All the recent news stories of “zombie attacks” recently have gotten people wondering if the creatures from our darkest nightmares and classic horror movies are becoming a reality. Well, the signs don’t look so good when you throw in finding a couple of people that were buried 800 years ago with stakes in their hearts! Sounds like one classic horror movie monster I think we’re all familiar with, the vampire!
Discovery News writes:
Two medieval “vampire” skeletons emerged near a monastery in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Sozopol, local archaeologists announced.
Dating back 800 years to the Middle Ages, the skeletons were unearthed with iron rods pierced through their chests — evidence of an exorcism against a vampire. The ritual was aimed at preventing potentially dangerous people, such as enemies, murderers or individuals who died suddenly from a strange illness, from turning into vampires after death.
“The practice was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th century,” Bozhidar Dimitrov, chief of the National History Museum in Sofia, told reporters.
The newly discovered skeletons are the latest in a series of finds across Europe. According to Dimitrov, over 100 skeletons, buried in the same manner, had been unearthed in Bulgaria only.
Read more at news.discovery.com
