originated in folk beliefs and are sometimes described as anti-vampiric,” the excavator said.
The rituals of the time period reportedly state that when a person was buried face down, the dead would “bite into the ground and not harm the living,” according to Poliński.
Thirty other internments were uncovered — and archaeologists believed that people who were “feared not only during life but also after death” were also entombed in the region.
Pieces of a green-stained jaw also were unearthed and may have originated from a copper coin put into the mouth of a dead child, one of three others found, researchers said.
The remains of a pregnant woman were additionally found, including a fetus that was “determined to be roughly 5 to 6 months old,” according to college representative Magdalena Zagrodzka.
“This is surprising because the bones of children of this age are poorly mineralized, so they are usually not preserved,” she explained.
The area where the possibly blood-sucking kiddie was acquired turns out to be the same 17th-century graveyard where a “vampire woman” was discovered by Poliński and his research crew in September 2022 — with a sickle seemingly restraining her neck and a padlock on the big toe of her left foot.
“Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them and smashing them with a stone,” Poliński said.
He further divulged that the sickle was not laid flat; instead, it was put on her neck “in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up, most likely the head would have been cut off or injured.”
The padlocked toe symbolizes “the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning,” according to the historian.
