The earliest case of a ritualistic burial in the UK dates from 550-700AD. The person was buried in the ancient minster town of Southwell [Nottinghamshire] with metal spikes through its shoulders, heart and ankles. This was done to specific people, labeled as living vampires, to prevent them rising from their graves to plague the living.
The skeleton was discovered back in 1959 by archeologists that were extending a roman site and sadly no information is given as to what happened to the remains as they apparently couldn`t be fully recovered.
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† Superstitions
† Legends
† Vampire Accounts