Vampire Skeleton Rediscovered in Britain

Greetings, ATS!


little fun to take a break from the election madness.

From Discovery News:

Details of one of the few "vampire" burials in Britain have emerged as a new archaeological report details the long forgotten discovery of a skeleton found buried with metal spikes through shoulders, heart area and ankles. Dating from 550-700 A.D., the skeleton was unearthed in 1959 in the minster town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, during excavations in preparation for a new school. The dig also turned up Roman remains. Archaeologist Charles Daniels immediately recognized the skeletal remains as being out of the ordinary, but no further investigation was carried out at that time. "D

Now, I' doubt seriously that this poor soul was a real vampire, shades of Bela Lugosi or not. But I found it interesting nevertheless and thought to share with you. Enjoy!

reply to post by smyleegrl

Roman remains?
This sounds more like a victim of torture, probably crucifixion.
The Romans didn't always use the same shape of cross and the methods were varied. Jesus was nailed through the hands maybe he was lucky because this poor [SNIP] got nailed through the shoulders. It's normal for them (the romans) to end suffering by breaking the legs or stabbing the heart.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Oh, so THAT'S where we put my father-in-law!

Apparently whoever buried the corpse was quite serious about not taking a chance on it ever returning! Makes me wonder what kind of person they were in life. Must not have been a very nice person!

Notice how greed sets in so every non-conformist becomes a target.

"Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the 'punishment' of being buried in water-logged ground, face down, decapitated, staked or otherwise was reserved for thieves, murderers or traitors," Beresford wrote.

The treatment was later extended to all those who did not conform to society's rules.

"These were adulterers, disrupters of the peace, the unpious or oath-breaker. Which of these the Southwell skeleton was we will never know," Beresford said.

i wonder how long before ATS'rs are also on the 'did not conform' hit list.

oh well, so much for evolution.

I remember watching a documentary on this a while back.

There are hundreds of these skeletons in the UK, their mutilations range from

Stones lodged in mouths
Stones in ribcage
De capitation
Mutilation of extremities


These were all, preventative (meaning, nothing had happened yet, the person was not verified as a vampire or zombie, just in case) measures as the superstitious Medieval Christian world was extremely concerned with the dead rising.

The Phenomenon of the tales, was explained by the poor medical knowledge back then, which often resulted in a death being pronounced before death occurred, and the "victim" rising again.

Even in the 1820's this was an issue, The wealthy would bury themselves with a coffin that has an inbuilt bell which went overground, in case the victim was in fact not dead.

Namaste.

Originally posted by Rapha
Notice how greed sets in so every non-conformist becomes a target.

"Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the 'punishment' of being buried in water-logged ground, face down, decapitated, staked or otherwise was reserved for thieves, murderers or traitors," Beresford wrote.

The treatment was later extended to all those who did not conform to society's rules.

"These were adulterers, disrupters of the peace, the unpious or oath-breaker. Which of these the Southwell skeleton was we will never know," Beresford said.

i wonder how long before ATS'rs are also on the 'did not conform' hit list.

oh well, so much for evolution.

Conforming and working with society is fairly important in this context, which is basically a non-industrial, tribal society 1500 years ago.

Life was incredibly hard for people, people who made life even harder for others by choice were quite rightly seen as 'outside' society. Individualism etc are concepts that didn't really exist within this particular Weltanschauung: family and extended tribe was everything; literally all there was. You needed to be able to rely on other family members, neighbours and the rest of the extended tribe just to be able to see out the year. Especially during the time frame this person would have been alive as Britain was suffering the effects of a mini ice age and a plague had spread across much of Europe.

They were pretty stupid back then. They were also pretty paranoid and tried to convince everyone that a particular person who was weird was either a witch or a vampire.

What I find more strange is why so many different cultures had such a heavy take on vampires in general back then. Maybe there was something to it, I mean the idea of draining someones blood as a form of energy has been one to repeat itself many times over.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Roman victim of torture.
Long shot from that to a vampire I would say.
Although the vampire title is way cooler.

Originally posted by AlchemicalParadox
They were pretty stupid back then. They were also pretty paranoid and tried to convince everyone that a particular person who was weird was either a witch or a vampire.

"Stupid" is pretty unfair. You're looking at this through the lens of a post-industrialised 21st century society. Superstition, religion, fear of outsiders and the 'other' still permeate modern culture. It's not as if the Anglo Saxons were 'stupid' and we're somehow 'smart'.

Here's a comparison that you may find useful: "They were pretty stupid back then. They were also pretty paranoid and tried to convince everyone that a particular person who was weird was either a communist or unAmerican." [McCarthy-era America].

Also, 'vampire' is a misnomer here as whilst Anglo Saxons would have been familiar with the concept of the 'undead' and life in the barrow, they wouldn't have understood 'vampire' in the modern sense.

Originally posted by RooskiZombi
What I find more strange is why so many different cultures had such a heavy take on vampires in general back then. Maybe there was something to it, I mean the idea of draining someones blood as a form of energy has been one to repeat itself many times over.

It's not really applicable here though. The AngloSaxon Weltanschauung has heavy emphasis on wights in general, whether it's 'elves' or the undead (usually a 'barrow wight', for want of a better term) &c. However, they'd have been unfamiliar with vampires as we know them in a modern sense.

Pointy teeth?