Grave containing 'VAMPIRE' with a sickle around its neck to stop it 'returning from the dead' is found under stone with skull engraving at Polish church
Medieval belief in vampires became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria
Archaeologists researching a church in northern Poland have discovered a 'vampire tomb' buried underneath the floor in what they say is a first-of-its-kind discovery.
The skeletal remains of a man dating from the 17th century were found in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the small village of Pączewo after archaeologists discovered a stone slab decorated with an engraving of a skull.
Buried around six-feet below the slab, they found three skeletons, one of which had a sickle around its neck, a medieval practice which - it was believed - was designed to stop vampires returning from the dead.
Anthropologist Justyna Kargus said the skeleton's skull showed signs that the man who is thought to have been around 50 years old when he died had suffered from some form of trauma before his death.
She said: 'His skull had numerous injuries indicating that he probably had many deep scars on his face.
Putting a sickle around a dead person's neck was a medieval practice used to stop people believed to be vampires from returning from the dead
'During one of the blows he also lost some of his teeth. He would've looked different to average people and that can be scary.
She added that the discovery of a vampire burial in a church is especially rare, saying 'no one expects to find a vampire in a church.
'This is the first known case of an anti-vampire burial in a church.'
'People suspected of being vampires were normally buried away from local communities or in cemeteries.
'Inside the church, clergy, benefactors of the church, dignified and particularly deserving people were buried.
'Perhaps it was someone of merit in the local community, and something caused them to be afraid of him.'
Records of myths about the dead date back as far as the 11th century in Central and Eastern Europe. People feared that some who were buried would claw their way back up to the surface as blood-sucking monsters and terrorise the living.
It is not uncommon in the region to find burial sites where a metal rod - or a stake - have been hammered through the skull of the deceased. People at the time believed this was one way to ensure the person stayed dead.
In some parts of the continent - particularly among Slavic people - belief in the legends of vampires became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria
In some parts of the continent - particularly among Slavic people - belief in the legends of vampires became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria, and even led to executions of people thought to be vampires.
People who died in untimely ways - such as through suicide - would also often have been suspected of vampirism, and their bodies would have been mutilated to prevent them from rising from the dead.
Various procedures were used to prevent them returning from the dead. Some placed sickle around the neck, others saw the corpse tied up, padlocks placed on the body, coins placed over the eyes, the body wrapped in fishing nets or the bodies crushed with stones or bricks.
The most recent discovery is the latest in a number of vampire findings in Poland. Earlier this month, the decapitated remains of a 'vampire child' buried face-down was discovered over 370 miles away in the southeast of the country.
In 2023 a mass grave containing over 400 decapitated suspect vampires with their skulls placed between their legs and a coin in their mouths was uncovered in Poland's northeast during roadworks.
The skeletal remains of another 'vampire child' were found later that year lying face down with a triangular padlock attached to its foot in the village of Pień where archaeologists previously found the remains of a 'female vampire' pinned to the ground by a sickle across her throat and a padlocked toe.
By: Ed Wight, DailyMail UK