‘Vampire’ grave shows 17th-century fear of women who ‘didn’t fit in’

A sharp sickle was placed across her neck, ready to decapitate her should she jolt awake after death, and a padlock was put around her big toe.

That’s what scientists found when they excavated the corpse of a woman they believe was suspected of being a vampire in 17th-century Poland.

The unnamed woman — thought to be young and of a high social class, given that she was buried in a silk scarf — was probably accused of being supernatural because she stood out, experts said. A large protruding tooth may provide some clues.

A professor from Poland’s Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun said burials involving a sickle are extremely unusual. Archaeologists from the universitymade the discovery in the southern village of Pien in the Eastern European nation last month and published their findings this week.

“Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them and smashing them with a stone,” Dariusz Polinski, who led the research team, told The Washington Post. Instead, in this case, a sharp scythe is “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.”

The woman’s exhumed remains are now being studied by Polinski’s team.

Her burial reveals “paranoia” and “fear” around vampires — and the “gender politics” at the time, Stacey Abbott, author of “Undead Apocalypse: Vampires and Zombies in the 21st Century,” told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,

Discussing things as they’re said to be.

There’s a certain rumor that can’t be true

That Man descended from our noble race

the very idea is a disgrace!

No monkey ever deserted his wife,

starved her babies and ruined her life.

And you’ve never known of a mother monk

To leave her babies with others to bunk.

Or pass them on from one to the other

‘Til hardly is known who is their mother.

Another think you’ll never see

A monk build a fence around a coconut tree

And let the coconuts go to waste

Forbidding all other monks a taste

Why if I’d put a fence around the tree,

Starvation would force you to steal from me.

There’s another thing a monk won’t do: 

Go out at night and go on a stew,

or use a gun, or club or knife

To take some other monkey’s life.

Yes, man descended—-the onery cuss,

But brother, he didn’t descend from us!

** I found this poem while perusing a old periodical, Phillips Family Finder, in the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society library. It stated “submitted by Esther Freeman.”  I share it with you only because I thought it funny. I know that monkeys are “ornery” too and do bad things to each other (I’ve seen the documentaries) but I never thought of monkeys as “proud.” What about you?

EWGS past president Shirley Penna-Oakes has been gone for a couple of years now. Her good friend, Mary, to whom Shirley gave all her genealogy and her genealogy books, is now wanting to re-home some family histories that Shirley collected.  The titles are listed below; I have these books and would be willing to send them to you for postage.  First to ask gets them….. 🙂  

The Irish Scots and the “Scotch-Irish,” by John C. Linehan, 1902, Heritage Books reprint.

 I Saved the King: The Story of the Turnbulls, by R.E. Scott, 1977, 17 pages, Xerox copy

 Robert Clements: Ancestors & Descendants, of Leicestershire & Warwickshire, England, First Settler of Haverhill, Mass, by Percival W. Clement, 1921, 2 vols in 1, Xerox copy

 Family of John Page of Haverhill, Mass, 1614-1977, by Lynn M. Case and Page Sanderson, 1978, 245 pages + index, Hardbound book

 History of Haverhill, Mass, by Benjamin L. Mirick, 1832, 237 pages + index, Heritage Book reprint

 By the Name of Morrill, 1632-1987, by Madeleine Witten, ND, 240 pages + index

 Theresa Maria Maselli (Dalsanders) and Virginia D’Amico (Penna); Arrived into New York City 1907 and Spokane, WA, 1907. Compiled by Shirley Penna Oakes, ND

 Descendants of Margaret Campbell, 1847-1928, inc. John Doherty and Jonas Otto Wallgreen, by Juanita Sullender, 2011

 Family of Anthony Wayne Bricker & Melinda Sullender (who married in IN in 1842), a stuffed 3-ring binder of charts, notes, obits, pictures and copies; compiled by Shirley Penna Oakes.

 The Munson Record: Genealogy & Biographical Account of Capt. Thomas Munson and His Descendants, by Myron A. Munson, 1896, 200 pages, unbound Xerox copy

*** I also have a big box of The New England Historic Genealogical Society’s publication, The Register. Shirley apparently purchased these early volumes…………. I will not send them (way, way too heavy) but they are up for grabs.