Archaeologists share disturbing final moments of 'Zosia the real life vampire'

Archaeologists have discovered new details about how a 'real-life vampire' spent her final moments in medieval Poland.

Two years ago, archaeologist Professor Dariusz Polinski and his partner Magda Zagrodzka made a grim discovery of a young woman 'Zosia', buried some 350 years ago in Pień, Poland. She had a padlock on her toe and a sickle over her throat. The locks and sickle are part of an apotropaic burial, which means it was designed to supposedly ward off evil.

Truth be told, medieval Poland had a bit of an obsession with the undead. People believed vampires possessed the souls of those who died early in epidemics, by suicide, or even just before they were baptised.

Mirosław Blicharski

Similar graves have also cropped up in Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, and Romania, and tend to date back to times of hardship like epidemics, wars, and other times when people believed evil was all around them.

Now, an artist's illustration suggested she was around the age of 18 at the time of her death with fair skin, short hair and blue eyes. Despite being assumed to be 'elite' with a silk scarf around her head, her societal rank did not save her from being accused of being evil.

Professor Polinski said that around 30 of the 100 graves had signs of being restrained, leading it to be called the "Field of Vampires". He suggested the graveyard was specifically for people who were "excluded from the community".

Polinski told the Daily Mail: "It can be assumed that for some reason those burying the woman were afraid that she would rise from the grave. Perhaps they feared she was a vampire."

Mirosław Blicharski

Polinski also added the gruesome detail that, "the sickle was not laid flat, but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up most likely the head would have been cut off or injured."

Zosia's bone scans revealed an abnormality in her breast bone which suggested she could have had a deformity causing great pain. The deformity may have been the reason she was feared to be a vampire.

The most recent findings will be detailed in the two-part documentary, Field of Vampires, on Sky History.

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