Two years ago, archaeologists in rural Poland made a gruesome discovery: a skeleton buried with a sickle in her neck and a giant padlock on her toe.
Feared as a ‘real vampire’, this form of ‘double protection’ was applied to the female corpse by Polish locals to prevent her from rising from the grave.
Now the experts have revealed new information about the woman, along with artist illustrations of what she may have looked like.
The ‘vampire’, named Zosia by archaeologists, was 18 years old when she died, about 350 years ago, in the mid-17th century.
Bone scans have revealed an abnormality in Zosia’s sternum, suggesting she may have suffered a physical deformity that caused a lot of pain.
It may have been this deformity that made her especially feared as a vampire before she was brutally sacrificed and buried.
But despite the fact that she is believed to attack the living after death, the artist’s impression suggests that she had a fair face with blue eyes and close-cropped hair.
The latest revelations about Zosia are the subject of a new two-part documentary, ‘Field of Vampires’, airing on Sky History.
The ‘vampire’, named Zosia by archaeologists, was 18 years old when she died, about 350 years ago in the mid-17th century
Her body was doubly protected so that the deceased would not rise from the grave: a triangular padlock on her left big toe and her neck was tied to the ground with a sickle
The artist’s impression suggests that she had a blond face, blue eyes and short-cropped hair, possibly from Scandinavia
Zosia is one of about a hundred skeletons found in a field outside the small village of Pien, south of the city of Torun, Poland.
It was excavated in the summer of 2022 by archaeologist Professor Dariusz Polinski and his partner Magda Zagrodzka.
It was late two years ago during their excavation at Pien that Professor Polinski’s trowel had hit something that looked like metal.
After carefully sweeping away the ground, researchers found Zosia, the only skeleton in the field with a sickle around her neck.
A farming implement with a sharp, curved blade, the sickle, was said to have been fitted to ensure that she would decapitate herself if she attempted to rise from the dead.
“It can be assumed that those who buried the woman were for some reason afraid that she would rise from the grave,” Professor Polinski said.
‘Maybe they were afraid she was a vampire.
“The sickle was not laid flat, but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had attempted to rise, the head would most likely have been cut off or injured.”
The approximately 100 graves are located in a field outside the small village of Pien, south of the city of Torun, Poland.
The grim discovery was made in the same cemetery as a woman was buried with a scythe pressing down on her neck – a way to ensure she would behead herself if she tried to rise from the dead, experts said.
Padlocks and keys in graves were common to prevent the dead from returning to the world of the living
Zosia was also found with a silk cap on her head, indicating that she had a high social status, as well as a protruding tooth.
Zosia’s bone scans were examined by medical researcher Dr. Heather Edgar of the University of New Mexico, who identified an abnormality in the sternum.
This may have been a visible deformity that caused Zosia pain and ‘marked this person’ [to others] in a negative way,” Dr. Edgar shared the Times.
Because she died around the time of the Swedish-Polish Wars, researchers speculate that she may have been Swedish and therefore considered an “undesirable outsider.”
Polinski and Zagrodzka worked with facial reconstruction expert Oscar Nilsson, who took a digital scan of her skull and made a copy with a 3D printer.
He sculpted new ‘muscles’ of her face with clay and used silicon to give her new skin.
In total, about 100 graves have been found in the Pien Field, also known as the ‘Field of the Vampires’ because about 30 show signs of being contained.
Among the 100 graves are a partially exhumed child, a pregnant woman, a woman with advanced syphilis and a man with the corpse of a child at his feet.
Professor Polinski and his partner plan to return to Pien for more excavations, including a night using fluorescent lamps to uncover new bones
Because she died around the time of the Swedish-Polish Wars, researchers speculate that she could have been Swedish and thus considered an “undesirable outsider.”
Pictured is facial reconstruction expert Oscar Nilsson, who took a digital scan of the skull and made a copy with a 3D printer. He sculpted new ‘muscles’ of her face with clay and used silicon to give her new skin
Professor Polinski says that this cemetery was specifically intended for people who were ‘excluded from the community’.
However, all the graves remained unmarked and there are not even any written records of bodies at the site, making identification a monumental task.
Some bodies were face down, others were weighted with stones, while still others carried coins in their mouths.
‘Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite the ground, burning them and crushing them with a stone ‘, Professor Poliński told MailOnline.
However, only Zosia had the sickle around her neck, indicating that she was the most feared by those who killed her.
The sickle around the neck is rare, although not unheard of; only this year, researchers found a body in a Pączewo church that had been laid out in a similar manner.
Accounts of myths about the undead date back to the 11th century in Eastern Europe, while vampire myths date back to the late 17th and 18th centuries.
People feared that some who were buried would eat their way to the surface like blood-sucking monsters and terrorize the living.
In parts of Europe – especially among Slavic people – belief in vampires became so widespread that it caused mass hysteria and even led to executions.
People who died prematurely – for example by suicide – would also often be suspected of vampirism, and their bodies would have been mutilated to prevent them from rising from the dead.
Thanks to classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and FW Murnau’s Nosferatu, the legend of the vampire has spread throughout the world today.
Professor Polinski and his partner plan to return to Pien for more excavations, including a night using fluorescent lights to uncover new bones.
Field of Vampires airs on Sky History on October 29 and November 5 at 9pm.