An excavation in Poland has uncovered the skeleton of a woman, believed to have been buried in the 17th century, with a scythe having been place around her neck at the time of her burial. Additionally, there was a padlock attached to one of her toes.
In an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail, Professor Dariusz Polinski, who oversaw the excavation, offered up the following explanation: “Ways to protect against the return of the dead included cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased on the stomach, burning them and crushing them with a stone. The scythe was not placed horizontally, 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.” The skull was also adorned in what is known as a “thirsty cap,” which serves as an indication that this had been a person of high status.
This was not the first such discovery in the area. Back in 2015, there were five similar skeletons discovered in the same cemetery, which dates back some 400 years. Among them, scythes were found pressed about the throats of a male and female who were believed to have been been between, respectively, 35 and 44 years old and 35 and 39 years old.
The placement of the scythes certainly go along with vampire folklore, that one way to destroy a vampire is through decapitation.