Vampires in Another Age

Forensic archaeologist Matteo Borrini from the University of Florence has discovered evidence of the late-medieval belief in vampires.  A skeleton unearthed from a plague burial site near Venice, believed to date from the mid-1500s has been found with a brick placed in the mouth.  It is thought this was an attempt to stop what was believed to be a vampire from feeding.

Plague victims were often wrapped in a burial cloth and placed into mass graves.  These graves often needed to be opened up to add new bodies.  It was noticed that some recently interred  plague victims were bloated with what seemed like blood in the mouths.  The thinking was the bodies were bloated from the consumption of blood.  

Today we understand the bloating arises from gas production in the intestines following death.  Further, the blood in the mouth was likely simply fluid from decomposition.  Holes in the burial cloths near the mouth, interpreted as the vampire chewing through the cloth, probably arose from the decomposition fluids dissolving the cloth.

It isn't hard to understand how such beliefs arose.  The plague had been killing millions of people throughout Europe since the mid-1300s and germ theory would not be developed for centuries. There was real cause for fear.  Spontaneous generation (that is, the formation of life from decaying material)  was widely accepted and supernatural beliefs such as witchcraft were strongly supported by the Church.

Photo Credit: Matteo Borrini. New Scientist. March 06, 2009.