700-year-old “vampire” skeleton unearthed in Bulgaria

Published on August 1st, 2012 | by Sevaan Franks

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National Geographic has posted some cool pictures of a “vampire” skeleton unearthed in Bulgaria. It had been stabbed through the chest with an iron rod.

In addition, the skeleton’s teeth had been pulled. Scholars believe the rod and tooth-pulling were techniques villagers used to prevent dead men from turning into vampires.

The vampire obsession dates back millennia in countries across Europe.

“In graves thousands of years old, skeletons have been found staked, tied up, buried facedown, decapitated … all well-attested ways of preempting the [attacks] of wandering corpses,” wrote former National Geographic historian Mark Collins Jenkins in his book Vampire Forensics.

[Full story]

Story: Claire Saravia, National Geographic News | Photo: Nikolay Doychinov, AFP/Getty Images

Tags: Bulgaria, Remains, Skeletons, Vampries

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