ROME – An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the remains of a 16th-century woman with a brick stuck between her jaws – evidence that she was thought to be a vampire.
Experts say the ancient ritual was tied to medieval ignorance as to how disease spreads and what happens after death.
The well-preserved skeleton of a woman about 60 years of age was found in a mass grave in 2006 on Lazzaretto Nuovo, an island north of Venice. Experts say the bodies were buried during a plague in 1576.
Diggers reopening mass graves would often find bloated older bodies with blood seeping from their mouths and holes in the shrouds over their faces.
“They’d say, ‘This guy is alive! He’s drinking blood and eating his shroud!’ ” said Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist at Florence University.
He said science now knows gas buildup causes bloating, decomposing organs push up fluid, and bacteria eat any facial covering. But back then, to kill the undead, a stake through the heart wasn’t enough. A stone or brick had to be forced into the mouth – so the vampire would starve.