Archaeologists in northwestern Poland have a  found a suspected vampire

The burial was found in a  cemetery in the town of Kamien Pomorski

A stake had previously been  driven through one leg of the skeleton

This was designed to stop it rising from the  grave after its death

It also had a small rock in its mouth to  stop it sucking blood from victims

The body is  believed to date back to the 16th century, although the absence of personal  effects makes it difficult to date.

It  was found during a dig in the cemetery next to the town church.

Its features are  reminiscent of similar vampire burials that have been found in the  past

The most obvious  sign of this being a vampire burial was the stake through its leg.

Many suspected  vampires are found nailed or staked to the ground to prevent them rising from  the ground.

‘Initially we  thought he had suffered a leg wound,’ dig leader Slawomir Gorka told Kamienskie.

‘But from sifting  through the earth underneath, we realised there was a hole likely made from a  puncture.’

The mouth was also  found without its  teeth with a piece of brick in their place, which supposedly  stopped the vampire rising and sinking its teeth into victims.

Finding vampire  burials like this is not uncommon, with several discovered in Poland over the  last few years.

It is thought that burials of this sort were  common in the Kamien Pomorski  from the 13th to 17th century.

According to some  beliefs, people who were considered bad during their lifetimes might turn into  vampires after death unless stabbed in the chest with an iron or wooden rod  before being buried.

These vampires  were often intellectuals, aristocrats and clerics.

Upon their death –  or even before – locals would take measures to ensure that the suspected  vampires did not terrorise their communities by driving stakes through parts of  their bodies or removing the teeth from their mouth.

Finding vampire burials is not uncommon, with several discovered in Poland over  the last few years. It is thought that burials of this sort were common in the  Kamien Pomorski   from the 13th to 17th century

The belief in  vampires was widespread throughout Bulgaria and other parts of central Europe  throughout the Middle Ages.

The word vampire is derived from the original  Slavic term opyrb or opir which later appears as vipir, vepir, or  vapir.

Drunkards, thieves and murderers were all  believed to be likely candidates to become vampires

Appearing completely normal,  they would arrive at a town and live amongst the  people often even marrying and  fathering children. But at night they  would wander the countryside in search of  blood

These types of vampires could be destroyed  with a stake through the heart.

 One account maintains that a  vampire was the  soul of an outlaw who died in the mountains or forest or along a country road,  and whose corpse is eaten by crows, wolves, or  some other such  scavengers.

Because such a soul is not permitted to enter  heaven or hell it remains on  earth haunting the place where he was killed  strangling and drinking the blood of anyone who comes by

Another account states a person who died a  violent, unnatural death or whose  corpse was jumped over by a cat before  burial, can become a vampire.

In such cases during the  first 40 days after burial, the bones turn to  gelatin and the vampire performs  mischief at night  – releasing animals  from their pens, scattering house  hold items, and suffocating people.

During the first forty days it can be  destroyed by a Vampiridzhija – a  professional vampire hunter capable of seeing  them – or alternatively  devoured by a wolf.

However if not destroyed in this time period the  Vampire would develop a skeleton and becomes even more fierce.
Burial vampire in Kamien Pomorski – archaeologist  explains. See the movie 1958’s ‘Horror of  Dracula’

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