Our modern culture has become obsessed with vampires and a
recent find by archaeologists in Bulgaria is now capturing the
world’s attention. Could Bram Stoker been on to something?
Archaeologists have unearthed two medieval skeletons pierced
through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into
vampires. According to pagan beliefs, people who were considered
evil during their lifetimes might turn into vampires after death
to feast on the blood of the living unless stabbed in the chest
with an iron or wooden rod before being buried. “These two
skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was
common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of
the 20th century,” Bozhidar Dimitrov, the National History
Museum chief said Tuesday after the recent find in the Black Sea
town of Sozopo, dating back to the Middle Agesl. About 100
similar “vampire burials” have been found in Bulgaria. The
practice was also common in neighbouring Serbia and other Balkan
countries. For further on this stor